True Colors

It all started this morning while I was in the shower. My wife was listening to NPR, as is our habit. Over the sound of the rushing water, she said, "Ted Kennedy has passed away." I stopped there and said a little prayer for a fellow human who had lost a battle with cancer.

NPR was, not surprisingly, very respectful in its coverage, and I had a sense that somehow the Right would let the family mourn before hurling their last insults at the man who came to be known as the Lion of the Senate.

That illusion was shattered when one of my colleagues emailed me before 9:00 this morning irate at a friend's facebook status that wondered what kind of country makes heroes out of "child molesters and drunk-driving murderers." Surely, this was just one person spewing venom, right?

Knowing somehow this facebook user wasn't alone, I checked the some of the right-wing websites to see if she had compatriots out there ready to pounce. Here's some of what's posted by readers of the American Spectator:


Eric Cartman| 8.26.09 @ 5:58AM

Dude,

He should have died trying to save the girl he killed driving drunk. He was and will remain a cowardly, drunken, degenerate slob! Say Hi to Hitler for me, Ted!


Solo| 8.26.09 @ 8:09AM

Well...the "Lying Liberal " is finally burning in hell!

Good riddence, you feckless bastard!!


william| 8.26.09 @ 5:45PM

All you Kennedys seek is Fame and Sex and Greed and Riches. You're all in Hell where you belong you Fair Haired Sons of Bitches!


There is much more of the same out there, but I simply too sickened to reveal more. What's been written and said about the late Senator in the last 12 hours says much more about the writers and speakers of such venom than about the man himself.