If almost right on cue.
In the waning, dull, Dog Days of August, and, somewhat ironically, in the middle of the molten hot Healthcare battle, Senator Ted Kennedy has passed away, ending his fight against brain cancer.
There'll be lots of paychecks and other perks, to interrupt the vacations of the masses of babbling heads, to rush into the nearest cable studio (or, if they are heavy-duty talking heads, they might have the weight to do a remote) and start blathering away, from the headline stories, to insider anecdotes, ending, of course, with whispers during the wall-to-wall coverage of the upcoming funeral.
Local news here in Boston will even surpass all that.
Yes, he was the "Liberal Lion", and did a lot of good things during his time in the Senate (perhaps SCHIPS, and burying Bork among the top)
But one thing won't get mentioned, or, if it does, ever so briefly, a blink, and then, used as a launching point to herald some tale of pulling himself off the floor and rising to great heights.
We speak, of, naturally, Chappaquiddick, and the unfortunate death of Mary Jo Kopechne.
And that brings us to one of the greatest satires in history, run by the National Lampoon, back in 1972.
Riffing off a Volkswagen ad of that time, they put this out there;
From Wikipedia; The case resulted in much satire of Kennedy, including a National Lampoon page showing a floating Volkswagen Beetle with the remark that Kennedy would have been elected president had he been driving a Beetle that night; this satire resulted in legal action by Volkswagen, claiming unauthorized use of its trademark.
(You can go HERE, to see both, the original VW ad, and the satirical one)
In today's corporate-owned media, I don't know if there is a publication out there that would have the balls to do something like that today.
Bonus Links
Senator Kennedy from Cindy Sheehan
Jack Newfield: The Senate's Fighting Liberal
Martin F. Nolan: Kennedy dead at 77 ...Liberal lion of the Senate, symbol of family dynasty succumbs to brain cancer
Joan Walsh: Ted Kennedy's last battle
And, a "Must-Read", from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, over on The Moderate Voice;
Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Well ... There's THAT Part of The Legacy, Too ...
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Na-Na, Na-Na-Na ... Obama Wins ... And Gets The Keys To Camelot!
Such restraint!
It took both CNN, and MSNBC, about three-seconds past the clock striking 7:00PM for them to declare Senator Barack Obama the winner of the South Carolina primary tonight.
And then, it only took the MSM (the gaggle of talking heads on MSNBC, who I stuck with, drifting in-and-out of naps) a few seconds after that, to start giving The Team Clinton their excuse - for getting their asses kicked;
They'll blow off South Carolina as inconsequential, an exhibition game.
The count has been fairly consistent throughout the evening, with Obama winning by nearly a 2-1 margin.
Exit polls, according to CNN, suggest it was the "Bill Clinton Effect";"Roughly 6 in 10 South Carolina Democratic primary voters said Bill Clinton's campaigning was important in how they ultimately decided to vote, and of those voters, 48 percent went for Barack Obama while only 37 percent went for Hillary Clinton. Fourteen percent of those voters voted for John Edwards."
It is almost fully laughable at this point.
While Team Clinton Member Bill protests that he is only playing hardball politics, and not injecting the race card into the campaign (here, it's that moose-in-heat thing we talked about the other day), he goes and injects race into an answer of a question that wasn't asked today;A number of prominent Barack Obama supporters and neutral observers have criticized Clinton’s vocal role on his wife’s behalf. John Kerry told National Journal that “being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth.”
(Here's the video of it)
“Did you notice he didn’t specify?” Clinton said when asked about the comment. “They never do. They hurl these charges, but nothing gets specified. I'm not taking the bait today. I did what I could to help Senator Kerry every time he needed me, and every time he asked me. He can support whomever he wants for whatever reason he wants. But there's nothing for me to respond to.”
Another reporter asked what it said about Obama that it “took two people to beat him.” Clinton again passed. “That’s’ just bait, too. Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in '84 and '88. And he ran a good campaign. Senator Obama's run a good campaign here, he’s run a good campaign everywhere.”
Note to reporter - Barack Obama is black and is running as the black candidate, so that means South Carolina is inconsequential, an exhibition game.
Poor Chelsea Clinton
And, if Team Clinton (both members, Hillary and Bill) are already pissed off enough that Obama dare interrupt her run to history, they must be setting off the hotel's sprinkler system this evening, with the late edition of The New York Times hitting the streets.
A President Like My Father
Sunday's NYT will be carrying the Op-Ed of Caroline Kennedy, endorsing ... Drumroll, please ... Barack Obama.OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
Now, ordinarily, such endorsements may make a splash for a few hours, they get boilerplated in the campaigns' DNA press releases, and that's about it.
My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals."
But this is Caroline Kennedy, and hundreds-of thousands of people tomorrow, when the see and read this Obama-endorsing Op-Ed, this is what will also come into their minds view;
Obama has, more-or-less officially, been handed the torch, and the keys to Camelot
And that means trouble for Team Clinton.
Along with keeping their steady hum of race baiting along the campaign trail, they'll have to add on some Kennedy bashing now.
Geesh! ... Just can't catch a break ...
Bonus Links
Pams House Blend: Obama wins - The "first black president" flushed his wife's support from blacks down the toilet
Bob Herbert: Questions for the Clintons
Jonathan Chait: Is the right right on the Clintons? Hillary's campaign tactics are causing some liberals to turn against the couple.
Nicole Belle: Forget Super Tuesday Or Even Tsunami Tuesday, It’s All About The Super-Delegates
Go to Memeorandum to get the latest headlines
