Ted Kennedy assumes room temperature

I know you are not supposed to speak ill of the dead and cancer's a real bitch that I wouldn't wish on anyone (well maybe bin Laden). But as the press will likely soil themselves in lionizing Ted I will take on the distasteful task of highlighting the media's hypocrisy. Because while the media, and Washington political establishment, endlessly wring their hands about what a giant he was on the political landscape (and he was - for better or worse), he was the icon of everything they claim to be against.

While the media loves to laud bipartisanship, especially when defined as passing the liberal policy agenda, Ted was the ultimate partisan. Everything was political. For what it's worth, I agree with Ted on this -- if you are going to fight the opposition, treat them like the opposition and get rid of the "my dear friend" or "dear colleague" nonsense. If it meant opposing universal health care (yes you read that right) when promoted by a Republican president, Ted was on board.

When President Nixon proposed a plan for universal coverage that would have delighted Democrats in later years, Kennedy, who long backed a government plan, led the opposition, a move he later regretted.

Ted's partisanship helped to usher in an era that the left likes to call "the politics of personal destruction" in his (successful) effort to derail Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court. This is examined more fully by Scott Johnson

New York Times reporter Ethan Bronner (then of the Boston Globe) told the story of Kennedy's statement denouncing Bork in Battle for Justice: How the Bork Nomination Shook America. In the book Bronner comments harshly on Kennedy's statement, though Bronner's comments do not exhaust the statement's falsity:

Kennedy's was an altogether startling statement. He had shamelessly twisted Bork's world view -- "rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids" was an Orwellian reference to Bork's criticism of the exclusionary rule, through which judges exclude illegally obtained evidence, and Bork had never suggested he opposed the teaching of evolution...

Bronner shows that Kennedy's false charges against Bork did not derive from some mistake or misinterpretation, but were rather the deliberate acts of a powerful man for whom the ends justified the means:

Kennedy did distort Bork's record, but his statement was not the act of a desperate man. This was a confident and seasoned poliltician, who knew how to combine passion and pragmatism in the Senate. Unlike the vast majority of those who were to oppose Bork, Kennedy believed from the beginning that the nomination would be defeated and that the loss would prove decisive in judicial politics.

As Bronner suggests, Senator Kennedy's unconstrained opposition to Bork's appointment has indeed had profound effects in the practice of "judicial politics," preeminently in the confirmation proceedings following the nomination of Justice Thomas, but also more recently in the confirmation of Justice Alito. And it has become something of a template for liberal attacks on mainstream conservatives beyond the realm of judicial politics.

Of course, as noted above, this served to further politicize a Court that had already become a political battlefield following Roe.

Kennedy, who has been in office since 1962 (change!!) could be the poster boy for how the ruling elite who believe that the rule of law is for suckers; something which they exist above. Kennedy could rail about the need for windmill farms for harnessing wind power -- but don't erect any obstructing the view of the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port. Or, more importantly, and more reflective of true character, placing his political ambitions above the life of another. Unfortunately, Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment. We won't even begin to comment on how the Kennedys are America's "royal family".

There are also numerous tales of the boozy, boorish escapades of Teddy. Including he and Chris (Friend of Angelo) Dodd making a waitress sandwich .

As Gaviglio enters the room, the six-foot-two, 225-plus-pound Kennedy grabs the five-foot-three, 103-pound waitress and throws her on the table. She lands on her back, scattering crystal, plates and cutlery and the lit candles. Several glasses and a crystal candlestick are broken. Kennedy then picks her up from the table and throws her on Dodd, who is sprawled in a chair. With Gaviglio on Dodd’s lap, Kennedy jumps on top and begins rubbing his genital area against hers, supporting his weight on the arms of the chair. As he is doing this, Loh enters the room. She and Gaviglio both scream, drawing one or two dishwashers. Startled, Kennedy leaps up. He laughs. Bruised, shaken and angry over what she considered a sexual assault, Gaviglio runs from the room. Kennedy, Dodd and their dates leave shortly thereafter, following a friendly argument between the senators over the check.

Eyewitness Betty Loh told me that Kennedy had “three or four” cocktails in his first half hour at the restaurant and wine with dinner. When she walked into the room after Gaviglio had gone in, she says, “what I saw was Senator Kennedy on top of Carla, who was on top of Senator Dodd’s lap, and the tablecloth was sort of slid off the table ‘cause the table was knocked over—not completely, but just on Senator Dodd’s lap a little bit, and of course the glasses and the candlesticks were totally spilled and everything. And right when I walked in, Senator Kelly jumped off…and he leaped up, composed himself and got up. And Carla jumped up and ran out of the room.”

According to Loh, Kennedy “was sort of leaning” on Gaviglio, “not really straddling but sort of off-balance so it was like he might have accidentally fallen…He was partially on and off…pushing himself off her to get up.” Dodd, she adds, “said ‘It’s not my fault.’ ” Kennedy said something similar and added, jokingly, “Makes you wonder about the leaders of this country.”
Giving Kennedy the benefit of the doubt, it’s quite possible he did not intend an assault but meant to be funny, in a repulsive, boozehead way. Drunks are notoriously poor judges of distance, including the distance between fun and assault.

Now before any of you whiny lefties try to take me to task for pointing out Uncle Ted's warts before the body has even cooled... your side is already furiously spinning this to try to pass ObamaCare. Basically the Wellstone Memorial Redux. Robert Byrd even wants to rename the bill after Kennedy. In the spirit of reconciliation I would agree -- so long as we follow brother Ace's recommendation and call it ChappaquiddiCare and requiring the following:

New amendment: Doctors will be required to examine you with a Chivas Regal in hand and without pants.