Kennedy Revels in Limelight as He Stumps for Obama

[jackson_dem]

-snip-

Yet Mr. Kennedy, 75, is hot, hot, hot on the trail, stumping for Senator Barack Obama, who was 15 months old when Mr. Kennedy began his Senate career in 1962. He is drawing raucous crowds, invoking the family legacy, working the lunch crowd at the Flying Tortilla in Santa Fe and getting the kitchen staff together for a photo.

-snip-

“It’s like when Tony Bennett suddenly became hip again after the kids discovered him,” observed Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist and former Kennedy aide who attended the rally. “It’s the same thing with Kennedy. He’s MTV now. And instead of jazz clubs, he’s doing the Hollywood Bowl.”

-snip-

But friends and family members say there is a different feeling this time, a level of intensity that seems deeper, even sentimental.

“This involvement seems more personal to him somehow,” said Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island and Mr. Kennedy’s son. “It’s like an opportunity for him to connect with the touchstone of his brothers’ legacy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/us/politics/02kennedy.html?ex=1359694800&en=05471848aa3685ca&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[saracat]

1. No kidding.its all about Teddy!

[jackson_dem]

2. I think Kennedy is passionate about this

It is good to see an old man who has been in politics for over four decades be so passionate about this that he tapped into the fountain of youth.

I personally believe Edwards would have had a great chance of winning Ted's endorsement if he did better in Iowa and New Hampshire. Once he lost Iowa he never got another endorsement from a politician and only one newspaper endorsement. He wasn't seen as viable. Remember Bill Bradley? He preferred Edwards but endorsed Obama because Edwards lost Iowa. I think there were many others who did the same.

[saracat]

7. This was not about viability. This is a movement created

not by voters but the BPTB. Teddy doesn't give a fig about Obama.None of them do.But they want to consolidate power.

[Mass]

8. Thanks for your opinion. Of course, you are intimate with Kerry, Kennedy, ...

and know why they made this choice. How did they dare not agree with you on who would be best for the country.

[saracat]

10. And you of course are! Please.This was a strategy.I just do not agree and I am not alone.

Politics can be like chess.I do not like this move. I am really sick of being told I have to like EVERYTHING some do.I am not a sheep.I do not blindly follow and can think for myself.

[Mass]

13. Same here = You have been questioning the motives of good Democrats just because you do not agree

with them.

As for following blindly, I have started to support Obama way before Kerry and Kennedy did, and would not go around attacking them bitterly if they had endorsed somebody else. I am tired of your WHINING here and elsewhere. You are a sheep of a different type, ready to push a damaging meme just because your guy did not win. Sad but true.

[saracat]

So I don't have the right to question "good " Democrats?

There motives may not be bad but I fail to see why I have to agree with how they reach their objectives!

[neutron]

19. The REAL Kennedy is stumping for Hillary

RFK.

[Joe Chi Minh]

30. Glad to hear it. Women never forget slights, never mind campaigns

of slander. Especially, women with volatile Celtic blood. She would have unfinished business, and how. I wouldn't expect them to have the plain-sailing they doubtless anticipate.

I'm strongly inclined to believe that though Bill's great political strength was in being able to retain some humanity, while working as successfully within the corporatist status quo, as it would allow, both he and Hillary would find corporatism essentially repugnant.

Still, I'm hopeful that John Edwards wins the day, as well as the presidency, now that his campaign team have asked for his name to be left on the ballot. !Viva Juan Edouardos!

[fenriswolf]

35. jr

[Inuca]

38. Of course you can QUESTION, but

what you are doing is NOT questioning, it is passing judgment. Without really knowing the facts. "Teddy doesn't give a fig about Obama.None of them do.But they want to consolidate power" (from your post above).

[Mass]

16. And of course, I am not pretending to know what they thought. I know that it is hard for you to get,

[saracat]

21. Don't patronize me Mass. It doesn't make any points.

[DURHAM D]

32. Hate to ask - what is BPTB? n/t

[neutron]

18. WRONG. KENNEDY IS STUMPING FOR HILLARY

the REAL Kennedy, that is. Robert.

[Armstead]

12. Give the guy some credit

I think he sees it as a chance to restore the better values and sense of purpose that we lost.

[politicasista]

23. Exactly n/t

[AlFromDem]

15. Saracat, I read one of your posts re: Edwards

That your vote is non-negotiable. That is putting personality before party. You are relentless, and you are wrong.

[saracat]

20. Are you saying I should put party above evrything else? Wow.

So if we were to run Hitler, I should vote for him? What about Zell Miller? Am I obligated to support him?

[AlFromDem]

29. Please don't resort to the Hitler analogy.

Sen. Miller would have been a fine VP candidate for John; two sons of the South and tried and true Democrats (Miller will remain a Dem until the day he dies).

[saracat]

33. You are a troll.You have to be with that comment.

[Tarheel_Dem]

39. why am I not surprised? you're either a troll, or you're really serious...

I don't know which scares me most.

[roguevalley]

41. zell is out for zell. he's made his bed, he can lie in it and it ain't blue

[kelligesq]

43. Saracat, did you see my post about paid operatives trying to turn Edwardians?

[roguevalley]

40. he's done more good accidentally for this country than battalions of

people on purpose. Its not about him. Its about who he believes in. Give him credit. A lot of your life is possible because he did the work already.

[loyalsister]

3. It comes from the airlift connection

http://thekennedys.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/barack-obama-brought-to-you-by-jfk/

I think it's possible that Teddy is pleased to find a person who has this potential and these qualities with this connection. I would imagine that it may give him a sense that Barack fits with the legacy and can carry the torch.
I think that it is really very nice for a man in his position to feel that connection.

[Mass]

4. This is what passes for reporting in the NYTimes.

[catgirl]

5. Great article

I think he'll make a real difference.

[cooolandrew]

6. Teddy deserved to of been a president, good for him to live it through this camp.

[EffieBlack]

9. Ted Kennedy could be sitting on a yacht somewhere off the coast of Hyannis

relaxing, enjoying his money, his position, his family and his memories.

Instead, this 75-year-old man with a bad back gets up early every day and goes to the Senate and fights for people who can't fight for themselves. And he's not just a vanity Senator - he attends his hearings, crafts legislation, leads his colleagues, mentors newer members. He works nights and weekends and always stays true to the cause. And when people get in his way and try to tamp down the justice and fairness he is seeking, he gets in their face, shakes that finger and ROARS like a lion to speak for all of us.

I love that man. And anyone who wants to go after him - our Liberal Lion - will have to take me on - 'cause I will get up in YOUR face and roar like a lion on his behalf - just like he does for all of us.

[Pathwalker]

22. Hyannis Port in February? Why not some place warm?

Sure, Hyannis Port in June - August, but not now!

Just want to add: Teddy Kennedy has never taken a dime of his salary from being in government; he's always donated it to charity. I too love watching that lion roar!

[EffieBlack]

42. LOL!

[jackson_dem]

37. EMK: perhaps the greatest Democratic senator ever

[saracat]

11. Why did Teddy "deserve" to be President? How absurd. No one

deserves to be President. You have to earn that. Teddy was just the brother of an assassinated President and assassinated presidential candidate.That didn't "entitle" him to anything. He ran a losing campaign.He is a good Senator.Leave it at that.

[Mass]

14. Nobody "deserves" to be president. Neither him, Edwards, or anybody else.

[saracat]

17. We agree on that at least.

[WinkyDink]

24. "to connect with the touchstone of his brothers’ legacy." "Brother's", singular: RFK, Jr. disagrees.

[stillcool]

25. He looks fantastic!

better than I've seen him look in years. It's a shame that all these great Democrats are consistently berated here on "Democratic Underground" because of their choice in supporting a candidate. I can't help but wonder what their idea of a Democratic Representative is?

[Texas_Kat]

26. rolls eyes, looks to the sky

:eyes:

Teddy was never that 'cool' even when he WAS 'cool'

[Didereaux]

27. Jack got the charisma, Bobby got the brains, and Ted....

well... he got to live.

[Joe Chi Minh]

31. That is one very wry comment, and I can't help laughing, despite the

darkness of the humour.

[Joe Chi Minh]

28. Voting for a political pacifist to reel back the military-political complex sounds

a very smart ploy to me. Just the man for the job... I can see them, now, meekly responding to his kindly overtures:

"Why, of course, young man, anything you say! Give and take. Give a little here. Take a little there.... Isn't that what politics is all about? Your mother must be proud to have brought into the world such as upstanding young man. Now what was that you were saying...?"

[Joe Chi Minh]

36. I get the impression that most of that purported mass, Obama youth vote

is the work of the Republican noise machine. He would be useful to them as a spoiler. The last thing they want is yet another Democratic electoral land-slide win to deal with. They like to manage the complexion of Congress and the Senate as best they can, and up to now that's been very well indeed - in the circumstances.

[TexasObserver]

34. Teddy is energized because he sees the Obama Nation

And he knows we have not seen such since June of 1968 in our party or our country.