I am partisan enough that I never celebrated the late Senator during his life (He was, after all, the "liberal lion of the Senate" and I was, and I remain, opposed to just about everything he stood for, and that without apology), but I find myself mourning his passing today just the same.
Here are three things I thought were cool about Ted Kennedy-
1. His voice- I just really liked hearing him talk. It wasn't just his accent either. He didn't speak in measured language. Everything seemed to be said with vim, vigor and energy. I liked that. His accent was undeniably cool as well though, and even though I rarely, if ever, agreed with what he was saying I always liked the way he said it.
2. His consistency- The man had ballast. He knew what he believed, and those well-established principles allowed him to respond to thorny issues with the ease of a reflex, and he championed his views openly, loudly and without apology. I respect that. Such a man gave his opponents a fair target and his supporters a standard to rally behind. he was one of the few politicians of our day who wore the label "liberal" with pride. He was not an indian fighter, sniping from cover and out of sight, but a redcoat marching in the open with sunshine clearly illuminating him in all of his glorious error.
3. His family- I think most conservatives secretly wish the Kennedys had played for their team. Even I entertain a certain fascination with them. No other family in America is surrounded by such mystique, and conservatives, like me, can resent that but they cannot deny it. With Teddy's passing the last King of Hyanis Port has died and that marks the end of an era that I am observing with surprising sadness.
Here are three things I thought were cool about Ted Kennedy-
1. His voice- I just really liked hearing him talk. It wasn't just his accent either. He didn't speak in measured language. Everything seemed to be said with vim, vigor and energy. I liked that. His accent was undeniably cool as well though, and even though I rarely, if ever, agreed with what he was saying I always liked the way he said it.
2. His consistency- The man had ballast. He knew what he believed, and those well-established principles allowed him to respond to thorny issues with the ease of a reflex, and he championed his views openly, loudly and without apology. I respect that. Such a man gave his opponents a fair target and his supporters a standard to rally behind. he was one of the few politicians of our day who wore the label "liberal" with pride. He was not an indian fighter, sniping from cover and out of sight, but a redcoat marching in the open with sunshine clearly illuminating him in all of his glorious error.
3. His family- I think most conservatives secretly wish the Kennedys had played for their team. Even I entertain a certain fascination with them. No other family in America is surrounded by such mystique, and conservatives, like me, can resent that but they cannot deny it. With Teddy's passing the last King of Hyanis Port has died and that marks the end of an era that I am observing with surprising sadness.
5 comments:
"but first...*snaps*...cocktails!"
I really don't mourn his passing at all. He was a savage man who fought very hard for the protection of that peculiar type of health care that crushes the heads of babies in the womb and sucks the remains out with a tube. I say nothing, of course, concerning his eternity and soul and such. I'm just glad he's gone and his voice silent.
Yes...that too of course, but even God prefers a cold man to one who is lukewarm.
I'm not trying to be adversarial here but Kennedy is perfectly Laodicean Josh. "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakednes do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." (Revelation 3:17-18) Kennedy claimed Christ and lived counter to Him - lukewarm in every way. Again, concerning the fate of Kennedy: "I do none harm, I say none harm, I think none harm"
Chastened. Truth. You are absolutely right.
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