Hundreds Queue to View Kennedy Grave

Jonathan Rauch has a conversation with the dead senator about judicial activism

(NEWSER) - Liberals should really hope the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act, Ted Kennedy tells Jonathan Rauch for the New York Daily News. "I'm surprised," Rauch writes, "and not just because I'm talking to a dead senator." Wouldn't liberals hate to lose President Obama's signature accomplishment? Sure, but look at the big picture: For decades, conservatives have lustily attacked "judicial activism," but if a conservative court overturns a law this big, "their credibility as advocates of restraint will be shot." More»

Commentator goes a little too far for censors on Morning Joe

(NEWSER) - Anne Coulter’s lips moved quite a bit on Morning Joe today—but you couldn’t hear most of what she was saying. MSNBC censored her discussion of the GOP race, and she appeared confused by the move, Mediaite reports. “What did I say?” she asked on-air after the bleeping. “Oh, I said douche bag.” (She was apparently referring to John McCain, notes Opposing Views .) In the video, all that can be heard is a few clipped phrases about the GOP candidates. “Just blur it all out,” host Joe Scarborough says. “Well, they got the general drift,” responds Coulter, who was defending Mitt Romney on flip-flopping charges. More»

Former Sen. Charles Percy also dead

(AP) - Two notable obituaries from the wires today:

• Kara Kennedy, 51, the oldest child of the late Ted Kennedy, died at a Washington health club, reports AP . She had battled lung cancer since 2002. "She's with dad," said brother Patrick. "Her heart gave out." She has a son and daughter, both teens, with her now-divorced husband, Michael Allen. She kept a fairly low profile but was active in charity and philanthropic circles. More at the Boston Globe .

Classified memo describes decadent partying in Chile

(NEWSER) - While John F Kennedy sat in the most powerful office on Earth, little brother Ted was off renting out an entire Chilean brothel during a 1961 tour of Latin America, reports the Boston Globe . A previously redacted FBI memo, which Judicial Watch says it obtained despite a battle from the Obama administration and the FBI, says Kennedy, then a 29-year-old assistant DA, even invited an embassy chauffeur to partake in the festivities. More»

Former president blasts his former political rival in interview, book

(NEWSER) - For a man with the Nobel Peace Prize on his mantel, Jimmy Carter sure can hold a grudge. In an interview with 60 Minutes airing Sunday, he goes after Ted Kennedy—who challenged the incumbent president for the Democratic nomination in 1980—on two fronts, reports the Boston Globe :

• Health care: He says the nation would have "comprehensive health care" today had Kennedy not blocked Carter's compromise bill back then by insisting on national health insurance. "It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill." (An entry from his new book White House Diary condemns Kennedy's "irresponsible and abusive attitude" over the measure.