The announcement of Sen. Ted Kennedy's death came at 2 a.m. Eastern on Aug. 26 and a little over 15 hours later, two prominent liberal voices were scheming as to how the president and other Democratic leaders could use his passing to advance a political agenda.
Huffington Post editor Arianna Huffington appeared on MSNBC host Ed Schultz's Aug. 26 program and was asked by Schultz if it somehow could be used to push "real reform" for health care.
"The passing of Ted Kennedy - could this be a rallying cry for progressives to carry this fight through and to see real reform and health care in this country?" Schultz said. "Because, of course, I think everybody on the left knows that this was his passion, this was his cause."
Huffington agreed, but she didn't stop at health care. She had a litany of issues that she said his death should be used to promote the "progressive" brand of solutions for.
"The causes that he fought for, the causes that he made his own, including health care, including fighting against the war in Iraq, including fighting against apartheid in South Africa, including the civil rights legislation - all that really is what America is about," Huffington said. "And so, whenever we just say this is the left, and Ted Kennedy represents the left, we are marginalizing it. And what we need to do now more than ever is to come together to address these huge problems we are facing with health care, with foreclosures, with job losses - to really put the American people at the center of the debate again the way he did again and again."
And Schultz also asked the Huffington Post founder if she thought Kennedy's passing could be used to "rally" and "motivate" Americans to "fight" for their ideological position on hot-button issues.
"Absolutely, I really do. And I also think that the White House and many in the Senate may actually learn that, as Ted Kennedy said in 1980, warning the Democratic Party that if they abandon their core values, they are going to lose," Huffington explained. "Well, once again here, Democrats are in danger of abandoning their core values, watering down what they stand for, and losing. So that's really a great teachable moment for the Democratic Party."
According to Huffington, Ted Kennedy passed his brother's torch, that of former President John F. Kennedy, to President Barack Obama and that was a signal for the current president to speak out on the health care issue, which she actually said would make America "a more perfect union."
"Well, in a sense, Ed, you know, Sen. Kennedy passed the torch, the JFK torch, the Kennedy torch, on to Obama during the primaries," Huffington said. "So now Obama needs to rise to that occasion and actually speak passionately about health care as a moral imperative, the way Ted Kennedy has been speaking about it for 40 years. This is not just about cost cutting, important as cost cutting is. This is really about the next step in America's journey towards becoming a more perfect union."
Interestingly, President John F. Kennedy was a tax-cutter, as Business & Media Institute adviser Dan Mitchell pointed out for the Heritage Foundation in 2003, which is not part of the Kennedy "torch" that Huffington and Schultz acknowledged.
"President Hoover dramatically increased tax rates in the 1930s and President Roosevelt compounded the damage by pushing marginal tax rates to more than 90 percent," Mitchell wrote. "Recognizing that high tax rates were hindering the economy, President Kennedy proposed across-the-board tax rate reductions that reduced the top tax rate from more than 90 percent down to 70 percent. What happened? Tax revenues climbed from $94 billion in 1961 to $153 billion in 1968, an increase of 62 percent (33 percent after adjusting for inflation)."
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That's it
August 27, 2009 - 07:31 ET by jdlybrandThat's it Schultzie... do it for Teddy...screw everybody else. It's allll about Teddy.
"What a revoltin' development this is!"
Chester Riley
Wee said, jd....in honor of
August 27, 2009 - 08:11 ET by motherbeltWee said, jd....in honor of Teddy's memory the country must be transformed into his socialist vision!
I don't owe Ted Kennedy a damn thing! Neither do almost 300 million other Americans! We have no obligation to live his dream for America!
Going Overboard For Ted
August 27, 2009 - 07:39 ET by GeneralAlYea Huffy and Schultzy, lets all drive off the bridge in honor of Ted. At least all you lefties should committ vehicular Hari Kari in honor of this womanizing loser!
Better yet
August 27, 2009 - 07:40 ET by the mad poleCan't they just pile into a bus and drive off a bridge?
A "Litany of Issues"
August 27, 2009 - 07:48 ET by sic721"She had a litany of issues that she said his death should be used to promote the "progressive" brand of solutions for."
Like promoting public support for the failed stimulus? After all, 'Swimmer' is now a "shovel-ready" project.
A generation which ignores history has no past -- and no future.-Robert A. Heinlein
Sorry, Ed.
August 27, 2009 - 07:53 ET by TexndocDidn't the spectacular flop of Caroline Kennedy's New York Senate seat take over once and all settle that the Kennedy mystique with the public is yesteryear? Sorry, Teddy was the Shemp of the brothers, and the nation is not going to come to a standstill.
I agree with them. I think
August 27, 2009 - 08:07 ET by ckc1227I agree with them. I think Democrats should use this occasion to break even FURTHER to the left than they have so far during the Obama administration. I would love to see how an already fed up public reacts to that.
Monkey traps
August 27, 2009 - 08:05 ET by KC MulvilleYou've all heard of a monkey trap. Catchers trim a hole in a tree just large enough a banana in. The monkeys see the banana, and try to grab it, but their fist takes up all the remaining space inside the hole, and they can't get their hands out. The catchers then easily walk up to the tree and grab the monkey. The funny thing is that the monkeys could easily escape, if only they would release the banana. But they don't. Oh, they stomp and spit and wail when the catchers approach, but they won't let go of their little prize.
The Democrats are in a monkey trap. Scorned for years as liberals, they saw the election of Barack Obama as a sign that America has come back to them. They're convinced that America, deep down inside, truly loves liberal ideas. Big government, big compassion. These post-Reagan years were just the Reagan spin machine, not showing America's true love for liberalism.
They're going to hang onto the idea of government healthcare like a monkey's banana. Even as they see their poll numbers drop, and the 2010 election looking like a disaster, they're going to hang onto it. And get neither.
I've never heard of the
August 27, 2009 - 08:15 ET by motherbeltI've never heard of the "monkey trap" but I like the analogy.
Kind of like the dog with the bone in his mouth who refuses to let go of it, even for a bigger bone.
Maybe this, like the Wellstone funeral, will be the straw that breaks the backs of the American people, who will loudly refuse to be herded into a socialist pen just because Ted Kennedy wanted it!
Brilliant!
August 27, 2009 - 08:16 ET by reasonsjesterI always knew progressives were bananas for big government. Great analogy. I'm stealing it and crediting you.
pointvcounterpoint.com
Credit
August 27, 2009 - 08:19 ET by KC MulvilleThanks, but I stole it from my novice master in the Jesuits. Oh well, he probably stole it from someone else ... LOL! I come from a long line of intellectual thieves, I guess.
KC: how dare you use the word "monkey"!!!
August 27, 2009 - 08:40 ET by SickofLibsHave you no sensitivity, my good man?
LOL
August 27, 2009 - 09:28 ET by KC MulvilleSorry - I didn't mean to insult the monkeys.
Should we have a "Weekend at Teddy's" tour?
August 27, 2009 - 08:13 ET by reasonsjesterThe left will do anything to push their unpopular agenda down Americans' throats. If that means pulling a page out of the Hussein playbook and propping Teddy up in some sunglasses and driving him around in ticker tape parades across the country, they'd do it. (Of course, I'm being only slightly facetious.)
Progressives are convincing themselves that America voted for socialism (soft socialism or what-have-you) when it voted for the first African president (to use Van Jones' self-description). There must be some switch in a progressives' mind that gets them to believe that they can do anything now. But have they looked at some polls that say that 72% think we should give stimulus money back? That presidential approval is tanking? That Congressional approval is still abysmal? The radical left needs to know that it is still that - radical; despite the charade of the media that their opinions are "mainstream."
What the president has done so far is indefensible, and lucid Americans know it. You have to have some kind of dissociative personality disorder to think you can build this country up by nationalizing the economy and spending it into oblivion.
pointvcounterpoint.com
You should have had a spew
August 27, 2009 - 08:16 ET by motherbeltYou should have had a spew alert on that! ROFL!
You know they are going to do it, figuratively, at least, and not just for a weekend!
My TV is going to stay on the Food Network and the Speed Channel until Teddy is safely in the ground.
Slightly facetious
August 27, 2009 - 08:22 ET by KC MulvilleYou're giving the Democrats ideas! Stop!
Yes...
August 27, 2009 - 08:47 ET by FuzzlenutterBecause we all have "warm and fuzzy boners" over this monster...
"The passing of Ted Kennedy
August 27, 2009 - 09:06 ET by guein"The passing of Ted Kennedy - could this be a rallying cry for progressive"
Yes, that is exactly what you should do Ed. Perhaps you should rent an arena and have a memorial service and call anyone who opposes ObamaCare a Nazi or a racist. Make it a Paul Welstone style service; we all know how that turned out.
New NBC Online Toys
August 27, 2009 - 09:48 ET by shuq4Coming soon!
Martini & Rossi's are proud to present:
The new "Teddy Care" Bear
(1:64 scale Watered down Oldsmobile, neckbrace and tumbler may be purchased seperately)
Oh, please do. That would
August 27, 2009 - 10:02 ET by fitzfongOh, please do. That would be fantastic. While the five people who watch MSDNC might draw inspiration from EMK's death in dialing up their hostility to shove communism down our throats, the rest of us will be even more motivated to defeat this march to serfdom because it carries the smell, the taint of that disgusting creep.
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." -George Best
Maybe a more fitting
August 27, 2009 - 10:06 ET by BuffNBoneMaybe a more fitting tribute would be a wind farm off of Hyannis.
"Fighters are fun but bombers make policy"
Nibbleheads!!
August 27, 2009 - 10:43 ET by Forbin001One nibblehead interviewing another nibblehead and its a bunch of nibbleheaded commentary.
Nibbleheads!!
barry and michelle
August 27, 2009 - 12:18 ET by cajun2The game has already started. I recieved an email today from the DNC. It starts out, 'Michelle and I". First, I am not a registered democrat. I sent them a reply, respectful, demanding that the dnc never, never, ever email me again. Now I have to find out how they got me address. Hey,Noel, did you give it to them?
I agree that we all deserve Ted Kennedy's care
August 27, 2009 - 12:52 ET by TheHistorianTed Kennedy lived the last year due to the wonderful private care of the US. Note that he did not go to Cuba for their wonderful care al a Michael Moore.
What Obama has said is that 80% of health care occurs in the last 12 months of life. Obviously, if the government were to ration care (called budgeting), this would affect the last year of Ted Kennedy's life under the current plan. Therefore, Ted Kennedy's care would not have happened under the "public option". So let's support Huffington in making this bill about Kennedy, and that includes the care he got.
"What experience and history teach is
this - that people and governments never have learned anything from history,
or acted on principles deduced from it."
G. W. F. Hegel
RIP MJK
August 27, 2009 - 21:55 ET by retroconNow, who could possibly twist words to use someones death to their advantage?