Sen. Kennedy endorses Obama

dragon · Post by **dragon** » 2008-01-28 01:14pm

Its live on the tele now Senator Kennedy endorses Obama.

Post by **Surlethe** » 2008-01-28 01:16pm

Yeah, I just heard it on the top-of-the-hour NPR news update. I could hear in the background the right-wing conservatives collectively rolling their eyes; Kennedy is a demon for them.

dragon · Post by **dragon** » 2008-01-28 01:19pm

Hum I don't follow politics all that much why is Kennedy a demon for them?

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2008-01-28 01:24pm

He's supposed to be the embodiment of the Massachusetts Liberal - i.e., a Tax-and-spend, weak-on-crime, possibly gay-lovin' Democrat.

Still, this can't hurt Obama's standing among the Democratic base. And to be honest, although I've heard conservatives point out that he's pretty standard democrat on most issues, it doesn't appear to sinking in with any moderate and/or independent supporters.

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2008-01-28 01:25pm

dragon wrote:Hum I don't follow politics all that much why is Kennedy a demon for them?

Short answer: He's a Democrat named Kennedy. Hell, it took a Kennedy to make the South start voting Republican.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2008-01-28 01:46pm

Hm; so we can see the "old guard" of the Democrat party backing Obama; who is an alternative to the Clinton "New Guard"

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2008-01-28 01:57pm

Civil War Man wrote:
dragon wrote:Hum I don't follow politics all that much why is Kennedy a demon for them?
Short answer: He's a Democrat named Kennedy. Hell, it took a Kennedy to make the South start voting Republican.

Actually that was LBJ, who signed into law that blacks are people too.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2008-01-28 02:11pm

dragon wrote:Hum I don't follow politics all that much why is Kennedy a demon for them?

I don't hate Kennedy because he's liberal.
Hell, I disagree with Russ Feingold most of the time yet I don't despise him or most other liberals I disagree with.

I despise him because he's a fucking hypocrite on so many levels it's not even funny.
From Chappaquiddick to the present day brouhaha over the proposed wind farm that he's blocking because it'd ruin his view of the ocean from Hyannisport, I don't think the SOB has any integrity at all.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2008-01-28 02:16pm

MKSheppard wrote:Hm; so we can see the "old guard" of the Democrat party backing Obama; who is an alternative to the Clinton "New Guard"

Given that Obama's campaign is based on change, the truly cynical tinfoil hat side of me wonders if the Clinton campaign didn't secretly engineer this to happen, knowing that Teddy isn't looked upon all that warmly by a lot of people outside of Massachusetts.

Given Clinton's history of dirty campaigning in this race, the very personification of the 'Old Guard' cozying up to the 'Agent of Change' does make one wonder.....

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2008-01-28 02:46pm

Maybe him and Co. are legitimately just fucking sick the DLC and Clintonists; I'm so sick and tired of people pretending merely because Bill made them feel fuzzy that his wife (Which of course will give us everything Bill was, right? Child-logic.) will bring them the same feelings. Well I hate to say it, but a lot of dogshit about this decade was because Bill Clinton did not do enough on terrorism, he did not do enough on long-term economic reform (outsourcing, speculation, the continued destruction the physical economy, real estate madness, energy regressivism, all began to rot under Clinton), he did not reform health care, etc., etc. The biggest problems of right now should have been addressed under Clinton. Imagine what energy leadership and a hard economy program would have us doing today. Imagine a successful health care program.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2008-01-28 02:50pm

Like I said, that's the tinfoil hat side of me.
Personally I think it has more to do with EMK's seeing Obama as more legitimately progressive than HRC is than it does with any skullduggery.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2008-01-28 02:53pm

Illuminatus Primus wrote:Maybe him and Co. are legitimately just fucking sick the DLC and Clintonists; I'm so sick and tired of people pretending merely because Bill made them feel fuzzy that his wife (Which of course will give us everything Bill was, right? Child-logic.) will bring them the same feelings. Well I hate to say it, but a lot of dogshit about this decade was because Bill Clinton did not do enough on terrorism, he did not do enough on long-term economic reform (outsourcing, speculation, the continued destruction the physical economy, real estate madness, energy regressivism, all began to rot under Clinton), he did not reform health care, etc., etc. The biggest problems of right now should have been addressed under Clinton. Imagine what energy leadership and a hard economy program would have us doing today. Imagine a successful health care program.

To be fair to Clinton, after the 1994 Elections (in which the Democrats lost big, including the first loss of control over the House of Representatives in over 40 years), there wasn't a lot he could do unless he did things that absolutely everyone agreed upon. He tried for Health Care Reform, and failed in 1993, and never got a second chance. You could make the argument that it was his political mismanagement that caused the unpleasant turn of events, but after 1994 he just never really had a strong position vis-a-vis the Legislature, which is crucial for major reforms.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2008-01-28 09:13pm

I hate Kennedy because he's a total idiot. Take George Bush and make him more of an alcoholic, a worse public speaker, etc. etc. etc. Not to mention that everything he does seems forced and out-of touch. He once compared Bill Clinton to baseball's "Mike McGwire" and "Sammy Soosser," for crying out loud. Not to mention that he killed someone. Those are the types of personal qualities that I look for in a politician and a leader of our country.

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2008-01-28 11:28pm

Patrick Degan wrote:
Civil War Man wrote:
dragon wrote:Hum I don't follow politics all that much why is Kennedy a demon for them?
Short answer: He's a Democrat named Kennedy. Hell, it took a Kennedy to make the South start voting Republican.
Actually that was LBJ, who signed into law that blacks are people too.

I was referring to the breaking of the Solid South, where the Deep South voted solid Democrat in presidential elections until the 1960 election. LBJ was taken as Veep candidate because he was more popular in the southern states before that whole "blacks are people too" deal.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2008-01-28 11:49pm

Master of Ossus wrote:I hate Kennedy because he's a total idiot. Take George Bush and make him more of an alcoholic, a worse public speaker, etc. etc. etc. Not to mention that everything he does seems forced and out-of touch. He once compared Bill Clinton to baseball's "Mike McGwire" and "Sammy Soosser," for crying out loud. Not to mention that he killed someone. Those are the types of personal qualities that I look for in a politician and a leader of our country.

Oh, he's definitely not someone you'd want to see as President - but he is a prominent figure in the Democratic Party, for good or ill.

It was arguably LBJ who got Kennedy elected by bringing in Texas. He was Texas's Favorite Son (and that's literally what he was referred to as, IIRC).

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2008-01-29 12:46am

I'm sorry; but this is just stupid.

Clinton was the first Democrat to be re-elected as POTUS since.......Franklin Roosevelt, and he built up a comprehensive broad base after his stinging defeats early on in his presidency; and tried to move the democratic party away from the death lock that the Northeastern Liberals had on it -- eg. Teddy and his Clan; to make it actually electable elsewhere in the country -- if you look at the history of democratic presidental candidates since FDR, a significant majority are really people who are pretty much only acceptable to the inbred democratic party clique which runs the northeastern states.

Adlai Stevenson
Hubert Humphrey
George McGovern
Walter Mondale
Michael Dukakis
John Kerry

Clinton tried to change that, and the established power base didn't like it.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2008-01-29 12:56am

MKSheppard wrote:I'm sorry; but this is just stupid.

Clinton was the first Democrat to be re-elected as POTUS since.......Franklin Roosevelt, and he built up a comprehensive broad base after his stinging defeats early on in his presidency; and tried to move the democratic party away from the death lock that the Northeastern Liberals had on it -- eg. Teddy and his Clan; to make it actually electable elsewhere in the country -- if you look at the history of democratic presidental candidates since FDR, a significant majority are really people who are pretty much only acceptable to the inbred democratic party clique which runs the northeastern states.

Adlai Stevenson
Hubert Humphrey
George McGovern
Walter Mondale
Michael Dukakis
John Kerry

Clinton tried to change that, and the established power base didn't like it.

Of course, there's also the fact that the aforementioned were all shitty campaigners. Especially Dukakis when he took that ride on top of the tank. The moment I saw that, I knew he was going to lose.