If you’re judging Ted Kennedy, you’re judging Laura Bush too. Remember that.

by Steve Marmel | August 26th, 2009

There’s been no shortage of reminders that Ted Kennedy lived a flawed life. Fair enough. He did. Did his good out balance his bad? As someone who did more than his share of Ted Kennedy jokes while he was alive (and regrets none of them) I think it’s safe to say “yes.”

But for the select few in this highly partisan time that couldn’t wait for the body to be cold to start trying to dance on the grave, here’s a little clip from Family Guy for you.

That’s right. Laura Bush did the same thing. Not as famous, not as known, but just as horrible.

SNOPES BACKS UP THE CLAIM

From the Daily news when the Family Guy clip ran:

Rumors have swirled since the crash was first reported that Mrs. Bush may have been criminally negligent (i.e. that she may have been drinking) at the time of the crash, but no chargers were filed and no evidence of wrong-doing was recorded.

Laura Bush is certainly not the first political figure to be skewered by the show – recent plots linked Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin to Nazis. It has mocked slavery, the disabled, the women’s movement, obesity and pretty much any other sensitive or controversial issue you could possibly think of.

Will it show President-elect Barack Obama the same (dis)respect? We’ll see.

That’s the Daily News’ question.

Here’s mine - to the Twitterati jumping all over this, to the bitter right bringing it up in their facebook statuses… Does it wash backwards? If you can say you have the same bitterness to Laura Bush as you do for Ted Kennedy, then fine - have at it. Add your hash tags and comments. I will accept, at face value, that you look at everyone with this on their record equally, and you have the same venom regardless of political identity.

But if you can’t see it on both sides, then let the man have a little peace in his death, and let his story be told as a tapestry of decades, not one single, horrifying incident.

Rude Pundit on Teddy

8/26/2009

A Message on Ted Kennedy to Conservatives Who Hated Him (Mostly Profanity-Free for the Kiddies):
Let's just get this right:

Do you like your state and not the federal government controlling the curriculum of your kids' schools? Thank Ted Kennedy.

Do you like being able to vote starting at age 18? Thank Ted Kennedy.

Do you think low-income people should get help with heating their homes in the winter? Thank the man.

Do you think the federal government should fund cancer research? Yep.

Do you believe that Meals on Wheels is a good thing? Ditto.

Does your daughter (or you, if you're female) like playing soccer or basketball or softball at school? That'd be because of Ted Kennedy.

Do you think that disabled people should be able to go to school? Have access to buildings? Not be discriminated against for housing and loads of other things? Kennedy, big time.

You like your cheap airfares? You know the answer.

You think people on welfare oughta get jobs? So did Kennedy.

You think mental institutions should treat people humanely? Yeah, so did your new friend, Ted Kennedy.

You believe that the Defense Department should provide child care for the kids of soldiers? Kennedy did.

You think a woman shouldn't lose her job if she gets pregnant? You think 100,000 more cops on the street's a good idea? You think poor kids should have health care? You think soldiers in Iraq should have the proper armor? Just tick those things off the list. Some of them would have been accomplished without him; many would not have been.

You agreed with Ted Kennedy far, far more than you want to think you did, dear conservatives. Still, go ahead and dance your mad jigs on his still-warm corpse. Why not? We on the left certainly did when Jerry Falwell, Strom Thurmond, and Jesse Helms kicked. Hell, one asshole blogger even celebrated the death of Ann Coulter's father. But know that you dance in ignorance. Ask Orrin Hatch.

But, of course, you want to address the far more pressing issue of whether or not Ted Kennedy killed Mary Jo Kopechne back at Chappaquiddick all those decades ago, no matter what the investigations said. There's only a couple of things to say about that: The glib response is, "Yeah, and Thomas Jefferson nailed his slaves. What's your point?" More directly, Kennedy asked the people of Massachusetts if they wanted him to quit. They did not. The rest of the nation may have not wanted him as president, but for Massachusetts, Chappaquiddick quickly became a settled issue and distant history. That's all that mattered to keep him in the Senate, just like Louisiana will have to judge whether or not a prostitute-lovin' David Vitter should go back. That's democracy, gang, like it or not.

And Ted Kennedy did more for real, actual democracy than almost anyone else in our entire history as a nation.

More on that tomorrow in a real tribute.

(By the way, perhaps we now know why Barack Obama was trying to get health care reform done quickly.)

// posted by Rude One @ 9:39 AM| DiggIt!| Del.icio.us|