I suppose, since I am a "liberal" (a word attached to any sane person by today's insane Republicans), I should write a long laudatory note about the late Teddy Kennedy, who died last night. Well, fuck that. What I remember most about Teddy was how he sucked up all of Jimmy Carter's campaign cash with a hard-fought primary campaign in 1980 that he had absolutely no chance of winning because of his own demons of rum and women, and contributed to the election of that bastard Ronald Reagan, who dismantled the New Deal systems that had led to the greatest gains in prosperity for the average American that this nation had ever known. Teddy Kennedy was an ego in search of an agenda, a liberal out of habit rather than conviction, the best you can say is that, unlike most politicians today, he was not a monster who wanted to enrich the elites at the expense of children and the working man. Sad to say, that made him a giant amongst today's politicians but then, it is not difficult to be a giant amongst pygmies.
I'm not saying that Teddy Kennedy was a bad man. He wasn't. He was a flawed man, but who isn't. I'm just not much for all the idealizing bullshit that goes around whenever a prominent politician dies. At least with Teddy it's not like the bullshit that happened when Richard Nixon died (Hunter S. Thompson's was the only honest obituary there), but sheesh. Let's get real, okay?
-- Badtux the Grumpy Penguin
BT - if I had been writing the blog, I could have listed a LOT more personal and congressional failings of Teddy. That would have missed the point.
ReplyDeleteNobody - and I mean NOBODY came close in terms of authoring AND passing health care legislation, No one came close in promoting AND passing educational reform legislation. None of those laws were as comprehensive as we need. But TK rose above party politics trying to get things done - getting the MOST he could in the climate that year in DC. And he did it, year after year, decade after decade with who was there, finding common ground and building on it.
He did not mark time in office - he got things done - imperfect things, to be sure. GO back in the annals of American history, my floppy-footed friend, and find ANYONE who has accomplished half as much.
The funny thing is, despite being The Devil Incarnate to many of the tighty righties, he was consistently named as the most bipartisan Senator by his peers. He reached across the aisle with a frequency unheard of in today's hyper-partisan times. Still, despite all his educational bills, I have a hard time forgiving him for his compromise on No Child's Behind Left, without which that wretched bill probably never would have passed.
ReplyDeleteBTW, thanks for the link to Herr Doktor's vicious takedown of Nixon. I read it when it first came out, but hadn't seen it in years. Truly, a work of art. Thompson lost a lot off his fastball in the later years, but he was in top form for that one. The Devil Was Dead, he needed to be given his due, and HST was up to the task. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Herr Penguin, blaming Kennedy for Carter's loss is kinda like blaming Nader for Gore's loss. Both ran inept campaigns and did way more damage to themselves than anyone else ever did. Carter was the ultimate nanny-state symbol. Christ, the Republicans couldn’t have created any better example than sweater-wearing, 55 mph Carter. I lived in the Midwest then and let me tell you, trips through 3 states to visit family are horrible experiences under any circumstances – but at 55? I’d rather have root canal without anesthesia.
ReplyDeleteUhm, "Anonymous", the National Maximum Speed Law in the United States was a provision of the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act. When *RICHARD NIXON* was President, let me remind you in case you're an idiot. And the stagflation that typified most of Carter's administration was a factor in the 1976 election, when President Gerald Ford's "solution" to inflation was idiotic "Whip Inflation Now" buttons -- at the same time that he had his tame Republican Federal Reserve chairman printing dollars with all the abandon of a Weimar Republic central banker in an attempt to inflate the economy into prosperity so he could win. It took Paul Volker and a lot of pain to get inflation under control, and that "lot of pain" was not something that did Carter's electoral chances any good either.
ReplyDeleteCarter's biggest problem was of course the situation in Iran. Regardless, Teddy had no chance of winning either the nomination or the Presidency if he won the nomination, and stabbing Carter in the back was not good for anybody.
Bad Tux: I DID NOT SAY Carter passed the legislation for a reason. I know he didn't. But Carter went out of his way to defend the 55mph speed limit and made it abundantly clear it would not be raised on his watch. There is a reason Reagan pounded that into the ground on the campaign trail and conservative activists hung it around Carters neck.
ReplyDeleteCome the primaries in 2012 if we’re still mired in Iraq and Afghanistan are you gonna give Obama a pass on those two wars? After all he inherited them so how unfair is it to identify them with his administration?
My hunch is you’ll hang them around Obama’s neck (correctly) just as the 55 mph speed limit was hung around Carter’s neck 6 years after it was passed by Nixon.
Someone had to say it.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, I was thinking that a little bit too (and "No Child Left") as the sadness overwhelmed me intermittently .
But it pales in significance . . . .
Thanks again to my favorite penguin philosopher!
S
HST forever!
What I remember most about Teddy was how he sucked up all of Jimmy Carter's campaign cash with a hard-fought primary campaign in 1980 that he had absolutely no chance of winning because of his own demons of rum and women, and contributed to the election of that bastard Ronald Reagan, who dismantled the New Deal systems that had led to the greatest gains in prosperity for the average American that this nation had ever known.
Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, Teddy wasn't much of a President picker.
ReplyDeleteTo those who haven't been voting in Presidential elections since 1964, like I have, Teddy not only sucked up money, he didn't help the ticket in the election, and that suppressed turn out.
A lot of Democrats didn't vote, and many went for John Anderson.
Teddy thought it was his turn, and wouldn't be dissuaded.
In 1976, The Greatest Politician There Ever Was, St. Ronnie Himself, primaried Ford, and took his campaign all the way to the first ballot at the convention.
ReplyDeleteDon't hear much about him costing Ford the election.
Winners write the history.
Ford lost the election because he pardoned Nixon and inflation was whipping everybody's butt. Everybody knows that's why Ford lost the election -- *not* Reagan. Carter's loss in 1980 was more complex, though the biggest reason by far was the Iran mess. Still, Kennedy didn't help at all...
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Electoral Penguin