Ted Kennedy has died.
I am going to triangulate on this one. As much as I was not a fan of his, I am not going to attack him today.
I am also unable to praise him for obvious reasons.
I wrote an entire column awhile back promising that when three specific people died, I would be respectful, and nothing more. Those three people were Ted Kennedy, Robert Novak, and a relative of mine who remains a terrible person. I think with her I will hold back the least, because she does not have legions of fans.
https://tygrrrrexpress.com/2008/08/from-ted-kennedy-to-robert-novak-to/
As for Senator Kennedy, out of respect for his family, I am going to say something positive about him that will allow me to maintain my high wire act of being polite without sugarcoating my feelings.
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/26/sen-edward-kennedy-has-died/
http://miamipress.net/2009/08/26/cowardly-lion-of-senate-ted-kennedy-dead-at-77/
http://rositatheprolesnastylittlebloggingproblem.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/mary-jo-kopechne-to-ted-kennedy-welcome-to-the-afterlife/
http://norunnyeggs.com/2009/08/rest-in-peace-sen-kennedy-1922-2009/
Ted Kennedy stood up for Dan Quayle.
Vice President Quayle was one of the most abused politicians in history. Long before the left began character assassinations of George W. Bush and Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle was the victim of ideological bigotry. He was a devout Christian, and the media did not want somebody from the 1960s who avoided the counterculture in power. His ascendancy threatened their narrative.
Yet to his credit, Ted Kennedy was the one who told others on the left that the relentless beating Quayle was taking had to stop.
This seemed strange, given that Senator Kennedy was hard on many conservatives, including President George Herbert Walker Bush. However, the Senate had a certain amount of (long since vanished) collegiality. Kennedy and Quayle had worked together in the Senate when Quayle was a Senator from Indiana as well as when Vice President Quayle presided over the Senate.
They worked together on Junior Achievement. JA has helped many young children. They also worked together on the Jobs Partnership Training Act, again to help young kids. They had differing ideologies, but found common ground.
When President Bush and Vice President Quayle were going on a trade mission to Africa, Senator Kennedy badly wanted to join them. He had been very critical of the President, so he asked Quayle to run interference.
Vice President Quayle offered Kennedy a deal. He could join them on the trip, but he was not allowed to criticize President Bush at any time on the trip. Politics was going to stop at the water’s edge. Senator Kennedy gave his word, and he kept it.
Senator Kennedy was so grateful to Vice President Quayle that he publicly gave him a New England Patriots jersey to show his appreciation.
The two men had a genuine friendship.
I know this because I read Dan Quayle’s incredibly heartfelt autobiography, “Standing Firm.”
Dan Quayle is deeply committed to his Christian faith, and I am going to follow his example today.
Tomorrow can be about analyzing how his death impacts health care reform. Tomorrow we can talk about everything from the Harvard scandal to Mary Jo Kopechne to Robert Bork to Clarence Thomas to everything else. We can even discuss how Kennedy’s own actions led to the current governor being unable to quickly nominate a liberal successor.
Today is a day to let his family be.
Grieving children lost their father, and despite everything else I may think, that is what today is about.
eric
[…] died after a lengthy battle with brain canc.Politics Daily – http://www.politicsdaily.com/|||Ted Kennedy Dies | THE TYGRRRR EXPRESSTed Kennedy has died. I am going to triangulate on this one. As much as I was not a fan of his, I am […]
[…] died after a lengthy battle with brain canc.Politics Daily – http://www.politicsdaily.com/|||Ted Kennedy Dies | THE TYGRRRR EXPRESSTed Kennedy has died. I am going to triangulate on this one. As much as I was not a fan of his, I am […]
Very good post. This is not a time to go after the man. I may not agree with him on many things, but he did do some good things and the story with Dan Quayle was a great one to tell on a day like this.
Thats all you have to say about ted when you devoted more to michael jakson thats pretty sick dude.
It’s really the symbolism here that strikes me. It really is the end of an American political era. Kennedy’s generation is now elderly, no longer the power that be. That now falls firmly to the Baby Boomers, who so far have not been up to the task. I fear my generation, “Gen X,” the children of the Baby Boomers, may well be not only not up to the task but seriously deranged and detrimental to our nation. I hope I’m wrong. The Kennedys may have been more myth than substance, but at least it was a nice myth. Even those who demonized them really were demonizing another myth, and that myth hopefully will die with the last of the Kennedys. I don’t really care that much about the Kennedys more hyperbolic detractors’ opinions of them because they are all hypocrits. They mythologize in ridiculous and childish terms everything from our history to all its figures to our current status quo. Teddy Kennedy, to his credit, was much more a realist, a great reconcilor, mediator, and compromiser. Perhaps the last of great Senators of the Old School of statesman-like collegiality and thoughtfulness. He’ll be missed.
JMJ
[…] with the man from Massachusetts, The Tygrrrr Express gives him credit for standing up for an often-ridiculed Republican. The Boston Globe presents a timeline of Kennedy’s […]
Hey rudemarch.
Look at the bright side.
Now the Dead Kennedys can add a new member to their band.
Sorry, I can offer condolences to the family, I know they lost someone they love. I never wished Kennedy any pain or misfortune but I will not miss him.
Mary Jo was as much his fault as was the system that allows selective prosecution based on stature.
Lights up my cigarillo…props my boots up on my desk…he never eva had my respect…I can only pray Mary Jo met him before our Maker. His journey wasn’t good enough to balance out Chappaquiddick and the caller girls say….do da do da do da do….hey babe, take a walk on the wild side (oh yes he did)…as with Jacko whacko…the adulation of the blind well, um, blind them to the truth, when they have but to open their eyes, take a step back, review and stop hopping on the latest go with it media onslaught…free, free, set you free….amen
The Lion Sleeps Tonight…
Senator Edward Kennedy died of brain cancer last evening at the age of 77. Kennedy served in the Senate for 47 years and was the champion of liberal causes. His family name helped propel him to national spotlight and his personal failings prevented h…
[…] Ted Kennedy Dies | THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS tygrrrrexpress.com/2009/08/ted-kennedy-dies – view page – cached Ted Kennedy has died. I am going to triangulate on this one. As much as I was not a fan of his, I am not going to attack him today. I am also unable to — From the page […]
[…] did more for his nation than Ted Kennedy did. Sentiments are pretty much the same with Eric over at Tygrrrr Express, but justly mentions something (only item that can be) positive to Ted Kennedy’s memory: Ted […]