I remain committed to speaking no ill. But I decline to be silent in the face of this piece of moral absurdity from Chicago Tribune op-ed writer Eric Zorn:
This thought experiment invites a question to which there is no nonpartisan answer: Was it just as well that we didn’t — couldn’t — have a media feeding frenzy over Chappaquiddick in 1969? Would the nation have been better off if Kennedy had been shamed into private life?
Or, as I believe, is the nation — particularly our disabled and disadvantaged residents — better off for the 40 years of service he was able to render after that terrible night?
The momentary satisfaction of destroying Ted Kennedy for his failings would have had a significant price. Something to keep in mind when the next fallen figure, Democrat or Republican, stumbles into the heat lamp.
Shorter Zorn: Privileged scions of politically powerful families ought to be given a pass on negligent homicide in the here and now because some day they might make up for it.
Mark Steyn is, if anything, harsher in his judgment of those who render judgment.
Didn’t some of the German generals after WWII use this same sort of logic?
Sure, Hitler killed a lot of Jews. But if England and the US would have made peace with him, we could have avoided the Cold War altogether.
David Thule/
I don’t know about the German Generals, but Pat Buchannan has argued that logic–even wrote a book about it, IIRC.
Not quite that logic, but certainly the concept. Buchanan was right about that, but the die was cast and political chips had already been laid on the table.
This sort of thing just goes to show how blind some people can be and how much they need to believe in Sorelian Myths like Camelot, which, like all Utopias, not only never was but never could be. As Jonah Goldberg explains conclusively in Liberal Fascism, it was completely invented after JFK’s assassination and even the “Great Society” it was used to launch would never have been intended by our 35th President. Ted used the myth to his own purposes and like Steyn points out our nation (stars like VX excluded) more or less allowed ourselves to be hoodwinked. When ugly reality intrudes on cherished “real life” myths some people just can’t take it and the rationalizations then start to go beyond the pale.
And boy I sure want to go on record as TOTALLY associating myself with ALL that Mark Steyn wrote in the linked article. Or, as Kate said over at “smalldeadanimals” : “If they’re going to talk about Camelot, then we get to talk about the Lady in the Lake.”
That was a great article by Steyn. If ever he is in the Raleigh area I would love to hear him in person. His recent challenges (Thought Control) from our friends on our Northern Border made him an even greater person IMO.
If the Kennedy supporters kept to the “dust to dust” bit, I would not be so insulted and might just keep my thoughts about that socialist, murderous SOB to myself. However, were they able to do so his supporters/apologists would probably submit TK for Sainthood (rather doubt the Pope would support that!)
Camelot & Lady in the Lake; witty that, and darned valid.
ProwlerAMDO/
“stars???” LOL!! Walked away, came back, punched “submit” and didn’t notice you here. Are you drunk ALREADY!!
(I know I am) I’m the LAST guy….or maybe that’s EXACTLY what you meant.
Hey, I like your posts. As to whether or not I’m drunk just yet . . .
Oh, and in re Lex’s “shorter Zorn”: Yes, we should give our social and intellectual “bettors” free rein to reign over we poor deluded “enlisted swine.”
OT, but re: …to reign over we poor deluded “enlisted swine.”
I relate to that!
P.J O’Rourke had a comment that applies: The Kennedys didn’t have a weakness as much as they WERE a weakness. Of America.
The desire to adore your leaders is one of the grimmest transgression of republican principles. Citizens may respect, even admire – but never adore. Especially with the sickening idolatry that surrounds the Kennedys.
When you think about:
JFK in Arlington – numerous affairs including MM
RFK in Arlington – at least an affair with JFK’s wife
Teddie in Arlington – - well at least one affair not to mention the Lady in the Lake.
Just truly seems a desecration of Hallowed Ground.
Heroes? Heroes? Makes me gag. If this is what America calls a “hero of our society for all time” as someone just said its time to turn out the lights.
Toss this in: Going behind President Regan’s back to cut deals with the Soviets…
Oh, yeah, it’s bad enough The WON forgets he’s on record on YouTube with his many promises to the public and radical idea to his friends, but back then, the KGB documented lots and lots and lots of stuff.
No matter how many people stand in line at his funeral, or how many people say nice things about him now that he’s gone, he was, after all is said a done, a totally rotten bastard. (The nut doesn’t fall far from the bush. His father was a rotten bastard of the first order also) So now that Teddy-baby has finally assumed “room temperature”, and even though they sing his praises to heaven, he’s still just a dead rotten bastard and we can let it go at that.
What’s for dinner?
PS: “The Lady in The lake” – that’s funny.
You know aside from that one little eensy weensy (dare I say “wee weed up”) mistake in the Ford Theatre in 1865, John Wilkes Booth was a helluva actor, and it’s a damn shame the nation was deprived of the opportunity to watch him act on stage for another 20 years.
I have scorn for Zorn.
Ha! Good point!
Connectivity!
I doubt Ted’s legions of fans will comprehend the parallel circumstances.
Watching briefly the vast, slow-motion train wreck that was Ted Kennedy’s interminable funeral today, I began to speculate — “what is it with these people, standing around, waving American flags [ironic, when Ted Kennedy had so little respect for "duty, honor, country"]? And I remembered a fragment of French from my long-ago study of the language. The French have a phrase about classy, elegant women who entertain themselves with gardeners, pool-boys and the like. The phase is: ‘nostalgie de la boue’ or ‘yearning for the mud,’ meaning, I guess, a perverse fascination with ignoble folks who don’t deserve your serious attention. Like murderers, for instance.
Seems to sort of sum up this turn-out. At least it does for me.
Marianne
Marianne,
I cannot believe that you watch the news at a time like this. All our past experience has shown that whenever a Kennedy falls or a liberal icon passes the news defaults 24/7 for days to nothing but hagiography. Remember what happened when Dan Rather died a couple of months ago? The news was nothing but encomiums to the great journalista and newsman that Dan was. I just turned the tv off and left it off except for the Little League World Series…..
Yeah, I know, it wasn’t Rather it was Mike Wallace or Leslie Stahl or one of those other progressive journalists who’s name escapes me.
Dan Rather passed away? Damn, I missed an opportunity to celebrate the chance to get the truth for a change.
Did you notice that the good catholic priest pontificated so long today that the service for “Ted” ended in darkness this evening? Perhaps a portent for the light in Ted’s afterlife. It is poetic justice. Perhaps Mary Jo should be put in charge of his penance.
I think you mean Walter Whatsesface.
Eh, same difference.
That was Walter Cronkite.
The massive re-writing of history begins. The Lady-in-the-Lake will be lost on history after today. Same with his contacts with the KGB.
BT: Jimmy T sends.
How soon we forget. Five years after Saint Teddy’s midnight swim, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committe Wilbur Mills romped in a fountain with Fanne Foxe a DC ecydsiast and was stopped for drunk driving. Although he was re-elected one more scandal with Ms. Foxed forced him to resign his chairmanship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Mills
both Mills and TK were Democrats, but one was protected by glory of his assassinated brothers and the Camelot mythology. the other had no such protection
Actually, Curtis, I was only trying to get the weather report on Hurricane Danny …
Marianne
Well, Danny passed up along the coast. Started raining here last night and all today. Maybe 3″ or more. Looked like a shallow river running down the street outside my house, and the rainfall was a constant rattling of large, heavy drops. Reminded me of a cow p!ssing on a flat rock.
Discovered that the port bay window had developed a leak. Later on, the starboard one joined in as well.
Supposed to be sunny all day tomorrow and through to next weekend. I have my doubts.
A “lottery” for importing immigrants to our country. Spearheading the immigration of poverty? An annulment to his Catholic marraige after 14 years (give or take) and a couple of kids. Mary Jo?
This man tried for decades to atone for his sins against our country with other people’s money. He damn near ruined his nephew in FL over Spring break. The poor kid had to hide out in Abq. to keep hold of his medical license…
No, I didn’t even venture to the networks to check on the weather… and I live on Long Island!
TK was a pox on our nation.
He was a pox on our country. Our national “leaders” are treated too much like Royalty and look too much like the Politburo of old for my comfort.
One thing that has made me wonder, the Kennedy’s and that whole Camelot thing were a feature of the baby boomer generation, and of course Teddy was right there among them (though a bit older). The same folks that gave us the summer of love, the 1968 Democrat National Convention, Woodstock, made folk singers into rock stars, and let Ralph Nader influence public policy, practically worshipped a family that put the fun into dysfunctional.
Is it just me, or is there a large disconnect between that generation and the generation before and aft? Before we had the vets of World War 2, the folks who put men on the moon and flew century fighters and worked their tails off for a economic boom that lasted twenty years. After them, we had Reagan and another economic boom and the dissolution of the Soviet menace and all that fun stuff.
Yet, what have the boomers given us? I mean, besides sideburns, bell-bottoms, quadraphonic 8-track systems, the Doobie Brothers, and not to mention a $40 trillion dollar obligation towards their retirement? “If it feels good, do it.” Was that not the mantra?
There is something about that generation. I don’t know if it was the fluoride in the water, the remnants of the socialist movement in the early part of the century, or maybe mental scarring from the duck and cover drills in school. It could be something as simple as having no goals, since their forebears had done far more than anybody could have thought possible. Whatever it was, that generation thought only of itself, and thought it fine to do so.
I hate to think it, but the boomers are the only generation in over 200 years to have sent the country backwards. I hate to think it because I’m talking about my own parents here, and their cronies.
I like to think Senator Kennedy, on his deathbed, truly repented for his sins against the country, be they the dependency class he helped create or the leaving of Mary Jo in that Oldsmobile. Should my mother ever meet her great-grandchildren and understand the burden placed upon them by her generation, I like to think she would be sorry. Unfortunately, I’ve no delusion that she or her cronies will feel anything but entitled.
– Max
Max/
You (as do most people) left out MY generational cohort in your analysis–the pre-boomer “War Baby” mini-generation born 1939-1945. We were the (by SAT scores at least) most highly educated generational cohort in the history of man (SAT scores peaked w. class of 1963 and have been in free-fall ever since.)
Sadly, we are usually lumped in with the boomer crowd, as age-wise we are actually closer to the earlier boomers than, say, the later boomer cohort. (The “boomer” cohort is usually measured as being 20-yrs long 45-65, divided into “early” or 1st half and late 2nd half sub-cohorts because of vastly differing financial climates–generally ignored by the general public when they think of the term “boomer” generation–in terms of opportunities and life-cycle prospects despite sharing roughly same cultural outlook/perspective.)
Unfortunately for the nation we were also one of the smallest numerically, so that our effect has been minimal in terms of people of my generation having a major impact on the course of events. We were raised and taught to read in the pre-tv, pre- “sex, drugs and rock and roll” days of late 40s,, early 50s., which is one of the profound differences between us and everything that has followed since. I turned 13 and became a “teenager” the year Elvis first went on national TV–thus more or less grew up and received my foundational development prior to the advent of “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” before it could warp/shape my–or my generation’s–early development and outlook when the all-important foundational shaping takes place, i.e., in a relatively “uncontaminated” atmosphere.
I guess I really realized the profound differences between my upbringing and that of later generations after my son was born in 77 and found out they were listening to rock & roll in pre-school–the continuing all-pervasive nature of the “alternate” life-style as it seeped/seeps into the general culture simply CANNOT be under-estimated. In my day growing up there was children’s music and “adult” music and never the twain shall meet.
Gary Busey (a fave of mine, btw–plays a great “slightly demented/seriously deranged” bad guy) once said: “We went from “How much is that doggie in the window?” to “Blue Suede Shoes” virtually OVERNIGHT one day in 1956. In my youth parents dressed one way and children another. For 40 yr olds–men OR women–to wear jeans was to think the unthinkable. Today much of both the adult and children’s world practically dress alike and listen to the same music, blurring the distinction between the authority of adulthood and the life of the child’s world. Life has never been the same since Elvis–blame it all on him.
The upshot Max, is that if there were more guys like ME from MY generation around–the best educated generation in history– the world would be a far, far, better place.
(PS-OTOH, If you TRULY believe that more of the likes of ME would REALLY be helpful to this world, we are in FAR worse trouble–MASSIVELY SO–than even the most pessimistic of doomsayer’s predictions.
)
Yeah… what you said, VX. I was born in 1945 and absolutely, positively bristle whenever someone, anyone, lumps me in with the Boomers.
But OTOH… didn’t the Boomers give us these here inter-tubes? We couldn’t be kicking ol’ TK’s carcass around without ‘em (the inter-tubes).
Yikes. As someone who graduated undergrad in 2003 I’m truly afraid what MY generation will do to this country. To be completely frank and honest I’ve noticed a massive difference in responsibility and work ethic between the people I know my age inside and outside the military, with those in the latter group having those qualities and those in the former having them to only a much, much smaller degree, if at all. Sadly, the military is what, about a few percent of the population? Those who serve certainly won’t be the swing vote in any election or the cultural drivers of society (although this may not necessarily be a bad thing.)
The thing I’ve noticed with my generation is that there’s nothing really outwardly bad about them, they’re not mean-spirited in the least, and they certainly want to do “good.” But there’s something cheap and easy about what good is for them, little beyond holding a view they didn’t formulate themselves but perhaps gleaned from MTv or a college class, half of which don’t even assign homework anymore (outside of engineering, the hard sciences and medicine), and which doesn’t require any actual action from them beyond maybe recycling. And certainly requires no sacrifice, unless you consider attending festivals or concerts sacrifices. They are incredibly self indulgent, seeing nothing wrong with partying and drinking and screwing their way through life and not really doing anything meaningful because, hey, it isn’t harming anyone right? They also feel entitled. Half of them take five or six years to finish a four year basket-weaving degree, taking so long because liberal arts colleges are little more than year long summer camps filled with sex, drugs, and booze binging. They go to socialist/multi-cultural indoctrination classes, come out hard left, dumber than when they entered, no work ethic (if anything work was invented by dead white males to propagate racism or keep the poor oppressed or some such codswallop), and a feeling like the world owes them something because they are so brilliant and amazing despite their lack of any accomplishment (surely a result of the confidence over learning approach in grade schools now). I fear the boomer generation won’t be the only one to set the country back, but of course I hope I’m dead, flat wrong (which, fortunately, I often am . . .)
There was a hurricane?
Another mighty wind has passed without notice.
A great article from Mark Steyn. Oh how the left would eulogize the ‘Lion’, or was it ‘Lyin’, of the Senate.
Soooo glad I’m not the one stepping up to the bar for this guy. I’d pay money to see the meet-up between Teddy and Mary Jo in the hereafter, and how he’d explain that momentous night to her. “Well, it was you or me, kid, and, after all, I’m sure you understand, I had a career and family name to protect. Besides, what would you really have done with your life?”
I always wondered how we could, as a nation, be so complicit in such a despicable act as to let this slimeball go unpunished (ah, naive lad that I was), but the worst of it is that, in doing so, we gave license to further criminal debauchery and abuse by Kennedy himself and members of the family.
I’m mindful of a line from the movie Steel Magnolias – “That man is a boil on the a$$ of society!” Seems to fit…
I suspect being locked in a small space that ever slow slowly allows the seepage of water, done, time and time again, might be something FOR ALL ETERNITY to not enjoy so much. With a window and an unaged pretty campaign aide with a nice comfy easy chair on the other side of the thick, unbreakable glass, sipping a mint julep (or adult beverage of choice)….Ahhhh…consider the rising fear and the gasping for breath, the damaged hands from trying to claw your way out….
It’s a Promethean thing…Teddy might not have gotten it before, but, maybe, just maybe, with some water filling his alligator skin designer shoes and wicking up his socks, he now may thing there was a better decision to make.
Mongo/
Erm, about that “meet-up” between Teddy boy and Mary-Jo–I’m thinkin’ that it’s probably gonna have to be a long-distance call….
Oh, I think the logistics will be handled perfectly for a “face to face.” You know, nothing is impossible…:)
I’m sure there’s even something with higher bandwidth and beyond “augmented reality” as we are now playing with to be put into play across the very great divide…
I keep thinking of the the idea of “banality of evil.” It’s a good guess that none of the people lauding TK in the kind of absurd matter the linked writer does are going around killing women or torturing people, or committing some other horrific crime. But to so thoroughly spindle and mutilate morality in order to write/say what they have about TK takes a lack of moral compass that is deeply disturbing to find in so many of my fellow citizens. I think also of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters–most of the people glorifying TK would think themselves good members of society. I suppose they are, but what kind of soul can write/say the kinds of things they have?
I’ve also been thinking of a friend of mine who was horrifically abused by her father. He was/is an obstetrician and dearly beloved by his patients and community. Were it known what he did to his daughter so many years ago, he’d lose his license, not to mention the prison time. I shudder to think of it, but writers such as the one quoted above (if they were consistent) would say “but think of all the mothers and babies who would not have benefited from his tremendous skill and devotion had his “personal demons” been discovered early in his career? Would they dare say, “perhaps she would not mind suffering in silence as she did, knowing all the good he has done since then?”
I feel dirty and nauseous just for writing that paragraph. Truly. How TK’s apologist sleep at night is beyond me.
That last bit about “not ind suffering” was a reference to this: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmFlNTY3ODNkYzI5ZjI3ZmY1MWE2NDZjNGFhMmZiMzk=
Laura Bush
You’re repeating yourself, Alos. And you’ve already been answered.
Beat me too it FbL!
Heh. Well, I see I can safely leave you on patrol while I go bicycling (before it gets up into the 100s around here again).
It’s probably for the best, as I’m feeling the urge to wrestle with pigs, and we all know how that ends up…
In all seriousness, this is just disgusting. I need to go air out my soul in some off-roading.
The fact you find moral congruence between two traffic fatalities, means you have to conveniently ignore the circumstances before and after. It is in those quite different paths that the fundamental differences in character are revealed. You either are ignorant of them, or choose to ignore them. Neither of your choices contribute to the debate.
More proof that Ann Coulter is right.
How many women have you slept with? I’m guessing most “men” on this board are in single digits.
Alos/
And the point is?
Alos, I can see now that I’ve misunderstood you all along, my apologies.
Now run along and play, dear. The grown ups are talking.
Wow. I’ve never met anyone who worshipped Wilt Chamberlin before. I realize people have different ideas of a “higher power”, but that is at least two standard deviations beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
You are confusing “men”, with “gentlemen”. Most here are the latter, and wouldn’t dignify that coarseness with an answer.
Two quite different views, one from the reliable apologist for all things Democratic, Eleanor Clift:
A quite different view from Grover Norquist:
I guess I can’t get past two thoughts. The first is, all of the adulation being laid at his feet, is for his ability to deliver succor to one class, at the expense of another. Kinda like Bonhoffer’s idea of cheap grace, it doesn’t quite have the impact of Bill Gates’ philanthropy.
The second is, once again, the reminder that I have a different view of honor than most of the nation. Probably it come from being the product of one of the toughest honor codes in the country. TK’s life was filled with dishonorable acts — from his suspension at Harvard over academic cheating, to all of the other references made here previously. When the core is that rotten, and demonstrated repeatedly over a lifetime, then I find nothing to honor. Did he perform great political acts, with long reaching impact? Absolutely. Is he someone to honor? Well, the unanimous judgement, inside this skin, is no. But just like the almost singular idea that lying to the people you lead, is grounds for forfeiting the right to lead them, it is anachronistic in my generation.
SCOTT/
There will always be people like you around with a seemingly genetically-driven innate sense of honor often reinforced by strong parental influences. The problem is that whereas in previous years the overall structure of society served to reinforce those attributes and transmit them throughout the culture such that many to whom such things did not come naturally came to understand through magnified, reinforced and publicly honored examples that such attitudes were healthy and indeed not only preferred but demanded by society at large–and to be expected of each individual if he were to consider himself to contribute positively to the social endeavor.
Now, however, with each passing day the cultural matrix only serves to suppress, degrade and even mock such attributes; so that only those far fewer individuals to whom such things come naturally remain–with a commensurate lessening of influence. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics moves apace…. Tough to put the toothpaste back into the tube….entropy cannot be reversed….it ain’t gonna get any better…just look at the last 60-yr trend line….
(hunkered down with my Barbancourt)
How can a person atone for a sin or crime if they never admitted it actually occurred? TK should have never had the political career he got with his family’s money and power. It was bought for him by them, just as the presidency and his wife were bought for JFK. TK enjoyed a full life – something he denied to Mary Jo Kopechne. It is said he was the champion of the little people – I’m willing to be the Kopechne’s never saw it that way.
Ted Kennedy. The poster child for term limits. Nuff Sed.