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{{Infobox Senator | name=Edward "Ted" Kennedy
| nationality=american
| image name=EMK.jpg
| jr/sr and state=Senior Senator, ]
| party=]
| term=January ]–Present
| preceded=]
| succeeded=Incumbent (2007)
| date of birth=], ]
| place of birth=], ]
| dead=alive
| date of death=
| place of death=
| spouse=(1) ], divorced<br />
(2) ]}}

'''Edward Moore Kennedy''' (born ], ]) is the senior ] from ], having served since 1963. The most prominent living member of the ], he is the brother of ] ] ] and Senator ].

{{NPOV-section}}

Because of Kennedy's personal prominence and his longtime advocacy of ] principles, he is widely regarded as a "lion" of the ]. Supporters admire him as a forceful and reliable advocate for liberalism, whose personal and political skills enable him to achieve some gains even in an era of ] ascendancy; however, some Democrats see him as being too ready to compromise with ] legislators. His critics on the ] charge that he is stuck in a "big-government" ideology from the ], and has not adapted to changing times. Republicans seeking to rally their supporters often invoke Kennedy as the politician who must be opposed, citing his politics and what they see as failings in his personal conduct.

== Family and youth ==
Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of ] and ]. He attended the ], and later ] and entered ] in ]. He was suspended from Harvard in May ] after he arranged for another student to take a final examination in a Spanish class in his place. He then entered the ] for two years; he was assigned to the ] headquarters in ]. Kennedy eventually re-entered Harvard, graduating in June ]. In ], he attended the ]. He earned his law degree from the ] and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in ]. While he was in law school, he managed his brother ]'s ] Senate re-election campaign.

His home is in ], where he lives with his wife ], a Washington lawyer and daughter of a ] judge, and her children, ] and ]. He has three grown children from his first marriage with ]: ], ], and ], and four grandchildren. After his brothers John and ] were assassinated (in 1963 and 1968, respectively), he took on the role of surrogate father for his brothers' 13 children.

In ], Kennedy was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts ] to fill the seat left vacant by his oldest brother, John, upon the latter's election as ]. He was elected to a full six-year term in ] and was reelected in ], ], ], ], ], and ].

], Kennedy is the third-longest serving senator in U.S. history, behind only ] and ]. According to ], Kennedy plans to run for an eighth full term (and ninth overall term) in ]. If he wins and serves out his full six-year term, he will have served in the U.S. Senate for fifty years. Kennedy's plans beyond ] are unknown.

== Early career ==
], ], and Edward Kennedy, circa 1963]]
Kennedy is the senior Democrat on the ]. He also serves on the ], where he is the senior Democrat on the ], and the ], where he is the senior Democrat on the ]. He is also a member of the ], a founder of the ], and a trustee of the ] in ].

Kennedy's career in the Senate attracted national attention at its inception, as it has several times since. During his 1962 campaign, he was accused by his opponents of riding on his family's name and fortune, and (having no previous experience in elected office) of not being sufficiently qualified to hold so high an office. Soon after entering office, he went through the trauma of the ], an event that focused much attention on him.

In ], Kennedy was in a plane crash in which the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides were killed. He was pulled from the wreckage by fellow senator ] (]-]) and spent weeks in the hospital recovering from a severe back injury, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding.

In ], his last surviving brother, ], was assassinated during his bid to be nominated as Democratic candidate for the presidency. Kennedy delivered a very emotional ] at Robert's funeral. After the shock from this event wore off, Ted was looked upon as a likely future presidential candidate. For about a year, the Democratic establishment began to focus attention on him as the carrier of the torch for the Kennedys and the party. His eulogy showed one thing: Since his father suffered a stroke which left him invalid, he has been the family patriarch and had given such tributes for the family in times of crisis.

In October 1971 Kennedy called for the withdrawal of ] troops from ], and for all political parties there to begin talks on creating a ]. The senator has retained an interest in the Irish political situation since that time.

== Personal Scandals ==
=== Chappaquiddick ===

During a party at ] on ] on ], ], Kennedy drove his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off Dike Bridge (also spelled Dyke Bridge), a wooden bridge that is angled obliquely to an unlit road onto which he claimed to have made a wrong turn. The car plunged into tide-swept Poucha Pond (at that location a channel) and landed upside down under the water. There is speculation about whether ] (a secretary and ] who had previously worked for the 1968 Presidential campaign of Kennedy's late brother, Senator ]), the passenger in the car, drowned or suffocated. Kennedy returned on foot to the Lawrence Cottage where a party attended by Kopechne and other "boiler room" girls was in progress. Two other men, his cousin Joseph Gargan and party co-host Paul Markham then reportedly assisted him in trying to rescue Kopechne. All involved failed to use the telephone at the Lawrence Cottage to call the police for help. Kennedy discussed the accident with several people, including his lawyer, before he was contacted by the police. The next morning ], ] Police Chief Dominick Arena called Kennedy from the closest house to the Dike Bridge, rented at the time by the Malms. Kennedy was given the news that his mother's car had been involved in a fatal accident. Kennedy had never reported the accident. A science teacher and 15 year-old boy fishing discovered Kennedy's car the morning after the incident occurred. Kopechne's body was discovered by diver John Farrar. Farrar observed that a large amount of air was released from the car when it was righted in the water, he also noted that the trunk when opened was remarkably dry. These observations and others lead many to believe that ] had not drowned but suffocated in an air pocket within the Delmont 88. The diver John Farrar has stated that he was on call and available at the time of the accident.

The incident quickly blossomed into a ]. Kennedy was criticized for failing to come to Kopechne's aid, for failing to summon help, for contacting not the police but his lawyer first, and for failing to report the accident to the authorities. Because of a lack of evidence other than Kennedy's own word, allegations persist that he was ], that he did not try to save Kopechne, and that he intentionally turned onto the road crossing the bridge going to the beach in order to have sex with her. ] and the other "boiler room" girls had been at that beach on the other side of the Dike Bridge earlier in the day.

Kennedy was married to Joan Bennett Kennedy, who was pregnant at the time, but would later miscarry. Kennedy pled guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. He received a sentence of two months in jail, which was ]. An Edgartown grand jury later reopened the investigation but did not return an indictment.

Kennedy's critics question whether justice was served in this case. Rumors still circulate of a conspiracy by Kennedy and his family to alter his driving record to obviate charges of negligent homicide, and to influence the ] grand jury. Some people question his description of his escape from the car, because of his back troubles remaining from his 1964 airplane accident. Though claiming to be injured, Kennedy swam a second larger body of water after the accident to return to his hotel room as the ferry was closed for the night.

== Presidential bid ==

The unfavorable publicity and investigative press scrutiny surrounding the Chappaquiddick incident resulted in Kennedy's putting off any presidential aspirations at the time. However, a decade later, Kennedy decided to throw his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination in the ]. He launched an insurgent campaign against Democratic incumbent ]. Kennedy was unafraid of criticizing the president who was mired in the ]. He did, however, vow to support Carter if he were re-nominated. Despite much early support, his bid was ultimately unsuccessful, largely due to controversy surrounding the incident at Chappaquiddick. He lost substantial credibility in November 1979 during the week his campaign was officially launched when he was widely ridiculed in the press following an interview with ] on ''CBS News Special Reports''. When Kennedy was asked by Mudd: "Why do you want to be President?", he was unable to provide a straight forward answer. Kennedy did go on to win some primaries, even after it appeared that Carter would probably win renomination. Eventually he bowed out of the race, but delivered a rousing speech before the ] in ] that many consider to be one of his finest moments.

== No Child Left Behind ==

Senator Kennedy was a major player in the bipartisan team that wrote the ] of 2001, which according to both Kennedy and President Bush was a compromise, and according to both their parties conceded too much to the other side.

He then worked to get it passed in a Republican-controlled Congress, despite the oppposition of conservative Republicans on states' rights grounds, and liberal Democrats opposing what was perceived as President Bush's initiative.

Four weeks after the bill's passage, Kennedy reversed his position, calling the President and Congress to account for failing to budget enough funding for programs mandated by the law. He has since opposed the law on these grounds, and has divested responsibility for the bill.

==Views on abortion==
Although he has been a staunch advocate of abortion rights for the past 30 years, Kennedy once expressed a strong ] view in accord with ] church doctrine, as he expressed in this letter to a constituent, dated ], ]:

:"While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized -- the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.

:"I share the confidence of those who feel that America is working to care for its unwanted as well as wanted children, protecting particularly those who cannot protect themselves. I also share the opinions of those who do not accept abortion as a response to our society's problems -- an inadequate welfare system, unsatisfactory job training programs, and insufficient financial support for all its citizens.

:"When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."

This letter was written at a time when abortion was a particularly hot topic, being fought in ]s throughout the United States. Seventeen months later, the ] would rule in '']'' that the "right of privacy... is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." Shortly after that, Kennedy reversed his position on ], to the point where his abortion rights advocacy soon became a source of continuing dispute between him and the ] to which he belongs.

== Democratic Party icon ==
Since his presidential bid, Kennedy has become the ''de facto'' head of the liberal wing of the Democratic party. He is one of the most recognizable and influential members of the party. In 2004, Kennedy supported the failed presidential bid of his fellow Massachusetts Senator ], speaking for Kerry multiple times and lent his chief of staff, ], to the Kerry campaign.

== Immigration Policy ==
Ted Kennedy was a strong supporter of the 1965 Hart-Celler Act which dramatically changed US immigration policy. "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs." (U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 1-3.). Kennedy is now the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Immigration, and remains a strong advocate of high levels of immigration.

== Alternative Energy ==
Ted Kennedy has maintained a strong record in favor of alternative energy sources as seen in his voting record as a senator. Some people, however, see Kennedy's opposition to a ] within sight of his home as an example of a ] philosophy.

==Grounded by terror watch list==
During a congressional hearing on ] in ] ], Kennedy revealed that he had been stopped from boarding airlines on multiple occasions because his name or a similar name had appeared on a terror watch list. Homeland Security officials later apologized and corrected the mistake.

==Political Resurrection==
The accident at ], along with continuing allegations of heavy drinking, drug use and womanizing have haunted his reputation and hampered his political career through the decades since it transpired. He withdrew in 1974 from the 1976 presidential race and failed in a 1980 primary challenge to Jimmy Carter. Critics have specifically pointed to allegations that he and fellow Senator ] sexually harassed a waitress at Washington DC's La Brasserie restaurant in ] and a night of barhopping in ] with his nephew ] which culminated in Smith's trial and acquital for rape.

In ], during the ] hearings, Kennedy's career reached what has been called a low ebb. Journalist ] wrote that he "let us down because he had to; he was muzzled by the facts of his life." The '']'', editorialized that his "reputation as a womanizer made him an inappropriate and non-credible" critic of Thomas.

According to a 2002 article in '']'' by Jack Newfield, that year also appears to represent a turning point. His good friend, Republican Senator ] confronted him about his drinking and then he "met Vicki Reggie and ended his partying." After their marriage in ], he faced a tough challenger, ], for re-election in ]. Some of Romney’s supporters criticized Kennedy for statements he had made about the exclusionary policies of the LDS church, in which Romney held a leadership role. Kennedy defeated Romney with 58 percent of the vote. According to Newfield, Kennedy's family and friends believe that campaign "allowed him to reconnect with his reasons for believing in public service."

Newfield states that "In making the physical and emotional sacrifices necessary to win an exhausting campaign, Kennedy recovered his dedication to remain in the Senate, and he focused all his energies on the job"; he goes on to call him "the best and most effective senator of the past hundred years." "Because of his tragic experience", says Newfield, he is often found serving as "America's national grief counselor." Despite his liberal views, "The key to Kennedy's effectiveness has been his remarkable capacity to form warm, genuine friendships&mdash;more than mere working alliances&mdash;with GOP senators."



==Further reading==
Burke, Richard E. (1993). The Senator: My Ten Years With Ted Kennedy. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312951337.

== External links ==
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Revision as of 04:38, 11 September 2005

Gamaliel,Thanks for the avi of your mom sucking off the dog. I couldn't believe you fucked her up the asshole and she licked her shit off your dick.Fuck with other,others fuck w/ you.