Everybody Together Now: Aw, Poor Baby...

FBI files on Ted Kennedy show constant threats

Washington (CNN) -- He buried two older brothers killed by assassins' bullets, and FBI files released Monday showed that Sen. Edward Kennedy was the subject of seemingly endless threats throughout his political career.

The more than 2,000 pages made public included threats that ranged from the obscene ramblings of troubled people to angry warnings of death and violence against Kennedy, who was a U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1963 until his death in 2009. Many of the documents, including poor-quality mimeographs of news articles and official government memos, have handwritten notations on them, presumably by FBI officials who looked them over.

I've seen other reports that put the number as "scores". Now, that to me says 40 - 60. Over a career that spanned more than 40 years, that's 1 - 2 threats a year. For someone who has led as controversial a life as Ted has, it's rather remarkable that he received that few threats. The high profile deaths of his brothers alone should be expected to bring some level of threats; his actions - and subsequent escape from prosecution - at Chappaquidick being another source.

Here's what the "threats" consist of:

More reflective of the files was a 1975 letter received by former Vice President and Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey that noted Humphrey was boosting Kennedy as a possible presidential nominee.

"Don't you know that there are millions of us that don't like the (expletive) Kennedys, noteably the women, they still remember how he swam off to save his dirty hide and left Mary Jo to drown in his car," the letter said. "That showed what kind of S.O.B. he is. He should live in the cemetery with John and Robert. So let him run for President if he dares and some one will knock him off just like they did his brothers."

Okay then. That's the type of "threat" that "hounded" Ted Kennedy. I'm sorry, but that's a poorly written rant expressing the writer's disapproval of the actions of Ted the Swimmer in the events following the tragic death of Mary Jo Kopechne. That's not someone actively threatening a sitting US Senator or presidential candidate, that's someone venting their spleen and using the existing situations - his assassinated brothers - as backdrop. It's distasteful to be certain but it's sure as hell not a credible "threat".

Excuse me if I can't work up a load of giveadamn over Ted Kennedy receiving death threats - not when the man died of natural causes...

That is all.