Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Lest we forget...

Ted Kennedy died last night at 77. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom a couple weeks ago by President Obama. We will be hearing what a wonderful man he was; what a leader; a true hero. Lest we forget, he was also the coward responsible for the death of a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne back in 1969. To me it's a classic story of a rich, no-longer young asshole (he was married with three kids) who just couldn't believe that something this bad could happen to him. And, in fact, it was pretty well covered up. To the point that Mr. Obama disgraced the Medal of Freedom by giving it to him. Anyone else would have been at least arrested and tried for manslaughter; Kennedy lost his driving privileges for a few months. Of course he did have his chauffeur; the same guy who gave him the keys to the car the night Mary Jo died.

The White House blog says "Sen. Edward Kennedy is one of the longest-serving and greatest Senators of all time. He has worked tirelessly for health care reform over the last five decades." Yeah, sure. That's why our health care system is in such wonderful shape now.

I should be thankful; at least he didn't get to be President!

Take care; it's dangerous out there (unless you are very wealthy).

2 comments:

Croft said...

The Dreamer is less important than the Dream itself. I think the objectives the Senator fought for his whole life are things we all desire was well. These include the right to a decent education, civil rights, the right to organize and affordable health care. I understand these goals have not yet been reached but I appreciate the efforts Senator Kennedy made in this fight.

I agree that Kennedy made some unfortunate choices and was not perfect but I also believe he came a long way towards making up for these indiscretions, serious as they were.

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream will never die."
-Ted Kennedy

Don, we are lucky that we can disagree without being disagreeable ;) I will enjoy discussing all of this with you over a glass of wine next time we are in your area!

Croft said...

I look forward to meeting you Don, thanks for the invitation and I am sure we can find lots to talk about. Not sure when it will be, maybe not on the way down. Our housesitter will be a bit delayed getting out of the Yukon so we might just head straight down I-5 into Mexico but we shall see.... Our plans change like the flight of a hummingbird!