KDS?

I think Ted Kennedy was probably the first victim of the modern style political hate cult, the “derangement syndrome” we have come to know so well over the last 8 years. Of course, politicians have always been reviled (justly so in many cases) but the modern hate cult transcends that, going beyond the target’s particular office, positions, or actions and into a kind of demonology.

I remember people in the 70s speaking of Ted Kennedy not as an opponent or a flawed politician, but as though he were already acknowledged as the anti-Christ. He was just a senator from Massachusetts and not running for national office, nor did he have any real prospects by then, yet for many he was the very symbol of all that was, or ever could be, wrong in public office.
I was seldom on Kennedy’s side politically, but this vilification always seemed excessive and more than a little twisted. It was a bad trend and it has only grown worse over the years.