Maybe David Brooks has it right after all. Maybe we should indeed use Ted Kennedy's behavior during the Reagan years as our blue print for promoting unabashed and unapologetic conservatism during these, the Obama years. That is not to say that Mr. Brooks knows anything about "unapologetic conservatism," since he spends most of his time apologizing for it -- but we might want to heed his advice none the less.
It is in that spirit that I offer a Kennedy-esque speech against the passage of HR 3200, using most of the exact words Senator Kennedy used in the famous "Robert Bork's America" speech.
KENNEDY: Mr. President, I oppose the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, and I urge the Senate to reject it.
WRIGHT: Mr. President, I oppose HR 3200 -- or any similar iteration -- and I urge the Senate to reject it.
KENNEDY: In the Watergate scandal of 1973, two distinguished Republicans - Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus - put integrity and the Constitution ahead of loyalty to a corrupt President. They refused to do Richard Nixon's dirty work, and they refused to obey his order to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. The deed devolved on Solicitor General Robert Bork, who executed the unconscionable assignment that has become one of the darkest chapters for the rule of law in American history.
WRIGHT: In the first months of the Obama Administration of 2009, blue dog Democrats have considered putting integrity and the Constitution ahead of loyalty to a corrupt President. They have tried to refuse to do the dirty work of Rahm and Ezekiel Emmanuel and they so far are refusing to obey their order to socialize one sixth of the American economy. That deed has devolved on Obama Care, an unconscionable idea that would become the darkest chapter for the rule of constitutional law in American history.
KENNEDY: That act - later ruled illegal by a Federal court - is sufficient, by itself, to disqualify Mr. Bork from this new position to which he has been nominated. The man who fired Archibald Cox does not deserve to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.
WRIGHT: This act -- which would certainly be ruled illegal by any court actually trying to uphold the Constitution -- is sufficient, by itself, to disqualify Mr. Obama from the new position to which he has been recently elected. The man who holds in contempt the "negative rights" of the Constitution does not deserve to hold the highest office in this Republic related to protecting the Constitution.
KENNEDY: Mr. Bork should also be rejected by the Senate because he stands for an extremist view of the Constitution and the role of the Supreme Court that would have placed him outside the mainstream of American constitutional jurisprudence in the 1960s, let alone the 1980s. He opposed the Public Accommodations Civil Rights Act of 1964. He opposed the one-man one-vote decision of the Supreme Court the same year. He has said that the First Amendment applies only to political speech, not literature or works of art or scientific expression.
WRIGHT: Mr. Obama's reform desires should also be rejected by the Senate because it -- and he -- stands for an extremist view of the Constitution and the role of government that places him outside the mainstream of timeless and immutable American constitutional principles. He opposes tort reform. He opposes health savings accounts. He has said that citizens opposing Obama Care are simply political pawns, not genuinely concerned citizens. His beliefs put him in lockstep with the principles of Fidel Castro, who recently called all of us who oppose Mr. Obama and his reforms racists.
KENNEDY: Under the twin pressures of academic rejection and the prospect of Senate rejection, Mr. Bork subsequently retracted the most Neanderthal of these views on civil rights and the first amendment. But his mind-set is no less ominous today.
WRIGHT: Under the twin pressures of common sense rejection and the prospect of Senate rejection, Mr. Obama has subsequently lied about the most Neanderthal of the provisions and unavoidable consequences of Obama Care -- and his mind-set is no less ominous today than it was as he was sleeping through 20 years of Jeremiah Wright sermons.
KENNEDY: Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government, and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is often the only protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy.
WRIGHT: Barack Obama's America is a land in which all of us would be forced to pay for any and all abortions, blacks would sit at ACORN voter registration counters, rogue union thugs could break the teeth of conservative black protesters in mid day raids, school children would be taught to put condoms on bananas, writers and artists getting all "wee weed up" over Crucifix's would be subsidized at the whim of government, and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of Americans who dared to attempt to exercise their freedom to take care of themselves, their families, and not need government assistance.
KENNEDY: America is a better and freer nation than Robert Bork thinks. Yet in the current delicate balance of the Supreme Court, his rigid ideology will tip the scales of justice against the kind of country America is and ought to be.
WRIGHT: America is a better and freer nation that Barack Obama thinks. Yet in the current imbalance in government, his rigid ideology will tip the scales of justice and government against the kind of country America is and ought to be -- and was founded to be.
KENNEDY: The damage that President Reagan will do through this nomination, if it is not rejected by the Senate, could live on far beyond the end of his presidential term. President Reagan is still our President. But he should not be able to reach out from the muck of Irangate, reach into the muck of Watergate, and impose his reactionary vision of the Constitution on the Supreme Court and on the next generation of Americans. No justice would be better than this injustice.
WRIGHT: The damage that President Obama will do through Obama Care, if it is not rejected by the Senate, will live on far beyond the end of his presidential term. President Obama is still our President. But he should not be able to reach out from the muck of Chicago pay to play power, reach into the muck of American hating black separatistism, and impose his reactionary view of the Constitution this and the next generation of Americans. No care would be better than Obama Care.
There. I feel better. Thanks David Brooks for the inspiration. I agree with you. I think we should handle ourselves during the Obama years exactly like Ted Kennedy handled himself during the Reagan years.
Hat tip: Rush Limbaugh
Source: American Thinker
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Let’s Win One for Teddy,' Say Dems Pushing for Health Reform
Key Question Is Whether Kennedy's Death Can Rally Fellow Democrats
Democrats are hoping that the memory of Senator Ted Kennedy will revive the Democratic Party's flagging push for health care reform. "You've heard of 'win one for the Gipper'? There is going to be an atmosphere of 'win one for Teddy,'" Ralph G. Neas, the CEO of the liberal National Coalition on Health Care, told ABC News. Democrats are hoping that Kennedy's influence in death may be even stronger than it was when he was alive as they push for President Obama's top domestic priority. Democratic officials hope that invoking Kennedy's passion for the issue will counter slippage in support for heatlh care reform.
The idea of naming the legislation for Kennedy has been quietly circulating for months but was given a new push today by Senator Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the only person who served with Kennedy for all his 47 years in the Senate.
"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American," Byrd said.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Health, Education and Labor Pensions Committee chaired by Kennedy, has been the panel's point person on health-care reform in Kennedy's absence. Today Dodd said that he hopes Kennedy's death will revive a spirit of bipartisanship.
Sen. Ted Kennedy worked hard to pass health care reform legislation.
"You've heard of 'win one for the Gipper'? There is going to be an atmosphere of 'win one for Teddy,'" Ralph G. Neas, the CEO of the liberal National Coalition on Health Care, told ABC News.
Democrats are hoping that Kennedy's influence in death may be even stronger than it was when he was alive as they push for President Obama's.
Let us not forget that Ted was on the losing end of major legislation all his life because he was the ultimate extreme liberal, and part of the reason he was so good at compromise is because he had no choice. He was out of the mainstream and had to reach across the aisle to get at least something passed! As Dick Morris said, “It was/is good to have one Ted Kennedy just to give you a measuring stick or compass point of reference… Ted was as far left as you could get. However, that point has now been moved even further out with President Obama, his Team and the unbridled Nancy Pelosi.
Posted: Knowledge Creates Power – Cross Posted: Daily Thought Pad
- After Kennedy’s Death: Silence from the Pope
- The Smell of Desperation: Pulling Out the Race Card and Religion... And Threatening The Use of a Nuclear Option - Now Playing the Ted Card
- Bye Ted
- Senator Edward Moore Kennedy Succumbs to Cancer at Age 77
- WaPo Style Writer Declares Kennedy Old-Money Style Only Cool on Liberals
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver
- Click here for a timeline of Ted Kennedy's life
- Kennedy: Let’s Ration Healthcare
- Ted Kennedy's Letter to the Pope - Full Text and Pope's Official Response
- Obama Meets With The Pope
- "We're No Longer A Christian Nation" - Put Now That He is Desperate is Begging and Praying for a 'Hail Mary'
- What Ted Kennedy's Letter to the Pope Didn't Say
- Did Ted Kennedy Go To Heaven?
- Does Mossad Destroy the Kennedy Family?
- Teddy Buried Near His Brothers at Arlington – Why Isn’t John Jr. Buried with the Family?
- Ted Kennedy
- ObamaCare and me – Doctor Zane F. Pollard, MD
- Prescription for Truth – Daniel Hannan From England: HealthCare Worse for Elderly
- Unease in Britain Following Assisted Suicides
- Overhauling health-care system tops agenda at annual meeting of Canada's doctors
- Healthcare: Does Canada Do It Better?
- Canadian Health Officials: Our Universal Health Care Is 'Sick,' Private Insurance Should Be Welcomed
- Outcry Over Vets’ ‘End of Life Care’
- Click here to read the "Your Life, Your Choices" guide.
- Woman in Oregon Told Healthcare Would Not Pay for Cancer Treatment But Would Pay for Assisted Suicide… Welcome to Government Controlled Healthcare
- Video: Oregon says no to chemotherapy, offers assisted suicide instead
- Dr. & Rep Tom Price: Americans Need Patient-Centered Reform, Not Democrats’ Costly Government Takeover of Health Care
- Senator Lieberman: Postpone Universal Healthcare
- Rep. Tom Price (former physician) Admonishes Government Takeover of Healthcare
- Kristol: Kill It, And Start Over
- Obamacare: Beware the Rhetoric
- No Turning Back from Obamacare
- Catastrophe
- HR-3200 - full report
