Obama: Kennedy Was "Soul of the Democratic Party'

Obama: Kennedy Was 'Soul of the Democratic Party'

news.yahoo.com

BOSTON – President Barack Obama has saluted Sen. Edward Kennedy for surmounting pain and suffering to become a family patriarch and personification of American legislator.

Eulogizing the 77-year-old Kennedy, who died Tuesday, Obama called the senator "the soul of the Democratic Party" and said that in his personal life, he lived up the expectations as "the heir to a weighty legacy."

(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 29-8-2009 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

I wonder if Obama will try to take the Healthcare Reform into Kennedy's eulogy and make it more political than is really necessary, or if he will talk about the man's history and what he accomplished. There has been a lot of talk already on ATS that they will rename this Healthcare Bill in Kennedy's honor, and whatever your belief in that the man was a lion when it came to politics.

Whether you liked Ted Kennedy or not or believe he was a murderer because of Chappaquiddick, the man died and he must be remembered. With his other two brothers being murdered, no matter your view on how or why they happened, Ted Kennedy lived with those memories of how and why his brothers were both assassinated.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 29-8-2009 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

I don't really have a lot of feelings one way or the other about Kennedy, but he was VERY important to a lot of people and his accomplishments were many. His family is one of the great families in the political landscape of this country.

I think we can be pretty certain that his death will be used in some way to further the health care reform bill. I mean, it obviously was very important to him and the bill's proponents will use that to their advantage. And since Kennedy was a HUGE proponent of health care for the disadvantaged, it kind of makes sense.

From the eulogy

Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and suffering of others — the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier sent to battle without armor; the citizen denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed — the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children's health care, the Family and Medical Leave Act — all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy's life's work was not to champion those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Thanks for posting the eulogy here, I appreciate that very much.

I am certain as well that the Democratic Party will capitalize on this for all it is worth.

I am not saying that to be divisive in any way, as I am not Republican, I am Independent.

Politics is just that, politics, and every opportunity is just that, opportunity.

I rather think of the young woman whom he deprived of life.

This man doesn't need eulogyizing. There are plenty others that do.

reply to post by YourForever


That's why I posted minimally on the topic.

I'm neither eulogizing the man nor condemning him.

I am just making ATS aware of Obama's euology.

racial and political games as far as i'm concerned

the media has proven themselves as puppets!

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
racial and political games as far as i'm concerned

the media has proven themselves as puppets!

Okay, I'm trying to follow your logic, it's a difficult path though.

What is "racial" about Ted Kennedy dieing and Obama euologizing the man?

Yes, the media is puppeteered, their strings are money and information tidbits.

I rather dance on Ted Kennedy's grave! JFK was a hero Ted Kennedy treated the little guy like a slave.

He bought Cattle-car airline tickets and then sat in First Class. On a flight where all first class seats were full, the stewardess had to check tickets. Teddy pulled the "Do you KNOW who I am!" bull poo. She got the pilot to speak to him. In retaliation Kennedy had the ENTIRE flight crew FIRED!! This came out on a talk radio program in MA I listened to. It was followed by a litany from store clerks, waitresses, tradesman... all of whom had been treaded like dirt or cheated by Kennedy, the son of a Gangster and a Murderer. So yes I guess Kennedy is "the soul of the Democratic Party" a party who tells the masses how they identify "with you pain" as they help the Federal Reserve and the Banksters deprive you of all of your wealth.

I am afraid that very soon the "starry eye" liberals will find out that the type of "Socialism" Al Gore, Maurice Strong and the Clinton"s have in mind is the type where the ultra rich living in luxury and the rest of us in mud huts. That is why there is an attack on the middle class life style. So people will accept their lot in life for the "good of mother earth" Socialism has been switched for Christianity as a way of brainwashing the masses.

“What unites the many different forms of Socialism.... is the conception that socialism (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) must be handed down to the grateful masses in one form or another, by a ruling elite which is not subject to their control...” The bankers have found socialism very useful in manipulating political activists as they set up their world government. jimsimmons-author.blogspot.com... The state is the ultimate monopoly,. by controlling that, they control everything. the New World Order and the Rockefeller's new war are all part of the same picture: a ruthless, insatiable drive for world resource monopoly

No I am NOT a reBoolican, I hate Bush, but I am not buying into the socialist koolaid either. Bush and Maurice Strong are buddies too, Bush got Strong in as head of Kyoto! The Rockefeller Foundations funds the "environmentalist" movement that Maurice Strong, Director of the Rockefeller foundation and Senior Advisor to the World Bank started in 1972. Check the interconnections they are ALL dirty.

reply to post by crimvelvet


Well, thanks for sharing your opinion of the man.

I never said I agreed with him, just as much as I never said I hated him.

Using power is just what politicians do, and using people is a part of that, both parties do it.

Kennedy the "soul of the Democrat party"? I guess they are souless now? Nahhhhhh....they been that way for years.

reply to post by RRconservative


Politician's have souls?

Any of them?

I thought the first prerequisite to entering politics was signing in blood on the dotted line...

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas

Using power is just what politicians do, and using people is a part of that, both parties do it.

Exactly. I lived in MA and listened to his "Supposed Trial" listened to my co workers and neighbors praise the sadistic lazy $@B The Fed had his brothers killed and he licked their boots for the rest of his cowardly life. He definitely personifies the typical "congressman" and it turns my stomach to hear people sing his praises.

reply to post by crimvelvet


You would like this thread then.

The Creature from Jekyll Island : A Second Look at the Federal Reserve

Yes, the Federal Reserve, and the men behind it are who killed J.F.K., and the Warren Commission was the smokescreen that covered their trails.

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
I wonder if Obama will try to take the Healthcare Reform into Kennedy's eulogy and make it more political than is really necessary, or if he will talk about the man's history and what he accomplished. There has been a lot of talk already on ATS that they will rename this Healthcare Bill in Kennedy's honor, and whatever your belief in that the man was a lion when it came to politics.

John Kerry said that very thing. He said they would pass it in his honor.

Whether you liked Ted Kennedy or not or believe he was a murderer because of Chappaquiddick, the man died and he must be remembered. With his other two brothers being murdered, no matter your view on how or why they happened, Ted Kennedy lived with those memories of how and why his brothers were both assassinated.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 29-8-2009 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

Yeah it was interesting to hear how so many people said that it was his shadier past which caused him to be as generous as he was in his older age. They also said that after he met Vicki, he was an incredibly changed man.

Everyone makes mistakes in their youth. And sometimes it is those actual mistakes which make a greater man in later years.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


That is so true in so many ways, but at the same time, the man got away with murder because of his political connections and money.

Just how much "good" can undo one person's "bad" actions?

This thread was created for the eulogy by Obama, so I disgress.

I do not know much about T.K, but just after reading this thread and searching around for a good 15 minutes, I could care less for him.

Day after day, it seems that our leaders are just a giant mob.

I don't understand the hoopla over Ted Kennedy? What did he really accomplish? To my knowledge; nothing comes to mind? I think he just made a living off his name and off the coat tales of his more successful brothers JFK and RFK. Please don't get offended by my next statement because it is what I think of the man and his career.

Let me begin, I think Ted Kennedy and his legacy is why there should be term limits for US representatives. I can't for the life of me think of anything substantial created by his legislation in US Senate? Moreover, he was known for getting into the middle of things bolstering partisanship which led to gridlock in the US Capitol. Mr. Kennedy was more of a rabble-rouser than an honest and astute legislature. However, he just kept on getting elected as he threw wrenches in every piece of legislation he personally disagreed with and setting the country back.

He was a career politician who got fat off his family's name and the sacrifice of his two martyred brothers. The very sight of the man makes my skin crawl and yet they feel it appropriate to exalt a man who has a shady past. Then we have the "Chappaquiddick incident," of 1969, where highly exalted Edward left the scene of an accident while his female passenger Mary Jo Kopechne drown and not notifying the authorities until the following morning. The man was no good and typifies why the public is so disgusted by their elected leaders.

Our political masters are really showing their true colors on their sleeves by honoring this man. It is truly disturbing that they are giving him such a overblown funeral ceremony? If he was a staunch ally of the little guy as pundits have spouted about him, why such an ornate state funeral on the tax dollars of the little guy? I just don't understand the atmosphere in Washington? The politicians are truly disturbed. This is my poignant eulogy for former Senator, Ted Kennedy; the so-called "Lion of the Senate," as our President Barack Obama affectionately referred to him as in his remarks at the funeral. May his remains rest in peace but I don't honor or respect the accolades of the man when he was alive. For what it's worth, these are just my personal reflections of the man.



[edit on 29-8-2009 by Jakes51]

I could have predicted that this thread would attract many people who don't really know about Kennedy's life and political legacy or want to demonize him because he came from a privileged background. Or because he was a Democrat. Or because of the accident on Chappaquiddick so many years ago that he didn't respond to properly.

I wish you all could have seen his memorial service last night. Senators John McCain and Orrin Hatch both gave moving tributes to the man, at the same time acknowledging that they disagreed with him on many issues. It is clear that Kennedy had many friends on both sides of the aisle.

Kennedy was in the Senate for almost 50 years. There is no major piece of liberal legislation -- from civil rights to Medicare to women's rights to the SCHIP health insurance program for children and much more--that he did not participate in creating or didn't champion.

You may hate liberalism but it's impossible to deny that his was a remarkable Senate career.

Obama's tribute is very fitting. The man cared passionately for others.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


I am a [former] ATS LURKER new member; second post.

Did they bury Kennedy face down so he is pointed in the correct direction?

2nd line … “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil … is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke 1729-1797