NO QUARTER » Bobby Kennedy

ted’s favorite jokes were about chappaquiddick

American Girl in Italy — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:01:24 +0000

I wasn’t alive when America witnessed the assassination of John F Kennedy, and was a mere toddler when Bobby Kennedy was killed. I was just three when Chappaquiddick happened. I grew up in the generation of John John, and sadly we experienced our own Kennedy tragedy. The entire Kennedy clan seems to be touched by illness, tragedy and scandal in one form or another.

Has any family in recent history ever been so revered and loved but so mired in scandal?

JFK is often thought of as one of America’s most beloved President, but was famously known for his womanizing, and affairs. Who can forget when his affair was famously rubbed in the face of his wife and country when Marilyn Monroe appeared at his birthday celebration. My mom remembers thinking how tacky it was, and how bad she felt for Jackie. It was also reported that Marilyn was having an affair with Bobby, too.

But, of all the Kennedy scandals and tragedies, none is more tragic as the accident and events surrounding the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.

With the passing of Ted Kennedy we have an end of an era. It was somewhat difficult, looking at an aged, grey haired Ted, a man who spent his last months of his life suffering from a brain tumor, a public servant in the Senate for 46 years, a man who witnessed the assassination of his two brothers, and not feel something for the loss of the last brother in a famous family dynasty.

An image far removed from that of the young, vibrant handsome man, who supported his brothers.

An image even further removed from the lying, cheating, drunken one of a man who left a woman to die.

But, that’s exactly what he did.

Does a lifetime of reform and public service make up for what he did July 18, 1969? From all of the media attention covering his passing, it seems many believe it does. Obviously the majority in Massachusetts forgave him, where he served 46 years. Many people believe in repentance, forgiveness, and making amends.

But, did Ted Kennedy ever make amends? If you watch his statement and apology he made in 1969, he doesn’t appear to make amends. He makes excuses, and he lies.

It was a little difficult, with the public image of Ted Kennedy, and the adoration many feel for him, and his years of service he has devoted to his country, and not feel a bit of the nostalgia for all things Kennedy, the Kennedy’s I grew up learning about, and those that I watched. Even as angry as I was for his endorsement of Obama, and the disgust I felt hearing Chris Matthews call Obama the *last brother* of the Kennedy clan, I still remember this image of Ted:

And those of his brothers:

I wondered what it must do to someone – to see their brothers gunned down in cold blood.

Perhaps that is, in large part, why the people of Massachusetts forgave Ted Kennedy for Chappaquiddick. Did they feel that the Kennedy’s had given so much of themselves, that they could overlook the terrible, cowardly actions of the only living Kennedy brother?

But what about the rest of the country? Those not close to the Kennedy Dynasty – how did Ted avoid political suicide that fateful night, in July 1969? No doubt the headlines Man Walks on the Moon saved Kennedy big time. (I have a Seattle Times from the July 20, 1969 landing and throughout the entire newspaper the stories are about the moon landing, but one. One tiny little article at the bottom of the page talks about Kennedy’s accident.)

Despite of everything, the good and the bad, I wanted to believe that the last Kennedy brother, this 77 year old man, had tried to make amends. That he tried to live a life serving his country, making amends for what he did 40 years ago. I wanted to believe that he felt remorse, and went to bed every night thinking about what he did to Mary Jo. I wanted to believe that he struggled early on with the loss of his brothers, and struggled with alcoholism, and that he tried to overcome.

I didn’t want to speak ill of him the day he died. It’s hard to think of Ted Kennedy without thinking of his brothers, and young John Jr. I wanted to believe in the dream of Camelot. (I used to be a Democrat, afterall…)

But then I saw this:

H/T Hot Air

“I don’t know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, “have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?” That is just the most amazing thing. It’s not that he didn’t feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but that he still always saw the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too.”

You can hear the entire interview here, at the 30:10 mark.

Ted Kennedy was a drunk who drove his car into a pond, with a young woman who was not his wife, and left her to die. He waited 10 hours before getting help. He paid her family hush money, he lied in his public statement, and he lied to the police. I wanted to believe he felt remorse and changed. Ted Kennedy died as despicably and as cowardly as he was on July 18, 1969.

Ted’s favorite jokes were about Chappaquiddick. And no, Melissa, I don’t think Mary Jo would think it was “worth it”.

If I were Obama, I would give that torch back.

Misogyny was the central narrative of the Obama campaign

Bud White — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:35:55 +0000

(image from Post Secret)

The image above was posted on Post Secret on November 8, 2008. I have no doubt that the dominate narrative of this campaign — the forceful suppression of women — is responsible for the author’s “secret.” In the Obama-realm, feminism isn’t just bad, it’ll ruin your life. One only need to look to Hillary and Sarah Palin as examples.

Dr. Violet Socks writes:

A few days ago I was asking you all to think about why there is still so much deeply-felt resistance to women’s equality. This is the lesson of radical feminism: that the gender revolution requires just that — a revolution.

Why does there need to be a revolution for equality? Because this year misogyny was used a political tool. As many of us witnessed, this election was so poisoned with hate speech against women that it’s not an exaggeration to say that the FBI would have been investigating the perpetrators if it had been against any other oppressed group.

Let’s be clear: Hillary Clinton was the choice of most Democrats this year. The Democratic establishment, consisting of Donna Brazile, Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and many others, worked furiously to keep Hillary Clinton from receiving the Democratic nomination. Their left-wing allies and the media worked to sabotage her campaign at every turn.

It’s not entirely clear why there was such intense animous towards Hillary by such a large and diverse group. We do know, however, that the most vile tactics were used to suppress Hillary’s campaign; caucus fraud, race-baiting, and outright misogyny comes to mind. As examples, the Obama campaign initiated a not-so-secret whisper campaign that President Clinton was a racist when Clinton called Obama’s Iraq War position a “fairy tale,” Hillary was accused of waiting for the unthinkable to happen to Obama when she mentioned the length of the 1968 campaign and Bobby Kennedy and, from January on, there was a constant drumbeat that she must leave the race.

Running below the murky currents of this campaign, however, was a sexism so deep and so pervasive that it can be said that sexism defined this campaign. Indeed, I believe the subtext and central narrative of Obama’s campaign was sexism. Because two women were the biggest political threat to his campaign, Obama needed to unleash sexism.

Dr. Socks continues:

Narratives: think about narratives. Anthropologists of gender, like Peggy Reeves Sandy, talk about “scripts”: the stories that a society tells itself to explain the world. How men are. How women are. How they should be.

The Obama campaign, with the help of the media and “progressives” blogs, pushed a narrative against Hillary and later Sarah Palin, that invalidated them as public servants because on their gender. Misogyny, wrapped in the protective shell of race-baiting, was the central narrative of the Obama campaign.

I subscribe to the bumper sticker view that “feminism is the radical notion that women are people.” My wife and I are expecting a girl in January. I want this girl to live the full and free life our son enjoys, without gender being an obstacle in her path. I don’t want my daughter to be called a “bitch,” or for someone to wear a t-shirt calling her a “cunt.” Put in those terms, the Obama movement unleashed something very ugly into the culture. The Obama campaign, in its subterranean narrative, encouraged the hatred of women. It is little wonder then that the author of the Post Secret card blames feminism for her unhappiness; she’s witnessed that women who expect equal treatment will be beat down.

What do Rashid Khalidi and Sirhan Sirhan have in common? Ayers and Obama

Bud White — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:50:07 +0000

Bill Ayers, domestic terrorist and Obama benefactor, dedicated his book to Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy.

Prairie Fire, published in 1974, is described as Ayers’ communist manifesto.

Dedicating a book to Sirhan Sirhan isn’t radical chic or a youthful indulgence. Dedicating a book to Sirhan Sirhan is tantamount to denying the Holocaust, embracing the screeds of the Aryan Brotherhood, and joining the ranks of those whose celebrated the attacks against America on 9/11.

Equating Sirhan Sirhan with Harriet Tubman and John Brown is stupidity. Bobby Kennedy worked on behalf of the poor and the unrepresented; Sirhan is a killer.

Sirhan Sirhan is a Palestinian sympathizer who murdered Bobby Kennedy because of Kennedy’s pro-Israel position. On the 40th anniversary of the assassination, ABC News reported:

Sirhan claimed he killed Kennedy because he was angry over Kennedy’s support for Israel. Sirhan was born in Jerusalem to Arab Christian parents who had moved to America when Sirhan was 12. The assassination occurred on the first anniversary of the Six Day War in which Israel had humiliated the combined armies of its Arab neighbors.

Yet another red flag about Obama, and this one should send alarms to the Jewish supporters of Obama.

Obama and Ayers, friends and collaborators; Obama endorsed Ayers’ book, Ayers dedicated his book to Sirhan Sirhan, an anti-Israeli terrorist and murderer of Bobby Kennedy.

Rashid Khalidi: Obama’s friend, anti-Israeli pro-PLO activist. The LA Times allegedly has a video of a dinner party in which Obama is toasting Khalidi, with Bill Ayers in attendance.

Sirhan Sirhan, Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, Barack Obama

Obama has surrounded himself with violent and hateful anti-American activists, and he lies about that fact. Obama knows Ayers is a liability, but he also knows that he can’t alienate the anti-American Left. Larry Johnson writes:

As we have noted repeatedly at NoQuarter, Barack Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers probably started when Barack was at Columbia University in the late 1980s. That’s why Bill Ayers then turns to Barack Obama and gets him named to head the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which Ayers established. That’s why Barack felt so comfortable kicking off his political campaign for the State legislature in Bill Ayers’ living room.

Obama’s friend dedicated his book to the murderer of Bobby Kennedy, his preacher claimed 9/11 was God’s retribution, Obama told Rick Warren that the U.S. could be evil, Ayers bombed the Pentagon, Pfleger said that Hillary Clinton believed she had “white entitlement,” Obama called his ailing grandmother a “typical white person,” and Wright said the U.S had manufactured AIDS to kill African Americans.

The Democratic Party has been infected by an alliance of radical demagogues, the corrupt Chicago machine and the anti-American Left.

Bobby Kennedy:

After funeral services in New York, RFK’s funeral train carried his body to Washington where he was to be buried near his brother. Along the way, on both sides of tracks, Americans of every color and background saluted this great man who brought the disenfranchised together.

See also American Girl in Italy’s post

Medusa contributed to this post.

ayers dedicated his book to sirhan sirhan

American Girl in Italy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:00:37 +0000

And people think Bill Ayers is *no big deal*?

William Ayers dedicated his 1974 book, Prairie Fire, to the man that assassinated Bobby Kennedy.

And Obama thinks it is okay to serve with, work with, and socialize with this guy, the man who dedicated his book to the man that killed Robert F. Kennedy?

Obama thought it was okay to endorse, lend his name, and reputation to another book written by Ayers? Do you lend your reputation to someone, without knowing anything about them?

“A searing and timely account of the juvenile court system, and the courageous individuals who rescue hope from despair.” (Chicago Tribune, 12/21/97)

Obama’s desk in the U.S. Senate used to belong to Robert Kennedy. Surely, Obama must know who Sirhan Sirhan is. And Obama had no problem associating, and socializing, with William Ayers? A man who considers Sirhan a “political prisoner,” and worthy of a dedication in his 1974 book?

I wonder what the Kennedy family thinks about that?

I imagine that Obama’s excuse will be that he was only six years old when Kennedy was assassinated. Or that he was 12 when the book was written. Well, how old was he when he chose Kennedy’s desk for his Senate office? How old was he when he chose to associate with Ayers? How old was he when he lent his name to a book written by Ayers?

How old was he when he lied to the American people about their relationship?

Judgment? Honesty? Disgraceful.

No Quarter has covered the Ayers/Obama relationship extensively. You can find much more information in Steve Diamond’s writings and also in Larry Johnson’s writings.

***

And here, as an added bonus, is another tape, this one of Khalidi discussing the corrupt political machine, in Chicago.

(Doesn’t the cover of Ayers’ book resemble Obama’s logo?)

Bobby Kennedy: Fearless

Bud White — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:00:16 +0000

Like many Democrats, I fell hard for Bobby Kennedy. Although I wasn’t born when he was killed, his memory is woven into the fabric of the Democratic Party. You couldn’t be a Democrat through the conservative revolution of the 1980s and 1990s without yearning for his voice of outrage.

Bobby was the last politician, except perhaps for Hillary this year, who consciously sought to unite the remaining factions of the New Deal coalition. He sought the votes of African Americans in Watts and conservative whites in Indiana. His funeral train famously symbolized the divided America he sought to unite; for many miles between New York and Washington, whites and blacks, young and old, saluting veterans, nuns, and Americans every stripe lined the train tracks to see the train which took Bobby to his final rest.

It’s been 40 years since he was taken from us. In many ways our country is a more tolerant and better place. Women and minorities are no longer legally treated as second-class citizens, environmental and health standards have been put in place, a massive safety net saves many from abject poverty. But we’re also a cruder and meaner country, a place where destroying your opponent is considered the sign of a smart politician. It’s now considered funny and acceptable to sexualize and degrade women who seek elective office. In contrast, Bobby refused to be interviewed by the very tame Playboy magazine for fear his children would one day see it.

Bobby Kennedy’s voice was direct and honest. Of course he was a politician, but he knew his strength was in his authenticity. Politicians today smooth the edges of their rhetoric. In a desire not to offend, they soften their approach and offer platitudes instead of policies. They sooth us, but they don’t challenge us. Bobby challenged.

A professor from my college, where Bobby visited in the mid-sixties, related to me that when students asked Bobby who would pay for health care for the poor, he simply told them “You will.” His fearless voice is sorely missed today.

On Monday night I’ll be speaking with Thurston Clark, author of the superb new book: The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America. I hope you’ll join us.

What are your memories of Bobby?