RIP Ted Kennedy

If they ran a pic from the 80s-90s, they wouldn't have had to mention it.

 

I read an article in Esquire, I think, a few years back that speculated that without Chappaquiddick, Teddy would have won the presidency in 1976, wouldn't have shit the bed like Carter did, won re-election in 1980, and Reagan never would have been elected.

It was an interesting read to say the least...

 

Why/How would you mention that in an Obit. Many like to drink. He was never arrested for anything related to drinking. Would you write "in his later years Ted loved a bottle or two of Chivas a day."

 

If you grew up during the Kennedy era, you knew --without a doubt--that Teddy would have singlehandedly won the Presidency except for Chappaquiddick.

This, from the NYTimes obit, seven web pages. This is from the first page.

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.

Larger than life.

 

This is why the state of the newspaper industry is so sad. Local TV news is pathetic. All happy talk and/or the big crime story. No actual reporting. Without newspapers, I'm not even sure where they'll get their news from.

Local TV news can't do in depth, and they can't/won't be the government watchdog that newspapers are.

 

It sure would have been interesting to find out. It would have been even more interesting to see him pitted against a charismatic conservative figure like Reagan.

 

Dam - that is one hell of a paragraph. Thanks for posting JR.

 

Everything he did Post-Mary Jo was fruit of the poison tree. No one else--but the privileged few--would have a chance of keeping such a prestigious position like he did for the next 40 years. Heck, he was even kicked out of Harvard for cheating--only to be let back in. Mary Jo was indeed unavailable for comment today, just as Teddy was on July 18th/19th 1969.

 

Just substitute the name Teddy for Freddie and there is another hit record.

 

I agree with you on criminal charges for Chappaquidick.

As for holding his senate seat, that was up to Massachusetts voters. They could have voted him out of office the same way Alaskans voted Ted Stevens out of office last year and New Orleans voters sent Dollar Bill Jefferson packing last December and Chicago North Siders ousted Dan Rostenkowski in 1994. But they didn't. Massachusetts voters elected to keep him. Other than his first election, he won every election by at least 17 points and only one by fewer than 20.

 

I'll bet a few shekels this thing gets padlocked before sundown.

 

THAT is the big holy-shit moment right there for me. That's not just before I was born, it's before my dad was born. Wow.