As I just posted to Facebook...

[palsgraf_polka]

RIP Ted Kennedy. Your legacy in the Senate in many ways outshines that of your two more famous brothers. Thank you for being a liberal champion these last few decades. I appreciate your service to this country.

Comments

[kittylitter1.livejournal.com]

I still see him as an unrepentant killer, and certainly not a legitimate voice of morality. I guess so much time has passed that people forget. :-(

[palsgraf-polka.livejournal.com]

There was no intent to to kill. Negligence? Most certainly. He was drunk! They were both drunk! He did not act in the most perfect manner, I'll admit it.

And very few politicians are pictures of morality. But that doesn't negate the good that he has done in the cause for liberalism for over 40 years.

And I'll excuse a lot of self-destructive behavior on his part; he saw two of his brothers gunned down on television, and had to shoulder the burden placed upon him by Big Joe Kennedy yet still managed to make a distinguished career and really fight for the people of his state and all of us.

I'm sure that if it was a hardcore conservative that was in the opposite situation I would feel just as you do, so I know that what I say won't change your mind.

Hell, I just got up after only 4 hours sleep so I don't know if I'm even making any sense.

[kittylitter1.livejournal.com]

You're making sense, and I do appreciate your point of view. It could be that he tried to make up for being a killer by doing his version of good in the senate.
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However, I strongly disagree that his behavior at Chappaquiddick was excusable because he was drunk. Drinking is no big deal, but drinking and driving is a completely avoidable choice. He never should have driven drunk, and when he did anyway and drove off that bridge he never should have left his passenger to die. Drinking does NOT excuse his behavior before or after the crash.

[palsgraf-polka.livejournal.com]

No, I agree with you on that point that being drunk is not an excuse. Drunk driving is awful and should be punished.

I guess more what I'm saying is that he was drunk, and he was from a rich family, and he did instinctively what rich people do, which is turn to their group for help to try to fix bad situations. I think he panicked, went and got his friends, who "handled" him and told him to go back to the hotel. He did.

It's not an excuse, per se, but his whole life was politics and appearances and he was bullied and browbeaten by Big Joe from childhood onward and I think it warped his view on the world when it comes to scandal and matters of public scrutiny. I see his drunkenness and his upbringing as being sort of a mitigating circumstance to his actions that night.

I believe, however, that he atoned for that lack of good judgment in Chappaquiddick with all of the good he has done in the Senate since that tragic night.