Ted Kennedy: Why do you want to be President?

[418sadeyes]

Is THIS what Joan ruined her life over for??

[gemini067]

Who could vote for a man who can't drive or swim.

[rw5791]

@gemini067 well,he couldn't drive but he was an ecellent swimmer. He just wouldn't have made a very good lifeguard is all.

[rondunderfunk]

All that said, however, looking back thru history, it seems Teddy picked the worst possible timing to run. Yes, Jimmy Carter was a weak and vulnerable incumbent, but challenging an incumbent President of his own party was suicide. It never has worked in the modern era, not counting 1968 when LBJ bowed out before the nominating process truly got underway due to the challenges of Bobby and of Gene McCarthy.

[rondunderfunk]

Teddy never really wanted to be President, I think that clearly shows here. zHe enjoyed his time in the Senate and thought he could work best there, unlike his brothers. Jack clearly wanted it from the start even as far back as 1956. Bobby would have been happier, and he said this, if his brother had not died and RFK would continue to work for him, but Vietnam and social inequities convinced him to seek the Presidency. Teddy had no such ambition or urgency. He thought he had to do it, thats all.

[harvand5]

a relief that he did not win the presidency

[francescMD]

Els polítics han d'estar preparats per a la pregunta més simple: Per què et presentes al càrrec? Quan algú divaga o parla només amb paraules vuides ja està començant a perdre les eleccions...

[pippacrawford]

Sometimes I think Kennedy only ran because it was somewhat expected of him. I got the impression that when he lost the nomination, that obligation to finish what his brothers started was lifted off his shoulders

[spm1021]

He wanted to run cause anyone could of beaten Jimmy carter that year heheheh

[JakeandElwoodBlues]

@spm1021 ...except him.

[stargate121]

What was the question again?

[nongratis1]

Could someone please hand this man a school book report from a 5th grader, "Whats neat about America." To think people made fun of Dan Quale.

[swami1]

"I wanna be president because....uhhh.....America has lots of natural resources...."

[rmhm73]

I'm from Mass. & can't understand wtf the idiots from my State like this piece of shit luckily Reagan smoked his ass in 1980

[paranormal33]

@rmhm73

You obviously don't know what you're taiking about.

[mindspring57]

@rmhm73 Your facts are a little off. Actually, Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination, and went on to the general election in 1980, which Reagan won.

[mindspring57]

@rmhm73 In retrospect, I wish Teddy had won the nomination in 1980, because Reagan would have defeated him in a landslide, and that would have put an end to the Kennedy mystique once and for all.



[christopherhoughton1]

@rmhm73 Actually, Jimmy Carter smoked his ass in 1980.

[finalChoice]

to me he seems to know perfectly well why he wants it.

[cracks21229]

There is nothing wrong with this answer. He was caught off guard by the question and didn't want to annouce on Mudd's show. Why should he? Once he gets rolling, he's fine. The fact that Carter beat Kennedy only proves many Americans are dumb. The fact that Reagan beat Carter only proves many Americans are hopelessly dumb.

[MeritisDE]

Ted Kennedy's elitist attitude showed badly that year.

He believed he was entitled to the Presidency and could not accept that the party twice chose a rural person of humble means.

Ted was not entitled to the Presidency.

Hillary was much more gracious towards Obama

(seeing the split in the votes in the 08' primary)

than Ted Kennedy could ever be.

[FrsBigeasy]

If you can't Answer a Simple Question why your Running for President something you should of Decided before you Decided to Run for President, then you have no Business Running for President in the United States in the 1st Place.

[dogeymon83]

They should have the Miss America pageant girl's response alongside this one!

[TELEVISIONARCHIVES]

I know why he wanted to be president.

Free Beer and Free women.

[93rardo]

@TELEVISIONARCHIVES

Haha, but I think he already got plenty of beer and women as senator.

[hardcorehouse]

It should have been easy for him to hit this out of the park, had he really had any passion instead of the sense of entitlement many felt he carried.

[attie3]

Ted Kennedy could have say ''i love my country i think i can do better the the other guy thats in office'' whats so hard about saying that?

[hyperbolian]

why is this answer supposed to be so outrageous exactly?

is it because its more than 3 seconds long?

[Coolins335]

because he never answered the question

[lidvl11]

What an idiot

[Watermark0n]

Yeah, this answer was a brain fart. It happens. It doesn't mean he was stupid.

[NOTGLENNBECK]

Ba-deeb-ba-deeb-ba-deeb, that's all folks! Must have been the booze he consumed. Sounds familiar like the night MaryJo Kopechne drown because of this drunk. Dead Kennedy.  What a guy!

[fastfoodclowns]

Roger Mudd was right: No one then, and nobody now believes his explanation of the Chappaquiddick incident where Mary Jo died... Thank you Roger Mudd!

[whiteclifffl]

And yet...

I NEVER heard the media take a shot at this man's obvious STUPIDITY...

Say what you will about "the b movie" actor.... He ended the cold war. Not a bad legacy...

[whiteclifffl]

Teddy wasn't really bright...

[goykur]

that does not seem to matter with american politics. george bush jnr and the b movie actor were as thick as pig shit!!

[eheino99]

I realize that politicians 30 years ago weren't coached as intensively as they are nowadays prior to their media appearances. But you'd think that of all the possible questions this professional coattail rider might have anticipated, "Why do you want to be president?" would have been first on the list.

[kedrick06]

man, this comment board reeks of conservatives

[FrsBigeasy]

Had Ted kennedy actually thought about why he was running for President before he decided to run for President then maybe he would of done well in this interview with CBS News's Roger Mudd & beaten President Carter for the 1980 Democratic Presidential Nomination.

[findlayr]

If this interview was considered a disaster in 1979, it should be compared this with the recent 2008 presidential election interviews by Governor Palin. Clearly politics in america has changed, and nor for the better.

[3108711289]

what was wrong with that answer!!!

USA has great potential but many current problems and i want to solve them.

wtf did everyone make a big deal out of this answer. i see much worst evryday on the news.

[SnuffyWuffles]

agreed, but you can tell he was really struggling with the answer, which winds up being overly wordy and hard to follow. The awkwardness begins with the odd silence after the question is asked. And heck, he's a Kennedy. His brother, Jack, answered it so much more succinctly and with so much more "chutzpah" when he said, "Because that's where the power is." This just seems rambling and confused.

[kedrick06]

apparently the conservatards commenting choose to acknowledge the worse of their kind (Palin) while demeaning someone who gave an honest and upstanding response to a question...

[huntertristan]

great answer

[billthestinker]

there were four brothers it is too bad that the best brother Joe was killed in ww2

[bctvguy]

How pathetic is Teddy's answer.

EMK was such a horrible potential candidate that the Democrats had to re-run Carter in 1980 and that was after Carter's lousy 4 years in office where Americans were held hostage in Iran for 444 days.

In 1980, Reagan won a landslide victory over Carter getting 91 percent of the electoral vote!

Teddy went on to continue to screw up the country from the Senate until his end - the best example ever of the need for term limits - none of this 47 year nonsense.

[princess11222]

You're stupid. You probably voted for Bush. Glad America is changing and people like you are fading out.

[guess77who]

R.I.H. (Rot in Hell) Teddy 'Red Nose' Kennedy!

Unbelievable, he mentiones the first reason why he wants to be a president the national resources!?! HE was the one who tried to stiffle the use of our resources! He was against building wind mills on Cape Cod!

The rest are just lies, as history (and Reagan) already proved. US created more wealth for the entire world than most of the nations combined!

This idiot did more damage to this great nation than all the wars did.

[elfyboy]

How old are you, guess77who? The lack of wisdom and compassion in your comments indicates either embarrassing ignorance or the callow foolishness of a pre-teen. Just sayin'

[bulmer13]

Boooooooring. Thank God Reagan won.

[princess11222]

Reagan sucked.

[johnlennon1970]

Ted Kennedy the drunk lady killer

[manhattan85]

Like Dennis Miller once said, if he was such a ladies' man, why did it take him 9 hours to open a car door for a woman?

Awesome jokes aside, he was good man. RIP. Cancer can go f@#k itself.

[brianmayer28]

It's terrible how one little voluntary manslaughter could mar an otherwise impeccible record of ruling class entitlement.

[saladpoptartstapler]

ted kennedy was a great man and one of the most influential legislators in our nations history he was destined to be overshadowed by his 2 brothers but the policys he endorced and supported through the senate will live on and influence our country more than the accomplishment of his brothers ever could. if you are between 18 and 25 and have ever voted you can thank ted kennedy because he is the one who pushed that through congress and got othe legislators to jump on.

[mt22201]

Yeah, well, I voted for Ronald Reagan when I was 18, and it's the only presidential vote of my life that I regret. Maybe it would've been better if I hadn't had the right to vote at that age.

[princess11222]

Why do you regret voting for Reagan? I definitely think conservatives overrate him.

[nchakraborty]

well said...very true

[xcfitzx]

R.I.P. Ted

[jandean61]

I would have the same response

[HS22181]

Ted is speaking here with the syntax and muddled mind of Miss South Carolina, Caitlin Upton, answering the map question at the 2007 Miss Teen USA Pageant. I think Caitlin can be let off the hook easier than TK for not having the benefit of a Harvard education and much less public speaking experience than him at the point of this pathetic interview performance.

[robbins1980]

Kennedy was a great man

[cuz2Jefferson]

May God have mercy on your bitter heart. Why do you have so much hate? WE love you and pray for you!

[alsomainly35]

Bill's absolutely right, not only are you unintelligent, you have no class. First off, with all of the good that Senator Kennedy did in his lifetime, he deserves a certain level of respect (one that you'll obviously never obtain or even comprehend). Secondly, for any sin that this man committed, he more than paid for in the temporal world. If the Christian afterlife is true, now that Ted's relieved of the flesh, Saint Peter has no choice but to send him to God.

[cuz2Jefferson]

You have no understanding of spiritual things, so if you think you are intelligent, it will not matter in the end. We all will meet our Maker, and Christ is the only way, and yes if you champion the deaths of so many babies, I would say you do not know the Christ that cares for those "little ones Read the Bible.

[billheartyface]

You sheep certainly regurgitate well. Unfortunately, unlike Senator Kennedy, you make no difference in this world....unless you count fetishising the fetus to the point of hilarity as an achievement. oh, and I've HAVE read the bible...can't say much for a book that teaches so much hate...sorry.

[cuz2Jefferson]

My Bible teaches Love not hate! You must be reading the Quran or something else. My achievement may be more than you think. But, it is not money, wealth, or thinking I am so brilliant. My achievement is love, joy, peace, that only Jesus does give. I pray you find it, in spite of yourself. God uses "the foolish things to confound the wise"

[billheartyface]

nope...the King James Version...you know?...the book that is pro-slavery, homophobic and full of instruction on how to hate women....it's the nuttiest piece of shit I've ever read.

[billheartyface]

you mean hell don't you? (wink wink)....ah...."and I don't mean Florida"....golly shucks you're a witty little fuck aren't you?...."a place very warm"...shucks....you mean hell.

[cuz2Jefferson]

USAboy97 said those things before he knew of his death. Second, if you have a compassion for babies in the womb, you would understand the passion some feel. Teds sister just died & she was pro-life. We all know Ted Kennedy did not care about the child, that Mary Jo Kopechne carried, & he drove her in that water. If someone is passionate about the babies in the womb that scissors are thrust into skulls,and Kennedy championed that, they do believe he met his Maker with blood on his hands.

[dat2000srl]

Gee, stuttering on his response to why he wants to be President. Er ah, because my brothers wanted to become President, Er ah, it is no wonder he lost the election. I wonder how long he stopped drinking for this interview, 4 hours?

[mlavigne71]

And now this wind-bag wants a Massachusetts law to be changed so his Senate seat can be filled quickly, so the socialist medical care plan gets passed. The same law that HE passed so Mitt Romney (then Mass Governor) could NOT appoint his own Senator, if John Kerry won the Presidency. Total hypocrite, and a perfect embodiment of everything that is wrong with our Government. Oh, and he is a murdering drunk, did I forget that part ?

[kedrick06]

you know what else is socialist, you fucktard?... medicaid... the fire department, your local police station and your local public hospital.. since you hate socialism so much you should never dial 9-11, give up your medicaid and never go to public hospital... god i hate people like you.

[Fritz96]

Certain things should be run by the government, including the examples you listed. Only extreme right wingers would disagree. However, that doesn't mean the government should be taking control of other industries.

[Baldgol4]

He was only qualified to be President of AA or maybe a Drivers Education company. The people of Massachusetts were stupid for keeping him in office and rewarding him for killing that young girl in July, 1969.

[HammockTimeNow]

"Were"? They keep electing this murderer...

[Nebel64]

Wow....Interview fail.

[californiaOC82]

b199 you wouldn't vote for him anyway, so why BS people with a stupid comment?

[fenderstratguy]

What a roundabout non-answer to a simple question.  At least he was smart enough not to admit it was because he wanted to get laid by chicks like Marilyn Monroe, just like his brother.

[billheartyface]

what a blistering wit you possess....do you write your own material?

[MeritisDE]

He wanted it because he wanted to keep the Kennedy name alive. A sense of entitlement sadly inhibits the elite Bush and Kennedy families.

[connaughtman]

This was after he already left the scene of an accident where he drove his car into the water and left his female friend to drown a slow death in the front seat. He went back to his hotel room and went to bed - later complaining to the manager about loud noises that woke him up.

[shap94]

he's not the president and never ran, so what's your point

[B199aron]

I couldn't vote for someone who couldn't explain on why they wanted to be president

[gundamWWW]

lol Even the simplest question can stump people.

I had an interview where I hit all the questions out of the park. Then the interviewer asked me what's my biggest accomplishment. I was soo stumped.

[sidrahsiddiqui]

@B199aron he though that he gave the answer as to the reason why he wanted to be the president, but his expressions and body language suggests that he is merely making a statement and not committed to fulfilling it. It takes courage like Robert F. Kennedy to stand against the American establishment and a willingness to die for the cause, just as RFK did. Salute to Robert F. Kennedy.