Edward M. “Teddy” Kennedy – Deceased - The End of An American Political Dynasty

Ted Kennedy with Barack Obama - image NY Magazine

Edward M. Kennedythe senior Senator from Massachusetts, died yesterday evening at the family estate in Hyannis at the age of 77 after a battle with brain cancer. Known as the “Lion of the Senate”, Kennedy was a staunch liberal and standard bearer for the Democrat Party. Kennedy’s passing heralds the end of an era for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as the country. He will be remembered for his soaring rhetoric and defense of his Democrat Party. He was pivotal in the nomination of Barack Obama in 2008, being one of the first to endorse Obama, and using his political clout within the Party to ensure enough Super Delegates would choose the Illinois Senator. Even in the last weeks of his life, Kennedy put his Political Party first – just last week he attempted to use his influence with the Massachusetts legislature to reverse the process of selection of a U.S. Senator should a seat become vacant. Currently, under Massachusetts law, should a seat become vacant, a general election is held, previously, the law stated that the Governor would appoint a Senator. The original law was changed at Kennedy’s behest, due to the anticipated vacancy of John Kerry’s seat in the 2004 presidential election. At the time, Mitt Romney, a Republican, was Governor of the Commonwealth, and Kennedy feared he would appoint a Republican to the U.S. Senate. Kennedy, mindful that the rules would might not favor (or allow Deval Patrick to appoint a successor), the Democrat Party, wanted to reverse the Commonwealth laws.

The Kennedy family ruled Massachusetts and the nation, not always under the rule of the law – the family fortune was amassed by Joe Kennedy, a “bootlegger” (producer and distributor of illegal alcohol during the U.S. Prohibition), and womanizer, who fathered 9 children. His sons, John F. Kennedy, President of the U.S. and Robert Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General, were assassinated in the 1960’s, leaving Ted Kennedy as the eldest to carry on the political torch. He ran for President in 1980, and lost to Jimmy Carter, due to his checkered past, specifically, an incident at Chappaquiddick where Kennedy drove his car over a bridge, left the scene of the accident and his passenger, a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, to drown. His actions, for good or for ill, made Ted Kennedy one of the most interesting political figures of our time. There simply are no other Democrat Party Statesmen of his stature and ability left in the Party he loved to the very end of his life.

Democrats Plan Pro-Health Care Reform Road Trip - Mission Impossible – Proving a Majority Supports Obama’s Health Care Reform Plan.

Although the proposed Health Care Reform Bill has been rejected by an increasing number of American’s, so much so that articles such as US News & World Report’s, “Polls Show Its Time for Democrats to Drop Health Care Reform”, have begun to appear in newspapers and opeds nationwide. The left wing of the White House has decided that a tour of pro-Health Care Reform Rallies is just the ticket needed to change the hearts and minds of the public. Organizing for American (see Obama Campaign) and Health Care for America Now are bringing the “message” of Health Care Reform to 500 cities across the country. These rallies are designed to prove that the American Public overwhelming supports the bill. In other words, a propaganda campaign based on the hope that most American’s don’t read or watch the news, so that minds can be changed by simply staging events designed to show support for the program.

The events will feature a Health Care Reform Bus rolling into the first of 11 cities :Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver, Des Moines, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Charlotte, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. One would think these rallies are open to the public.

The planning of these events has been ongoing – The President’s campaign site: Organizing for America (or My Barack Obama.com) has been holding a series of organizational meetings – one of which took place in Utica NY today. The Organization’s website reports that over 280,000 “activities” spoke with the President and received this message:

“Remember one thing. Nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change. That’s how we won this election. You know this and that’s why since OFA launched its Health Care Reform campaign in June, you’ve hosted 11,000 events in more than 2,500 towns in every single state and every single congressional district…I am absolutely confident that we can get this done, but I want everyone to remember, this has never been easy..We are not going to give up now. We are going to get this done.”

What does the President of the United States do when his poll numbers are plummeting and his programs are unpopular with the majority of Americans? – He works through his campaign arm (when does he stop campaigning?) to illustrate to the public (via the media) with loud voices (those participating members of his campaign aided by other likeminded community organizations) that this plan is exactly what the public wants, regardless of any facts. Additionally, one can anticipate that these “well-attended” rallies will be heralded as real American’s expressing their First Amendment Rights, rather than “mobs of Anti-American, Insurance Company plants” which attended, and continue to attend Health Care forums and debates nationwide.” The tactics of those who scream the longest and loudest, are outlined here at Hillbuzz.org a virtual primer for Conservatives, Independents, Republicans and Moderate Democrats on getting one’s point across, no specifically discussed (although not related to) are the tactics being used by the Obama campaign arms. It is a must read in order to understand the Progressive mindset.

Senate Plans to Sneak Public Option Through Budget Reconciliation Maneuver – Removes Need for Majority Vote – Obama poll 27% Strongly Approve New Low

The New York Timesarticle, buried under the heading of “Health” then further: “Money and Policy”, reported that Senate Democrats are planning on using budget reconciliation to get a health care bill passed with a “simple majority”. The Democrats have been busy consulting their lawyers to see if they could find a way to push the Public Option through without a full Senate Vote – they believe they have succeeded. The solution is rather simple – Senators only need to prove that the public option would save the government money – and anyone with any common sense and/or a sense of history understands that plans that the government designs to save money (outside of tax cuts) generally ends up costing a fortune; despite figures pulled out of a proverbial hat in order to prove otherwise.

The best part of this whole shenanigans is the fact that Senate Democrats (let alone House Democrats) are blaming Republicans – It’s the Republican’s fault that the Democrats cannot get the “Single Payer (Government controlled Health plan) through because the Democrats don’t control the necessary 60 votes - which, is patently untrue. The Democrats now enjoy what is known as a Super Majority – it is a filibuster prove, rule that allows them to ramrod anything they want past the American people without a peep of opposition (except for cable, Internet, radio, national news and print where the debate can continue). They have the necessary bodies, they apparently do not have enough Democrats in favor of losing their jobs (see angry constituents) – therefore, in order to continue to bamboozle the public (which is now accurately aware that this particular bunch is more than capable of doing just that), the apparent game plan is to blame the Republicans and then attach some questionable math to an even more questionable bill in order to get it passed with less than the normal 60 votes. Apparently, this may also protect those who do vote from being “outed” to the public – otherwise known as constituents who have clearly expressed, under no certain terms, that those who vote in favor of a public option will be seeking employment elsewhere come 2010 or 2012.

This is where John Q. Public can take heart – nothing that has been done, cannot be undone. Simply, laws can be changed an amended. All one needs is a good housecleaning – from the executive to the legislative branch – and the people most certainly are capable of doing so – time and time again. It is the beauty of this form of government. It won’t take long to “fix” the health care system again, with another more reasonable act.

In the meantime, the public option would do the following: offer lower cost insurance to those who currently do not have insurance – or free insurance to those who cannot afford insurance at all – the tab would be picked up by the taxpayer. Further, those employers who cannot afford health benefits, can simply opt out of them, pushing their employees into the public option plan – the fewer American’s who are participating in private plans will cause the Private Insurance Carriers to reduce their workforce – causing a greater burden on the public option and also on the unemployment rolls. The icing on the cake: Congress and certain unions can keep their private health insurance – not opting for the government run program. This could mean a long two years, however, the programs need to be implemented first – which, considering the current efficiency of said government – may make the aforementioned a moot point. (There are a host of other ailments associated with this bill, but for the sake of brevity - and the fact that, to date, no one is addressing the realities of a reduced Private Insurance Force.)

One other little ditty in the New York Times article: The end of life counseling public health option or Death Panels (phrase coined by Sarah Palin - read excellent report here at Hillbuzz) is reported upon in rather graphic terms: via a booklet currently being used on American Troops by the V.A.: New York Times:

Senator Arlen Specter, Democrat of Pennsylvania, called for hearings to investigate a guide used by the government to counsel veterans with critical or terminal illnesses.
On “Fox News Sunday,” H. James Towey, the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, said the guide seemed to encourage people to “hurry up and die.”
The booklet, “Your Life, Your Choices,” asks people to consider whether life would be worth living if, for example, they were in severe pain, relied on a feeding tube or a breathing machine, lived in a nursing home or imposed “a severe financial burden” on family members.
In addition, the booklet asks, “Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘If I’m a vegetable, pull the plug’?” It then explains that people have different ideas of what it means to be a vegetable or to “pull the plug.”
In a bulletin last month, the Department of Veterans Affairs recommended the booklet as a tool to help veterans with “advance care planning.”
Tammy Duckworth, an assistant secretary of veterans affairs, said it was being revised.
But Mr. Towey said, “The document is so fundamentally flawed that the V.A. ought to throw it out.”

One word: despicable.

Although the Times doesn’t specifically tie the End of Life Counseling to the current Public Option plan, one knows it is contained in the language of the house bill – Spector, who will definitely be out of a job, has called for an investigation, by those who are currently planning on passing unwanted legislation through the Senate by dubious means (and by dubious, although the option has the Senates layers blessings, it leaves little open to debate – thereby, Democrats must believe, reducing the public backlash).

President Obama’s approval, has, in less than one year, fallen to 48%, with only 27% of those polled “strongly approving” of the job he’s doing. This is a change downward from 29% last week, a continual decline which began in March of this year (see Stimulus). Congress enjoys less popularity than the President – one can see the handwriting on the wall, and the media and the general public has yet to take the boondoggle in Afghanistan into consideration yet – a huge tactical error on the part of this administration. Add the increase in troop levels in Afghanistan, to the increasing fatalities (which given the history of the country will continue), increasing cost of that front versus Iraq, and an unpopular change in the nation’s health care system, and one can well imagine what political suicide via either arrogance, ideology or stupidly can do to an entire political party.

A Final Thought: One party control (or two for that matter), regardless of party is not what was intended by the founding fathers, and with good cause, the fact that Republican’s enjoyed a majority for six of eight years, and wasted the opportunity through a lack of fiscal restraint, thereby losing the majority to the Democrats, who, apparently, have no restraint whatsoever – is dangerous. The problem now presents itself in that a total reversal is more than probable; with the end result of yet another one-party rule of the nation in the very near future.