Or, yet another reason the left vs. right paradigm gets more outdated by the day, almost:
...the tone on the right side of the blogosphere is rather Old Testament, with many expressing delight in the thought that the senator’s final judgment will not be light. Elsewhere, Kennedy fans have exploited the propitious timing of his exit.
...
One can’t help wondering, nonetheless, how those same Old Testament celebrants would have treated Kennedy had he, as recompense for his sins, embarked on a crusade against abortion and same-sex marriage instead of universal health care. My modest guess is that they would have found a way to forgive him and insisted that a man’s worst moment is not the sum of his life.
Kennedy’s life was indeed a mixed sack of good works and sometimes-deplorable behavior. A charitable person would hope that he found peace at the end of his life. An observant person might note, without pleasure, that even in death, it’s all politics.
With as many people that have been lambasting Teddy Kennedy for his advancement of liberal causes, I can't help but think she might be right for once. Of course Parker doesn't even realize why she might be right, as we see here that she characterizes his life as a "mixed sack of good works and sometimes-deplorable behavior." A perusal of Teddy's record will reveal some good works, such as getting more federal funds for cancer research, but by and large, when viewed from a libertarian vs. statist point of view, the lion's share of Teddy's career was dedicated to increasing the size and role of the government — which is nearly nothing but bad works. More than a few libertarian-leaning people might even ask, "why should the federal government be the ones to decide how much of the American public's money goes to cancer research?" And as heartless as that might sound I do understand exactly where they're coming from.
Of course, with Kathleen Parker's near-terminal case of cranial-rectal inversion, I don't expect her or any of the other "conservative" elitists ever to come to that realization.
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