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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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13

Camelot Slips Away With Kennedy

No one appears ready to take up the torch

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(Newser) – A fabled political dynasty sputtered with last night's passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy, who left no heir apparent in the powerhouse family. Though several younger generation Kennedys are active in civic life, none packs the punch of the senator or his famous brothers. "There seems to be no one to pick up the torch," said Thomas Whalen, Kennedy expert and political science professor at Boston University. "There doesn't seem to be someone in the next generation to carry the load here."

Kennedy died just weeks after his sister, Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, passed away, and was the last survivor of the four Kennedy brothers, two of whom were assassinated. Camelot watchers focused attention on JFK Jr. until his plane-crash death in '99, and hopes for sister Caroline faded when she bombed out in her tepid bid for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. Kennedy's seat could be inherited by his nephew, Joseph, a former Massachusetts congressman. Kennedy's son, Patrick, is a congressman in Rhode Island.

Ethel Kennedy is escorted by brother-in-law Sen. Ted Kennedy to their pew in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York for the funeral services of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
Ethel Kennedy is escorted by brother-in-law Sen. Ted Kennedy to their pew in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York for the funeral services of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.   (AP Photo, File)
Sen. Ted Kennedy speaks outside the Statehouse in Boston before a bronze statue of his brother in 1996.
Sen. Ted Kennedy speaks outside the Statehouse in Boston before a bronze statue of his brother in 1996.   (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
John F. Kennedy, Robert and Ted Kennedy pose at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass.
John F. Kennedy, Robert and Ted Kennedy pose at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass.   (AP Photo, File)
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13 comments
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Deebles
Aug 26, 09 4:38 AM CDT
Already did the RIP Ted thing, which is a good thing that we should all do. As for Camelot? Joe Senior was such a wicked piece of work that Frank Costello put a hit on him. He carried on with Gloria Swanson on the same ship with his wife and left Swanson so broke that she never recovered. He pushed Joe the son so hard that he blew up in a flying bomb in WW11 trying to win a Navy Cross. He lobotomized his autistic daughter Rosemary and shunned Kathleen who married out of the faith and died in a plane crash. He shoved all his ambition on John and paid off Chicago to get him elected. Then he tossed RFK at all his enemies as Attorney General, a move that hastened the end of that Camelot. A fabled family? No. One mans ambition greed and he sunk the stock market in 29. This is the crap that Ted Kennedy rose above. Peace. Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
Reader60610265
Aug 26, 09 3:22 PM CDT
Neeley , after your posts on the Kennedy's .I'll have to regard your posts in a different light . Not many people no a quarter of what you do about the Kennedy family. Good post I'm still going to try and not bang on the kennedys at least for today anyway. As for Camelot it always was an illusion.
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riffran
Aug 26, 09 4:48 AM CDT
good lord, neels...I never even heard of half that crap, very intresting indeed, and it puts that family in a whole different light Reply
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Deebles
Aug 26, 09 4:59 AM CDT
Good grief, that is about a tenth of the crap that I know. Favorite story is that Joe senior hated blacks so much that in Palm Beach he made them fire a young white guy parking cars because he ate lunch with the black guys. Ahh. One time Joe got bit because that young guy moved to Hollywood became Peter Lawford and married his daughter. Ain't life grand?
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IN RESPONSE:
DarkFrancis
Aug 26, 09 5:06 AM CDT
It casts Joe in a different light. Yes, the patriarch of a 'great' American family built his empire by nefarious means and did unconscionable things, but it should never be forgotten that certain members of the Kennedy family made decisions that allow the world to exist in the way it does. If not for those people, and those acts, we would be worse off. Many of us wouldn't even be here.
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