...that Ted Kennedy is satire challenged?

The 1983 essay "In Defense of Elitism" by Harry Crocker III included this line, read dramatically by Kennedy: "People nowadays just don't seem to know their place. Everywhere one turns blacks and hispanics are demanding jobs simply because they're black and hispanic..."

The essay may not have been funny, D'Souza acknowledges, but Kennedy read from it as if it had been serious instead of an attempt at humor.

"I think left-wing groups have been feeding Senator Kennedy snippets and he has been mindlessly reciting them," D'Souza said. "It was a satire."

Emphasis mine.

Well, I can understand why. I mean, the guy's practically a walking (well, staggering) gasbag parody of himself.

It's not only Kennedy taking such satire seriously. The Kos Kids fell for it hook line and sinker. The Moveon.org crowd ate it up like a favorite flavor of ice cream. These people have not only lost it, but they voluntarily lose it again and again. It is their identity, this disingenuous hyper-vigilance against insensitivity. At what point do they become incapable of choosing between fantasy and reality, and are forced to continue choosing fantasy out of unrelenting habit?

It's not only Kennedy taking such satire seriously. The Kos Kids fell for it hook line and sinker. The Moveon.org crowd ate it up like a favorite flavor of ice cream. These people have not only lost it, but they voluntarily lose it again and again. It is their identity, this disingenuous hyper-vigilance against insensitivity. At what point do they become incapable of choosing between fantasy and reality, and are forced to continue choosing fantasy out of unrelenting habit?

That what happen to those that speak first and understand later. What's the old line. "When someone is making a fool of themself get out of the way."

Actually, I do not believe Kennedy himself is that stupid. He had done similar things before, and I am quite certain he does them quite deliberately -- to play up to his base, who ARE that stupid. Which definitely includes MoveOn.org and Daily Kos.

After all, it's not like many Kennedy voters read D'Souza. Or would believe him if they did.

I have seen Ted Kennedy speak, from fairly close up. (Yes, he's my Senator.) The brain stopped functioning long ago. If he says something in a recognizable language, his staff programmed it into him. Otherwise, it's random phonemes.

So don't blame Ted on this one, blame his staff. Ted doesn't live here anymore.

Good god. When I read that, I said, "Harry who?"

The author of the 212-page 1994 title on my bookshelves is William A. Henry III, who -- BTW -- dropped dead shortly after his book was published. His own mother said it was probably the best thing, because he wouldn't have to deal with the whole blast of PC nonsense surely coming behind it.

Very good book.