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Tuesday September 22, 2009

Teddy... Unsanitized

The reality is that for 30 years Teddy stood by, at the behest of successive craven, overwhelmed Dublin governments, whose response to the northern Irish crisis was to cooperate in the marginalization of the Nationalist agenda while they waited for events to play themselves out.

By Patrick Hurley

The incessant, insufferable bombast of falsities and hyperbole on the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy is over. The affront to the truth became so nauseating that, as a relief, one almost longed for the effusive Michael Jackson coverage.

An Irish-American colleague - a retired U.S. Army officer and Vietnam Vet - simply shook his head in disgust as the burnished, sanitized Ted Kennedy story was persistently served up.

In reply, he persistently uttered the honor code of the U.S. officer corps: "I shall not lie, cheat or steal. Nor will I tolerate those that do."

The fact that so many of our political "leaders" enabled the charade highlights their already shredded credibility.

How vacuous they appear to the silent, though stirring, majority.

Irish politicos, of course, were effusive in their accolades. Taoiseach Brian Cowen described Ted Kennedy "as a great friend of Ireland" and one of the most distinguished and talented figures in American politics.

"He used his considerable influence for the betterment of this island," Mr. Cowen continued.

The discredited former taoiseach, Bertie Ahern said that Ireland had lost "a great friend" and America had lost "a great leader."

These buachalli should not be allowed off the Irish island absent adult supervision. The next time they feel inclined to roam, na buachailli should cancel the junket and en lieu transfer the airgead to some of the misfortunes on the Celtic feline's dole queues.

At least Fine Gael's Enda Kenny's statement was circumspect. He had the wherewithal to appreciate that the majority of Irish Americans held no high opinion of Ted Kennedy.

We suspect that Enda has well-grounded advisers outside of the Iveagh House sphere. Perhaps a Bronx Irish American or two.

Dublin's reaction to Ted Kennedy's demise is a glaring indicator of how disconnected the Irish establishment is from the Irish-American community.

A picture of "a tearful" taoiseach at the funeral Mass was published in the Sunday Independent.

Perhaps, Mr. Cowen was weeping on the sudden realization of the deplorable state of the Irish diplomatic effort in the U.S.

Iveagh House has spent the last 40 years cultivating the Kennedys, and, through them, the unrepresentative left-wing elite.

Accordingly, it finds itself on one side of an increasingly yawning chasm from mainstream Irish-American opinion.

Now that their mentor has passed on, the mandarins are really up the creek without a paddle.

Perhaps, the Dublin establishment sees something in the surviving dysfunctional, trust fund-dependent Kennedy generation.

Even before his passing, the battle was joined to "inherit" Teddy's senate seat.

Such a sense of entitlement! But as Joe Kennedy Sr. bemoaned back in 1960, "I paid too much for that senate seat to allow it out of the family."

Far left "activist" Joe Kennedy Jr., who retired from Congress in a pique of boredom, would have liked to return and play senator.

But would Dublin be idiotic enough to cozy up to an enabler of virulent anti-American dictator Hugo Chavez?

Then, there is Teddy's son, Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who over the years has also been magically extricated from the odd scrape or two.

Could a Rhode Island representative suddenly declare for a Massachusetts senate seat? Teddy's widow, Vicki, has also expressed an interest.

However, to paraphrase Edward J. McCormack, if her last name wasn't Kennedy, her candidacy would be a joke.

As for the remainder of the trust-fund beneficiaries, former youthful deviants, and now professional left-wing "activists,"

New York Post columnist Charles Hurt stated, "This crowd, they're not so much Camelot anymore. They're more Jerry Springer."

In the main, Irish media coverage of the Kennedys has been one long unchallenged continuum of illusions.

The myth was propagated that Ted Kennedy labored assiduously to resolve the Irish Question.

To assuage the Irish-American vote, he may have made a few flippant jingoistic speeches.

The reality is that for 30 years Teddy stood by, at the behest of successive craven, overwhelmed Dublin governments, whose response to the northern Irish crisis was to cooperate in the marginalization of the Nationalist agenda while they waited for events to play themselves out.

Teddy simply trotted out on cue whenever Dublin needed reinforcement.

Opportunity for reconciliation eventually came because the combatants fought each other to a standstill.

Teddy simply jumped on the bandwagon and added a few tweaks at the end.

Reconciliation might have come sooner, with thousands of lives saved, if he had expended his full power as a U.S. senator and the scion of a powerful political dynasty. Yet, he chose to follow rather than lead.

For one who was so quick to advantageously flaunt his ethnicity, Teddy's meanest blow came in 1965, when as chairman of the Senate Immigration Committee, he betrayed his own people by effectively ending legal immigration from Ireland.

Twenty years later, his immigration act would have real human consequences with thousands of Irish political and economic refugees living as illegal aliens.

As we anticipate another great wave of economic refugees from the failed Celtic feline, Teddy's legislation will yet squander the potential of another generation.

In effecting his patronizing sense of noblesse oblige, Teddy declared war on his fellow ethnics in other ways.

His advocacy of busing that neither Irish Americans nor African Americans wanted caused turmoil in the Irish-American neighborhoods of South Boston, inspiring the common refrain, "Where do your kids go to school, Teddy?"

His affirmative action policies frustrated the careers of many Irish Americans who were not wealthy enough to escape sacrifice to his social engineering whims.

That Ted Kennedy, a product of the American Dream, denied to his fellow Irish the opportunity to excel was a deplorable act of betrayal.

No man was more responsible for breaking the Irish connection with America.

That the Irish establishment would ignore these facts is simply a strain of Stockholm Syndrome wherein the abused victim empathizes with the abuser.

As usual in its association with the Kennedys, the worst hypocrisy of the Catholic Church was on display.

Two cardinals and six priests! Not bad for the champion of Chappaquiddick and an extreme abortion proponent to boot.

We suspect that throughout Teddy's life a generous tithe bought special dispensations. So why should a celebrated exit be a surprise?

Apparently the sale of indulgences still thrives in the Catholic Church. And the hierarchy wonders why the faithful are increasingly disillusioned?

"Do we operate under a system of equal justice under the law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?"

Such was Teddy's hypocritical response to the pardoning of former President Richard M. Nixon.

Incredibly, this was not even 5 years after Chappaquiddick.

The drama of that night has been well documented. Teddy abandoned the submerged vehicle, with Mary Jo Kopechne trapped inside, and did not report the accident for 10 hours.

Initiating the Kennedy damage-control machine took precedence over the life of Mary Jo.

As a result, there was no autopsy and significant questions were never answered. Was Teddy driving while intoxicated? Was he engaged in an extra-marital affair? Did Mary Jo survive in an air bubble, following the impact? Did she spend her last minutes, or hours, terrified, alone in the darkness, vainly hoping that Teddy was organizing a rescue?

Yes, there is one system for "the high and mighty," especially if you are a Kennedy.

Expulsion from Harvard and other transgressions aside, after Chappaquiddick "the average citizen" would have been doing hard time, with his political career on the garbage pile.

Corruption and flawed ideology notwithstanding, Ted Kennedy was a father, uncle, and sibling.

In the Christian spirit, offer a prayer for his troubled soul. But, sure, say one for Mary Jo, as well. Go dtuga Dia suaimhneas do a h-anam buartha. C

Patrick Hurley blogs at: www.irish-american-news-opinion.blogspot.com

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