Disappointed, Again

I was raised in a household headed by two people who completely and utterly embraced the Conservative intellectual renaissance that sprang from the publication The Conservative Mind.  I remember having Whittaker Chambers' Witness pressed into my hands at the age of 12 and my father saying, "You need to read this," in a tone so serious I have never forgotten it, although it took me 34 years to actually do it.  It is more relevant than ever, still gripping, and the best American autobiography ever written.

One of the recurring themes of my childhood was The Kennedys.  My dad said, on reflection, that Bobby was the smartest of the three brothers and Ted was undeniably the stupidest and would have held on to that place had the pool of contestants been expanded by thousands.  When I once asked what the term "fellow traveler" meant, my dad told me and added, "Ted Kennedy is a fellow traveler."  I think that if my dad had  heard the moniker useful idiot applied to Ted, he would have deemed it an insult to idiots everywhere.

So there we sat, Mumsy and I, on Mother's Day, she thoughtfully unwrapping the gourmet chocs and I arranging the bouquet, as we watched a Fox  reporter tell us that Senator Kennedy's plane had been struck by lightening.  Then, the news: the plane landed safely and the Senator survived unscathed.

"So, the fat bastard is still with us," I said.

"Damn," she said. 

As a memento of those years growing up, I am in possession of our original copy (vinyl) of The First Family, a brilliant parody of Camelot by Vaughn Meader that fell into deep and undeserved obscurity because of a certain  event in November 1963.

Good night, Teddy.   

Comments

[Ohbloodyhell]

I got one o' them albums, too. Haven't played it in about 25-odd years (since I last had a phono player), but I still have it.

I imagine someone's converted it into an mp3 by now. Have to go hunt for that.

[Ohbloodyhell]

By the way, Teddy always struck me as more of a useless idiot. That still insults idiots, but at least it defines him better.

It's scary to think that he reproduced, and has offspring that may even be dumber than he is. Heck, maybe even dumber than Jimmy Carter. EEEEKKK!


P.S. You will likely find *this* amusing, if you hadn't already encountered it.

Mary Jo To Patrick Kennedy: "You Sir, Are No Ted Kennedy."
http://www.thenoseonyourface.com/the_nose_on_your_face/2006/05/mary_jo_kopechn.html

:-D