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Home Front: Politix
Byrd: Rename health care bill for Kennedy
2009-08-27
Ailing Senator Robert Byrd, one of only two to have served longer than Kennedy, suggests in an emotional statement renaming the pending health care legislation for the late Massachusetts Senator:

In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American.
What the heck -- let's name the bill after him, so that at least his family will have that memory, should it fail. The latest numbers have something like 23% of voters liking/strongly liking the idea... about the final approval rating the Clinton health initiative achieved before being given up as a lost cause.
Posted by:Fred

#13  Let's not allow the spin doctors and media make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is...

Amen ArmyGuy. He was a fat, drunk turd then and he died a fat, drunk turd.

Good riddance.
Posted by: DarthVader   2009-08-27 17:24  

#12  Good summary, armyguy - thanks.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2009-08-27 14:49  

#11  Do they really wanna see us start calling it Chappaquiddicare?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2009-08-27 13:17  

#10  Sorry for being long winded here but:

As soon as cancer was found, it was noticed the immediate attempt to Canonize old Teddy by the mainstream media. They are saying what a "great American" he is. Let's get a couple things clear and not twist the facts to change the real history.

1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.

2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. Oops, the man can't count to four. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the U.S. from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him like he charged President Bush receiving.

3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris , never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. (Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private.)


4. While attending law school at the University , he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959, amazing!!!

5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash, and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we.


6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.


7. He swam to shore and walked back to the p arty, after passing several houses and a fire station. Then two friends returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew, that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. The Kennedy family began "calling in favors," ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her family, before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne, and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight.

Since the accident, Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.. a "token of friendship"?

8... Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism". In his very first Senate role, he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.

9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of and increase in immigration, up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court Nominees, as if he were the standard bearer for the nation in matters of right. Island of Virginia

10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is more appropriate than "great American."

Let's not allow the spin doctors and media make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is...
Posted by: armyguy   2009-08-27 10:33  

#9  Glug glug glug...
Posted by: mojo   2009-08-27 10:25  

#8  It would be very appropriate to name the bill after the late Ted Kennedy. It was developed in secret backroom deals. It is huge and bloated with largess. It is not what it appears to be, i.e., it is actually a bill for grabbing power and control. It is a poison pill for the nation.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2009-08-27 10:09  

#7  The donks have such a profound fixation with him, why not call it the Timothy McVeigh Health Care Bill?
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-08-27 10:00  

#6  Now that Ted has passed on they can go ahead with the Nantucket wind farm.

I'd like to see it named the Mary Jo Kopechne Memorial Wind Farm in honor of Teddy efforts for both sustainable wind energy and life rescue services everywhere.
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2009-08-27 09:27  

#5  The old flash animation website called Romp.com had a cartoon series called 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures', about Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy, mostly getting drunk and high and being stupid. Very funny, and still available for download as torrent files. 13 episodes.

Google "bill and ted 01.exe".
Posted by: Anonymoose   2009-08-27 08:23  

#4  I'll also add that after a few days, this nonsense will stop, because Teddy made a hell of a lot of enemies with his arrogance and meanness. And for his part, Byrd is probably getting a lot more religious in his dotage, because he can smell the brimstone through the floorboards.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2009-08-27 08:15  

#3  They named stuff after Felix Dzerzhinsky, too. And they still keep his statue outside of FSB headquarters.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2009-08-27 08:12  

#2  The Foundation For Awkward names, the people who gave you "INVESCO Field at Mile High", present:

"The Edward M. Kennedy Health Care Nationalization and Rationing Act Brought to You by Robert C. Byrd."
Posted by: Mike   2009-08-27 07:06  

#1  I'm amazed Byrd wants to name something without the name Byrd in it.
Posted by: Doolittle   2009-08-27 02:24  

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