WASHINGTON (AP) ―
With its white clapboard walls, sloping lawns and broad porches, the famed Kennedy family compound on Cape Cod boasts commanding views of Nantucket Sound's shimmering waters.
The quiet six-acre compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., has for generations been a sanctuary for Sen. Edward Kennedy and his famed political family, a quiet enclave where the Kennedys have gathered for refuge from the rigors of politics and public life.
Now, more than a year into his battle with brain cancer, friends say Kennedy, 77, has retreated to the comfort and privacy of his seaside home and his beloved schooner "Mya," but has remained engaged from there in reforming the nation's health care system.
Ted, if you want your "mercy fuc#" call upon your devoutly Catholic daughter, Kara, and have her offer your grandaughter Gracie, for a quick lay.
"He's driving health care reform," said Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., a close Kennedy friend whose district includes Kennedy's Cape Cod home. "He's very engaged and he's on the phone all the time on health care. That's his primary focus now."
Kennedy may appear thinner these days and more easily fatigued, but friends say he's determined to dramatically expand health care coverage, the cause of his life. Kennedy's brain cancer is keeping him away as the Senate tackles health care reform, but he's still pushing for a landmark bill that could be his career capstone.
"He's doing well and he's very engaged on it," said Sen. John Kerry, who visited with Kennedy recently.
As the health care debate intensifies, Kennedy is relying on Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, the second-ranking Democrat on the health panel, as his point man.
Dodd, Kennedy's closest friend in the Senate, sat down for a lengthy dinner recently with Kennedy and his wife Vicki on the porch of Kennedy's home — a home steeped in history.
Considering you were aware of a scheme to sell weapons to terrorists, Ted, no wonder these things happened to you. By the way, "Sins of the Father" turned out to be more poignant than the "Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy".
Kennedy's slain brother John F. Kennedy made his summer White House there. A decade ago, stricken family members met there to mourn the loss of John F. Kennedy Jr., whose plane plunged into the waters near Martha's Vineyard on his way to Hyannis Port for a cousin's wedding. Kennedys have hosted countless clambakes and political events at the compound over the years.
But during this dinner with Dodd, business dominated the meal: talk about forging a breakthrough on a sweeping health care overhaul in the Senate.
"I had a great dinner with him," Dodd said. "We sat out on the porch there and I filled him in on the health care efforts that are going on."
Kennedy has been balancing the Senate work he does at home with treatment at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital. Kennedy's office has refused all requests for interviews and has not released details of his condition or treatment.
When the weather cooperates, friends say Kennedy spends as much time as he can sailing on his 50-foot schooner "Mya."
Also, the Smith brothers would rather not know you. Sure, the cover-up rolled after Chappaquidick, and a lot of people got better jobs after you sold you soul to the devil the first time, Ted. I would have thought you had learned? The Gargan family doesn't want to go to hell for you, either, Ted, so don't call them to dive for your smug, hot rocking ass as you're drowning in the eternity, you moron!
Kennedy's office has not said when he will return to the Senate. He has only returned sporadically to Washington this year.
Dodd knows that achieving success on health care reform would be a crowning achievement for his ailing friend. It gives the fight special urgency.
Hey, Senator Dodd, corrupt politicians are a dime a dozen these days. My dime says "In God, We Trust". Hope you don't mind being dimed out. I am Alpha and Omega, and I've got to do, what I've got to do. You are not even worth the inscription on your "two cents" to God, Himself.
"What Senator Kennedy brings to this is not just his knowledge," Dodd said. "There's also a spirit he brings, too, a dynamic that is hard to quantify. So, he'll be missed when he's not there. But my hope is he'll be back as frequently as he can to play that role."
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.
If you looked to the heavens, notice that there is no "green" on the moon. Yes, it "cost a lot of money" to engage in space travel. The mere fact that there were no signs of vegetation or hydration was a key indicator that there was nothing up there, you idiots. Blackmailing "Alpha and Omega" was not "acceptable".
The next time the Kennedy family, Kerry family, or Bush family, decides they know more than God, Himself, maybe you could run it by somebody? Contrary to what you may think, being participatory in a conspiracy to sell weapons to terrorists is not consistent with survival of the species. In fact, you may have caused global annhiliation. Placing the weapons of mass destruction on satellites was really not to smart, and tyranny is "never appropriate". Only one question remains...
Do you expect to blame God, Himself, on Judgment Day?
