Ted Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009)

I suppose it would be appropriate at this juncture for me to reflect on the death of Senator Edward Moore Kennedy, offering my thoughts to the virtual world as a mourner baked meats to the funeral, but I find I have little to say that someone else won't have said already, said better and with greater sincerity.

I was raised to worship John F. Kennedy, as you did then if you were Irish Catholic of a certain class. At that time, Ted Kennedy was the Kennedy brother no one talked about, the stain of Chappaquiddick still fresh. In the years since, the biographies have become less hagiographic while public tolerance of bad behaviour both immoral and criminal has grown greater. If one wonders if Jack Kennedy with his infamous philandering could have become president in today's TMZ world, one may also wonder if Ted Kennedy couldn't have become president in spite of Chappaquiddick. Regardless, the transformation of Ted Kennedy from least of the Kennedy brothers to the respected Senior Senator from Massachussetts is one of the more interesting second acts in American public life, where such heel-face turns are widely held not to occur.

A glance at Kennedy's CV from the US Senate demonstrates an active politician with an equally active social conscience that is hard to square with the boy who was thrown out of Harvard for cheating or the man who wandered away from the accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne. Today there will be a rush to give disproportionate weight to both aspects of the Kennedy's life. For my part, I hope in equal measure that (to paraphrase cofax7) Mary Jo is there to kick Teddy's ass and that God judges him kindly.

Amen.