The Kennedy Family’s True Legends and Legendary Truths

By Michael Scherer | @michaelscherer | August 27, 2009 | +

Of all the essays expounding on the meaning of Ted Kennedy’s life, and legacy he represented, I find this one the most insightful. But I may be biased, since it is written by TIME’s David Von Drehle, and appears in the next newstand issue. A taste:

But in the end, it will be said by all but his fiercest critics that Ted Kennedy walked tall and far, given his superhuman burden. There was something genuinely noble about his refusal to give in, the way he picked himself up from the canvas, even when he had knocked himself down — maybe especially when he had knocked himself down. It was his fate to prove that the Kennedys weren’t storybook princes conjured to life, and his triumph lies in the fact that he didn’t let the myth stop him. His sister Eunice, who died two weeks before Ted (only Jean survives from the nine Kennedy children), did something similar with her great creation, the Special Olympics. Her father had tried to erase the blemish of a handicapped daughter; this younger Kennedy chose instead to reveal the glory behind the blemish.

Read the whole thing here.

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jsfox

Before the comment thread descends into the cesspool created by Hulegate et al. Thank you Michael for drawing, at least, my attention to this essay.
donovong

FYI – Your link goes straight to Page 2 of the article.
fense

The Dream lives on.
pirate wench (demwoman)

OT – I be tryin’ t’ sign th’ petition askin’ fer th’ “Kennedy Bill” fer healthcare linked o’er a’ wvng’s pirvcorr, bu’ the’ link no be workin’ – I be gettin “file 403 access forbden – do any o’ th’ crew be knowin’ where else t’ be findin’ it?

Thank ye!
pirate wench (demwoman)

Ne’er mind – I be findin’ it:

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4922/content.jsp?content_KEY=2768&tag=hk2_fe1

Sign, me hearties, an’ pass along.
pirate wench (demwoman)

Blast it t’ smithereens I be needin’ more coffee this ‘mornin’! Found th’ link an’ posted b’low.
textee

Ted Kennedy lied. Mary Jo Kopechne died.

The Kennedy-love-struck David “Ted Kennedy walked tall and far, given his superhuman burden” Von Drehle would be a perfect fit for Swampland. The boilerplate leftist banalities, the cliches, …. The poor fool reads like Obama’s teleprompter.
rustyreturns

“Less is more”. A very simply phrase, but it is a particularly valuable phrase when it comes to the passing of larger than life, despot leaders or families.

This should have been the first, and last blog post about Kennedy’s death. The rest is simply liberal fodder.
http://twitter.com/michaelscherer Michael Scherer

thanks. fixed.
http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

I see the Hate-R-US crowd is out in full force this morning.
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Thanks for the post MS…
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Sorry about the polluted comment thread.
pirate wench (demwoman)

Michael me lad –

Do ye an’ yer mates READ these postin’s?

Do ye really want yer blog t’ be turned into nothin’ bu’ a bunch o’ vile nutjob filth-ravin’?

Their aim be t’ shut ye down, an’ ye be standin’ by an’ allowin’ it.

Even me local rag be havin’ a button fer commenters t’ flag objectionable posts, why don’t big-time TIME a’ least offer tha’?

DO SOMETHIN’!
http://twitter.com/michaelscherer Michael Scherer

i got less problem with the content of the comments–we should strive to have lots of opinion, whatever the merits, it seems to me. (there are lots of posts i disagree with, but it is not my place to censor, outside extreme examples of libel or defamation, hate speech, etc.) my problem is with Hula’s tendency to post five or six times in a row, as if shouting helps anything. would be just as good if it was a post or two. no need to filibuster the thread. i think it’s bad form. So what do you say Hula?
pirate wench (demwoman)

Personal’, I’ve no’ much idea regardin’ th’ content o’ those postin’s, since I quit readin’ ‘em long ago – tho’ I be assumin’ they be just as disgustin’ as ever. It be th’ sheer “volume” tha’ be off-puttin fe me – me scrollin’ finger can only take so much. When confronted wi’ a wall o’ hula, th’ temptation is t’ jibe ri’ quick an’ get th’ ‘ell out.

Thank ye fer respondin’, an’ good luck wi’ tha’ attemptin’ t’ reason wi’ hula !
luckystar220

I never knew there was this much hatred in America. If this is how Americans would treat their dead of not only a citizen but a public servant. I can see why torture could be conducted in this country.

I’m only glad my parents took with them the value of honoring the dead and respecting our elders when they immigrated from China and taught them to me.

May this man’s soul find deliverance and pass on peacefully.
piper1

You really think that politely asking a hateful, loudmouthed lunatic to obey the constructs of civilized society is going to do a lick of good? Methinks you will need some heavier weaponry to corral that spambot into legitimate conversation.
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If you and the High Sheriffs don’t have an answer to what to do with someone flinging poo all over your blog constantly, you should.
artmoose

Ted Kennedy’s career should have ended in 1969. He should have went to jail for what he did to Mary Jo Kopechne. He walked away from the accident and allowed her to asphyxiate in an air pocket in the car rather than dive in and save her.

Why didn’t he save her? All the Kennedy’s knew how to swim well! The car was only in seven feet of water. Two fishermen testified that they spotted the overturned car and called the police. This confirms that it wasn’t in deep water. Miss Kopechne didn’t know that at the time to save herself, but he did!!! He ran from the scene in shock that his career and his marriage were both in jeopardy. He let her die a gruesome death. His later story about trying to save her just does not ring true.

Picture yourself in her situation at that moment. You are gasping for breath, crying for a savior, and then succumbing to the bleak and painful death.

Then, the speech he gave showed no remorse for Miss Kopechne at all. When I look for someone’s contrition, I look for something similar to Red’s soliloquy at the end of “The Shawshank Redemption”. Ted Kennedy has never spoken anything of that magnitude. Not even an “I ask you to pray for Mary Jo’s soul.” And that is why he should not have been allowed to live among free people.