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It's ashame that you felt the need to lock the page, enshrining your uncited and biased new article as "fact," and stifling what should be a robust debate and exchange of ideas. It also upsets me that you think I should "read more and think more," when clearly you aren't aware of (or simply chose not to mention) a great deal of what Kennedy believed or what policy directives his administration took. You do bring up good points about areas of his conservatism; he was a hawk for a while, he was tough on crime, etc. I don't mean to demean those points at all; you make them eloquently. But as I've clearly shown, he was quite liberal in many areas as well. My guess is, if he were alive today, he would probably be a Democrat in the mold of Joe Lieberman, or perhaps Evan Bayh. Hopefully, we can resolve this, and re-write the passage together to find a better balance, and more accurately show that Kennedy worked in both conservative and liberal directions in his long and illustrious career.
It's ashame that you felt the need to lock the page, enshrining your uncited and biased new article as "fact," and stifling what should be a robust debate and exchange of ideas. It also upsets me that you think I should "read more and think more," when clearly you aren't aware of (or simply chose not to mention) a great deal of what Kennedy believed or what policy directives his administration took. You do bring up good points about areas of his conservatism; he was a hawk for a while, he was tough on crime, etc. I don't mean to demean those points at all; you make them eloquently. But as I've clearly shown, he was quite liberal in many areas as well. My guess is, if he were alive today, he would probably be a Democrat in the mold of Joe Lieberman, or perhaps Evan Bayh. Hopefully, we can resolve this, and re-write the passage together to find a better balance, and more accurately show that Kennedy worked in both conservative and liberal directions in his long and illustrious career.
[[User:ChuckR|ChuckR]] 13:30, 5 November 2009 (EST)
[[User:ChuckR|ChuckR]] 13:30, 5 November 2009 (EST)
'''Addendum''': In reviewing what I wrote, I realized I left out an important component: Medicare. You claimed that Kennedy "Never championed Medicare." This is incorrect. In fact, he championed it during both his campaign and his presidency, and was one of the individuals who actually popularized the moniker "Medicare." Review these links:<br>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpMNdYhRq90 President Kennedy explains importance of Medicare bill to Congress<br>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gu1HyCeEus&feature=related Candidate Kennedy defends Medicare<br>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFesycofKk4 Madison Square Garden debate with Medicare opponent Dr. Edward Annis<br>
On December 7, 1961, Kennedy said at the opening of the AFL-CIO Convention: "Those who are "too old to work and too young to die" must be protected through Social Security system against the staggering costs of medical care. The time has come, in this next session of the Congress, to face the fact that our elder citizens need these benefits-that their needs cannot be met in any other way-and that every member of the Congress should have an opportunity to vote this bill up, or vote it down and tell the people why."
In September 1961, he wrote to the Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging: "I consider the proposal to provide health insurance for the aged under Social Security one of the most important measures I have advocated."
The Politics of Medicare is a good read. However, a Google Books search of "John F. Kennedy" and "Medicare" nets many more similar quotes to what I posted, as well as news reports from the 1960 campaign concerning his advocacy for Medicare. [[User:ChuckR|ChuckR]] 19:54, 8 November 2009 (EST)