The Sniper

Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy

Edward Kennedy, dead at age 77 from a brain tumor.

I have to say that I don’t particularly like it when a political figure dies and everyone climbs on the bandwagon to slag that particular figure. I don’t like it when it happens to conservatives, I don’t like it when it happens to liberals, I don’t like it when it happens to Democrats or Republicans. I think it generally speaks poorly of the person making the comments and I don’t think it’s fair to the surviving family and friends of said deceased figures. I do, however, make exceptions. When Rev Fallwell died I was dancing a jig because that guy was a douchebag. He was a hate monger and an narrow-minded ideologue that would have been more than happy with installing a theocracy in the US with himself as the head. I have no desire to see that happen… ever. I also don’t like it when a politician is publicly transcended from political figure to beatified, iconic deity. This is the case of Edward “Ted” Kennedy. I’m sorry, but his actions in life were not only unworthy of such praise and laudatory adulation, but in some case immoral, despicable, and (in extremis) criminal.

The idea that Ted Kennedy somehow walked on water is only accurate in a comparative sense with Mary Jo Kopechne in that only one of them managed to survive that car crash in Chappaquiddick so many years ago. This man allowed, through his alleged insobriety and absolutely proven inaction, the death of a young woman solely based on his desire to protect his family’s image and his own political career. Sorry Ted, 12 hours is far too long to wait before you dial 911. Apparently in Ted’s “confused” state he thought that his political staffers and family might be better equipped to handle a water rescue than the police, fire department, paramedics, etc. and that’s why he called them instead of the authorities. But then again, what do you expect of the son of a (alleged?) bootlegger and the brother of a philanderer.

Oddly enough, the left vilifies GW Bush for his mediocrity in school, his entrance into an Ivy League school based on daddy’s political connections, and his lack of combat service during Viet Nam but conspicuously ignore the similarities between George and Teddy in those respects. They ignore the fact that Ted was a mediocre student at best. They ignore the fact that despite all of that mediocrity he none-the-less managed to get into Harvard. They ignore the fact that in 1951 he got kicked out of Harvard for having a buddy take his Spanish exams for him (because Teddy wasn’t smart enough to maintain a “C-Level” comprehension of the easiest language in the world). They ignore the fact that he did a stint in the Army where his request to join military intelligence was rejected (I guess the Army has some standards) and he was made an MP, then posted to Paris as an Honor Guard to keep him out of the fighting in Korea. They ignore the fact that he was re-admitted to Harvard in 1953. During last year’s campaign they constantly brought up John McCain’s aircraft crashes, but failed to mention Ted Kennedy killed two of his passengers when he crashed his plane in Southampton, Mass in 1964. They attacked McCain for saying that the US military presence in Iraq would be long and painful, but they ignore Ted’s acknowledgment that the US involvement in Viet Nam would be a “long and enduring struggle”.  Scandal upon scandal and tragedy upon tragedy rocked the Kennedy clan during Teddy’s life, but he always managed to escape the worst media and legal scrutiny unscathed. Such was the “favored son” status of Edward Kennedy.

Edward is dead now. The long line of “American Royalty” is, in effect, ended. I never liked the idea of royalty in America. Visiting heads of state? Sure. But home grown royalty? No thank you.

For the family and friends of Edward “Teddy” Kennedy, you have my condolences. Personally I will not grieve one iota because I don’t see this as a natural end to a long, well-spent life, but more the delayed execution of sentence that should have happened decades ago.