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-Obits-

Obama: Kennedy was 'soul of the Democratic Party'

2009-08-30

President Barack Obama has saluted Sen. Edward Kennedy for surmounting pain and suffering to become a family patriarch and personification of American legislator. Eulogizing the 77-year-old Kennedy, who died Tuesday, Obama called the senator "the soul of the Democratic Party" and said that in his personal life, he lived up the expectations as "the heir to a weighty legacy."
So that leaves the Dems a soulless machine, eh?

"Weighty legacy"? In view of the honourable senator's size issues, that was remarkably tactless of the Great Communicator.

Obama led some 1,500 people, including three former presidents, at a funeral Mass for Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basicala in Kennedy's beloved Boston. He said the senator handled life's challenges with a "spirit of resilience and good humor."
Yeah, I've heard he always liked Mary Jo jokes...
The country may have viewed him as "heir to a weighty legacy," Obama said, but he was playfully known by the youngest Kennedys less grandly: as the big cheese, "The Grand Fromage."
"Oh, Tish! That's French! [Smmoch! Smooch!]"

Le grand fromage? Green... or ripe?

The service drew to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica three of the four living former presidents,

I checked, and it was President George H.W. Bush who went missing. I'm afraid I took a nap when I should have been watching the proceedings on television.

dozens of Kennedy relatives,

... some even sober ...

pews full of current and former members of Congress and hundreds of others affected by the senator in ways large and small. No fewer than seven priests, 11 pallbearers and 29 honorary pallbearers took part.

But no message from the pope, it has been reported. Perhaps he thought a senator, even when a Kennedy, is not the same as an actual head of state.

Mournful performances came from tenor Placido Domingo and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

I'm sure the musical numbers were beautifully performed.

Posted by:Fred

#28 So if Ted was the soul, I take it his party is now a soul-less zombie stumbling around looking for brains?

Posted by: James 2009-08-30 21:42

#27 Mizzou, that picture should be on a shirt. You could sell thousands with the way the Democrats are making Teddy to be the Healthcare Kingpin.

Posted by: Charles 2009-08-30 18:50

#26 No one's posted this yet?

Rantburg readers are slackers.

Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2009-08-30 18:08

#25 Any political party that describes a dirt bag like Kennedy as its soul has no soul.

Posted by: Abu Uluque 2009-08-30 16:54

#24 By the way Obama's or his friends ignorance is abyssal: French never teel of someone important that he is a Big Cheese. Grand Manitou or "ze Big Boss" (textual) yes but Grand Fromage never

JFM, the honourable senator's young relatives were being silly with their high school French, "the big cheese" being a common descriptor in American slang for an important person. Similarly, the in-group slang for "tough luck" or "too bad" amongst my high school friends was "tough darts", for no reason that I can remember. However, when several of us studied French, they discovered the literal translation was -- and please excuse my spelling, because I studied German and Hebrew instead -- "robust flechette" which became what we all said. We also accused one another of being vascular autotrophs after taking biology, which shows exactly how silly we were.

Posted by: trailing wife 2009-08-30 16:36

#23 He'll be missed at Speyside, September 25th - 28th 2009.

Posted by: Besoeker 2009-08-30 15:53

#22 He did serve in the Army.

Sort of. His father managed for him not being sent yo Korea, instead of it he was assigned neither to the Fulda Gap or to the Stalingrad in being called Berlin. He was assigned to France. Not to one of those boring small cities where most American forces in Fra,ce were serving but in Paris, ie teh best place for getting booze and women. Such was his service.

Posted by: JFM 2009-08-30 15:44

#21 The big O was right: Kennedy was the soul of the democratic party. And now the party has lost its soul. Maybe there is hope? Not for the dems. They carry the auto-destruct gene. I hope that they don't take us down with it.

Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-08-30 15:29

#20 just hope nobody strikes a match near his grave - we'll have another "eternal flame"

Posted by: Frank G 2009-08-30 12:29

#19 Are they going to post a guard at his gravesite to keep people from lining up to piss on it?

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-08-30 12:16

#18 RoO. He did serve in the Army. Here's the requirements. He falls under (e) Persons who have held any of the following positions, provided their last period of active duty (other than for training) as a member of the Armed Forces terminated honorably:
(1) An elective office of the United States Government.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-08-30 12:06

#17 http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/mluphoup/Teddy_In_Hell.jpg

Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-08-30 12:01

#16 CrazyFool brings up a question for me. How does Big Teddy qualify for an Arlington burial? I thought you had to have some military service to be buried there.

Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-08-30 11:43

#15 We all now know how the Kepechne family feels as Kennedy is gloriously remembered as America is left to drown in debt of Chappadeficit

Posted by: airandee 2009-08-30 10:42

#14 Government is his God.

Posted by: newc 2009-08-30 10:23

#13 He also opened the floodgates for illegal immigration. Never forget that.

Posted by: regular joe 2009-08-30 10:16

#12 The only thing he ever did for me was raise my taxes, the dickweed.

Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-08-30 09:34

#11 Barry O carried a personal letter from the dirtbag to the Pope asking for Papal Blessings, presumably to be said in public. The fact the Vatican was silent says volumes

Posted by: Frank G 2009-08-30 09:27

#10 Celebrate his life? Definately not for me. Hope he spends eternity with only his nose sticking out of muddy water, clawing at automobile upholstery, trying to save himself.

Posted by: Besoeker 2009-08-30 08:03

#9 Let's have a look at Kennedy:

-Drunkard

-Chapaquidick

-He loved to joke about Chapaquidick like told by one of his friends during a TV broadcast after his death who didn't notice until it was too late that pople could see it unfavorably

-GQ tells of an incident whi looks like an attempted rape but who was stopped by other people before it went far enough to press charges. However I am pretty sure that it was not the only time.

-After the fall of Soviet Union inverstiagators found letters from Edward Kennedy offering hos cooperation. Both during Reagan and Carter presidency.

Drunkard, abandonning a woman to die, joking about it, possibly raper, traitor. A soul about as clean as the conscience of the democratic party aka Senator Byrd D-KKK.

By the way Obama's or his friends ignorance is abyssal: French never teel of someone important that he is a Big Cheese. Grand Manitou or "ze Big Boss" (textual) yes but Grand Fromage never

Posted by: JFM 2009-08-30 07:12

#8 I do think he did represented the soul of the dem party. I would not consider it a compliment if someone suggested he represented the "soul" of my political beliefs. But apparently he was worthy enough to many that they were willing to offer up Mary Jo at his altar.

Posted by: Jumbo Slinerong5015 2009-08-30 03:16

#7 The soul of the Democratic party now burns. Good riddance fat ass drunk, enjoy eternity.

BTW, FU Barry. How dare you attempt to legitimize that disgusting piece of shit.

Posted by: NCMike 2009-08-30 02:23

#6 Never cared for him after Chappaquiddick, but I did read the online Boston Globe for some of the local color stories since I had lived near Mission Hill for a year after college, decades ago. On Mission Hill, years of flaws fixed in hours -- City rushes to tidy up at funeral site: Street sweepers, public works trucks, and other city vehicles cruised up and down Tremont Street, the main artery of Mission Hill, scooping up gum wrappers and cigarette butts, patching potholes and sidewalks, erasing eyesores. The citys sudden splurge of attention to the neighborhoods smallest blemishes astonished longtime residents, many of whom said they have been seeking such work for years. One of the pastors said he had trouble finding the church: "Everything was so clean. Without the graffiti and holes in the sidewalks, I couldnt recognize it."
At least the local residents got some benefit out of the occasion. However, there was some inconvenience to them. Neighborhood traffic was forbidden from 0500-1400 & anyone who needs to leave their home during the restricted times will be escorted by law enforcement.

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-08-30 02:14

#5 He doesn't deserve to be in Arlington IMHO!

Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-08-30 01:52

#4 "The service drew to Our Lady of ~~Lakes~~ Perpetual Help Basilica three of the four living former presidents"

Posted by: Broadhead6 2009-08-30 00:50

#3 IANAB (I am not a Bishop) but I am a Catholic, and I really wish the Catholic hierarchy had spoken out and said "This son of a bitch was a CINO (Catholic in name only). He has opposed the Catholic magisterium for most of his career. He supported expanding abortion rights, in defiance of the Church. He does not deserve a Catholic funeral."

Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-08-30 00:50

#2 11 pallbearers? Ol' Ted was bigger than I thought!

Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-08-30 00:22

#1 "Kennedy was 'soul of the Democratic Party'"

Ain't that the cotton-pickin' truth.

And I don't mean it as a compliment....

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-08-30 00:11

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