True that. Whatever the faults of the clan (and there’s plenty to go around) sliding by on the family name isn’t one of them. The group ethos was and is keenly competitive; those bruising “touch” football games in Hyannis typify the gung-ho attitude.
You may sneer as you wish at Ted’s liberalism; snicker smugly at the mess he’s made of his personal life; but don’t ever doubt that, as a Senator, he’s been passionately committed to his ideals, yet highly effective at working with his colleagues to achieve what can practically be done.
Thanks for the link…I sat here and cried when I read it. Because I was one of the ones in the Flyover States to whom her column in the Decatur paper was nearly the sole voice reminding us to “keep fightin’ for freedom and justice”.
I’ll copy what I posted in the MPSIMS thread, since that one seems to be going down:
As a Texan, I particularly mourn her death. Her writings on national politics were great, but some of her best work was aimed at more regional targets (such as the Texas Legislature), and so I think the American public at large missed out on some of her really good stuff. I remember her writing of a Texas politician, “If his IQ drops any further, we’ll have to start watering him twice a day.” Classic. Right up there with another Texas icon, Jim Hightower (who once wrote of the elder President Bush, “If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want the drilling rights on [his] head.”).
