Amidst Media Inanity, R.I.P. Ted Kennedy

Wearing my talk radio hat, I was lucky enough to shake hands with Ted Kennedy a few years ago, just before he got sick. (No pictures, alas.) Digesting the media obituaries regarding the late, great Senior Senator from Massachusetts, I am consistently amazed at the editorial choices which were made while covering the great man's life:

• How many personal demons would you possess if you'd suffered the family tragedies that he did, all while under the gaze of the public eye, much of which was directed at him because of those tragedies?

• How easy is it for people to take one tragedy out of a man's life -- now, almost forty years gone -- and demonize that person for it? I'm looking at you, Christian conservatives, who seemingly would never forgive Kennedy for anything -- but was it for his actions, or just leverage for their hating his politics? Must be politics, because their memories and lack of forgiveness regarding similar acts do seem party-sensitive.

• Amidst all the thousands of hours of wasting television "news" coverage of OJ, the Buttafucos, John and Kate and all such similarly inane crap, why did we never know Kennedy was such good friends with Republicans, like Orrin Hatch? All sorts of talking heads know enough to speak glowingly of it, but why wasn't that personal behavior covered over the years decades that our politics have become so polarized? Why couldn't that be role modeling for kids to observe on TV, instead of types like the Gosselins and the Hiltons?

• Finally, Joe Scarborough keeps suggesting this one particular 1990 GQ takeout story on Kennedy as being a turning point in his life. Perhaps, but, Joe, was that the only magazine article you've ever read?
  

And, now, what a wonderful (totally memorized) coda to a great life: