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Aquarian
Weekly 10/21/09
REALITY CHECK
READERS RESPONSES
Editor's Note: EDWARD MOORE KENNEDY -- 1932 -- 2009 -- Issue:
9/2/09 provoked the most responses in the long, sordid history
of Reality Check; not only to The Desk's mail box, but the Aquarian
Weekly's post (which you should contribute to each week at http://www.theaquarian.com/category/features/columns/)
and Reality Check's most recent home, The Huffington Post. "My
hope was to approach H.L Mencken's obit on William Jennings Bryan
and Hunter S. Thompson's post-mortem to Richard Nixon, two of
the meanest pieces written in the English language." Here is just
a sample of your feedback:
James,
When
you nail it on the head, you nail it on the head. Good for you
for articulating what many of us were thinking.
Puddychris
That's
absolutely the most honest article I've read on Teddy. I couldn't
have worded it better. Glad to see someone kick the rock over
that he hid under for so long.
JR
I
do not understand this climate from what seems to be a growing
number of people who feel that if you do not agree with someone
that the person must be TRASHED and any accomplishments that they
have must be BELITTLED, DENIGRATED, or RIDICULED. We used to disagree
respectfully and work for compromise instead of trying to KILL
the opposition. I know that all of this is not a Christian concept,
which supposedly is a strong value that several of these same
people claim is most important to the founding and working of
this country. I certainly pray that when I die that all of my
failings are not listed on a large placard for my funeral with
only a footnote added that I might have done some good and repented
from my sins and tried to recover to a better life after sinning.
Much of the rhetoric I see today from the conservative group only
underlines the profound IGNORANCE spewing from the mouths of those
from a failed educational system. For a wise, EDUCATED person
can weigh both sides, disagree respectfully, and work for consensus
and peace.
M.
Short
James,
I
heard a good one the other day. Teddy-Boy was the Kennedy clan's
Fredo. Sonny and Michael (Jack and Bobby) had brains, ambition
and the wherewithal to get it done......Fredo (Teddy-Boy) was
the running joke.
I
do hope Mary Jo upon seeing Ted does indeed kick him in the nads
twice and then finishes him with a vicious upper cut.
Good
column as usual, my friend.
Peace,
Bill Roberts
Well
done, sir. Maybe the most vicious and beautiful closing statement
I have ever read.
Doctor
James,
You
forget the MANY things Ted did in his day job: Anti-Apartheid
Sanctions over Reagan's wishes, AIDS funding during the same period,
opposition to the "secret wars" in Nicaragua and Salvador, the
American's with Disabilities Act, Title 9 funding for women's
sports, voted AGAINST Iraq War, pushed for funding for 9/11 victims
med care, championed Obama, giving the candidate extra push to
the top. Yes, he fucked up many times, and his name saved his
ass from prison, and gave him a career, but to be fair, he did
much good.
Chris
Barrera
Jim,
Finally
something political we agree on!
Kim
Cercena
But
other then all that... he was a good guy, right? ;)
Bo
Blaze
Jim
,
Don't
mince words... Did you like this guy or not?
Kevin
McCormick
This
article is so one sided I am surprised it hasn't fallen off the
side of the page. While the story about the loss of an innocent
girls life at Chappaquiddick is true, there is no mention of all
the lives he saved by being one of the major forces behind the
Irish peace process. Furthermore there is no mention of all his
other political achievements the main one being, chosen by his
own electorate for 47 years. In most balanced articles a good
journalist would include both sides and let the public decide.
In this one it's obvious the journalist in question has an agenda.
When you tell it as it is you must tell both sides in order to
be objective.
Alan
Lawes
James
-
This
Kennedy was mediocre at best; the deepest, slimiest sleaze ball
hypocrite at worst, though I know better adjectives exist out
there to describe his utter lack of integrity, character and intelligence.
Your article says it all. That anyone could even think about lauding
him, on any level, or pretend to for the sake of form or history,
suggests that we are still in deep trouble. I'm trying to remember
the circles of hell in Dante's inferno and which one a man of
such weasleness would descend to.
He
was not his brothers.
bldg
#2
Brilliant
summary of Ted's curriculum vitae; I found your uncharacteristic
niceness perfectly logical, given his then-oh-so-recent passing--to
be a bit more than even his memory deserves. I personally had
written him off as a bitter and frightened man, wearing the mask
of royal ancestry, haunted by [as you mentioned] the thuggery
which bought the crown he seemed to wear so reluctantly. For an
enlightening view of the commoners who worshiped the Kennedys
long after Camelot had been sacked, see "The Moth" episode where
Michaela Murphy describes a typical summer day on a Hyannis port
beach, as the adults spy and comment on the storied family, appropriately
titled The Kennedy Obsession: http://www.prx.org/pieces/37745-moth-radio-hour-1
Brad
Morrison
Glass
houses... do not throw stones!!!
We
are human, and no one is perfect. Those in the spot light just
get "magnified" for even the slightest infraction of 'perfect
person syndrome' as compared to the everyday "goings on" in the
general public. The good deeds and sacrifices that have been achieved
(for us) by this family far out way their 'human errors' in my
opinion. Why I am even responding to such ignorance could be an
error in judgment on my part... but so be it!!
Liz
Wow
-- have you no shame? We all have warts -- you should let the
guy rest in peace. What will they write about you on your last
day? Perhaps that you were mean spirited and unkind. Get a heart
man.
MEC
Reputations
precede us and the truth hurts! Karma is also a bitch.
VN8
How sad that to gain "fame", one must trash another person. Edward
Kennedy was no saint, but few humans are. He lost more than 1/2
of his family by the time he was in his mid 30's. He could have
easily retired and merely sailed for the rest of his life. Instead
he chose public service -- writing and endorsing over 100 laws
that aid nearly all Americans at a point in one's life. So, please,
Mr. Campion, never take FMLA, do not allow any female member of
your family to obtain a mammogram, or partake of any of the many
other services that were initiated or endorsed by Senator Kennedy.
Thus, you can then really ignore his significance.
VAC
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