Ted Kennedy Was Just a Man
If you click on any Edward Kennedy story on Politics Daily today, you will see above the headline a new graphic — “Remembering Senator Kennedy” — with a flattering picture of him.
In the almost four months of Politics Daily’s existence, I have never seen another story on the site honored with a special graphic. And here were seven — seven! — stories at my last count at 12:40 p.m. Wednesday, on a topic with no new developments other than that the man is still dead.
As a conservative, I can take a day of frustration here and there when there’s too much coverage of an issue or event that mostly interests the mostly liberal media. And on a day when a major figure such as Ted Kennedy passes away, I can even handle the media’s immediate overdrive to canonize him by privately rolling my eyes.
Don’t get me wrong, Kennedy was a historic figure and important leader in Congress, and the media should cover his life and death as a top story today. But the saintly depiction of the man and the absurd number of stories about him is way out of proportion.
Also, his death was long expected – his brain cancer was diagnosed as terminal – and in recent weeks he was unable to attend his sister’s funeral or a White House event to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The media needs to stop canonizing Kennedy and offer a fairer assessment of a complicated man of strengths and weaknesses – personal and professional — that includes a checkered past. I was most offended when my colleague Bonnie Goldstein ended her piece on Kennedy and the current health care reform efforts by writing that legislation should be drafted based on “WWTD? What Would Teddy Do?”
The acronym WWTD is a take-off on WWJD, which stands for “What Would Jesus Do?” It is most often seen on rubber bracelets as reminders for Christians to live as Jesus dictated. And it’s both misguided and offensive to link Kennedy to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Lloyd Bentsen famously said to Dan Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy”. So I say to my colleague, “Ted Kennedy was no Jesus Christ.”
I am not trying to take away from Kennedy’s accomplishments in public life. As former president Bush 41 said in a statement, “Ted Kennedy was a seminal figure in the United States Senate — a leader who answered the call to duty for some 47 years, and whose death closes a remarkable chapter in that body’s history.”
But he was also a complicated figure in American history, to say the least. He pushed through major liberal legislation that has changed our culture and society. He worked across the aisle with Republicans to pass bipartisan measures. And he actively kept alive the legacy of his brother, President John F. Kennedy.
On the other hand, he claimed a strong Catholic faith, but was pro-choice and used his position in the Senate to push an activist, pro-choice legislative agenda. He also was known to hold grudges, drink heavily, cheat on his first wife and live a fancy lifestyle with mansions, boats and chauffeured cars that closed him off from his working-class supporters.
Kennedy also was a good and loving father. He was, by all accounts, loyal to his family, his colleagues (Democrats and Republicans), and to his second wife, Vicki. He was well liked and apparently had a great sense of humor.
Yet let’s not forget that he was a hard partier and womanizer for most of his adult life. Or that those habits brought about the most infamous day in Kennedy’s life — when he was in a car accident that caused the death of a young woman named Mary Jo Kopechne.
Kennedy did not call the police until nine hours after the incident, apparently trying to escape being caught in the scandal. Kopechne drowned in the car, which had accidentally been driven off a bridge into a tidal channel. Kennedy only pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the accident.
I believe in redemption, and that our sins can be forgiven with true repentance. Whether Kennedy was truly remorseful and repentant for his role in Mary Jo Kopechne’s death, we can’t know. But we do know that Ted Kennedy was not a saint. He was a man, no more and no less.
