Massachusetts Mania, Starring Teddy Kennedy

Massachusetts Mania is in full swing…it’s a presidential election year and the Democrat candidate is not only a senator from Massachusetts, he even bears the initials, “JFK”. All similarities end there other than a Kennedy happens to be the state’s other senator, and is involved with the campaign, evidently functioning as John Kerry’s hatchet man.

Teddy Kennedy has made a lifelong career out of being a Kennedy, tapping into the family’s name, money and long standing tradition of tragedy. Chappaquiddick effectively killed off any shot he had at the White House, although the Kennedy name was able to keep him out of the “Big House”. Since then, Teddy has attempted to remain relevant by making a never ending series of speeches and pronouncements that are often so ridiculous that it’s difficult for anyone other than the most rabidly partisan liberals to take him seriously. Couple that with his frankly embarrassing behavior and the end result is nothing more than a tired, hackneyed politico who has become a caricature of himself.

So now, in the twilight of his checkered career, Teddy has taken up another cause; a mission of slamming the President at all costs. His recent remarks at the Brookings Institution undoubtedly set new records for hyperbolic, partisan rhetoric from a US senator speaking against a sitting US president. Kennedy accused Bush of having the largest “credibility gap since Richard Nixon.” Yes, he played the “Nixon Card”…one that’s usually reserved for play by Democrats when they hold a particularly weak hand. In addition, he claimed that “Iraq is George Bush’s VietNam”, which begs the question, if Iraq belongs to Bush, who did VietNam belong to? Well, let’s see…do the initials JFK mean anything to you? Oh, guess Teddy won’t be broaching that subject anytime soon. He’d rather stick to the “Iraq was made up in Texas” approach.

Of course, the very notion of comparing Iraq to VietNam requires not a stretch or even a reach, but rather something more like the irrational, but insistent denials of an alcoholic in order to become believable. More than 58,000 American lives were lost in ‘Nam in a war that lasted twelve years. A war fought in jungles with no clear cut objective. A war that was never given a winning strategy by our leaders of the time. In Iraq, Baghdad was captured quickly, Saddam is now in custody, and a new Iraqi government is taking shape. True, there have been difficulties but to compare Iraq to VietNam represents partisan, political “strategy” geared toward energizing overly emotional voters who haven’t studied history.

So now Ted is supporting Kerry, a VietNam vet who came home and immediately engaged in anti-war activities with groups known to be friendly with Hanoi Jane Fonda and others of her ilk. Those demoralizing actions toward our VietNam troops have made Kerry a persona non grata with a very large number of veterans. Not that Ted Kennedy has ever shown much of an inclination to support our military. In 2003 for example, he opposed an 87 billion dollar package to fund military operations and rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. His actions and remarks at the time led to this editorial comment from the Boston Herald, “Ted Kennedy offers more empty rhetoric, which won’t buy the bullet-proof vests for troops or rebuild bridges for Iraqis.” Indeed.

Massachusetts Mania…starring Senator Ketchup and Teddy Kennedy. It makes for an entertaining summer replacement series, but don’t look for it to make it past the November programming schedule.

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