Ted Kennedy vs. Reality.....FIGHT!!!

Andrew C. McCarthy at NRO takes down the only Kennedy brother who wasn't worth a bullet* to someone in response to a WaPo screed that ran yesterday. Nothing like some revisionist history on our nation's birthday, no?

It would be hard to parody one of the mainstream media's self-absorbed, pricelessly shallow, soul-searching sessions. You know, the ones where editors and other executives wonder aloud about how it could possibly be that subscriptions and ratings — and with them, influence — are plummeting. These are already too hilarious, however unintentionally so: set pieces in which this or that latest coverage debacle is plumbed, the soul searchers determine that their own hearts are still pure after all, and pronounce with breath-catching relief that if there's a disconnect between them and the public, well, surely we need a new public.

But if anyone really wants to know why the MSM is fading fast, consider one of the most recent classic examples: The decision by the Washington Post to run an op-ed by Ted Kennedy, of all people, about how we need to avoid the rank partisanship of a "divisive battle" over a new Supreme Court justice to replace the departing Sandra Day O'Connor. About how President Bush needs to be more like — are you sitting down for this? — President Reagan in wisely choosing a nominee to the high court.

We would need to dig up Yasser Arafat for an op-ed on fixing the "peace process" to concoct something this rich.

[snip]

Nothing he said about Bork, not a word of it, was true. Even for people of good will opposed to Bork, Kennedy's execrable performance should stand as a monumental disgrace — a brand of naked character assassination that remains one of the most despicable performances in the modern history of the Senate. So much so that it has turned Judge Bork's name into a colloquial verb — and one whose use has become all too familiar in the modern confirmation process.

More than any other person, Kennedy is responsible for the unsavory state of modern confirmation politics — for the reluctance decent people of all political stripes now have about subjecting themselves and their families to what used to be the high honor of a summons to public service by the president of the United States. For the Washington Post to have him lecture us from its much coveted opinion pages about the pressing need for an "expeditious, cooperative and unifying [appointments] process" is nothing short of astounding.

[snipsnipsnip]

Senator Kennedy has done more than anyone to inject into the process of staffing the U.S. courts the base, personal, agenda-driven politicking that the Framers hoped both the courts and the nominations process would be above. It appears he has learned nothing in the two decades since he pointed us down this low road by slandering Judge Bork. Why the Washington Post thought the Fourth of July would be a good day to foist more of his blather on us is anyone's guess.

Go read the snipped bits, too.



* There was some mewling news show thing - probably during a Dem convention in years gone by - in which Killer Teddy was pitied for having to deal with the grief of having his brothers assassinated, to which I thought, "He's got to deal with the knowledge that he's the only brother not worth a bullet."

This is NOT to espouse the murder of Ted Kennedy! Besides, it'll be far better when his tubby, greasy ass descends into Hell's rosy fires after he crashes his car into another body of water, but this time, the mistress is able to escape while he's trapped. Karmic payback's a bitch, yo!