Eminentoes
The Temple of Ted
The late Senator Kennedy continues to cost taxpayers money from the grave.
In 1994, during the last competitive political race of Ted Kennedy’s career, opponent Mitt Romney encountered a Kennedy supporter aggressively waving a sign in his face asserting that Dorchester was “Kennedy Country.” Observing the empty storefronts and decaying urban landscape in the Boston neighborhood, Romney agreed that Dorchester was indeed “Kennedy Country.” Sixteen years later, with the help of the taxpayer, Dorchester will host a cult-of-personality center honoring the late senator assuring its permanence as Kennedy Country.
The federal taxpayer is on the hook for more than $38.3 million for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate. The planned center will be a neighbor to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and, as its name suggests, will promote the career of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Senator John Kerry and Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts slipped the earmarks into the federal budgets for defense and education, among other departments.
The duo seeks an additional $30 million from next year’s budget, which would push the Temple of Ted’s take from the taxpayer to more than $68 million. Both complexes, distant from the UMass-Boston MBTA stop, will undoubtedly accrue millions of dollars more in subsidies via free shuttle-bus trips. It is unclear, what, if any, federal capital will pour into the Institute following these initial subsidies.
Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what your country can do for the Kennedys.
What will the Temple of Ted do with all that money? A spokesman for the institute told the Boston Herald that he could not make public the details of the outfit’s programs since they were “still in development.” And what about siphoning off nearly $19 million from the defense budget as America wages two wars? There will be special programs targeting the children of armed forces personnel, the president of the institute, Peter Meade, assures the Herald.
Following a carefully choreographed August 2009 funeral farewell — with nearly a week of media events, photo-op motorcades, and multiple public services — that cost the city of Boston $431,000 and the state of Massachusetts at least $115,000, the federal government pitching in tens of millions for a Church of St. Ted risks backlash. After all, it’s not as though the Kennedys lack for money and it is as though Americans paying to promote the family’s legacy do. And the polarizing Ted Kennedy has raised hundreds of millions of dollars-for friends and foes-over the course of his half-century in politics. Why can’t the planned Institute raise money from the Kennedy family or the family’s many friends who have subsidized the political ventures of its members?
Indeed, the Institute has already raised an enormous amount of private money. “In lieu of flowers, the Kennedy family requests you consider a contribution for educational programming at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate,” Kennedy’s funeral website announced. To that end, the Temple of Ted has reportedly raised $45 million in private donations.
There is precedent for a center promoting the legacy of a deceased U.S. Senator receiving tax funds. The Dirksen Congressional Center, honoring the former Republican Senate leader, received a $2 million start-up appropriation from the Congress in the late 1970s, as well as subsequent support. But the practice seems rare, and at the gaudy level enjoyed by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate, unprecedented. Most presidents don’t even have official libraries, and the extant presidential libraries rely primarily on private donations.
So, too, do the few outfits honoring deceased senators. The Jesse Helms Center operates on private donations. The Fulbright Center eschews federal funding. Why then should a fellow senator, albeit with a longer tenure but perhaps a less pronounced impact on public policy, garner tens of millions in taxpayer tribute?
The man who occupies the Senate seat Kennedy once held seems to have the right idea. Senator Scott Brown devotes a wall in his Washington office to remembering the man who held his seat for 47 years. This voluntary tribute for the benefit of visiting constituents, rather than a forced tithing of his constituents to benefit the late senator’s reputation, preserves the senator’s memory in a dignified manner that contrasts with to the crass, cultish manner in which Senator Kennedy’s votaries have chosen to honor him.
Worried about the form of government in store for Massachusetts, Abigail Adams wrote her husband a few months before George Washington, from his perch atop Dorchester Heights, drove the British permanently from Boston. “I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature,” the matriarch of the first family of Massachusetts politics noted, “and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries give, give.”
From the grave, the last brother of the second family of Massachusetts politics, cries give, give, give. His former colleagues are only too happy to do so.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
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Kitty| 4.28.10 @ 6:25AM
It seems that a couple of weeks ago, Lucifer himself was walking around Hell, observing all the suffering.
He was on a mission to be sure everyone was enduring the maximum pain when he noticed a chubby old guy with white hair sweating and shoveling coal.
The guy was obviously in great distress, but the Devil decided he just wasn't suffering sufficiently.
So, he walked up to the perspiring old fellow and whispered in his ear, "Hey, Teddy, have I told you a Republican got your Senate seat?"
...
WRTolkas| 4.28.10 @ 8:18AM
Thank you Miss Kitty, you have made my day.
Regards,
WRTolkas
Bydand76| 4.28.10 @ 11:45AM
Great post Kitty!
Thanks!
Pro Libertate
Robbins Mitchell| 4.28.10 @ 1:47PM
You need to read my 'unauthorized biography' lf Teddie...."Nazi Joe's Last Big Mistake"
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 5:39PM
"You need to read my 'unauthorized biography' lf Teddie...."Nazi Joe's Last Big Mistake"
Joe Jr. was the best son...
only the good die young.
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 4:07PM
We can't say it in public, but it's a good thing Ted is dead;
however much he costs you dead, think of how much more he would cost if lived as long as Strom Thurmond. Now there's a horrifying thought.
Norman| 4.29.10 @ 1:05PM
There are a couple of good things about Ted Kennedy, #1 is he will never be able to kill another innocent person again due to his normal alcoholic benders and driving, and #2 He has now been sober for 7 months and 5 days.
David in MA| 4.29.10 @ 2:22PM
dead, but has he sobered up yet?
Dave| 5.1.10 @ 2:22PM
Or how much he would WEIGH....
alert1201| 4.28.10 @ 8:01AM
What is kennedy doing shoveling coal in hell? He should be permanently entombed in a lake of lava trapped inside a 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88.
Cris Worth| 4.28.10 @ 8:28AM
Whatever happened to Ted's 1967 Olds...the one that got wet in Poucha Pond? The car could serve as Ted's mobile museum representing the Kennedy family's real legacy.
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 4:10PM
the Olds is owned by a Chinese businessman, it is on display in Shanghai's Old Town square..
Mel Torme| 4.28.10 @ 9:05PM
Is that really, true, Alan? I want to know if you are serious - if so, put in a link or just paste in the URL.
BTW, your 4:07 post rocked. I couldn't agree more.
Jeremy Stevens| 4.28.10 @ 8:12AM
Amen, Albert!
Boston's Kennedy-expert and Herald columnist (talk show king, too) Howie Carr has long advocated the establishment of a memorial to Mary Jo Kopechne!
Of course the Kennedy Adoration Zombies are immune to shame: after the complete contravention of all liturgical law in the "canonization" funeral Mass, presided over by Boston's silent-when-it-comes-to-Democrat-politicians Cardinal, the next step in Ted's Immortalization Program has been the naming of some women's health center after him.
Truly, in The Peoples' Republic of Massachusetts, you just couldn't make it up! So many colleges and universities, so little wisdom and simple honor.
JimH| 4.28.10 @ 8:55AM
Maybe they could name a bridge after him.
Houston Rao| 4.28.10 @ 11:35AM
Right over the Mary Jo pond.
Doorgunner| 4.28.10 @ 9:52AM
Actually I'm sort of glad there's to be a shrine to him somewhere.
It would be wholly inappropriate to pee on his grave in Arlington.
me| 4.28.10 @ 11:45AM
go away
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 5:36PM
Doorgunner is right,
please remember that Ted was a very poor role model-- FAR worse than Jimmy Swaggart or Jim & Tammy Baker (or is it Bakker?).
Matt| 4.30.10 @ 9:54AM
I think we can agree, that these were all poor role models (Teddy was a rampant, almost incoherent alcoholic to the end).
Houston Rao| 4.28.10 @ 11:36AM
The swine may be dead, but the pork remains.
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 6:01PM
You can make a case that Jim & Tammy were role models, however they gave in to temptation; while Ted was no role model whatsoever. For starters:
a) Ted never atoned for manslaughter.
b) Ted used cocaine, and the possession of coke is a crime.
Care to go continue to c and d?
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 6:08PM
PPS
Ted was a publicly-funded politician, while Jim, Tammy, and Jimmy Swaggart were private religious figures.
Again, though Ted may or may not have been a competent (by today's standards) politico, he was no role model of any sort-- unless you are a criminal degenerate.
jmd12| 4.28.10 @ 10:17PM
great stuff!
Petronius| 4.28.10 @ 12:07PM
Well the Kennedys did learn something from Robert Byrd.
Dogma| 4.28.10 @ 1:40PM
They should build a drive-in water park for him with free drinks for all.
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 5:32PM
But the drinks might be laced with liquid cocaine.
Be careful what you wish for.
Norman| 4.29.10 @ 1:11PM
Dogma has the right idea. Wouldn't it be great to have a ride in a water park that has a replica of the oldsmobile, and a dummy made up like Kennedy & Mary Jo in the car, and you get to ride in the waterproofed back seat and hear the screams for help while Kennedy floats out when the car goes under water?
Tim| 4.28.10 @ 1:48PM
"I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
Ozymandias-Percy Bysshe Shelley
Tim| 4.28.10 @ 1:56PM
I met a traveller from Boston
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in Dorchester. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered oldsmobile lies, whose frown
And giant teeth and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those jowls read
Which yet survive, stamped on these earmarked things,
The hand that lobbied them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Kennedy, Lion of the Senate:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and ah, despaih!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The vacant and leveled lots stretch far away,
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 5:30PM
`My name is Kennedy, Lion of the Senate'
He fornicated like a lion.
Big Elk| 4.28.10 @ 6:03PM
The Kennedys are drunks, perverts, rapists, murderers, traitorsm anti-semitics and crooks. Every dead Kennedy got what he or she deserved.
Nam Lee| 7.10.10 @ 7:08AM
If you and Alan Brooks in tie-up have some more to say, I am keenly curious lest I be counted as "Not
Otherwise Specified" in the DSM-IV for super-ordinate 'spite.'
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 6:13PM
Nixon looks better as time goes on and the political fallout settles to the ground.
Alan Brooks| 4.28.10 @ 6:19PM
PS,
why did I bring up Nixon at a blog on Ted? because JFK ran against him in '60; and because Nixon is considered the most evil American this side of Benedict Arnold. My father inculcated his kids with hatred of Nixon. In '63 I confused Nixon with Nickerson, and our dad replied, "Nixon? if he ever gets to be president, we'll leave the country."
Well, we did not.
We got LBJ a few months later-- the worst of all. If Carter was the most incompetent, then LBJ was the most wicked.
C.G. Pyper| 4.28.10 @ 9:13PM
The only way the comments posted thus far can be improved upon, is for more comments along the same lines to appear.
In the mean time I want to make an appeal: "Lion of the Senate." Although cats from top to bottom are lazy animals or always on the prowl, all are handsome beasts, admirable hunters, and good, undemanding company when properly trained. (My current count around here is eight...good company for me and "our" five dogs.)
The term/title of "Boar Hog of the Senate" is much, much more appropriate for He Who Must Be Disdained. In fact, "Boar," or "Sow," are terms very suited to any number of 'Crats. Take, for instance, Bonnie and Clyde...er, ahhh, ... Bill and Hillary.
Any takers?
Thank you all for your entries. I hope there are more to come.
CG
PCC| 4.28.10 @ 9:28PM
Ted Kennedy was a great statesman who tried to help those less fortunate than himself. R.I.P.
Norman| 4.29.10 @ 1:17PM
Find someone that is less fortunate than Kennedy was that was helped by him. Ooops! I forgot...He did pump a lot of money into the Kopeckne family after he murdered their daughter and his unborn child. I'll bet that made him and that family very happy.
dave| 4.29.10 @ 5:47PM
Love your comment PCC. Just like the Democrats to idolize somebody for being so caring to all and a leader in bringing the races together. Even though blacks needed a picture ID to get on the island he lived in. Start looking at what the man did, not what his PR says.
C.G. Pyper| 4.28.10 @ 9:46PM
Well, "PCC," What, exactly, did T.K. do to do anything more than POSSIBLY appear to be helping "those less fortanante than himself," while, in reality, helping himself to those less fortunate than himself? N.R.F.T.W. (No Rest For The Wicked)
CG
Pingback| 4.29.10 @ 2:44AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : The Temple of Ted [spectator.org] on links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Marc Jeric| 4.29.10 @ 3:39AM
OK guys - let us all chip in to celebrate the life of that degenerate drinker and fornicator who killed that poor girl on that Chappaquiddick bridge!
in_awe| 4.29.10 @ 11:54AM
Some 20 years ago, Kennedy was spotted in the missionary position, with a woman - not his wife - in a boat off shore. When the photos hit the press, Alabama Senator Howell Heflin joked he was glad to see Kennedy had "changed his position on offshore drilling."
That nasty image has remained with me all these years - ugh!
vincent watson| 4.29.10 @ 11:54AM
Kennedy was a complete idiot. Why bother with a
memorial to that skirt chasing liberal drunk.
Rev. Nathan Bickel | 4.29.10 @ 12:27PM
The real Ted Kennedy legacy apart from all the Camelot accolades, is that he was a champion of abortion genocide of pre-born human life and future umpteen generations. The liberal news media and Kennedy faithful, will gloss over the dastardly negative impact of Senator Kennedy’s public “service” which swung from “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” for all, – to the elimination of the most defenseless of our culture:
"What did Senator Kennedy have in common with President Obama and the late Abortionist, George Tiller? (9/6/09):"
http://moralmatters.org/Ser960.....monWi.html
Vasu Murti | 4.29.10 @ 12:40PM
Now, now. Don't be too hard on the late Senator Ted Kennedy, accusing him of having been a womanizer. Are you seriously suggesting conservatives never commit fornication?
The Democrats may have given us Elliot Spitzer, but the Republicans gave us Larry Craig, David Vitter and Mark Sanford! And they (Republicans) have the nerve to talk about "family values!"
Ted Kennedy was once pro-life! And his pro-life convictions were based on secular human rights grounds, and not on conservative religious indoctrination or "family values" crap, either.
"I don't believe in abortion on demand. The day we can solve the world's population problem, the problem of browns in Central America, the problems of blacks in the ghetto, by aborting them, that's unacceptable to me. How about the kids in mental hospitals? They're parasites on the environment. How about the old people in the institutions? They're cluttering up the landscape. Do you want to exterminate them, too?"
---Senator Ted Kennedy, 1970 Campaign for Senate (taken from Kristen Day's book, Pro-Life Democrats.)
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Ted Kennedy, the iconic Massachusetts senator, died in August 2009 at his home in Hyannis Port after a long battle with cancer. Elected first in 1962, the 77-year-old liberal lion reminds many political observers of the changes on abortion among many members of the Democratic Party.
To anyone who follows abortion politics today, Kennedy is not only a reliable pro-abortion vote, but a forceful advocate of abortion.
He repeatedly has voted against all attempts to stop taxpayer financing of abortions and opposed the ban on partial-birth abortions. Kennedy regularly receives 0 percent records from the National Right to Life Committee.
Although his health prevented him from casting any votes on pro-life issues in the 2009 session of Congress, Kennedy received a 14 percent rating from 2007-2008 from NRLC, agreeing with the pro-life group only on allowing states to provide health insurance coverage for unborn children in their SCHIP programs.
Kennedy's abortion advocacy was so pervasive prior to his death that the Senate government-run health care bill that bears his name specifically allows abortion funding and mandates that Planned Parenthood abortion centers be included.
But Kennedy's position wasn't always in line with abortion advocacy groups.
He is one of many formerly pro-life Democrats who changed with the political winds as the party moved from one influenced by pro-life southern Democrats and pro-life Catholics to one dominated by the pro-abortion feminist groups like NARAL and Emily's List.
Kennedy displayed an eloquent pro-life position in 1971, prior to Roe v. Wade, when he wrote a letter to Catholic League member Tom Dennelly.
“While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized—the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old," he wrote.
“On the question of the individual’s freedom of choice there are easily available birth control methods and information which women may employ to prevent or postpone pregnancy. But once life has begun, no matter at what stage of growth, it is my belief that termination should not be decided merely by desire," he added.
“When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception," he concluded.
In 2005, Catholic League president William Donohue talked about Kennedy's transformation on abortion.
"Sadly for him, history will look back at this era and recognize that he didn't care enough about human beings to take responsibility for children from the very moment of conception," he said.
Kennedy's legacy could be one celebrated by the majority of Americans who take a pro-life view on abortion. But, like other pro-life Democrats who lost their way over the years, he will be remembered as a turncoat who put politics over principle.
Other prominent pro-life Democrats who eventually abandoned the courage of their convictions include former president Bill Clinton, current Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, and "common ground" congressman Tim Ryan.
Matt| 4.30.10 @ 10:08AM
Vasu Murti--did you really waste all that time finding these quotes or did you just cut and paste, as I suspect. True Conservatives don't fornicate, they get thrown out of office for their hypocrisy. Liberals celebrate the fornication, by making excuses and staying in office. I'm an Independent, and agree with you that both parties are corrupted by power, Teddy's change on abortion is just the tip of the iceberg. That is the beauty of the Tea Parties, originated in Boston, and revived across the US. Spending our tax money on a drunk-dead-pro-abortion Senator (or any politician) is offensive to me. Why do we have to pay for all this mindless-pork?
Kpar| 4.29.10 @ 1:14PM
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned one of Teddy's more brazen gambits- his offer of help to and request of help from Yuri Andropov of the KGB to prevent the re-election of Ronald Reagan. No matter your politics, how can that not be Treason?
Vigilis | 4.29.10 @ 1:30PM
Massachusetts will host the $38.3 million-plus Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate.
What will this project actually represent to U.S. taxpayers based upon the last celebrated use of federal tax dollars in Massachusetts, “The Big Dig” (also Edward Kennedy connected)? My guess is up to 7 times the current price tag, or about $1/4-billion.
What enduring value will it provide U.S. taxpayers?
Hey, this is “for the U.S. Senate”, maybe not so much the public. Surely this will be “shovel ready” (Labor)? No, that would deprive its appointed interim overseer (retired Dem) of 6 years of exorbitant remuneration (Project Director), guessing a lawyer, by the way (Employment).
Will it actually be a library highlighting Kennedy’s illustrious career in the Senate? Prepare for a monumental propaganda outlet (Education).
Time will tell if old congressional habits are broken.
Andy_Krow| 4.29.10 @ 2:00PM
Just an aside...
The thoughts of cocaine use and old photos brought to mind (one prone to inanities and trivia) my seeing a photo of Teddy a number of years ago. He was shown with a proboscis that looked like it was run through a meat grinder. There, I said, goes a man with a huge cocaine problem. Some time later (don't recall how long), photos appeared of Ted with a strong, straight and perfectly normal snout.... No talk of plastic surgery (is Nancy Pelosi immune from that too?) nothing in the gossip rags...
Amazing the silence that power can produce...
Rev. Nathan Bickel | 4.29.10 @ 5:16PM
Vasu Murti -- Re: Your 4.29.10 @ 12:40 PM comment:
I'm not quite sure what your point is. But be that as it may, Ted Kennedy certainly had reality, skewed. I'm referring to the Kennedy quote you posted regarding his distortion about "overpopulation:"
"Population Research Institute:"
http://pop.org/
MattZ| 4.30.10 @ 8:36AM
Are you upset because they didn't name it after Reagan?
MZ
Matt| 4.30.10 @ 10:11AM
are you stupid, or just simple minded? how did you bring Reagan into this. Get lost simple-minded liberal, go suck at Pelosi's tit.
ScubaBoyTeddy| 5.1.10 @ 6:57PM
No. I WOULD be upset if they DID INDEED name it after Reagan.
Reagan didn't murder anyone ...
Kennedy did...
He swam out of the car & left her there...
SHE SUFFOCATED... she DIDN'T DROWN...
That means she WAS ALIVE in that car, WAITING FOR THAT SCUMBAG TO COME HELP HER for as long as it takes to breathe up all the oxygen left in that car.
But that SCUM didn't go to jail for vehicular HOMICIDE. Instead, Usefull, liberal idiots still idolize him & make comments about Reagan...
Now what were you saying about Reagan ?
Fred| 5.2.10 @ 8:41PM
An Old Limerick
There once was a senator from MASS,
Who sought a strange piece of A$$.
He lucked up and found it,
but f**ked up and drowned it,
And so his future was past!
Koczani| 5.2.10 @ 12:16AM
I lift my glass of Jack Daniels to Ted Kennedy, The Hero Of Chappaquiddick!!
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