U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy dies at 77

[jdobbin]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32491712/

BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate and haunted bearer of the Camelot torch after two of his brothers fell to assassins' bullets, has died at his home in Hyannis Port after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.

There has been very little legislation in the U.S. that didn't have Kennedy's involvement in it.

Certainly, a terrible loss for the Democratic party and for the Kennedy family coming on the heels of his sister's death.

[Topaz]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32491712/

There has been very little legislation in the U.S. that didn't have Kennedy's involvement in it.

Certainly, a terrible loss for the Democratic party and for the Kennedy family coming on the heels of his sister's death.

I agree and if you are a baby-boomer, then you probably lived through what the Kennedy family had to deal with during the 60's especially. My heart goes out to Caroline, she's lost so many people in her short life but especially Ted, her second father.

[Pliny]

Goodbye Ted!

I think he feels assured that America is safe in the hands of Obama and he can pass on peacefully. Otherwise he would still be hanging in there.

[DogOnPorch]

End of an era.

[bush_cheney2004]

End of an era.

End of a second era....the first ended with Mary Jo Kopechne.

[DogOnPorch]

End of a second era....the first ended with Mary Jo Kopechne.

Ah yes...my first taste of what real politics was like.

[jdobbin]

Ah yes...my first taste of what real politics was like.

It will remain a stain in his life. After all that I've read about the incident, questions remain.

Still, some Republicans such as Nancy Reagan are remembering the relationship her husband had with Kennedy as a man and a legislator.

[bush_cheney2004]

Senator Kennedy worked hard, played hard, drank deeply, and liked to sing. He made a weak presidential run at Jimmy Carter in 1980, but he knew his fate had been sealed long before that. Even in life he could never be what Jack and Bobby were in death.

[Guest American Woman]

I've had mixed feelings about Ted Kennedy since Mary Jo Kopechne. I know he's done a lot of good for a lot of people, but I don't see how that can diminish what happened. Still, I'm sure his death will be a loss to many. The Kennedy family sure hasn't had an easy life in spite of 'fame and fortune.'

[Topaz]

How would any of us reacted to the stresses the and the pressures Ted Kennedy had to endure? He wasn't perfect, he did admitted his mistakes and his regrets but in the end he did prove to be a great stateman and human being.

[bush_cheney2004]

How would any of us reacted to the stresses the and the pressures Ted Kennedy had to endure? He wasn't perfect, he did admitted his mistakes and his regrets but in the end he did prove to be a great stateman and human being.

Many of us would not have cheated in college, committed criminal vehicular homicide, or covered for a relative accused of sexual assault. Many "great statesmen" have managed to do well without such behavior either.

[lictor616]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32491712/

There has been very little legislation in the U.S. that didn't have Kennedy's involvement in it.

Certainly, a terrible loss for the Democratic party and for the Kennedy family coming on the heels of his sister's death.

A necessary development.

Ted Kennedy was diseased traitor to his people and country and has been behind every piece of legislation who's aim was only to injure the american people.

Consider only the ENORMOUS havoc and ruin caused by his infamous Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which switched the entire nation off of the road towards harmony and racial progress and unto the ruinous track of anti-white bigotry and multiculturalism.

He also was involved in many schemes to scrap many military projects that had potentials to shorten the cold war. he was a communist defector and sold secrets in 1974 to the soviets to build his campaign for president in 1976... and continued after his failure. In 1978, teddy boy requested the assistance of the KGB to establish a relationship between the Soviet apparatus and a firm owned by former Sen. John Tunney...

When he decided to run for president in 1976, the prostitutes in the media relentlessly boosted and promoted him and even declared him a winner before the election campaign even got under way! The media and crypto-communists in the US were peeing down their legs with joy. Of course, Ted was a political failure and a nincompoop incapable of regimenting anything and his campaign was a catastrophe. He managed to loose to yet another flunky of the left: Carter! who destroyed him.

As a family man he was equally a disaster, a drunken parvenu who (like clinton) sent out members of the secret service to scout whores for him. His wife was interned countless times for alcoholism and "emotional strain" of having to live with such a diseased degenerate.

It's truly a pity that there is no such thing as a hell to put this foul wretch possibly in the same furnace with his father and the other two.

Personally i'll be taking this momentous and splendid news to remember one of the many victims of teddy Kennedy, Mary Jo Kopechne.

Yes loosing Teddy boy Kennedy was more like flushing a toilet then anything else.

Another roadblock toward progress gone. Good riddance I say.

[Guest American Woman]

How would any of us reacted to the stresses the and the pressures Ted Kennedy had to endure? He wasn't perfect, he did admitted his mistakes and his regrets but in the end he did prove to be a great stateman and human being.

Kennedy returned to his hotel following the crash, placed a number of phone calls, but did not report the accident to the Massachusetts State Police for more than nine hours. An autopsy later revealed that Kopechne had survived for up to an hour in a small air pocket that had formed inside the car. It was widely believed that she would have survived had the accident been reported earlier. link

If you think that "stresses" and "pressures" excuse how Kennedy "reacted" that night, you'd best be prepared to give Republicans/Conservatives the same benefit of the doubt for the "stresses and the pressures" that they've "had to endure."

[jdobbin]

I've had mixed feelings about Ted Kennedy since Mary Jo Kopechne. I know he's done a lot of good for a lot of people, but I don't see how that can diminish what happened. Still, I'm sure his death will be a loss to many. The Kennedy family sure hasn't had an easy life in spite of 'fame and fortune.'

It doesn't diminish what happened most certainly. It has been this type of egregious event that sparked better crash investigation, laws on leaving the scene of an accident and treating death as a result of accidents as crimes. It also put a spotlight on how the famous and powerful are often treated by police.

I don't think anyone forgot what happened. Certainly some never forgave what happened. However, he lived a life of public service till his death. And for that alone he will be remembered.

[jdobbin]

Another roadblock toward progress gone. Good riddance I say.

Not everyone one can be like Lyndon Larouche.

[scorpio]

It doesn't diminish what happened most certainly. It has been this type of egregious event that sparked better crash investigation, laws on leaving the scene of an accident and treating death as a result of accidents as crimes. It also put a spotlight on how the famous and powerful are often treated by police.

I don't think anyone forgot what happened. Certainly some never forgave what happened. However, he lived a life of public service till his death. And for that alone he will be remembered.

well said

[Shady]

Kennedy returned to his hotel following the crash, placed a number of phone calls, but did not report the accident to the Massachusetts State Police for more than nine hours. An autopsy later revealed that Kopechne had survived for up to an hour in a small air pocket that had formed inside the car. It was widely believed that she would have survived had the accident been reported earlier. link

Sounds as if Mary Jo Kopechne was waterboarded in a way. But at least with regular waterboarding, the suspect doesn't die. :angry:

[Moonlight Graham]

Ted may have had what seemed to be a troubled past, but i say he was one of the damn luckiest of all the Kennedy's. Mary Jo Kopechne probably saved his life! He went to have a nice long life instead of a bullet to the head.

RIP Ted, say hi to Marylin for me.

[Topaz]

Many of us would not have cheated in college, committed criminal vehicular homicide, or covered for a relative accused of sexual assault. Many "great statesmen" have managed to do well without such behavior either.

Can you save these comments for Cheney and Bush passing?

[bush_cheney2004]

Can you save these comments for Cheney and Bush passing?

Sure...no problem. They actually were elected two terms as President and Vice President !

[BubberMiley]

Sure...no problem. They actually were elected two terms as President and Vice President !

I love it when people are forced to crow about victories from long ago because they’ve since been complete and total losers. But if election and reelection are truly clues to a person’s credibility, then I guess Ted was among the best.

[bush_cheney2004]

I love it when people are forced to crow about victories from long ago because they’ve since been complete and total losers. But if election and reelection are truly clues to a person’s credibility, then I guess Ted was among the best.

He was the best...just like Senators Byrd or Helms, but never caught the Big One. He was self limiting.....and could never rise above his own flaws.

Ted Kennedy's "victories" go back to at least 1962.....that's a lot of historical crowing...LOL!

[capricorn]

I've always thought of Ted Kennedy as an unsavoury character whose enemies didn't see it necessary to assassinate him. I think his huge popularity is due to his survival in not having met the same fate as his brothers.

[August1991]

I've always thought of Ted Kennedy as....

Whenever I have thought of Ted Kennedy, I have always thought of National Lampoon and the phrase: "I'll drive off that bridge when I come to it."

The man is dead, and it is ill fitting to speak ill of the dead. But Ted Kennedy, more than his brothers, got his kick at the can.

[Guest American Woman]

It doesn't diminish what happened most certainly. It has been this type of egregious event that sparked better crash investigation, laws on leaving the scene of an accident and treating death as a result of accidents as crimes. It also put a spotlight on how the famous and powerful are often treated by police.

I don't think anyone forgot what happened. Certainly some never forgave what happened. However, he lived a life of public service till his death. And for that alone he will be remembered.

He most certainly did live a life of public service until his death, and he did do a lot of fighting for peoples' rights. He certainly has done a lot of good, and Obama has lost a huge supporter for health care reform in Kennedy's death. It's just difficult for me to dismiss the death that occurred as a result of his actions., but then it's something he had to live with all of his life, and I don't imagine that was easy.

I suppose it's 'the way of things' sometimes when people have done good deeds along with the bad; the good is what they are remembered for and judged by. Another example would be Schindler, who is loved by many Jews in spite of his having been a member of the Nazi party. He's certainly seems to be remembered only as a hero.