I heard among some of my acquaintances loud harrumphs and tut tuts about how the Edward Kennedy funeral mass was just a huge excuse for excessive personality adulation and leftist political posturing.
Well yes.
As if we have never seen that sort of thing at every other funeral in Mormondom kulchur.
Kennedy’s funeral mass, broadcast live from Roxbury Massachusetts, reminds us that God commands all to worship him and that the publicans and the harlots will enter the Celestial Kingdom before the supposed believers —
providing the harlots and publicans believe in and use the atonement more than the supposed believers believe in and use the atonement.
The organ music at the end of the mass, the organ music heard on TV as the honor guard and pallbearers carried the Senator’s body from the basilica may be the greatest organ musical I have ever heard on live TV.
As to Kennedy himself, his Senate history is a mass of contradictions and ironies.
On the one hand, I really think he should have resigned the Senate when Mary Jo died in his car.
If the people of Massachusetts really did want to elect him Senator, then he should have stayed at most three terms. Massachusetts contains plenty of people who could serve brilliantly in the Senate. Somewhere in Massachusetts live other men or women who could strike deals and make the peace maybe as well as Kennedy did.
Kennedy should have resigned his senate seat last year so that Massachusetts and the United States Senate had a senator in place for the tumultuous days ahead.
On the other hand, the great come once in a lifetime. Someone told Ted that he and Daniel Webster were the two greatest senators in history, and Ted said without no irony, “What did Daniel do?”
Indeed. Webster spoke brilliantly, but the United States was a tiny place in those days. The Senate did not do much or even meet much by today’s standards of activity. How great is a great man in a tiny institution??
Perhaps maybe The Great do have a responsibility to stay on and service us on and on and on.
Daniel Webster.
Henry Clay.
John Calhoun. '
Robert LaFollette, senior and junior.
Hiram Johnson.
Edward Kennedy.
Goodbye sweet prince. Thank you for your service.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
IN MEMORIAM EDWARD KENNEDY 1932 -- 2009
Edward Kennedy has been around for so long and has been so visible for so long that when he died on Tuesday, I for one felt as if someone in my family had died.
Edward was The Great Kennedy. His father was something of a political shark, a political blathersnake with the moral compass of a tank. His brother John’s public career spanned a short period of 1947 to 1963. His brother Robert’s career spanned an even shorter period of 1961 to 1968. Edward Kennedy served in public life from 1962 to 2009 -- and there are not many of that vintage still around. Only Robert Byrd now comes to mind.
Conventional wisdom, which is usually neither, holds that Kennedy was a slacker of a senator until around 1970 - 1972, and then transformed into The Great Legislator after his presidential campaign of 1980 failed. There might be a kernel of truth to that, but not a lot. Kennedy had good legislative instincts even as a youngster.
Most people cannot give you the names of a half dozen senators, but Kennedy was instantly recognizable, the great superstar senator of our time. He was also easy to parody with his weatherbeaten Irish look and sound and the most famous head of hair in political life. The "mayor of Springfield" in The Simpsons was a particularly funny parody of him. After the 1991 Anita Hill – Clarence Thomas confrontation before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Murphy Brown did a particularly memorable satire of the committee. Both Murphy and Corky Sherwood had to testify before a sitcom Judiciary Committee of caricatures; the Kennedy caricature could not say anything that wasn’t a sexual double entendre. "Senator Batson D Belfry" in the comic strip Shoe was another obvious caricature that had elements of both Tip O’Neill and Edward Kennedy. When Belfry ran for the presidency in 1984, he noted wryly: “I have a voter identity problem. Too damn many people know who I am.” “A Verb senator, we need a verb,” a reporter in the comic strip Doonesbury once yelled at Gary Trudeau’s version of Kennedy.
I found Kennedy a particularly appealing political figure. He cut a princely figure on Capitol Hill. He held an entire constellation of instantly recognizable political ideals and he lived his ideals. He spoke clearly and brilliantly; just like his famous orator-brother Jack. He contained the most rock solid integrity of any senator of that period. You knew where he stood on the issues of the day.
Conservatives always referred to him as the great hiss and a byword of his generation, but it was Kennedy who mastered bipartisan Senate work. Orrin Hatch was not the only Republican that liked him and worked with him.
Some conservative Utahns never forgave Orrin Hatch for befriending Kennedy, and others couldn’t understand that they liked each other – but they don't understand the emotional workings of friendship. The friendship of Ted and Orrin was completely understandable and followed several predictable patterns. Kennedy had lots of charm and Hatch lots of character. It was a friendship made in heaven – a classic example of opposites attracting – the Wally and Eddie of Capitol Hill. Conservatives on principle and liberals on principle have more in common with each other than they have in common with the apolitical and all the moderates around them. Most senators had no more moral sense than a cat and came and went without influencing Kennedy and Hatch in the slightest.
John Kennedy liked Utah enough to visit Utah several times both as a senator and president. He gave a major address in the Salt Lake Tabernacle a few weeks before he died. Robert Kennedy visited Utah as well and actually spoke at Brigham Young University. Even though most political Utahns abhorred him, Edward Kennedy visited Utah on many occasions. In 1974, he visited Spencer W. Kimball at which visit President Kimball told him with a completely straight face that Catholics make great Mormons.
Ronald Reagan used to hold up Kennedy as the poster boy of tax and spend, but the fact remains Kennedy on occasion supported Reagan’s political initiatives just as he supported some of Nixon’s and some of Bushs’ initiatives. Ronald and Nancy liked Ted and Vickie on a personal level.
Peggy Noonan tells an interesting story that in the days when she served on the Great Communicator’s Speech Writing Staff she got the opportunity to write a speech for Reagan that he gave at a fund raiser for the Kennedy Library. Reagan speaking in behalf of money raising for the Kennedy library was not out of character. Both Reagan and Kennedy were great cold warriors, brilliant speakers, and basically moderate in political instincts at heart. “Typical of Ronnie,” Noonan noted without a shred of irony, “that he willingly showed up and spoke at his competitors’ blood drive.” Reagan’s talk that night was a big hit: he was warm and witty and Jacqueline thought he had captured the essence of her husband. Edward wrote him a gracious letter of thanks for that memorable speech.
Politics in the middle of the Twentieth Century was full of chance both good and bad, and the Kennedys sat at the heart of the political crap game.
Would Joseph Junior have won in politics had he lived to see the peace?
Would Robert or Edward have won the presidency had Jack died as a youngster or in battle in the War of the Pacific?
If Oswald had not assassinated Jack, would he have gotten embroiled in the Vietnam War? If Oswald had not killed Jack, would Jack have died of his diseases in office?
Would Edward or Robert have gotten embroiled in the Vietnam War if either one of them had been elected president in 1960 or 1964 or 1968?
If Nixon had been elected president in 1960, would he have gotten swallowed up the Vietnam Mess?
If Edward had not allowed Mary Jo to drown in his car, if Edward had actually taken some initiative to try and save her, would Edward have been elected president?
If he had been elected president, would he have been any good? -- given that his personality was more senatorial than executive.
John Kennedy, Peggy Noonan wrote for Ronald Reagan to say at that library fundraiser, was a man of the most interesting contradictions. That is a good way to characterize Edward Kennedy. His was the most spectacular senate career of the era, but it should not have happened.
He should have resigned his senate seat after Mary Jo died in his car.
'
He shouldn’t have held onto his senate seat like the papacy either. Three terms top.
Massachusetts has plenty of interesting political possibilities. Heaven only knows who could have been a great senator from the Land of the Bean and the Cod but couldn’t get in because Kennedy and most of the other senators of the twentieth century held their seats more or less forever. Lodges. Saltensall. Kerry. Kennedy. Double digits.
The Kennedys were not the greatest political family of the age. That distinction belongs mostly for bad to the Bush Family. The Kennedys were not the greatest political family of Massachusetts either. That honor still belongs to the Adams Family. Edward Kennedy, however, was a great senator for good and bad. We will miss him, if only because we won’t have him to kick around anymore.
AND REMEMBER:
Any senator can be a bipartisan workhorse if he or she works at it.
Edward was The Great Kennedy. His father was something of a political shark, a political blathersnake with the moral compass of a tank. His brother John’s public career spanned a short period of 1947 to 1963. His brother Robert’s career spanned an even shorter period of 1961 to 1968. Edward Kennedy served in public life from 1962 to 2009 -- and there are not many of that vintage still around. Only Robert Byrd now comes to mind.
Conventional wisdom, which is usually neither, holds that Kennedy was a slacker of a senator until around 1970 - 1972, and then transformed into The Great Legislator after his presidential campaign of 1980 failed. There might be a kernel of truth to that, but not a lot. Kennedy had good legislative instincts even as a youngster.
Most people cannot give you the names of a half dozen senators, but Kennedy was instantly recognizable, the great superstar senator of our time. He was also easy to parody with his weatherbeaten Irish look and sound and the most famous head of hair in political life. The "mayor of Springfield" in The Simpsons was a particularly funny parody of him. After the 1991 Anita Hill – Clarence Thomas confrontation before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Murphy Brown did a particularly memorable satire of the committee. Both Murphy and Corky Sherwood had to testify before a sitcom Judiciary Committee of caricatures; the Kennedy caricature could not say anything that wasn’t a sexual double entendre. "Senator Batson D Belfry" in the comic strip Shoe was another obvious caricature that had elements of both Tip O’Neill and Edward Kennedy. When Belfry ran for the presidency in 1984, he noted wryly: “I have a voter identity problem. Too damn many people know who I am.” “A Verb senator, we need a verb,” a reporter in the comic strip Doonesbury once yelled at Gary Trudeau’s version of Kennedy.
I found Kennedy a particularly appealing political figure. He cut a princely figure on Capitol Hill. He held an entire constellation of instantly recognizable political ideals and he lived his ideals. He spoke clearly and brilliantly; just like his famous orator-brother Jack. He contained the most rock solid integrity of any senator of that period. You knew where he stood on the issues of the day.
Conservatives always referred to him as the great hiss and a byword of his generation, but it was Kennedy who mastered bipartisan Senate work. Orrin Hatch was not the only Republican that liked him and worked with him.
Some conservative Utahns never forgave Orrin Hatch for befriending Kennedy, and others couldn’t understand that they liked each other – but they don't understand the emotional workings of friendship. The friendship of Ted and Orrin was completely understandable and followed several predictable patterns. Kennedy had lots of charm and Hatch lots of character. It was a friendship made in heaven – a classic example of opposites attracting – the Wally and Eddie of Capitol Hill. Conservatives on principle and liberals on principle have more in common with each other than they have in common with the apolitical and all the moderates around them. Most senators had no more moral sense than a cat and came and went without influencing Kennedy and Hatch in the slightest.
John Kennedy liked Utah enough to visit Utah several times both as a senator and president. He gave a major address in the Salt Lake Tabernacle a few weeks before he died. Robert Kennedy visited Utah as well and actually spoke at Brigham Young University. Even though most political Utahns abhorred him, Edward Kennedy visited Utah on many occasions. In 1974, he visited Spencer W. Kimball at which visit President Kimball told him with a completely straight face that Catholics make great Mormons.
Ronald Reagan used to hold up Kennedy as the poster boy of tax and spend, but the fact remains Kennedy on occasion supported Reagan’s political initiatives just as he supported some of Nixon’s and some of Bushs’ initiatives. Ronald and Nancy liked Ted and Vickie on a personal level.
Peggy Noonan tells an interesting story that in the days when she served on the Great Communicator’s Speech Writing Staff she got the opportunity to write a speech for Reagan that he gave at a fund raiser for the Kennedy Library. Reagan speaking in behalf of money raising for the Kennedy library was not out of character. Both Reagan and Kennedy were great cold warriors, brilliant speakers, and basically moderate in political instincts at heart. “Typical of Ronnie,” Noonan noted without a shred of irony, “that he willingly showed up and spoke at his competitors’ blood drive.” Reagan’s talk that night was a big hit: he was warm and witty and Jacqueline thought he had captured the essence of her husband. Edward wrote him a gracious letter of thanks for that memorable speech.
Politics in the middle of the Twentieth Century was full of chance both good and bad, and the Kennedys sat at the heart of the political crap game.
Would Joseph Junior have won in politics had he lived to see the peace?
Would Robert or Edward have won the presidency had Jack died as a youngster or in battle in the War of the Pacific?
If Oswald had not assassinated Jack, would he have gotten embroiled in the Vietnam War? If Oswald had not killed Jack, would Jack have died of his diseases in office?
Would Edward or Robert have gotten embroiled in the Vietnam War if either one of them had been elected president in 1960 or 1964 or 1968?
If Nixon had been elected president in 1960, would he have gotten swallowed up the Vietnam Mess?
If Edward had not allowed Mary Jo to drown in his car, if Edward had actually taken some initiative to try and save her, would Edward have been elected president?
If he had been elected president, would he have been any good? -- given that his personality was more senatorial than executive.
John Kennedy, Peggy Noonan wrote for Ronald Reagan to say at that library fundraiser, was a man of the most interesting contradictions. That is a good way to characterize Edward Kennedy. His was the most spectacular senate career of the era, but it should not have happened.
He should have resigned his senate seat after Mary Jo died in his car.
'
He shouldn’t have held onto his senate seat like the papacy either. Three terms top.
Massachusetts has plenty of interesting political possibilities. Heaven only knows who could have been a great senator from the Land of the Bean and the Cod but couldn’t get in because Kennedy and most of the other senators of the twentieth century held their seats more or less forever. Lodges. Saltensall. Kerry. Kennedy. Double digits.
The Kennedys were not the greatest political family of the age. That distinction belongs mostly for bad to the Bush Family. The Kennedys were not the greatest political family of Massachusetts either. That honor still belongs to the Adams Family. Edward Kennedy, however, was a great senator for good and bad. We will miss him, if only because we won’t have him to kick around anymore.
AND REMEMBER:
Any senator can be a bipartisan workhorse if he or she works at it.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
GIVE UTAH BACK PLEASE -- FRANK TALK ABOUT EXPLOITING OUR RESOURCES
So when liberals gather up an unruly crowd it is "community organizing" and when conservatives gather up an unruly crowd it is a "mob?"
This is America -- he who gathers the biggest crowd wins.
The participants in 8 August’s Take Back Utah demonstration should understand for an average west coast or eastern Senator or Representative, voting to turn Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming into a wilderness rates as the sure-fire way to appear environmentally friendly without actually doing something that harms the economic interests of those region.
Concerning mining Utah's coal leases and drilling Utah's oil leases: It is true the proponents of biofuels have mislead the public. We need all the ground we can get to feed earthlings — not grow luxury fuels. It is also true that hydrogen cannot fuel our needs: we can’t store it safely and hydrogen take too much energy to produce. So we need coal and gas for the foreseeable future.
That said
both coal and oil are 19th century fuel technologies, if not earlier. Soon we will find replacements that work. We do not want Utah to be the 21st century West Virginia. Therefore, we should be careful not to tear up Utah’s gorgeous scenery for the short term profit of nineteenth century technology.
This is America -- he who gathers the biggest crowd wins.
The participants in 8 August’s Take Back Utah demonstration should understand for an average west coast or eastern Senator or Representative, voting to turn Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming into a wilderness rates as the sure-fire way to appear environmentally friendly without actually doing something that harms the economic interests of those region.
Concerning mining Utah's coal leases and drilling Utah's oil leases: It is true the proponents of biofuels have mislead the public. We need all the ground we can get to feed earthlings — not grow luxury fuels. It is also true that hydrogen cannot fuel our needs: we can’t store it safely and hydrogen take too much energy to produce. So we need coal and gas for the foreseeable future.
That said
both coal and oil are 19th century fuel technologies, if not earlier. Soon we will find replacements that work. We do not want Utah to be the 21st century West Virginia. Therefore, we should be careful not to tear up Utah’s gorgeous scenery for the short term profit of nineteenth century technology.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
HATCH, SOTOMAYOR AND THE SENATE CAMPAIGN OF 2012
Here is a copy of my letter to the public forum in the Salt Lake Tribune, which some comments:
Latina instead of Hatch
Public Forum Letter
Updated: 07/30/2009 05:07:13 PM MDT
Sen. Orrin Hatch will not vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ("Hatch explains Sotomayor vote," Tribune , July 28). He voted yea for the Supreme Court nominations of Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, and it is hard to imagine how Sotomayor can possibly evolve into a justice more liberal than they.
Sotomayor has years of experience in law and in the courts. She certainly comes with more experience than Justice Clarence Thomas had in 1991, not to mention Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Hatch enthusiastically voted in favor of all of them.
Hatch complains that Sotomayor is soft on the Second Amendment. How useful is that amendment? Yet all one has to say is [ a candidate does ] not support the right to kill and that ends the nomination discussion. Never mind her other qualifications.
[ Conservatives complained about her comment that a wise experienced Latina would make sounder decisions than your typical white professional male. ] The time has come for Utah voters to find a good, wise, experienced, Latina woman and elect her to the Senate in 2012 instead of Orrin Hatch.
Latina instead of Hatch
Public Forum Letter
Updated: 07/30/2009 05:07:13 PM MDT
Sen. Orrin Hatch will not vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ("Hatch explains Sotomayor vote," Tribune , July 28). He voted yea for the Supreme Court nominations of Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, and it is hard to imagine how Sotomayor can possibly evolve into a justice more liberal than they.
Sotomayor has years of experience in law and in the courts. She certainly comes with more experience than Justice Clarence Thomas had in 1991, not to mention Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Hatch enthusiastically voted in favor of all of them.
Hatch complains that Sotomayor is soft on the Second Amendment. How useful is that amendment? Yet all one has to say is [ a candidate does ] not support the right to kill and that ends the nomination discussion. Never mind her other qualifications.
[ Conservatives complained about her comment that a wise experienced Latina would make sounder decisions than your typical white professional male. ] The time has come for Utah voters to find a good, wise, experienced, Latina woman and elect her to the Senate in 2012 instead of Orrin Hatch.
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