Senator Ted Kennedy, The "Liberal Lion," Dies At 77

Kennedy has been controversial in health care reform.An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time.Senator Edward Kennedy died weeks after her sister died.Eunice Kennedy has been hospitalized, and is reportedly dead. Eunice Kennedy, better known as Eunice Kennedy Shriver, is the wife of Robert Sargent Shriver, and the sister of John F. Kennedy, and therefore Robert, Rose, and Edward. She helped found the Peace Corps and the Special Olympics, and her oldest daughter, one of five children she had with Robert, is First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, who married Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hers has thus far been a life of privilege, but that privilege was used to serve the greater good, as she had done great work and given many cash advances to good causes. The world needs more like Kennedy.

I'm going to remember all these comments when the next Republican dies and they will.

yes, I'm going to sink as low as you and even more so.

Like you weren't going to do that anyway.

yeah, you ain't seen nothing yet, my friend.

you're on the list. so's your mother.

So, when Kennedy got to the Pearly Gates, I bet that Mary Jo Kopechne was there waiting for him...

"Ted, what happened? I thought you were going for help!"

He killed an innocent woman and used his family's political power and money to get away with it. That's all you need to know about that fat, drunken sack of shit.

The people that knew him best are dead to. I have yet to see what good he did. I've read the list of bills he's authored or supported none were anything the government should even consider. He brought government more into your life than ever. Sleep well knowing that you are protected by all of his pals in congress and the senate.

Amazing that the people who actually knew him best, worked against him, fought him tooth and nail on the Senate floor for decades, had kind things to say about Kennedy after his passing. Meanwhile those who know almost nothing of him happily celebrate. Anonymity and ignorance mix together as a false courage.

lol internet trolls

murderer, drunk. philanderer. socialist. abetted a rape.

and people want to "celebrate" this creep??!!!

RIH (rest in hell) indeed. What a disgusting person

good riddence ! he's the only person ive ever heard of to have a woman drown with no water in her lungs. never cared for the working ma. fought for health care that will bankrupt the country (per obamas own people), fought for rights for illegal aliens (a crime ) and for terrorists . there is nothing this piece of garbage did that was good except for finally dying.B.I.H...burn in hell .

as for PKMK11 , you realy believe that killing a woman is ok if it was 40 years ago? if i kill your mom or your sister, or anyone close to you ,would you be ok with that... i thought not.

Perhaps we should consider this a Federal Holiday...

Something like "Drown your Secretary Day"???

He was like a great big comfy old couch. Durable and unmoved for nearly fifty years. Democrats used him for therapeutic relaxation and Republicans loved digging under the cushions for loose change. Obama plunked himself down and a coil shot straight up his ass. It had to go.

That pretty spot-on, NannyState.

The guy was a slut from the get go. Probably the only decent Kennedys were Joe Jr. and JFK Jr.

Kennedy's story is a fall to rise. At least he ended things on a high note.

Let he who is without sin post the first comment.

Rest in peace Mary Jo Kopeckney. I pray you are in heaven I know Edward will burn in hell.

"Get the fuck out of here! At least I didn't drive off a bridge while I was drunk and turn up 10 hours later not remembering where I was."

Mother Teresa

Good one!

A monumental political figure. Rest in Peace.

a complete ass like his brothers. JFK was sleeping in bed on pain killers during the bay of pigs. And Khrushchev wanted missiles out of Turkey and got them out by putting missiles in Cuba. Read some books.

You stay classy, Gothamist trolls.

We intend to. The guy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth paid by his rum running father and his mother's connection in politics. He gave the country away to the poor non deserving leeches that some call the "working poor". Bullshit! He gave it away from an ivory tower built on back room politics.

He was a rich Harvard educated (thanks to his father's influence) scumball through and through. He should have died in his bridge drive by a long time ago. I can see Joan Kennedy doing a happy dance on the announcement of his death.

Yeah, I'm sure she's celebrating the death of the father of her children. Hopefully she's not as heartless as some on this board.

If anyone should be celebrating it's John Kerry, who finally gets to be the senior senator from Massachusetts... just kidding. That's pretty tasteless.

Is this the same wife he had committed? His class is just a gift that keeps on giving. Like herpes.

Actually I believe Joe Kennedy made his fortune through stock manipulation and insider trading before they were made illegal.

First his cousin Frank Perdue died and now this. Will the Kennedy Fried Chicken franchise continue?

Ok OK I know that the Irish aren't known for their fine cuisine, but who will fill that empty slot?

Time for new some blood in Washington. Out with the old generation in with the new generation - hopefully.

My most cherished memory of Senator Kennedy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APx2YJ-_jos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m90QoVebTcs

Senator Kennedy: "Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam"

The Boston Globe's initial report of Kennedy's death includes this, "Kennedy's White House aspirations may have doomed by his actions on the night that he drove off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island and failed to promptly report the accident in which a woman died."

I guess her parents never gave her a name.

When I think of the Kennedys I am always reminded of this quote from The Great Gatsby...

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 9

Tom and Daisy never cared for anything or anyone but themselves and never looked beyond their social circle. Kennedy passed lots of legislation to help the working class.

Since when did conservatives care about the deaths of innocent people?

they don't, they just being their regular a-hole angry victimized mean self.

notice how they scream U.S.A.! almost in anger, angry at what? they crave confrontation for the sake of confrontation. I truly believe that.

so it's like a bully playground to them.

I saw these jackasses in the Queens "town hall" footage on NY1 this morning (I wonder if they used public roads to reach this destination?). They were screaming "Uh-mur-i-ca!" and "USA!" in one breath, and angrily shouting they "didn't trust their government" in the next. By that logic alone, I must be more patriotic since I would much rather have my health in the hands of the government than private insurance companies.

Indeed, because I want to have the freedom of a government option, I must be "taking away their freedom." The only people losing freedom are those who would like to not fear going into bankruptcy due to illness, or cannot obtain a policy due to a preexisting condition. Perhaps they will add me as a dependent on their own plans, since obviously their magical insurance companies make no decisions in what claims will and will not be covered.

Hopefully we can defeat these cretins in the memory of Kennedy.

They these them, your generalizations and rabid hate mongering parrot the brown / black shirts of old. You aren't liberals you people are fascists and you are doing more harm than good to the things you mistakenly think you believe in.

I thought I was good at making jibberish by mish mashing words ands misquotes.

and a U.S.A! USA!! USA!!!

Throw in an Uber Alles at the end mein heir.

I dunno ask all the iraqui's in mass graves and the folks who drafted UN Resolution 260.

I mean, you can give republicans crap all you want for WMDs and oil and whatever else, but we SHOULD have been there back in 1994. At least the republicans finally got around to do SOMETHING even if for the wrong reasons.

Clinton got crap just for bombing Iraq. I don't think GOPs would have supported any further actions, since that would not have benefited them politically. Recall how they were against Bosnia/Kosovo and Haiti.

what did the Republican do? They didn't stop any genocide, they just join the fight. great work .

Issue I disagree with? You mean killing someone?

The Kopechne family has a little peace today.

He had no reason to kill her, it was an accident.

Goodbye Teddy. You were always there to stand up for working people and stand against the evils of conservatism. He stood for health care, for the rights of working people, for civil rights... and that is just a start. He never wavered in his stance against pointless wars - he was a strong opponent of the Iraq war from the start - and he spoke forcefully against those who would take rights away from citizens instead of expanding our freedoms.

Indeed he was flawed - but every person is flawed. To remember him for his flaws is to miss the point. What sets Kennedy apart is that even though we knew all his flaws - even though he wore them honestly and openly - he rose above them to speak honestly, sincerely and with unbending strength for the voiceless and the downtrodden. God bless this man.

As an aside: Perhaps what upsets right wingers the most about Teddy Kennedy is that he was fearless and unstoppable. It can't be the 1969 accident, since the right not only supports but actually idolizes mass murderers like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld. No - it's because Teddy Kennedy was so fiercely unwavering in his commitment to his progressive values; he was what the right fears more than anything.

We have lost one of the greats. Perhaps one day we will be graced by another giant.

Uhm you are saying anyone to the right of you supports mass murderers, when you are opposed to the successful upholding of UN Resolution 260. The hypocrisy in your words would be laughable if it was not for the fact they were born of simple ignorance.

The man doesn't get a pass on murder just because you agree with his voting record.

And it's not really up to you to point out the "murder." You've had 40 years to criticize him for that. Let's not pick him apart today, huh? If you don't have anything nice to say...

big words, no truth or substance.

I love the way the ignorance word is now used by the right.

I'm not on the right, I'm a centrist and unaffiliated with any party. If I had to label myself I'd go with Rational Anarchist and I believe I proved my point sufficiently that your remark rings hollow.

"rational anarchist"

that's quite a load of shit there. i bet your mother's a virgin whore.

You should work for Frank Luntz. or some conservative think tank, they pay really well.

I suppose they probably wouldn't hire me since I'm not conservative myself but maybe they are more open minded than you think, who knows.

re: matt joyce

why throw bombs here? you cannot see that the FMLA (family medical leave act), OSHA, the american with disabilities act, and COBRA, to name a few pieces of legislation Kennedy authored, have helped many many poor people?

can't you see that ted kennedy fought for and spoke for the working class with thundering consistency?

go shill your so-called "rational anarchism" in another forum.

COBRA helped poor how? $1000 a month insurance between jobs? Wake up stupid. No one cares. Maybe you but no one in washington. Ahh well just roll over and believe Teddy was helping...enjoy the downfall. When we get to the 80% tax bracket (and its coming the way prs O is spending)you win. But we won't be able to manage it like Europe and the biggest depression since the 1920's germany will begin. Then it'll be too late to comment on your computer.

The Pope, the president, and god himself shouldn't be allowed to commit voluntary man slaughter and not be punished. It's not what our country is about. It's not legal. And to call this man great when he lived his whole life mocking the very base ideals of justice and equality is such an absurdity that I cannot simply lie back and watch him be literally "lionized".

He left a woman to die. He committed a crime. And he avoided serving a sentence for that crime through means all together immoral and unamerican and he was utterly unrepentant. He was a black mark on his party and our country.

unamerican? you are definitely a birther.

When threatened with harsh truths you can always find solace in the sweet embrace of delusion.

well said.

lots of things upsets the right wingers, that means the Senator is doing the right thing.

Healthcare reform, NOW.

Leave it to Republicans to shit on a guy who just died of fucking brain cancer.

Wait - people are showing their voting records in their comments? How'd you deduce that nitwit? I don't care what party he was with (though his broken capillaries show he was most likely with and at every party) he was a murdering drunk driver. The least he deserved was brain cancer.

Misfacts, there is no evidence that he was DWI

Misfacts, there is no evidence that he was DWI

Since you brought it up, how could there be evidence of DWI when he waited eight hours before contacting authorities? He repeated this type of behavior in the case of his nephew William Kennedy Smith. When police first went to the Kennedy house in Palm Beach a house guest told the police that the Senator was not there and that Smith "might" have left town even though witnesses would later say both men were in the house at the time. When police called an hour later the housekeeper said that the same house guest had driven Kennedy and Smith to the airport. In reality Kennedy did not leave until the next day.

You're more than right to defend his record in the Senate but you really should keep quiet on Chappaquiddick.

AGAIN, AS EVEN YOU STATED, THERE WAS NO evidence THAT HE WAS DWI.

Well, senators have a far better health plan than the one Teddy and his mascot Obama want to foist on everyone else.

President Obama wanted the government coverage (same as the Senators' coverage) but the Public option was nixed by the Republican Party since their ambitions comes first before the country's well being.

That's pretty funny if you stop to consider all the nice things said about Bob Novak who died of a brain tumor all of eight days ago.

well put.

President Obama has to stand up strong and make those changes he promised. No more war, no more torture, repeal the Patriot Act, repeal AETA, repeal DOMA etc. (Basically undo Bush's atrocities. Senator Kennedy passed the torch to Pres. Obama and I hope he does all of us proud.

You keep waiting for that. We've been punked as surely as we were with 'limited government, no-nation building' GWB. Different issues, same M.O.

No more war? Wasn't it Ted's brother that got us into Vietnam?

Eisenhower

Do your math, Eisenhower was out of office by then. To be fair to JFK it was Johnson who really escalated that war, and I seem to recall, he was a democrat too. It was also Nixon, a republican who ended the war in Vietnam, yet the dems keep portraying themselves as the peaceful ones.

Eisenhower provided S. Vietnam with money and resources against N. Vietnam and signed SEATO treaty. I never said ALL Democrats were peaceful. Joe LIEberman disguised as a Democrat isn't peaceful at all.

Meh. As good an argument for term limits as Stevens and Thurmond ever were.

RIP

Sales of Chivas Regal will plummet now.

Best thing fat Ted ever did was call Obama, Osama Obama, bin Laden. Every once in a while a brain pickled by alcohol says something with clarity.

maybe the family can finally see the end of whatever deal with the devil Joseph Kennedy made.

wow. the 2009 deathmobile strikes again. I wonder if it's cause we've reached a tipping point in the number of celebrities getting old and infirm plus number of celebrities who live with high risk behavior that we've been getting so many famous deaths. We never had as many celebrities back in the 50's,60's,and 70's. but starting with the 80's we've been inundated with them. It's snowballing from now on. Who's Next? I'm going to say will farrell as the young dude and dick clark as the old dude.

Safe bets: Tara Reid, Melanie Griffith, Val Kilmer

Random picks: Joaquin Phoenix, Dustin Diamond, Cher

There are actually algorithms you can probably look up/find a statistician to create, that will determine the probability of certain celebrities dying. It's depressing.

Old = Elizabeth Taylor or Mickey Rooney

Young = who is the next heavy heroin user or violent rapper?

Ooops, I was wrong. It's Dominick Dunne.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2009/08/dominick-dunne-obituary.html

Never spent a day in prison for murder. Nicely done old chap.

What is vile? The truth? What upsets you is his 'vile' behavior. If I was drunk and drove a car over a bridge, and then got out and ran away..I wouldnt wait 10 hours to call the police, but hey, thats just me.

Like Leary said in Rescue Me 'You could kill your own mother, hollow out her head and smoke crack out of it, and you drop dead from a heart attack the next day and then everyone goes OOHH what a great person they were'.

your idiotic leary reference aside, let me explain since you were obviously not raised correctly.

the time for speaking out about an issue you disagree with is not the day of someone's death. on that day, a person with the proper respect for others will set aside their petty attitude and remain quiet if they do not wish to pay their respects to the dead.

any questions?

Yeah: Where were you when folks were spitting on Michael Jackson as a "child molester" when he died? Respect for the deceased my ass.

Mark Chapman's managed to turn his life around too. Will people say what a great guy he was when he goes?

Ted Kennedy may have helped push forward a lot of important legislation, and I too hope they pass Health Care Reform... but the fact remains that he left a woman to die b/c of his own stupidity and recklessness.

If she were your daughter I suspect you'd feel a little differently.

Charles Manson and Mark David Chapman were/are not known for their selfless acts for the benefit of humanity, unlike Kennedy, who helped pass the Civil Rights Act, as well as many social programs. There is a huge difference between being known only for being a heartless killer and making one stupid, tragic mistake that cost a woman her life and marred and otherwise long life of service to government.

Personally, I thought Michael Jackson's death was also tragic and that no one should have been bemoaning him as a child molester, whether true or not, charges of which he was acquitted.

Dennis Leary, aka mr. trying to be forever thirty.

yet another reason why I love Dennis Leary

Leary wrote a book that ridicule kids with autism as lazy and stupid. I wouldn't take him serious.

RIP

though i have no personal affinity for ted kennedy i do find it pretty vile to talk shit about someone who just died.

Remind me to seek out your kind words when OJ kicks, or Charlie Manson, or Robert Byrd. Some folks don't live the sort of life that allows for fawning. If you need that, I hope you aren't an adulterous, drunk driving, homicide committing almost-was like Teddy.

Robert Byrd?! Because, you know, joining the KKK under peer pressure and later renouncing it is totally comparable to being a delusional, psychotic cult leader.

In what world are Charles Manson and Robert Byrd comparable?

in the world of shitty people with few merits.

That you equate Teddy Kennedy with cold blooded killers (even if he caused a death as a result of a DWI that would not make him a cold blooded killer) and that you insinuate I am also a murderer shows either:

a. You are so filled with hate that you just lash out like a tantrum-throwing child;

or

b. You cynically spew what you know to be hateful lies in a half-baked effort to convince people of your position.

Since only a moron would go for (b) above, and since I am not so rude as to insinuate that you are a moron, I must assume that you are just a sad angry baby man throwing a text-based tantrum.

Hi Moron - a cold blooded killer leaves a living, breathing woman underwater to drown and HOURS later reports it. If he wanted to be seen as not a cold blooded maybe he would have tried to, I dunno, PULL HER OUT?! But nope, he left her there. And that makes him a piece of garbage. I'm sure you have women in your family, which relative would you have happily swapped Mary Jo Kopechne with? What's compassionate about leaving a woman to drown? What part of that behavior do you aspire to?

And as for me being an idiot or rage filled, I bet that would really make you feel better about emulating a person like Ted, but no, I'm sane and very content. I just hate to see scumbags honored.

Speaking the truth, not talking shit.