cancel2 2022
Canceled
By Ruth Dudley Edwards (Source)
Last updated at 8:00 AM on 27th August 2009
Sometimes it is right to speak ill of the dead. The truth matters, even when it is deeply unsavoury. The truth about Ted Kennedy is certainly unsavoury.
Not that you'd know it from yesterday's tributes, dominated by sycophantic humbug.
'A great and good man,' said a fawning Tony Blair. 'A true and constant friend of the peace process in Northern Ireland,' said Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward.
Eulogised: The tributes left for Ted Kennedy were full of praise but a lot of his past was unsavoury
Gordon Brown was 'proud to have counted him as a friend and proud that the United Kingdom recognised his service earlier this year with the award of an honorary knighthood'.
Proud? He should be ashamed. Kennedy was a formidable and Machiavellian political operator in the U.S., but he was no friend of Britain. In fact, he was one of our most committed and unrelenting enemies on Capitol Hill.
In his anti-British sentiments, he took after his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, who was unable to hide his bigoted views during a shameful spell as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.
Ted did his father proud. As a politician dependent on Irish-American votes, this master of empty rhetoric had no scruples about spreading the bitter message of Irish republicanism, especially if there was an election at stake.
More...
Indeed, his pro-republican record was unblemished, though he was never in favour of violence. When Northern Ireland descended into violence, it was Kennedy who, in 1971, gave aid and comfort to the IRA by comparing British attempts to prevent civil war with the U.S. invasion of Vietnam.
He, like the IRA, supported the republican Troops Out movement, and demanded that Ulster Protestants opposed to a united Ireland should 'go back to Britain'.
He also blamed the 1981 hunger strikes on the 'insensitivity' of the Thatcher government rather than cynical republican leaders sacrificing prisoners for electoral advantage.
Gerry Adams and Kennedy - the U.S. senator was a big supporter of the Irish nationalist cause
Later in life, as he came under the influence of the Irish government, he began to moderate his stance on Northern Ireland. But he remained a vociferous critic of the British government and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
It was never enough that he occupied a safe Senate seat, 'inherited' from his father, who had bought it with a fortune made from bootlegging.
He believed he was entitled to the U.S. presidency, too. And had he not caused the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick in 1969, he may well have been able to ride his brothers' reputations all the way to the White House.
While it cost him the presidency, it failed to dampen his obscene sense of entitlement.
And so, in 1993, in a breathtaking example of nepotism, he persuaded President Bill Clinton to appoint his shamefully ill-qualified sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.
Kennedy wanted his sister in the job for two reasons. First, he owed her. In 1991, Ted had spent the evening drinking heavily with her son, William Kennedy Smith. Later that night, William took a woman to the beach, who went on to accuse him of rape. Though found not guilty, the trial was lurid and his mother was distraught.
Second - and more importantly - Ted Kennedy had his Irish nationalist agenda to pursue. And how better to do this than through a sister who would defer to a bullying male relative?
By this time, Sinn Fein and their IRA masters were on their knees, militarily, financially and electorally. But Ted was committed to using his influence to support the nationalist cause. And Jean was only too happy to help.
She made no secret of where her loyalties lay - as ambassador, she represented the interests not of the U.S., but of the Irish nationalists.
The U.S. State Department would later rebuke her for the way she treated diplomats who dared to question her. Ireland would tellingly reward her with honorary citizenship.
After all, she was, like her brother, an enemy of Britain and devoted to the nationalist cause.
While his sister supported the nationalists and republicans in Ireland, Ted worked to bolster their cause in the U.S.
In 1994, he persuaded Bill Clinton to go against the express wishes of Prime Minister John Major and grant former terrorist Gerry Adams a U.S. visa.
It's always suited nationalist interests to claim this decision was instrumental in bringing about an IRA ceasefire. In fact, it merely set a precedent for the weak-willed appeasement that would be adopted as British government policy once New Labour were elected.
Indeed, as Tony Blair took over the peace process, everyone seemed to forget that Ted Kennedy was an enemy of Britain. He was suddenly repackaged as a friend.
The truth is that the warm words for Kennedy - not to mention the honorary knighthood - are shameless exercises in self-justification.
Like Ted Kennedy and other nationalist sympathisers, Blair and Brown would have us believe they forged a peace to be proud of - rather than just handing over the keys of power to bigots and terrorists.
And so, working on the Goebbels principle that if a lie is big enough and is repeated often enough then people will come to believe it, Blair tells us that the life-long Brit-hater Kennedy's 'passionate commitment was matched with a practical understanding of what needed to be done to bring about peace and to sustain it'.
Well, sorry Mr Blair, Ted Kennedy was neither great nor good. And sorry, Mr Woodward, he was a friend of Irish nationalism, not of the peace process.
Nor did he serve the interests of Britain, Mr Brown. He served only the interests of Edward Kennedy. By singing his praises, they are all betraying Britain.
Last updated at 8:00 AM on 27th August 2009
Sometimes it is right to speak ill of the dead. The truth matters, even when it is deeply unsavoury. The truth about Ted Kennedy is certainly unsavoury.
Not that you'd know it from yesterday's tributes, dominated by sycophantic humbug.
'A great and good man,' said a fawning Tony Blair. 'A true and constant friend of the peace process in Northern Ireland,' said Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward.
Gordon Brown was 'proud to have counted him as a friend and proud that the United Kingdom recognised his service earlier this year with the award of an honorary knighthood'.
Proud? He should be ashamed. Kennedy was a formidable and Machiavellian political operator in the U.S., but he was no friend of Britain. In fact, he was one of our most committed and unrelenting enemies on Capitol Hill.
In his anti-British sentiments, he took after his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, who was unable to hide his bigoted views during a shameful spell as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.
Ted did his father proud. As a politician dependent on Irish-American votes, this master of empty rhetoric had no scruples about spreading the bitter message of Irish republicanism, especially if there was an election at stake.
More...
- CHARLES LAURENCE: The Senator of Sleaze was a drunk sexual bully... and left a young woman to die
- End of a dynasty: As Ted Kennedy dies a 'heartbroken' Obama leads tributes to 'the greatest U.S senator of our time'
Indeed, his pro-republican record was unblemished, though he was never in favour of violence. When Northern Ireland descended into violence, it was Kennedy who, in 1971, gave aid and comfort to the IRA by comparing British attempts to prevent civil war with the U.S. invasion of Vietnam.
He, like the IRA, supported the republican Troops Out movement, and demanded that Ulster Protestants opposed to a united Ireland should 'go back to Britain'.
He also blamed the 1981 hunger strikes on the 'insensitivity' of the Thatcher government rather than cynical republican leaders sacrificing prisoners for electoral advantage.
Later in life, as he came under the influence of the Irish government, he began to moderate his stance on Northern Ireland. But he remained a vociferous critic of the British government and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
It was never enough that he occupied a safe Senate seat, 'inherited' from his father, who had bought it with a fortune made from bootlegging.
He believed he was entitled to the U.S. presidency, too. And had he not caused the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick in 1969, he may well have been able to ride his brothers' reputations all the way to the White House.
While it cost him the presidency, it failed to dampen his obscene sense of entitlement.
And so, in 1993, in a breathtaking example of nepotism, he persuaded President Bill Clinton to appoint his shamefully ill-qualified sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.
Kennedy wanted his sister in the job for two reasons. First, he owed her. In 1991, Ted had spent the evening drinking heavily with her son, William Kennedy Smith. Later that night, William took a woman to the beach, who went on to accuse him of rape. Though found not guilty, the trial was lurid and his mother was distraught.
Second - and more importantly - Ted Kennedy had his Irish nationalist agenda to pursue. And how better to do this than through a sister who would defer to a bullying male relative?
By this time, Sinn Fein and their IRA masters were on their knees, militarily, financially and electorally. But Ted was committed to using his influence to support the nationalist cause. And Jean was only too happy to help.
She made no secret of where her loyalties lay - as ambassador, she represented the interests not of the U.S., but of the Irish nationalists.
The U.S. State Department would later rebuke her for the way she treated diplomats who dared to question her. Ireland would tellingly reward her with honorary citizenship.
After all, she was, like her brother, an enemy of Britain and devoted to the nationalist cause.
While his sister supported the nationalists and republicans in Ireland, Ted worked to bolster their cause in the U.S.
In 1994, he persuaded Bill Clinton to go against the express wishes of Prime Minister John Major and grant former terrorist Gerry Adams a U.S. visa.
It's always suited nationalist interests to claim this decision was instrumental in bringing about an IRA ceasefire. In fact, it merely set a precedent for the weak-willed appeasement that would be adopted as British government policy once New Labour were elected.
Indeed, as Tony Blair took over the peace process, everyone seemed to forget that Ted Kennedy was an enemy of Britain. He was suddenly repackaged as a friend.
The truth is that the warm words for Kennedy - not to mention the honorary knighthood - are shameless exercises in self-justification.
Like Ted Kennedy and other nationalist sympathisers, Blair and Brown would have us believe they forged a peace to be proud of - rather than just handing over the keys of power to bigots and terrorists.
And so, working on the Goebbels principle that if a lie is big enough and is repeated often enough then people will come to believe it, Blair tells us that the life-long Brit-hater Kennedy's 'passionate commitment was matched with a practical understanding of what needed to be done to bring about peace and to sustain it'.
Well, sorry Mr Blair, Ted Kennedy was neither great nor good. And sorry, Mr Woodward, he was a friend of Irish nationalism, not of the peace process.
Nor did he serve the interests of Britain, Mr Brown. He served only the interests of Edward Kennedy. By singing his praises, they are all betraying Britain.
