Not a fan of his but I hope he's ok. The Kennedy family has had their share of bad fortune.

He was 30 years old when he dedicated his life to serving in the U.S. Senate, an amazing tenure. A real public servant. My heart goes out to his family.

What amazes me is that I have yet to hear anyone make a Chappaquidick joke about this. Then again, I haven't been to Michelle Malkin's site today. Well, he's had a mixed career but he's been an important contrarian voice the last several years. I hope treatment goes well.

"The Good Guys" - please … I agree with his politics but personally this guy a fat, red faced alcoholic who killed a woman and got a way with it because he's a Kennedy.

I hope this doesn't sound insensitive, but I have to say, he's 76 years old and has had a very full life. Maybe he's "in good spirits" because he feels accomplished and at peace. I hope at his age, I can deal with news like this the same way.

Terri Schiavo and Mary Jo Kopechne cases along with many aborted children have come to HIGH court ruling.

My thoughts exactly, Smissy.

Guys, it could be months.
He's my senator and while I haven't always agreed with him, he's a strong soldier against the Evil Republicans that want to run this country, turn the Middle Class into their serfs, starve the lower class and make gobs of money for their rich friends and supporters. Who is anyone kidding? The Republican Conservatives want to destroy this country. And, it takes a man with a big mouth and balls to fight them and that's been Kennedy. If, God forbid, anything happens to him, I hope his heir apparent is his nephew, Joe. He would do his father, his uncle Jack and his Uncle Ted proud.

hms, don't forget that we evil Republicans eat babies for dessert too….

No, you just make sure that they are born and then don't want to have the state pay for their support.

Be A, I prefer to eat babies for brunch, and toddlers for dessert, preferably with fava beans and a nice Chianti. But I'm a Canadian liberal, so obviously there are party differences.

Fight On Senator!
regardless of any personal feelings anyone might have toward him … he has been a great fighter for The People for a very long time. We need a whole lot more with his Spirit to take these NeoCon Repugnants out of Government

He drove a woman into a lake and left her there to drown. He didn't even bother to call anyone until the next day.

The good guys?

Or what Smissy said.

Yeah, he's a real fucking hero.

hms I'm as socially liberal as one can get, I'm not the one throwing around generalizations- you are. Last I checked this was a gossip site so take your hatred- for either party- elsewhere

stay classy mollygooders :(

Be Adequite, maybe you should take your hatred elsewhere. Hms is free to talk about politics on a… DUH… political post. And isn't this site about raising gossip from such a low culture? Just because it is a gossip site, doesn't mean you can't ever state something with substance.
Also, I agree with Hms. Instead of basing Ted Kennedy's entire character on one incident, Hms judged him on what Ted Kennedy devoted his entire life to. People who admire Bill Clinton do not endorce infedelity. They look at everything Bill Clinton has done to improve America. And they same goes for calling this benevolent Senator a "good guy." He made a big mistake, but he also contributed profusely. You are the one who is actually throwing out generalizations, Be Adequite. The Chappaquiddick incident is not all that defines Ted Kennedy. Letting his campaign worker drown was abhorrent and we realize that. But he is so much more.

Not once did I mention a singular incident in Senator Kennedy's past! Read the damn posts! While I don't agree with his politics I'd never wish something so horrible on anyone. I suggest you read previous comments before accusing me of things that I haven't said or done.

Just because I choose not to vote for a Dem does not make me an evil Repub who wants to starve the Middle class and make them my serfs.

I guess I am just tired of being the only Repub around and getting bashed for it left and right, whether on the internet or in real life. We all have a right to decide our own votes, or so I thought.

I mentioned a singular incident in his past, not Be A. And I stand by it - he killed a woman and walked the hell away, not even trying to get help until he knew she was good and dead and couldn't contradict his "accident" story.

Yeah, and I am not a big fan of the Bill Clinton/Ted Kennedy comparison. There is a big difference between screwing an intern and murder.

I'm from Massachusetts, and while I admire Mr. Kennedy's political career, I can't stomach calling him a "good guy".

Did any of you know that Laura Bush killed her former boyfriend in a car accident? Will I hold that as her "un-crowning life event?". No.

This entry is not a gossip blog log. This is a political one. Teddy Kennedy has done more good for the people of this country than bad. I'm a firm believer in the ying/yang that these two parties want to see themselves represent. And thank God we have that Irish scrapper fighting for us in Congress.
Call me a Massachusetts die-hard, but there is something exuberant and charming and endearing about the Kennedy Liberal Enthusiasm. Oh, and I recommend Peggy Noonan's latest column in the Wall Street Journal for anyone interested in one of the Grand Republican Conservative's view on the Republicans today. Right out of the horse's mouth. It's a funeral sermon.

Oh, and thanks, ilnazhad. You get it. :)

hms - Laura Bush killed someone in a traffic accident. She ran a stop sign and collided with the car driven by a boy who was "in her crowd". There's a big difference between that and knowingly letting someone drown.

Ted Kennedy is a pig.

“We all have a right to decide our own votes, or so I thought.”
Be Adequite, e all absolutely do. That’s why it was so wrong of you to tell Hms to go elsewhere simply because she had a different political opinion. When you state yours, nobody should tell you to go elsewhere. (And there is no denying that Democrats do more for the poor than Republicans. Republicans clearly state this themselves by explaining how they will reduce taxes.)

And sorry I did not reply earlier. I was at the gym.

1. Nancygirl, my apologies. I do not wish to equate murder with a marital affair. But there is no evidence Ted Kennedy committed murder. To charge someone with murder, there has to be evidence of means rea and actus reus. We do know he crashed the car and fled the scene of the crime without even informing authorities (actus reus), but we do not know whether he had a guilty mind (mens rea). Therefore, he is not guilty of murder. Also, to be charged with murder, the crime has to be planned. He did not pre-meditate the abandonment of his campaign worker in his car. This leaves the incident in the realm of involuntary manslaughter. But, there is only speculation that Mary Jo Kopechne’s life could be saved if Kennedy made more legitimate attempts to pull her out of the water. This means the incident was not involunatray mansalughter, either. We cannot charge someone with a crime merely based on speculation. Of course, there still is enough evidence to suggest his actions were reprehensible. He himself said they were “indefensible.” But he does also point out he was overcome with emotions and he suffered a concussion. It is hard to act rationally after such a traumatic event. Not that this excuses his actions, but it should stop him from being demonized. His actions were human.

2. It is wrong to imply that the incident was not an accident, Kitchy. As an American, you should believe one is innocent until proven guilty. There is plenty of reasonable doubt in this case.

3. He did not easily get off the crime. Look. He has done so much for us, yet when we hear he has a brain tumor, people still accuse him of "murder." These people don’t even know the meaning of the word, let alone have any evidence that proves Kennedy is a murderer. Smissy posted: "this guy a fat, red faced alcoholic who killed a woman and got a way with it because he’s a Kennedy." (What does him being fat have to do with him being a bad person, anyway?) Ted Kennedy did have to pay for his crime. I’m not talking about the $90,904 Ted Kennedy personally gave to the victim’s family. Or the $50,000 his insurance gave to the victim’s family. I’m not talking about the suspension of his licence. I agree, those repurcussions are trivial. He did not “get away” with the crime (which was leaving the scene of an accident, not murder) because he is a public figure. Because he is a public figure, he has joke after joke made of him. If he was an average citizen, there would not be satires made of the incident (like that National Lampoon page). Most people wouldn’t even hear of the crime. He was humiliated more than any of us would be if we made a smilar mistake. This was a man who wanted to run for President. His image was sullied. It is believed by most that he decided to not run for President because of the Chappaquiddick incident. He did pay.

4. It is laughable how sanctimonious Republicans get when it comes to the Chappaquiddick incident. There is ONE woman Ted Kennedy (MAY) have killed by leaving the scene of the crime. What about all the people Ronal Reagan’s abdication of leadership in the fight against AIDS? This Republican was apathetic to a national health crisis.

“By Feb. 1, 1983, 1,025 AIDS cases were reported, and at least 394 had died in the United States. Reagan said nothing. On April 23, 1984, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced 4,177 reported cases in America and 1,807 deaths. In San Francisco, the health department reported more than 500 cases. Again, Reagan said nothing.” –San Francisco Chronicle

And that is only one example of catastrophic decisions made by Republicans.
It’s concerning how Republicans will throw a blind eye to unconstitutional wars that result in the deaths of thousands and thousands, but they’ll destroy the whole image of one man because he MAY have assisted the death of ONE person through leaving the scene of a crime after suffering physical injuries and shock that left him without the ability to act rationally.

I think all of you alarmists should go learn the basics of your country’s law system and read a book on the Vietnam War. Then you'll call the right (right as in correct and as in right-wing) politicians murderers.

I called out hms' sweeping generalizations about the Repub party, NOT the fact that hms' political views differ from mine. Again, read the posts more carefully, before you decide to chastise. Have a great night everyone.

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....96389.html

hms- I agree, a good article from Peggy. I don't agree that it's a funeral sermon though- true, there are a lot of things that Repubs such as myself are frustrated with, pissed off about. (But I ain't gonna cross that voting party line!) I guess it just comes down to looking at the future of our country in different ways.

Either way let's all just keep Ted in our thoughts and hope that he recovers 100% soon

Pathetic…

Most everyone in this country is one catastophic event away from being on welfare for some time, needing food stamps, taking advantage of the Family Leave Act, Unemployment, if they have been in the service, maybe they take advantage of college and house-buying perks, all these things known as entitlements.
You can thank the Democratic Party next time you really need help.
Yesterday, when I heard about Teddy, I looked up his nephew, Joe. I wanted to see what this guy has accomplished, as a private citizen and while he was in the House for … 11 years. One person, one Democrat.

In 1979, Kennedy established Citizens Energy Corporation, a non-profit organization, to provide discounted heating oil to low-income families. Citizens Energy also began pursuing commercial ventures aimed at generating revenues that in turn would be used to generate funds that could assist those in need in the United States and abroad.

Citizens Energy grew to encompass seven separate companies, including one of the largest energy conservation firms in the U.S. Citizens became one of the nation's first energy firms to move large volumes of natural gas to more than 30 states.[1] As a precursor to market changes under electricity deregulation in the late 1990s, Citizens was a pioneer in moving and marketing electrical power over the grid.[2]

Kennedy's legislative efforts in Congress included[3] :

• Expanding the availability of credit to working Americans to buy homes and open businesses.

• Helping create hundreds of thousands of new affordable housing units nationwide by introducing tax credits to stimulate private investment in neighborhood housing developments.

• Proposing a balanced budget amendment as a vehicle to end skyrocketing deficits, bring down interest rates, and free up investment capital for business growth rather than government bonds.

• Overhauling federal public housing law for the first time in 60 years, giving local housing authorities the ability to raise standards while protecting those who depend on public housing for shelter.

• Preserving and expanding federal research and development accounts that stimulate the creation of new technologies and build the foundation for new jobs and business growth.

Throughout his career in Congress, Kennedy served on the House Banking Committee, where he played an active role in the federal savings and loan bailout, credit reporting reform, Glass-Steagall overhaul, and financial modernization. Kennedy also served on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, passing legislation to strengthen the veterans health care system, investigate the causes of Gulf War Syndrome, and provide medical treatment for veterans of the first Persian Gulf War.

ilnazhad, you are my new best friend. That bit you wrote above is a cut and paste to my political buddies. It belongs in the Op Ed page of the Boston Globe. You, my friend, are good.

if you start tallying up mistakes made by republicans, you might want to tally up the mistakes made by democrats. I'm mostly sure that it will come to be somewhere around the same. For every screwed up Republican, there was a screwed up Democrat. Moot point.

As a (very liberal) Republican, I don't appreciate the sweeping generalizations that were made either. In my opinon, you're voting for the lesser of two evils, and which one you consider lesser depends on what issues hit home the most.

AA,
Very true.

He is a F**cking Murderer!!!!!! How are any of you saying he is good? He left a girl to die! He did not tell anyone!!!!! Are you kidding me?

christina,
Take an Ativan and do a little reading. :-)

Am totally agreeing w/hms here.

You know, ironic to this whole Kennedy blog and the Democrats etc, my father had lymphoma last year, which spread to his brain, a brain tumor, which finally did him in. Thank God for Medicare, all his medicines, all his treatments, all his in and outs in the hospital, the rehab hospital, finally, the nursing home/hospice that he had to go to in the end, because my elderly mother just could not take care of him. One thing we didn't have to really worry about was that, with all his hard work and bit of savings, that my mother, now a widow, does not have to worry about money to live out the rest of her life, or does not have to move out of her house because of my father's cancer. Medicare, another "entitlement".
If you had asked my father a year before his illness, if the Government, the Democrats, have put too many social programs into our society, frugal man that he was, he'd probably have gone off on Government waste, but boy, was he glad that it was there for him when he needed it.

Love you, Be A!

Frowny, I was on the elliptical at my health club when I saw Teddy's brain tumour news scroll by on the tv. I made a Chappaquidick joke semi-out loud, but I was the only one laughing.

Fuck Ted Kennedy.

Did someone say we shouldn't judge him over one incident of driving a women to her death and calling the cops the next day? Most people would go to jail for 20-life for something like that. If someone kills another person so coldly like that, they should be judged for it for the rest of their life. I don't care if he lowered taxes - he should be in jail. Ask that girl's family about that "one incident" all those years ago? What if that was your daughter or sister?

Thanks for the "affordable housing" and expanding federal research grants. Maybe the scientists can one day discover how to bring a dead intern back to life thanks to Kennedy's efforts in Congress. I don't care if he cured cancer - a million good deeds doesn't erase a covered up murder. I'm familiar enough with the law to know that "balancing the federal budget" or expanding credit to the American worker are not affirmative defenses to murder.

Ted Kennedy committed murder, but so have a lot of women who killed their unborn child; forgiveness for both is available for catholics, in the Catholic Church; but, the fact that Kennedy married outside of attaining an annulment means he is living in a state of adultery. Should he die in this state, Scripture states that he will go to HELL. The law couldn't touch him, but GOD can. Is this true? If it is, then he has condemned himself and we didn't have to do anything but wait and see. Joan Kennedy has suffered greatly, but, if she never marries, GOD will help her if she stops drinking. Scripture also states that drunks will go to HELL as well. I will pray for both of them, but more so for Joan because she has not been able to live with the atricities her husband has committed through the years.