$68 million for Ted Kennedy Monument
By Brian Kirwin | Sunday, April 25th, 2010 | Policy38 million of your tax dollars are already earmarked to honor the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, with the Boston Herald reporting it could balloon up to as much as 68 million.
Opponents say private funds should cover the cost, and not taxpayers.
Just think what private, corporate sponsorship would mean! Think of the possibilities, as in the pic below:
I’d visit!
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The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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50 Responses to "$68 million for Ted Kennedy Monument"
Senator Edward Kennedy was one of the greatest men to EVER walk the halls of Congress.
This post is extremely disrespectful and if you had any common decency you would remove the picture of the beer can, retract your statement, and apologize.
Until then, I can only assume that you are blind to the greatness that was Ted Kennedy aka The Lion of The Senate
There’s nothing common about my decency. My decency is exceptional.
I love the left – they leap to censorship the second someone doesn’t kowtow to their worldview.
Perhaps we can compromise, save some money, and just name a lake after him.
Teddy was a coward who hid behind his father’s money, especially when he allowed Mary Jo to die as he focused on saving his career instead of saving her.
Well I will say one thing. Knowing there will be a monument to ol Teddy makes me want to be reincarnated as a pigeon. Bombs Away!
Name a lake after him to save a few bucks? Wow. And this is why I keep you around, Kirwin. You’ve made my flight!
Brian, I am not from the left. I am about as Centrist as one can possibly get.
….”Name a lake after him”. Although that was witty and borderline funny that doesn’t mean it isn’t mean spirited. People change, learn from their mistakes, and grow.
Ted Kennedy saved more lives than your previous President (Bush) killed…which is A LOT!
Respect him
That is all
What about the woman he killed while drunk driving? The one which he let drown that he could have saved?
As a Republican, I wouldn’t have a problem with a Ted Kennedy memorial. However, I do think that 38 million is a bit much, seeing as our government has a spending problem. I’m sure they would get lots of money if they asked the public (or the DNC) for donations.
“Common decency” and Ted Kennedy don’t belong in the same sentence. As noted, he let Mary Jo die.
That gets me to where I was going. Buy a junk car, erect a wooden bridge for it to be coming off of (the one at Chappaquidick was wood), and place it in a public park. You could do the Ted Kennedy Monument for under $20k.
The Vietnam Memorial cost $9 million, all of which was raised from private sources.
I’m sure that there are enough folks in the country who would like to see a Ted Kennedy memorial could have raised the funds without spending federal dollars on it.
I have ample respect for Ted Kennedy, which I paid to him in person. But in this fiscal environment, I think this money could have been better spent elsewhere.
Kristin. Centrist?
HAHAHAHAHA!
Bill Clinton? Youthocracy? Virginia Young Democrats? T-Mac?
Yeah…..some centrist.
The Ronald Reagan Library (Dedicated: 4 Nov 1991) cost 42 million for construction and adjusted for today’s inflation cost $65,593,083. I do not remember anyone complaining..
This one seems to be inline with the costs of other memorials and libraries I have seen so far. Maybe it’s that whole “D” thing that bothers you all.. Get over it.
Was Teddy Kennedy President?
I guess you missed the Presidents lesson in Philly…
The Reagan Library is more than a monument to Reagan. It is the repository for all of his presidential documents, a museum, a research center, and a tourist attraction all rolled into one.
Presidential libraries deserve to be federally funded. While Kennedy was one of the most influential Senators, he wasn’t President. I won’t have a problem with a $60+ million Obama presidential library, but spending that much on a monument to Ted Kennedy is a bit much.
Brian,
If you will note for future reference:
1.) Bill Clinton was one of the most Conservative Democratic President’s we’ve ever had.
2.)Youthocracy/Youthroll is NOT a partisan blog. We have posts written by Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and even Libertarians….albeit, we are on a hiatus for the time being
3.)Virginia Young Democrats – you got me on that one
4.)T-Mac is the greatest campaigner known to the modern man, what’s not to like about him? Also, he’s working with YOUR boy George Allen. How is that not centrist?
And lastly, why do you know so much about me? It is beyond creepy.
I’m sure you all are just jealous that the modern Republican Party has never produced a man that has accomplished so much.
Kristin, the only creepy thing is you think you’re a centrist.
Ted Kennedy was a murderer and a drunk. He should be placed in an unmarked grave and be wiped from the minds of those who knew him. I have a post on my blog to the only monument necessary for this worthless, self centered coward: http://www.varight.com/pinion/kennedy-monument-for-68-million-i-got-his-monument-right-here/
I found a transcript from opening day for the Reagan library, a reporter named Barbara Schroder stated that the Reagan Library was built with $60 million of private funds, not public funds: http://www.planbproductions.com/postnobills/reagan1.html
I thought all presidential libraries were built with private funds.
Ted Kennedy not only left Mary Jo to die, but also tried to get “friends” to say that they were the ones that were with her. Many sources reported that he was a drunk and his behavior during George Bush’s addresses to Congress was, on a whole much worse than Congressman Wilson’s shout. That said, he did do some good, but at the cost of ignoring the Constitution on many occasions.
This should be done with private funds. Any monument should be done with private funds. What better way to show how much one’s impact was appreciated?
History, get me rewrite. Bill Clinton “Conservative”?!? In the first two years of his Presidency he launched a large tax hike (after having run on a middle class tax cut), tried to nationalize health care, instituted “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, etc. Clinton was off on a path to the left of Obama.
It was only the Republican taking of Congress in 1994 that forced Clinton down a more conservative path.
What “good” did Kennedy do that did not involve taking money or rights from others? Sorry, but atonement for one’s sins must be a personal effort. He never even accepted responsibility for her death. The “he did a lot of good” mantra is a liberal cop out to minimize what he did.
Had he given millions to her family or millions to stop drinking and driving, I might take that into consideration. And the irony is, his millions came from ill gotten bootleg operations.
Why people act like Ted Kennedy was something more than rich gutter trash is beyond me.
No one is trying to minimize the fact that he killed someone. But that overshadows everything else the man did. The Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – those didn’t involve taking rights from anyone or taking their money and he was instrumental in both.
The man has a long history and there isn’t a single piece of major legislation that passed the Senate from 1960 until 2009 that he wasn’t involved in. I disagree with most of his positions, but I can respect his skill as a legislator and as an advocate for his issues.
We look like jerks when we try and smear Kennedy because we don’t like his politics. Fine, he was a Democrat. Yes, he did some pretty bad things in his past. But he spent his whole life making up for it. I am fair enough to give him credit for it.
That being said, I don’t want to see millions of taxpayer dollars going to pay for a monument to him. That’s just excessive.
Distasteful Kristen?
Distasteful????
Distasteful would have been a picture of a dunking booth.
Other then that, I am glad our broke country has the money to commemorate a man with a past that is, “shady” at best.
How many children died because of Kennedy’s pushing “choice”?
Wow, with the exception of Brian W. Schoeneman, William Bailey, and Not Jim Moran I am thoroughly disgusted.
How can your hearts be so cold? Let’s forget the fact that when we get down to it what happened between Mary Jo and Ted Kennedy is none of your damn business.
ONLY GOD can judge Senator Kennedy and whatever gives some of you the right, or what you think is your right, to drag a dead man through the mud is exactly why people all over the globe think Republicans are heartless, hateful, spiteful, AND hypocritical beings.
You don’t see Democrats going around chanting, “First Lady Laura Bush killed someone and because of that everything she’s ever done afterwards doesn’t matter”. You know why? Well, besides the fact that it’s distasteful.
BECAUSE IT’S NONE OF OUR DAMN BUSINESS
The family of Mary Jo forgave and stayed in contact with the Senator just as the family of the boy FLOTUS Laura Bush murdered stayed in contact with her.
I really don’t expect for most of you to get what I said above but it would be improper for me to let hate speeches go unanswered.
There is a way to say things with tact and a way to get your point across with class. Obviously, some of you don’t even know what those words mean but how about trying, FOR ONCE, to be the Christians and moral purists that you claim to be and look them up in the dictionary. You’ll be better for it.
and Brian, I AM A CENTRIST
Well if Teddy gets a monument does this mean that OJ gets one too?
Only if this guy gets one
http://bit.ly/7JJSz8
and seriously, how does OJ have anything to do with this conversation?
I can’t believe I got Rick Rolled here.
Kristen, I don’t think anyone is saying that we should built a multi million dollar tribute to OJ or Laura Bush.
The point is, what has he done that is so deserving of this? Especially of his clouded past of substance abuse, and a potential murder.
His name is what gives him a pass. But I, and most here seem to feel, he is not deserving of this tribute.
Doug,
If you will take note, ALL of the bills I am going to list were bills that specifically HELPED people
-National Military Child Care Act
-Title IX of the Civil Rights Act in 1972 for gender equality
-Fair Pay Restoration Act
-Voting Rights Act of 1965
-Ryan White CARE Act
-Violence Against Women Act
-Disabilities Act in 1990
-the repeal a ban of women in combat in 1991
-State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
-NIH Revitalization Act of 1993
-Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978
I know you guys don’t care about the Gays but he also accomplished these:
-Employment Non-Discrimination Act since 1994
-Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2007
And those are just a FEW of the things he did that make him deserving of a monument. Not to mention he was the second longest serving Senator in the History of this Country
Kristin,
Ted Kennedy committed multiple felonies at Chappaquidick. A court should have judged him.
Kristin,
Character is important and so is the Constitution. Maybe all of us are not saying it in a nice way. Much of his legislation had good intentioned goals, but violated the Constitution and state rights. Some of it didn’t, and he did have substantial impact. But the important point here to me, is that Federal dollars (taxpayer money) should not go to a monument for this politician or any other. People can simply donate.
Pete Rose should be in the MLB Hall of Fame!!!
-Title IX of the Civil Rights Act in 1972 for gender equality
-Violence Against Women Act
-the repeal a ban of women in combat in 1991
-Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978
Maybe this legislation was part of his “hypocrisy of guilt” for Chappaquiddick?… or maybe not because were many reports of Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Kennedy having La Brasserie restaurant exploits, like this report in the Hartford Courant in 1985:
“Dodd and Kennedy were also reported to have made a ‘human sandwich’ with a waitress at La Brasserie, another Capitol Hill restaurant. The report had it that Kennedy threw the woman on Dodd, who was slumped in a chair, and then jumped on top of her. She was said to have run screaming from the room.”
And this is the least graphic of the reports I can find….
“I know you guys don’t care about the Gays”
Kristin, you’re officially a centrist bigot. You make a statement like that with absolutely no evidence or knowledge of the people in this conversation.
Yes, yes you do. All the time. Except is most often phrased as “Laura Bush killed a guy.” Try a google sometime.
Oh Brian you humor me so much
Bigot? Ha! That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Anywho, I’m done arguing with you guys about this. I’m right and you all (most of you all) are wrong.
Point. Blank. Period.
See you on the next story I decide to comment
Great comment, or the greatest comment?
Ah, the party of tolerance and openness to the ideas and opinions of others strikes again.
Pay for it with corporate or individual contributions. Not one dime of taxpayer’s funds should go towards these monuments. How much is the state – excuse me- the Commonwealth of Massachusetts putting up for this monument? They are, after all, the ones who sent him to DC. They should pay for it.
Dodo,
Greatest comment
I am not nearly as concerned with whether Mr. Kennedy “deserves” a monument as I am with the foolish spending of funds. Funds are needed in other areas: schools are closing, teachers are receiving pay cuts along with more students AND if WE haven’t looked lately…don’t WE have a national DEBT? Yes folks, that is WE! That WE is US!
It seems to me the Congress and President are spending money WE DON’T HAVE! That is called foolishness. If I ran my household budget the way the politicians run the Government budgets…I’d be broke and HOMELESS!
I agree but then again, you would have been broke and homeless nine years ago…
@Deneice, Federal funding is not causing schools to close, teacher pay cuts and more students per teacher, because it has done nothing but go up. Additionally, Federal spending on education has done nothing to improve education (look at the stats, it’s true). Therefore, both Federal spending on education and monuments are in the category of foolish spending and should be stopped.
preemptive@Bailey, yes I know that George Bush more than doubled education spending on his first term (not sure about second, but surely it went up). Didn’t agree with that or the rest of his excessive spending. Which was one reason I didn’t vote for him in 2000 or 2004. I voted third party on both ocassions. I saw it coming in 2000, much like I saw it coming in 2008. I am not right in predictions very often, but I got some big ones right.
I would prefer private funding for a Ted Kennedy Monument.
Here is a “peace offering” for Kristin.
JFK The Last True American President
Kenny,
Mayport being readily available for a carrier to two with some level of support would address my security concern, which is primarily just to have another readily available and useful port. It may still make it a BRAC target. I would rather BRAC focus on overseas, along with Congress and the President reducing our overseas commitments. We lost a lot of good guys (and gals) due to the optempo before Afganistan and Iraq and it will be even worse after. I realize that power projection is needed, but perhaps our light isn’t shining bright enough if we need a military presence in the majority of the world’s nations.
HOW DARE THIS COUNTRY ERECT ANYTHING IN THE NAME OF THIS MAN. WHERE IS MARYJO KOPECKI’S MOMUMENT. I NEVER FORGOT HER, AS TED DID. WISE UP AMERICA.
Instead of honoring a drunk, womanizer and murderer; build a bridge at Lake Chappaquiddick to right a wrong.
So they’re building an institute and slapping his name on it, not a Ted Kennedy shrine. Typical psychotic right wingers no respect for truth or reason. Go fuck yourselves you ignorant cock sucking fuck-tards.
Laura Bush did not leave her friend at the scene of the accident to die while she saved her on skin! Plus Ted Kennedy was 37 and Laura Bush was 17!
Setting that aside I don’t care if Ted Kennedy gets a monument! I care if money of the American people who are trying their best in the economy to make ends meet or for those who have lost their jobs pay taxes on a 38 to 68 million dollar monument. Private Funds should be used. If the economy was better then maybe it would not be such an issue,but you have to think about what it looks like for those who are out of work, had to sell their homes, and etc. that the government is having a hard time creating jobs but they can afford to pay out up to 68 million dollars for a monument. Being honest here it really has nothing to do with Ted Kennedy or his work record, but it has to do ,unfortunately for him, the timing and the amount of money!
I agree with the poster/s who said that there is no problem erecting a memorial but, given the current state of the economy and the fact that our country is claiming to be unable to assist hardworking but displaced American workers and their families by either creating new jobs so they have a chance at earning a living or continuing to assist with unemployment insurance until new jobs are created. Sorry, if Ted Kennedy truly is the wonderful representative those of you say he is then he would concur that the money would be better spent aiding Americans in crisis than it would erecting a large statue of any great human being. Public donations might be able to fund this project but public donations are not available for families in crisis. Ted would want the money to go to the people so honor him.
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