Senator Kennedy In His Own Words

[Me.]

:” In a memoir being published posthumously, Senator Edward M. Kennedy talks remorsefully about the car accident that claimed the life of Mary Jo Kopechne – a turn of events many consider a chief reason that he was never able to mount a successful bid for the presidency.” Cont…

“In explaining why he decided to run for the presidency in 1980, Mr. Kennedy explained how he was motivated in part because of his differences with then President Jimmy Carter. Among other things, he was frustrated by Mr. Carter’s incremental approach to providing universal health care coverage, saying the president’s go-slow approach was “squandering a real opportunity to get something done.” He described Mr. Carter as a “difficult man to convince – of anything.” He described their relationship as “unhealthy.” And after Mr. Carter’s famous “malaise speech,” the senator wrote, he concluded that Mr. Carter held an “inherently different view of America from mine.

Mr. Kennedy recounts attending a dinner with Bill Clinton shortly after he was elected president in 1992 at the Washington home of Katharine Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post. According to Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Clinton said at the time that if he did not get national health insurance through Congress, he should not be president.

Mr. Kennedy expressed great disappointment at the ultimate failure of health care to pass during that period, though he did not place the blame for it on Mr. Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who oversaw the effort for Mr. Clinton.“ cont…

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/kennedy-memoir-talks-of-chappaquiddick-jfk-and-other-presidents/

[RamboLiberal]

1. K&R

[Me.]

3. Good To 'Hear' His Voice Isn't It

[CountAllVotes]

2. kick

and recommend.

[Me.]

4. Those 500+ Pages Will Be A Must Read

[Me.]

5. K