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2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: In 1980, did Ted Kennedy endorse Jimmy Carter? [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)1. He "snubbed" him. Not his finest hour. Ted Kennedy was an utter mess during that timeframe.
It was a good thing he had such wonderful staff; they really did the heavy lifting during that dark era for him. He was abusing substances (alcohol and cocaine) to the point where it's a miracle he lived, frankly, and his judgment was very, very poor. Everyone--and he most of all--said that Vicki saved his life.
His primarying of Carter was the final nail in Carter's coffin. It's really poor form to primary an incumbent.
If you are interested in Carter's perspective on this moment in time, here's a good article:
http://www.salon.com/2010/09/20/carter_kennedy_drinks/
Jimmy Carter, left, shakes hands with Sen. Edward Kennedy on the podium at the Democratic National Convention in 1980.
Afterward, Carter writes in his diary, Kennedy drove over from his hotel, appeared on the platform along with a lot of other people, seemed to have had a few drinks, which I probably would have done myself. He was fairly cool and reserved, but the press made a big deal of it.
They sure did and for good reason. Kennedys challenge of Carter for the 80 nod was unusually bitter and protracted. Even though Carter won twice as many delegates in the primary and caucus season, Kennedy fought all the way to the August convention, attempting to convince delegates to support a rule change that would have allowed them to vote their conscience on the first ballot instead of being forced to cast a ballot for the candidate theyd been pledged to during the primary season. Only when this effort failed did Kennedy back down and end his campaign (with what was probably the best speech of his career). So it was only logical that the press would watch the body language closely when the two men came together onstage after Carters acceptance speech two nights later and Kennedys discomfort was obvious. As the Washington Post reported it:When Kennedy did arrive, wearing that familiar tight-lipped smile his traveling press corps has come to call the smirk, he strode into the crowd of Democratic officials already on the podium, gave Carter a perfunctory shake of the hand, and walked away to the side of the platform.....
There followed a comical ballet in which Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) ONeill Jr. (Mass.) all tried futilely to lead Kennedy back to center stage for an arms-up pose with the president.
When Kennedy went to the left side of the platform to raise a fist toward his Massachusetts delegation, Carter made a beeline to join him and struck the same pose. But Kennedys arm had come down a split-second before Carters shot up.
More--including video--at link.
I'm from MA and until Ted died he was a constant fixture in political life for all of us here, but even those of us who supported him down the years thought he did Carter wrong. It just wasn't the gentlemanly thing to do.
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He "snubbed" him. Not his finest hour. Ted Kennedy was an utter mess during that timeframe.
MADem
Jul 2016
#1
It's always strange that I never see such criticism directed against Bobby Kennedy's run in '68. N/T
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#9
Probably true; people's opinions on primary challenges are more influenced by the events surrounding
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#18
See post 52. LBJ's staff knew in Dec 1967 that he'd had enough--RFK didn't announce until Mar 68.
MADem
Jul 2016
#53
LBJ dropped out after RFK entered, and it was considered a surprise. One of the reasons why LBJ
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#50
LBJ had terrible heart disease. That may have been the icing on the cake, but he had
MADem
Jul 2016
#52
Do you have any evidence that RFK knew LBJ was going out? I've never seen anyone claim that, and it
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#54
DC is a small town and people have always talked. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. RFK
MADem
Jul 2016
#58
Your only evidence is "DC is a small town"? Even LBJ's chief of staff didn't know
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#60
It's not circles; the facts are that RFK was running against an incumbent when he entered the race
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#66
Even Johnson's chief of staff didn't know if Johnson was going to leave the race, and that was 2
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#73
My point, again, is that people TALK. His COS and everyone else in the room, perhaps "The Butler,"
MADem
Jul 2016
#75
Again, do you have any evidence of this? The people closest to him didn't know one way or another,
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#80
My "evidence" is my understanding of how things work in that town. I realize you want a
MADem
Jul 2016
#86
Do you know of any historian or person connected to either man that thought RFK knew?
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#89
More than one thing can be true--he certainly was "opposed" to LBJ (despised him, in fact) and
MADem
Jul 2016
#91
McCarthy's strong showing in New Hampshire had something to do with his dropping out nt
dflprincess
Jul 2016
#78
True, but I'm not sure what you're point is. It's OK to primary an incumbent if someone is already
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#81
Oh, I meant contemporary criticism from the "it's terrible to run against a sitting president"-crowd
Chathamization
Jul 2016
#84
Bobby was not running against a sitting party President. apples vs oranges nt
TeamPooka
Jul 2016
#105
One of his former aides wrote an entire book about it. The book took a small truth, that TK used
MADem
Jul 2016
#57
Edwards, from what I understand, has gone back into private law practice with his daughter.
MADem
Jul 2016
#72
I've been listening the audio version of Jimmy Carter's autobiography "A Full Life,"
Rhiannon12866
Jul 2016
#2
Ding, ding, ding! Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
BobbyDrake
Jul 2016
#55
yup, 3rd worst president ever. 1st was Hoover, 2nd was Bush Jr. - all Republicans
TeamPooka
Jul 2016
#106
kennedy's action in 1980 to me, forever tarnished the kennedy name. I never gave
beachbum bob
Jul 2016
#5
This is a very fair point you are making--it is sometimes a difficult one to make, because
MADem
Jul 2016
#74
While it certainly didn't help, and was disgraceful of Kennedy, it was the Iran Hostage
still_one
Jul 2016
#31
no question about that, reagan was a disaster for labor and most everything else
still_one
Jul 2016
#40
I realize that there are two issues, HRC's campaign platform and the Democratic Party Platform.
Eric J in MN
Jul 2016
#29
If HRC doesn't compromise, and Sanders doesn't endorse, and we get President Trump
Eric J in MN
Jul 2016
#35
I was unclear. I was referring to HRC's public position with regard to tuition
Eric J in MN
Jul 2016
#32
Cinton voters were SPECIFICALLY voting AGAINST Sanders policy and platform proposals.
MohRokTah
Jul 2016
#22
I agree that if Sanders doesn't endorse, fine for HRC to not schedule a Sanders convention speech NT
Eric J in MN
Jul 2016
#23
Kennedy ran that year because he considered Carter ineffectual and too conservative
andym
Jul 2016
#39
I worked on the Kennedy campaign and that go a a paid job on the Carter campaign
Onlooker
Jul 2016
#76
Those may have been the same two kids I saw tossed out of a rather exclusive private club
MADem
Jul 2016
#79