Jimmy Carter is a more decent human being that any ReTHUG

[merrily]

59. I have adored Kennedy.

It disillusioned me a lot when Kennedy said that the biggest regret of his life was stopping Nixon from passing a health care plan because--wait for it--Kennedy wanted a Democratic President to pass it. He said he repented of that decision, but, by then, Nixon couldn't be bothered, because he was embroiled in Watergate. And I believed him.

But, then, when I heard a Democratic President, Carter say, maybe a year ago, that Kennedy had stopped him, too, because Kennedy wanted to be President and get it pass during his administration, my heart about broke. It hadn't even been about a Democratic President! Not that that is a good reason to stall health care, but personal vanity?

And, of course, by the time a plan passed, Congress had gone batshit corporate and the Republicans "thinkers" had had time to react to Nixon's plan (employer mandate, I think, no individual) with the Heritage Foundation Health Insurer Gift Pack.


Kennedy said affordable health care was the "cause of my life." He said that, when he got injured in a plane crash early on, he realized that he had recovered only because he could afford great medical care.

I will have a very soft spot in my heart for Kennedy until I die. I cannot help but smile and feel love when I see any photo of him. And, I feel, he deserves that.

Among many, many other good things, he did get one hell of a lot of health care legislation throughout his career. But, saying health care was the cause of his life and stopping two Presidents who wanted to pass health care legislation and had Democratic Congresses because of partisanship and/or personal vanity is a very hard thing for me to swallow.