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[basketballdad]

Just curious why people feel obligated to speak ill of the dead. Senator Kennedy's funeral was today. I do not understand why some media and individuals want to speak ill of the dead on the days leading up to his funeral. I said the same thing to some friends and colleagues when Reagon passed away. This is not really a partisan issue. The records and deeds of our elected officials can be analyzed and critiqued forever. Even now books come out on past presidents over the centuries that are both positive and critical. I asked my liberal friends why they could not wait a week or two to attack Reagan's legacy. Now I ask my conservative friends why they can't do the same for Kennedy. Guess I am a little old fashioned in that sense. Let them be a time for everything and bashing a person right after they die seems just a bit cruel regardless of the political persuasion.

[hb96mom]

Karma points!

[EWSoccer64]

I stand fully against the political principles and thoughts of Ted Kennedy.  However, he did do some good good things in his in tenure, and he normally made his stances from prinicple.    When he was first diagonosed with terminal cancer, I sent him a letter expressing respect despite philosophical disagreement.

I believe that those in the media who less laudatory about Drunken Teddy's exploits and accomplishments are reacting to those on the other side who are painting him as a paragon of virtue, capable of leaving a legacy, and beyond criticism.
ANd there are many of those, we can all agree.

[basketballdad]

EW I agree with your analysis of why some want to say negative things about Kennedy since he is receiving so many laudatory comments. However, that doesn't make it right. I told me liberal friends that Reagan's life should be celebrated and his accomplishments extolled even though some of them I did not agree with. That is only fitting so soon after a death. I sure hope when I pass all my detractors wait at least a couple of weeks from bad mouthing me.

[swedish]

EW I agree with your analysis of why some want to say negative things about Kennedy since he is receiving so many laudatory comments. However, that doesn't make it right. I told me liberal friends that Reagan's life should be celebrated and his accomplishments extolled even though some of them I did not agree with. That is only fitting so soon after a death. I sure hope when I pass all my detractors wait at least a couple of weeks from bad mouthing me.

BBD - good post.
I think this all comes down to what social graces a person carries themself with.
Although I do believe that one should always speak up, there is a time when this saying applies - "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all".

[soccerpop]

EW I agree with your analysis of why some want to say negative things about Kennedy since he is receiving so many laudatory comments. However, that doesn't make it right. I told me liberal friends that Reagan's life should be celebrated and his accomplishments extolled even though some of them I did not agree with. That is only fitting so soon after a death. I sure hope when I pass all my detractors wait at least a couple of weeks from bad mouthing me.

BBD - good post.
I think this all comes down to what social graces a person carries themself with.
Although I do believe that one should always speak up, there is a time when this saying applies - "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all".

Basketball Dad; can we say Karma. Ted Kennedy once left Mary Jo Kopechne  in a car, in a lake to drown. It is those people who know the history and find it hard to praise a man that acted unlike a man

[basketballdad]

Did not say everyone should praise him. Agree with Swedish that for a few days I can keep my criticisms to myself and let his family and friends mourn and those that want to celebrate his life do so. Plenty of time to criticize his personal actions and his political actions.

[HandBall]

Now I ask my conservative friends why they can't do the same for Kennedy. Guess I am a little old fashioned in that sense.

I was in Italy the day Ronald Reagan died. That night I tuned into both SkyNews and CNN for coverage of Reagan's death. I remember the respect on SkyNews for Reagan, highlighting his achievements, credit for the fall of the Berlin wall, etc. I also remember tuning into CNN and wanting to smash the TV as they assailed the former president with every negative aspect of his time as president they could, with a heavy focus on Iran/Contra, and virtually nothing nice to say about the man. 

When Reagan died he was not a participant in any policies. He was removed from the political scene. But that cannot be said of Ted Kennedy. As a long-time proponent of health care reform and the 60th vote in the US Senate, his cancer and death have been grossly exploited by the left as part of their efforts to push Obamacare.

If Kennedy's death had been treated outside the politics of this health care battle, then I doubt "conservatives" would have taken issue with the exaggerations and invented praise pouring out of the media.  It's simple enough to simply change the channel and leave it to the left to swim in the reinvention of the man. But in the context of this exploitation of his death by Democrats to push their socializing of health care, no one should be surprised that free market capitalists in this nation are objecting to the propaganda and use of his death for political gain.

I have personally not written anything about Kennedy's record, history, or scandals. But as the left continues the exploitation of his death and reinvention of his life to advance their socialist agenda in health care, then they have opened the door for real examination of the man they would claim to honor with such far-reaching legislation. At that point it's no longer about the man, but the propaganda.

[basketballdad]

Handball, you make my point for me. As liberals I know ridiculed Reagan for Iran/Contra, anti abortion, his wife, and many other actions he took I reminded them that his passing was sad and it was a time for mourning and celebration. Yes some news media attacked him and I was ashamed of that during the week of the funeral. Now some media and some conservatives are doing the same. The political exploitation of death occurred in both circumstances as the right used Reagan to tout conservative issues at that time. In poor taste then and now yes. It just amazes me that people can't just take a break from the partisan bickering for a week.

As I was once told long ago my a mentor, "There are only two types of class, first class and no class." In my opinion attacking  a recently deceased person falls into the latter.

[metz123]

Having grown up in Massachusetts (despite not living there for 20 years) I went on CNN when Kennedy's death was announced. I read the well written biographies extolling his accomplishments as an elected official and his failures as a human being and public figure. I thought the coverage from the media was fairly well balanced. Then I made the mistake of reading some of the 500+ comments written by fellow human beings across the USA and world. I honestly was shocked and appalled. The sheer amount of bile and hate being spilled across the internet was appalling. I could not help but think to myself "Is this what the world has come to?" I couldn't imagine storing away that much hate toward a person I had never met to write some of the comments linked to those articles.

Is it the anonymity of the internet that make people feel protected where they can launch reams of hate toward another human or would these people really have said the same words to the face of Kennedy or another elected official? Liberal or conservative aside, is this really where the human race is headed?

[93soccerdad]

Having grown up in Massachusetts (despite not living there for 20 years) I went on CNN when Kennedy's death was announced. I read the well written biographies extolling his accomplishments as an elected official and his failures as a human being and public figure. I thought the coverage from the media was fairly well balanced. Then I made the mistake of reading some of the 500+ comments written by fellow human beings across the USA and world. I honestly was shocked and appalled. The sheer amount of bile and hate being spilled across the internet was appalling. I could not help but think to myself "Is this what the world has come to?" I couldn't imagine storing away that much hate toward a person I had never met to write some of the comments linked to those articles.

Is it the anonymity of the internet that make people feel protected where they can launch reams of hate toward another human or would these people really have said the same words to the face of Kennedy or another elected official? Liberal or conservative aside, is this really where the human race is headed?

I've never been a Ted Kennedy fan.  And while I may not have agreed with his politics and his position on many moral and social issues, he was a man who dedicated much of his entire life to serving this country.  Spewing forth hatred and other vitriolic bile about any person...Kennedy, Obama, Bush, etc....really eliminates the ability to rationally discuss and debate the issues.  Kennedy was no "savior", nor was he "satan".  Time will judge the impact and legacy he leaves behind...as it will Bush, Obama, and all other public servants. 

[Brat Jr]

Is it the anonymity of the internet that make people feel protected where they can launch reams of hate toward another human or would these people really have said the same words to the face of Kennedy or another elected official?

This goes on in soccer forums too And no, most would not say something to their face

[CoffeeBoy]

Um lets see if any of you got drunk drove your car into a river left your passenger to die and lied about it you would'nt have a political carreer you would  you would be in jail . So get over it he was a slime ball killer end of thread.

[cheese]

It is not our place to judge him.  That has already been done by the All Mighty.

Reguardless of any bad he did here on Earth, he also did a LOT of good.
I have never been a Kennedy fan but that still does not mean I should attack him after his death.

RIP Ted.  :'(

[basketballdad]

Well said cheese.

[EWSoccer64]

I am a rather conservative person, politically, with strong libertarian leanings.    Had to preface my remarks on Ted Kennedy with that, so everyone would understand where I am coming from.

Ted Kennedy had many failings as a human being.  He also had many strengths.   As a politican, and indeed as a statesman, he had many more strengths than failings, that is clear despite my opposition to most of his political beliefs.   He worked against his party and with the opposition on matters that were important and that he believed he could help make a positive change for.   From helping to change the laws to be able to bring Libya to some sort of justice for the Pan Am 103 bombing and other acts of Libyan state terrorism to working with President Bush to get "No Child Left Behind"  passed, he showed that he was able to work for positive things across the aisle.     And I would include his candidacy against Jimmy Carter, inarguably the worst president in the last 50 years, as showing that he put his principles above party lines.

I think that there is a bit of Teddy in alot of us.  Despite our mistakes and failures in the human beings that we want ourselves to be, and that others expect us to be, we try to uphold our principles as best we can, and try to work with those who are our total opposites when we can.

Senator Kennedy earned my respect, even though I disagreed with him 95% of the time.    When his terminal diagnosis went public, I sent an e-mail to his office stating pretty much the above (without mentioning any personal failings). 

The US Senate will be a lesser place without him.