Ted Kennedy Endorses Obama; I Endorse A History Lesson

The Times tells us why the Ted Kennedy endorsement of Obama is important and includes this ahistorical tidbit:

Mr. Kennedy had been seriously considering an endorsement for weeks — a break with his traditional practice of staying clear of primaries.

That is a nice bit of pro-Obama spin - Obama is so compelling he actually moved the mountain! - but Kennedy's "tradition" of abstinence was a bit thin in 2004, when he lugged Kerry all over Iowa, providing a charisma transplant obviously not need by his current choice.

Comments

[Jane]

Apparently, no one cares.

I saw the speech and kept waiting for Teddy to fall down.

[MayBee]

Basically what we're saying is that Kennedy has never endorsed a Clinton in a primary.

[Jane]

Did you guys see this about Plame? (Under my name)

[Sue]

I kept waiting on Teddy to call Obama Osama. Well, truthfully, I kept hearing the bit Sean Hannity plays where he did call Obama Osama and Sean has made a parody of it.

[Sue]

Jane,

I'm about the read the entire Times article, but I thought it was Grossman, not Armitage?

[Clarice]

Yes, Jane that's from a Times online series sourced by Sibel Edmonds whom I do not regard as credible.

[Sue]

Oh, nevermind, I read it wrong. He meant it happened two years prior to Armitage outing Plame.

[Appalled Moderate]

Guys:

What's interesting is the way the more famous elements of the Democratic establishment -- as we understand it -- is not lining up behind the Clintons. Kennedy, Leahy, Kerry are for Obama. Pelosi hasn't declared, but her best buddy and reflector of her thoughts lined up behind Obama. Al Gore has been silent. The one exception I can think of -- Harry Reid did not "endorse" anyone, but his son campaigned heavily for Clinton.

The dirty secret of the Clintons is they can get themselves elected, and are also great for Republicans. If I were a Democratic official, I would worry about losing Congress in 2010 if Bil...er...Hillary were re...er elected President.

[Terry]

Wake up mainstream media. Not all the Kennedy family is supporting Obama. Please remember about fair and balanced reporting and at least acknowledge the other Kennedys who are endorsing Clinton. If all the Kennedys are not going in the same direction then you cannot use the term ‘Kennedy Dynasty’ as supporting Obama.

http://www.netnewspublisher.com/?p=3393

[anduril]

Sue, as I read it the article and the blog correctly report Edmonds' allegations: they report the fact that Armitage outed Plame (in his conversation with Novak) and they report the allegation that a State Department official (said to be Marc Grossman) outed Brewster Jennings (Plame's cover) to the Turks.

I'm always suspicious of non-denial denials. The article ends with this:

The FBI denied the existence of a specific case file about any outing of Brewster Jennings by the State Department official, in a response to a freedom of information request. However, last week The Sunday Times obtained a document, signed by an FBI official, showing that the file did exist in 2002.

Of course, nobody cares whether there was a "specific case file," per se, although the Times now says they have evidence of such a file--as they understand it, anyway. What people really want to know is whether the FBI has information that either corroborates or falsifies Edmonds' allegations, no matter what the title of the file that contains (or doesn't contain) the information. Denying the existence of a specific case file rather than the existence of the information is non-responsive to the substance of the allegations. One would expect that this could be readily cleared up.

[anduril]

I hasten to add, my comments assume the accuracy of the Times reporting, which I obviously have no way of confirming.

[anduril]

That last sentence I quoted from the Times is a little odd:

"However, last week The Sunday Times obtained a document, signed by an FBI official, showing that the file did exist in 2002."

They don't specify whether they "obtained" the document as the result of their FOIA request--in which case they should have said that they "received" it from the FBI--or whether this is a document that was NOT obtained directly from the FBI. In that case it would need to be authenticated.

[Sue]

If all the Kennedys are not going in the same direction then you cannot use the term ‘Kennedy Dynasty’ as supporting Obama.

The things people pick nits over. The Kennedy Dynasty is JFK. Obama has his daughter. Close enough to the dynasty for me.

[Ralph L]

Obama has his daughter
Oo, the criminal black man, abducting the (scrawny, middle-aged) white girl.

[PeterUK]

"Al Gore has been silent".

Gore is being treated for frostbite after digging himself out of another snowdrift.

[Sue]

Ralph,

::groan::

[Pagar]

Any endorsement by Ted Kennedy for anyone gives the person being endorsed, the baggage of Kennedy's support for the Soviet Union

" David Karr—a KGB agent associated with Armand Hammer—and served as an intermediary between the KGB and Ted Kennedy between 1978 and 1980. KBG reports also mention Tunney carrying messages between Kennedy and Moscow in 1983. As summarized by Herbert Romerstein:

One of the documents, a KGB report to bosses in the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee, revealed that "In 1978, American Sen. Edward Kennedy requested the assistance of the KGB to establish a relationship" between the Soviet apparatus and a firm owned by former Sen. John Tunney (D.-Calif.). KGB recommended that they be permitted to do this because Tunney's firm was already connected with a KGB agent in France named David Karr. This document was found by the knowledgeable Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats and published in Moscow's Izvestia in June 1992.

Another KGB report to their bosses revealed that on March 5, 1980, John Tunney met with the KGB in Moscow on behalf of Sen. Kennedy. Tunney expressed Kennedy's opinion that "nonsense about 'the Soviet military threat' and Soviet ambitions for military expansion in the Persian Gulf. . .was being fueled by [President Jimmy] Carter, [National Security Advisor Zbigniew] Brzezinski, the Pentagon and the military industrial complex.". . .

In May 1983, the KGB again reported to their bosses on a discussion in Moscow with former Sen. John Tunney. Kennedy had instructed Tunney, according to the KGB, to carry a message to Yuri Andropov, the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, expressing Kennedy's concern about the anti-Soviet activities of President Ronald Reagan. The KGB reported "in Kennedy's opinion the opposition to Reagan remains weak. Speeches of the President's opponents are not well-coordinated and not effective enough, and Reagan has the chance to use successful counterpropaganda." Kennedy offered to "undertake some additional steps to counter the militaristic, policy of Reagan and his campaign of psychological pressure on the American population." Kennedy asked for a meeting with Andropov for the purpose of "arming himself with the Soviet leader's explanations of arms control policy so he can use them later for more convincing speeches in the U.S." He also offered to help get Soviet views on the major U.S. networks and suggested inviting "Elton Rule, ABC chairman of the board, or observers Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters to Moscow."

Notice especially the last sentence in the quoted item. He offered to get Walter Cronkite (the American who did more than any other American except John Kerry to deliver victory to the enemy in Vietnam) to promote Soviet views on American networks. Having seen that statement, I wonder who it was that convinced Walter Cronkite to promote the theme that America had lost in Vietnam?

[battery]

Notice especially the last sentence in the quoted item. He offered to get Walter Cronkite (the American who did more than any other American except John Kerry to deliver victory to the enemy in

[sophy]

Welcome to our game world, my friend asks me to buy some habbo gold .