Hypothetical Question: Kennedy Vs Regan

• gibby08

  

  Was reading a book about that '80 election and thought about this:
  
  Would Teddy Kennedy have stood a chance of beating Ronald Regan??
  
  I don't think he would have quite made up the difference,but it would have been really really close IMO
• gibby08

  

  ttt
• Manhattan Buckeye

  Reagan?
  
  I'm not a spelling nazi, but twice?
• majorspark

  

  Teddy left a young girl to drown while he set out to save his drunken ass. His killing of Mary Jo Kopechne ended all hopes for him ever attainng the presidency.
  
  Even had that event had not occurred Reagan would have cleaned his clock in any debate.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  I remember reading an article (can't think which magazine/internet source, sorry) that talked about Teddy contemplating running for the Presidency at one time. He couldn't get enough people to back him financially or publicly, specifically due to the Mary Jo Kopechne crimes, if I remember the article correctly.
  
  At any rate, Ted Kennedy wouldn't have come close, IMO. Of course, that's my conjecture about the question simply because I wasn't living/experiencing the Kennedy era aka Camelot.
• gibby08

  

  Did she shoot her?? Did he stab her?? Did he strangle her??
  
  No he didn't...so while what he did was wrong...by the legal definition he did not KILL her
• isadore

  if no chappaquidick, not Kennedy v Reagan
  but Kennedy v Nixon II
• isadore

  gibby08;430302 wrote:Did she shoot her?? Did he stab her?? Did he strangle her??
  
  No he didn't...so while what he did was wrong...by the legal definition he did not KILL her

  
  he killed her, he did not murder her
• CenterBHSFan

  

  gibby08;430302 wrote:Did she shoot her?? Did he stab her?? Did he strangle her??
  
  No he didn't...so while what he did was wrong...by the legal definition he did not KILL her

  
  There was no "legal definition" because that case had money and connections aaaallllllllllllll over it.
  Period.
  
  If I took a baby out in the middle of my woods in January, and somehow lost track of him/her. Went home and didn't call anybody until basically the next day, my ass would have been in trouble BIG time.
• Bio-Hazzzzard

  

  gibby08;430302 wrote:Did she shoot her?? KILL her

  You forgot to edit this too.
• gibby08

  

  Bio-Hazzzzard;430310 wrote:You forgot to edit this too.

  
  You still doing that immature shit?
• LJ

  

  Ted Kennedy killed someone
  
  just like Laura Bush killed someone in a car accident
  
  just like my neighbor killed someone in a car accident
• HitsRus

  

  ^^^mmmmm maybe not quite the same.
  
  
  I don't think Teddy was the dynamic individual that his brothers were.
• Writerbuckeye

  

  To answer your question: no. He wouldn't have won. His killing of Mary Jo saw to that. Hopefully, Teddy is roasting marshmellows in hell while Mary Jo is watching on a monitor someplace MUCH higher up, having a good laugh.
• sjmvsfscs08

  The question is would we even be talking about John, Bobby, or Ted, if Joseph Kennedy didn't die in World War II?
• majorspark

  

  sjmvsfscs08;430463 wrote:The question is would we even be talking about John, Bobby, or Ted, if Joseph Kennedy didn't die in World War II?

  
  Great point and a true American hero. Although he belonged to a family of great privilege and wealth, though he completed his 25 combat missions and was eligible to return home at the time, he chose to engage in an extremely dangerous mission in service to his nation that gave his family the opportunity to accumulate their wealth. I believe he understood that. He risked all that the blessings of his fortune in life gave him for his country and it cost him his life. Hats off and a big solute to this great American.
• cbus4life

  Every single time Gibby makes a post, i wish that he didn't identify himself with the same side of the political spectrum that i do.
• Footwedge

  I think RFK and JFK were much, much smarter than Ted. I don't think Ted even sniffs the white house even if the MJK thing never happened. Plus, I doubt if he would have ever run...too liberal and he was probably a little gun shy, literally, after what he saw happen to his bros.
• majorspark

  

  LJ;430315 wrote:Ted Kennedy killed someone
  
  just like Laura Bush killed someone in a car accident
  
  just like my neighbor killed someone in a car accident

  
  Yes they all killed someone. I am guessing you are generalizing in order to prove the point that the term kill is a valid definition of the Chappaquiddick incident. Maybe you can clarify.
  
  Using the term" just like" in detail would not apply to Laura Bush. She had not been drinking. She did not flee the seen and disregard any chance of saving the victim in order to protect her personal future aspirations. I think that is what Hits point is.
• believer

  

  gibby08;429591 wrote:Would Teddy Kennedy have stood a chance of beating Ronald Reagan??

  Ted Kennedy wouldn't have stood a chance.
  
  First, the country was in a definite conservative mood in the 80's and Teddy Hic Kennedy was the antithesis of conservatism.
  
  Second, Kennedy screwed up big time with the Chappaquiddick "incident." The Kennedy fortune may have bought Teddy's way out of prison time, it could not buy public opinion. He wasn't guilty of murder but he certainly should have seen jail time for involuntary manslaughter.
  
  Kennedy's ultra-liberalism, the Chappaquiddick debacle, his acute alcoholism, and the probability that Reagan would have cleaned his clock in head-to-head debates all spelled doom for Teddy Boy.
• LJ

  

  majorspark;430525 wrote:Yes they all killed someone. I am guessing you are generalizing in order to prove the point that the term kill is a valid definition of the Chappaquiddick incident. Maybe you can clarify.
  
  Using the term" just like" in detail would not apply to Laura Bush. She had not been drinking. She did not flee the seen and disregard any chance of saving the victim in order to protect her personal future aspirations. I think that is what Hits point is.

  All 3 were car accidents, in all three the person listed caused a death. while none of the incidents are exactly alike, they are good comparisons.
• HitsRus

  

  All 3 were car accidents, in all three the person listed caused a death. while none of the incidents are exactly alike, they are good comparisons.

  ...and that is where the similarities end (albeit not knowing anything about your neighbor's accident). There are 'accidents' and then there is gross negligence. Also how one conducts themselves after an 'accident' is a mirror of one's character. Would you actually want someone who behaved like that as POTUS?
  
  I think the more important question is not whether Ted Kennedy could have beaten Reagan, but whether Teddy would have even HAD a political career after MJK, if he'd been anybody else, but a Kennedy.
  
  I think not.
• gibby08

  

  Writerbuckeye;430449 wrote:To answer your question: no. He wouldn't have won. His killing of Mary Jo saw to that. Hopefully, Teddy is roasting marshmellows in hell while Mary Jo is watching on a monitor someplace MUCH higher up, having a good laugh.

  
  He didn't "kill" her. Did he do anything to save her...no,but he did not "kill" her
• Writerbuckeye

  

  gibby08;430649 wrote:He didn't "kill" her. Did he do anything to save her...no,but he did not "kill" her

  
  He left her to die -- same difference. It may get you differing jail sentences, but the end result is the same: that person is still dead.
• Al Bundy

  gibby08;430649 wrote:He didn't "kill" her. Did he do anything to save her...no,but he did not "kill" her

  
  He didn't murder her, but he did kill her.