And so, the last brother of that mythical generation of Kennedys is gone, and of the children of Joe and Rose, only Jean Kennedy Smith remains. After the death of his brothers, and until the election of Obama, Teddy Kennedy was the iconic American liberal. We always like to say that it's the "end of an era" when a historically significant figure passes, but in Sen. Kennedy's case, it really is true. Whatever else one might say about him, Ted Kennedy was a survivor. He endured the rise and fall of American conservatism, though he did not live to see his signature issue -- health care for all -- become a reality. I thought this bit from the NYT obit was spot-on:
He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.
Kennedy was a figure of novelistic tragedy. All the potential for greatness he possessed he squandered because of his inability to transcend his own all too human weaknesses. Chappaquiddick was only the worst of it. He did, of course, achieve a kind of greatness, and one shouldn't try to take that away from him. But it's hard to think of him this morning without thinking about what might have been had he been able to bear the burden of history and his slain brothers' legacies. He could have done so much more with what he had been given. He was a Kennedy. RIP.
UPDATE: And what he did to Judge Bork is one of his most noxious legacies.
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Yet Bob Bork turned out to be the prevaricating radical activist and loveless occultist he was charged with being.
Wow, even in death, Ted Kennedy through his minions lashes out at a thoroughly decent man who was dishonorably treated by the deceased.
To anyone who knows anything other than what People for the American Way has spoon-fed you, Robert Bork was a brilliant and thoroughly mainstream legal mind. A former assistant solicitor general once noted to me that, in his long experience, Bork gave the only oral argument in a Supreme Court case that ever changed the Court's mind (the case was an antitrust case, an area in which Bork is an acknowledged expert).
To the extent your comments are worth dignifying with an answer, Bork resigned from the federal bench after his failed nomination to the SCOTUS, so there is absolutely no basis whatsoever to subsequently call him a "radical activist."
He is also a faithful Catholic convert, so your charge of "loveless occultist" is a libel--to the extent it has any meaning whatsoever.
Re: Wow, even in death, Ted Kennedy through his minions lashes out at a thoroughly decent man who was dishonorably treated by the deceased.
Judge Bork is on public record as stating that the Ninth Amendment is nothing but an "Ink stain" on the Constitution. A judge who feels that way about any portion of the Bull of Rights has no business coming anywhere near the Supreme Court.
A judge who feels that way about any portion of the Bull (Bill?) of Rights has no business coming anywhere near the Supreme Court.
Lets see how our wise Latina deals with 2nd amendment issue and get back to me!
Judge Bork is on public record as stating that the Ninth Amendment is nothing but an "Ink stain" on the Constitution. A judge who feels that way about any portion of the Bull of Rights has no business coming anywhere near the Supreme Court.
You continue the frankly creepy attacks on Judge Bork. And like most such attacks, yours is rooted in staggering ignorance.
What Bork wrote was that the Ninth Amendment was like an "ink blot" because, in his view, its meaning is so indeterminate that there is no sure way to apply it. What he went on to say is that if some other words of a law were actually covered with an ink blot, we wouldn't want judges making up law by guessing what words were under the blot.
Your command of jurisprudence? Epic fail.
thomas tucker: is that the obituary equivalent of the back-handed compliment? I think it would have been better if you truly had not said anything.
I indeed said nothing.
Except: requiescat in pace. You might have said as much.
But noblesse oblige, and I therefore accept your ignoble rebuke.
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