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You are here: Home / Politics / RIP, Jack Kemp

RIP, Jack Kemp

by John Cole|  May 3, 200910:16 am| 90 Comments

This post is in: Politics

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Jack Kemp died after a fight with cancer:

Jack Kemp, the former football star turned congressman who with an evangelist’s fervor moved the Republican Party to a commitment to tax cuts as the central focus of economic policy, died Saturday evening at his home in Bethesda, Md. He was 73.

The cause was cancer, said his son Jimmy Kemp. Jack Kemp’s Washington consulting and lobbying firm, Kemp Partners, announced in January that he had cancer but did not disclose the type.

Mr. Kemp was secretary of housing and urban development under the first President George Bush and the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1996. But his greatest legacy may stem from his years as a congressman from Buffalo, especially 1978, when his argument for sharp tax cuts to promote economic growth became party policy, one that has endured to this day.

RIP.

*** Update ***

His letter to his grandchildren after the Obama election tells you what kind of man he was.

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Reader Interactions

90Comments

  1. 1.

    sgwhiteinfla

    May 3, 2009 at 10:26 am

    This link is worth passing on

    http://www.kemppartners.com/about-jack-kemp/column/a-letter-to-my-grandchildren/

    Especially this last paragraph.

    President-elect Obama talks of Abraham Lincoln’s view of our nation as an “unfinished work.” Well, isn’t that equally true of all of us? Therefore let all of us strive to help him be a successful president, so as to help make America an even greater nation.

  2. 2.

    Robertdsc-iphone

    May 3, 2009 at 10:27 am

    RIP.

  3. 3.

    WyldPirate

    May 3, 2009 at 10:28 am

    Yeah, RIP an all of that good junk.

    I found this interesting in the NYT link:

    But though Mr. Kemp had not studied a lot at Occidental, he had been making up for it for years. On long team flights, his reading habits — Ayn Rand and William F. Buckley Jr., among others — stood out. The wide receiver Elbert Dubenion recalled this year, “He was reading these political books, and we were reading the Katzenjammer Kids.”

    If you ask me, Kemp would have been better off reading the Katzenjammer Kids along with the rest of his teammates.

  4. 4.

    Lee from NC

    May 3, 2009 at 10:35 am

    Sad. He was from the sane wing of the Republican party, though I would still disagree with him on many issues. But that’s the point. He actually could formulate coherent ideas and frame an argument for them. Todays GOP needs someone like that,rather than the goose-stepping idiots that comprise the party right now.

  5. 5.

    Lola

    May 3, 2009 at 10:39 am

    That was a nice letter. Obviously, being a football player dramatically influenced Kemp’s view on race. We should encourage more Republicans to play professional sports. RIP Jack Kemp.

  6. 6.

    rmp

    May 3, 2009 at 10:44 am

    But he want’s Obama to succeed. He must not have cleared that letter with Rush.

  7. 7.

    MattF

    May 3, 2009 at 10:47 am

    Kemp honestly thought that supply-side economics was the way to bring people up from poverty– wacky, but entirely decent.

  8. 8.

    El Tiburon

    May 3, 2009 at 10:51 am

    Um, yeah, sadly no.

    I’m sure he was a fine man, father, husband and granddad.

    But his fealty to an ideology and political party that to this very day is doing its best to keep minorities in their place, sorry, I ain’t buying it.

    If John Cole could convert; if I could convert, then why couldn’t this man?

    I have next to no respect to any person who is still a Republican and/or is upset that McCain lost.

    A McCain presidency would have been worse than a Bush third-term.

    Nice words after the fact on your corporate website to your grandkids for public consumption, I call bullshit. I’m sure at his country club over martinis he was telling that uppity negro to buff and shine his golf shoes. Chop. Chop.

  9. 9.

    D0n Camillo

    May 3, 2009 at 10:53 am

    He was one of the few decent Republicans of the last 30 years. I remember him uncovering the HUD scandal when he was housing secretary under George Bush senior. He also was the only prominent Republican I know of who wanted to address the issue of homelessness. While I didn’t agree with most of his views, I respected him unlike the vast majority of his GOP brethren. Rest in peace, Jack.

  10. 10.

    ** Atanarjuat **

    May 3, 2009 at 10:55 am

    It’s true that many of us can and will disagree with Jack Kemp on his conservative political views, but all in all he was a decent man.

    It’s just too bad that for today’s GOP that there’s no room for decent men like Jack Kemp, more’s the pity (or not, as it’s great to have Republicans in such chaotic disarray).

    -A

  11. 11.

    Alan

    May 3, 2009 at 10:56 am

    He was my kind of conservative when I was a conservative. Yeah he was a supply sider but he was thoughtful. I remember him promoting enterprise zones to combat inner city poverty. It’s too bad there aren’t many conservatives like him anymore. RIP Jack Kemp.

    I wonder if he and Bill Bennett had a falling out over the years? What ever happened to that organization he, Bill Bennett, and Jeane Kirkpatrick started, Empower American?

  12. 12.

    BruceFromOhio

    May 3, 2009 at 11:01 am

    My advice for you all is to understand that unity for our nation doesn’t require uniformity or unanimity; it does require putting the good of our people ahead of what’s good for mere political or personal advantage.

    RIP, Mr Kemp. You party doesn’t get it, and is unlikely to get it before it too passes on.

  13. 13.

    Robert Johnston

    May 3, 2009 at 11:05 am

    Jack Kemp, godfather of voodoo economics and, along with Phil Graham and Alan Greenspan, one of the three people most responsible for sending the Republican party over the cliff of sophistic pseudolibertarian economic illiteracy and thereby bringing about our current economic debacle. May his ideas die with him.

  14. 14.

    sgwhiteinfla

    May 3, 2009 at 11:06 am

    El Tiburon

    I don’t pretend to know Jack Kemp’s heart and I didn’t agree with his supply side tax cut ideology nor his views on reducing spending on social safety nets which obviously disproportionately hurt black folks. I can’t even say for sure that his rhetoric about reaching out to black people was genuine. But I CAN say that his conduct BEFORE getting elected leads me to believe that he was genuine just misguided. Jack Kemp was one of the few guys in the Republican party who at least paid lip service to minority outreach long before it was chic to do so. This post from the Democratic Strategist is very balanced and has its criticisms but it also includes this nugget

    Kemp, a former GOP VP nominee, HUD Secretary and congressman from Buffalo, earned his creds in race relations early on, as an all-pro quarterback who supported Black players’ boycott of New Orleans in 1965 because of segregated cabs and nightclubs in that city. He was a vocal supporter of civil rights, affirmative action and rights for illegal immigrants and called himself a “bleeding-heart conservative.” What has not been well-reported in the obits in the major rags is that Kemp also provided pivotal, perhaps decisive support for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday legislation, twisting the arms of GOP moderates and even some conservatives to support the bill. He remained a friend of Black leaders, including Coretta Scott King, even while she campaigned against the Kemp-Roth legislation.

    Now again maybe it was all just some elaborate ruse, but I doubt it. I still don’t agree with his economic and social policy for the most part but that doesn’t mean we can’t give the man props for what he DID get right.

  15. 15.

    Common Sense

    May 3, 2009 at 11:09 am

    @El Tiburon:

    Nice words after the fact on your corporate website to your grandkids for public consumption, I call bullshit. I’m sure at his country club over martinis he was telling that uppity negro to buff and shine his golf shoes. Chop. Chop.

    Christ, you must be fun at a wake.

    He created those fair housing laws that forced banks to give black people homes (the ones that other Repubas have latched onto as the cause of this economic crisis). He created the AFLPA and was a pretty strong voice for unions throughout his Congressional career. He led a boycott on New Orleans due to their segregation laws. I call massive bullshit on your obvious ignorance of who Kemp was. He didn’t just discover racial equality with this letter asshole — he fought for it for decades.

  16. 16.

    Ash Can

    May 3, 2009 at 11:18 am

    We (desperately) need more sane Republicans like Jack Kemp. I understand the complaints, but the fact remains he was head and shoulders above the obnoxious assholes and pathetic whiners running the GOP these days.

  17. 17.

    Joel

    May 3, 2009 at 11:19 am

    @sgwhiteinfla: Word.

  18. 18.

    passerby

    May 3, 2009 at 11:19 am

    @Robert Johnston:

    May his ideas die with him.

    Seconded.

    RIP Jack. You played your part well.

  19. 19.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    May 3, 2009 at 11:23 am

    I always liked Jack Kemp, prolly cuz I was a football fan before I could vote. RIP Jack.

  20. 20.

    Comrade Desert Hussein Rat

    May 3, 2009 at 11:25 am

    Jeez. A lot of hate in these comments. I thought some of you were better than that.

    I remember Kemp’s run in 1996 against Bob Dole. He talked about some things that could have been beneficial to inner city families in terms of economic development that would have been utterly anathema to anybody in today’s GOP (which is undoubtedly why he lost the nomination to Dole). He also, admittedly, said a lot of shit I disagreed with, which is inevitable.

    Yeah, he said a lot of things I disagreed with, but he clearly was a saner guy you could at least have an argument on principles with, rather than a bunch of name calling like the current bunch of GOoPers.

    If we can learn anything from American History, we can assume there will be a resurgent GOP (or some mainstream conservative party that replaces them) some day. That party will hopefully put some of the current crazies in the back of the bus where they belong. When Democratic Party fortunes inevitably swoon 10, 20, 30, or 40 years from now, hope that the GOP is led by people like Jack Kemp, and not people like Jeff Sessions.

  21. 21.

    Anton Sirius

    May 3, 2009 at 11:31 am

    @Ash Can:

    We (desperately) need more sane Republicans like Jack Kemp. I understand the complaints, but the fact remains he was head and shoulders above the obnoxious assholes and pathetic whiners running the GOP these days.

    Well, that’s just it, isn’t it? ‘Sane Republican’ is basically an oxymoron at this point.

    He died before he could be chased out of the party.

  22. 22.

    Will

    May 3, 2009 at 11:51 am

    Kemp was the rare politician capable of separating his ideology from his personal feelings about the opposition. He never seemed to hate anyone, and always grounded his ideas in a positive vision for this country. We can all remind ourselves how wrongheaded that vision was, without denigrating him personally while we’re at it.

  23. 23.

    Robert Johnston

    May 3, 2009 at 11:53 am

    @Ash Can: We (desperately) need more sane Republicans like Jack Kemp.

    Jack Kemp was no less insane than the rest of the Republican party. His economic gibberish was every bit as insane and foolish as anything coming out of the religious, racist, or authoritarian right. Kemp was perhaps less offensive but almost certainly more dangerous than the other sources of Republican insanity. The religious right and the authoritarian right may want to bring the country to its knees, but while they can screw things up pretty badly it’s hard for them to create lasting harm that can’t be fixed relatively quickly with good policy. Kemp’s Randian right, on the other hand, has left our economy in a state that will take several years to bring out of crisis, that will require cleanup for at least a couple of decades after the crisis passes, and that has resulted in environmental degradation that will have a duration of effect measured in centuries.

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne

    May 3, 2009 at 11:56 am

    Was Jack Kemp on the right side of the issues all of the time? Of course not. If he was, he would have been a Democrat. ;-)

    But the things that he was on the right side of — like his genuine interest in racial equality — were things that he really fought hard for, even when his fellow Republicans started calling him a n*-lover for insisting that black people should be allowed to get home loans, too. He got fired from HUD because, like a fool, he thought his job was to actually help people in urban areas and not to make things harder for them.

    I really can’t write Kemp off as just another hater, because he was more complex than that. He was right about some things, wrong about other things, and really wrong about supply-side economics, which he went to his grave thinking would work despite all of the evidence of the past 8 years and more.

  25. 25.

    BruinKid

    May 3, 2009 at 11:57 am

    @Comrade Desert Hussein Rat:

    Jeez. A lot of hate in these comments. I thought some of you were better than that.

    This is nothing. Papa Tony’s link to JoeMyGod’s post about Kemp’s death… now THERE’s some hate right there.

  26. 26.

    Peter J

    May 3, 2009 at 11:59 am

    The Republican Party would be a better with more Jack Kemp in it.

    RIP.

  27. 27.

    SnarkIntern

    May 3, 2009 at 12:14 pm

    I always thought Kemp was a nice man, and a guy I’d like to see in the Democratic party.

    It’s too bad he chose a party that didn’t really appreciate him, or learn from him.

    RIP

  28. 28.

    DougJ

    May 3, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    Jack Kemp was a decent man in an era where not many high-profile Republicans are. He showed a lot of class when he was Dole’s veep and even more when he opposed the immigrant-bashing that was all the rage in California in the 90s.

    He will be missed.

  29. 29.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    May 3, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    RIP. He was a damn good man.

    @sgwhiteinfla: Well said and kudos to you.

    @El Tiburon: As others have pointed out you haven’t done your homework on Jack Kemp. A little grace goes a long way. This is one time you should have held off on hitting the send button.

  30. 30.

    DougJ

    May 3, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    And, yeah, his economics was all gibberish and I never would have voted for him.

    But I have to respect his decency.

  31. 31.

    El Tiburon

    May 3, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    Common Sense,

    I praised him as a man, Dad and Grandfather.

    What more do you want?

    Again, sorry. He is part of an ideology that has totally fucked this country. And he was part of it until the day he died.

    Just because he was nice, had gray hair, played football and did some HUD shit, so what?

    He was loyal to all that I find disgusting in this country.

    So fuck him as a politician. Fuck his ideology.

    As a man, I’m sure he was a hoot to have a beer with. You know what I’m saying?

  32. 32.

    Common Sense

    May 3, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    @El Tiburon:

    I don’t have a clue what you are saying, other than that he “did some HUD shit” and went on to laugh about it and demand they shine his shoes at the country club.

    I didn’t agree with every part of his ideology, obviously — I am a Democrat after all. I am pointing out that it is absolutely absurd to claim he didn’t work for racial equality, or that it was for public consumption. He stuck to those ideals even when that meant losing his job and losing a primary.

  33. 33.

    ChrisB

    May 3, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    @Lola:

    We should encourage more Republicans to play professional sports.

    Yes, indeed. Let’s see:

    1. MMA (wouldn’t you love to get Cheney or Rove in the Octagon?) or at least old-fashioned boxing
    2. Bullfighting (without the picadors or anyone else weakening the bulls)
    3. Rodeo (without the clowns)
    4. Punt returner (with no fair catches)
    5. Ski jumping (with no practice)

    What am I missing?

    Seriously, though, your point about Kemp and race, echoed by others, is well-taken.

  34. 34.

    Marc

    May 3, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    Kemp was a decent man. I disagreed with him on economics, but having heard him I never believed that he was motivated by ill motives. And his embrace of racial equality was completely genuine.

    Folks – the Bush GOP is genuinely toxic. It doesn’t follow that all political opponents are evil people for whom it’s appropriate to rejoice at their deaths.

  35. 35.

    TR

    May 3, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    RIP. Kemp always struck me as a good and decent man, even though I disagreed with his economic policies.

  36. 36.

    JDM

    May 3, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    @Robert Johnston

    Ur right. Plus he was only a 46.7% passer in the AFfuckingL, so double fuck him, although he did less harm there than in Congress. Couldn’t have been a high school qb in western Pennsylvania.

  37. 37.

    baldheadeddork

    May 3, 2009 at 5:10 pm

    What Jack Kemp had to say about Barack Obama last summer, when it mattered:

    You gave (McCain) your best shots and he took it like a man. Now, as he heads toward the nomination, I urge you to continue to be critical, but to do so in measured ways that will not damage his ability to win in November against those who would weaken our nation’s defense, wave a white flag to al-Qaida, socialize our health-care system, and promote income redistribution and class warfare instead of economic growth and equality of opportunity.

    This is far more representative of the kind of man he was in his public life than any deathbed letter he wrote to his family. Kemp was one of the most vitriolic partisans in Congress during the Reagan administration, and he continued it in retirement with his ceaseless assault on anyone who criticized his tax policy as engaging in “class warfare”.

    My condolences to his family, but he was nothing more than an ideological hack who treated opponents with contempt from the time he entered politics through the last campaign of his life.

  38. 38.

    Michael D.

    May 3, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    His letter to his grandchildren

    Classy.

  39. 39.

    Common Sense

    May 3, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    @baldheadeddork:

    I shudder to think what you are going to say about Hillary when she passes. We all know what she said “when it mattered.”

  40. 40.

    Michael D.

    May 3, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    @El Tiburon: You know? There are Republicans who do not subscribe to the new party line. First, let me say that I don’t know much about Jack Kemp and what he believed. I will say that, at heart, I am a Republican – or at least what I WANT Republicans to be. I want small government, less taxes, less intrusion into my personal life, etc.

    I know – 100% – that this is NOT what Republicanism is, but it is what it is SUPPOSED to be. I am NOT a Republican these days because they are not holding to these principles – and they haven’t ever probably.

    But Kemp’s letter shows that he was a pretty classy guy. I’m glad the letter is out there. I wish it would get more attention. Republicans NEED to read it and realize that it is what they should be. I know John would vote for the Kemp wing of the party (based on the letter, I suppose). If I was a citizen, I would probably support him as well.

    I, for one, would LOVE to have a choice in an election. I’m happy to support Democrats. And right now, my only CHOICE is a non-choice. I HAVE to support the Democrat. Anything else is wingnut. I would really like a second option. Seeing the letter that Kemp wrote to his grandkids makes me think I could support someone like him.

    And that is a good thing.

    Wouldn’t you love to have a Republican running against a Democrat who supported lower taxes, decreased spending, limited government, limited intrusion into your personal life,and oh, by the way equality for all, no torture, etc?

    Yeah, I seek perfection. This party ain’t it. But Kemp was classy, it seems. To say, basically, “good riddance” is awful. He seemed to be a pretty decent guy.

  41. 41.

    Michael D.

    May 3, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    @baldheadeddork: Just saw your post, which I guess negates some of mine.

  42. 42.

    Jrod

    May 3, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    Wouldn’t you love to have a Republican running against a Democrat who supported lower taxes, decreased spending, limited government, limited intrusion into your personal life,and oh, by the way equality for all, no torture, etc?

    No, I’m perfectly fine with Republicans being powerless crazies. All the “honor” and “decency” in the world doesn’t stop those economic ideas from being horrifyingly destructive to us in the lower class. All his “class” doesn’t change the fact that he acted to make the world a worse place.

    Good riddance.

    On another note though, can we please stop using the word class to mean anything other than social strata? When you call someone classy you’re saying they’re like those rich folks who are inherently better than the masses. Fuck that shit. Of course, if you meant that Kemp thought of himself as better than the teeming masses, you’re probably right.

  43. 43.

    Scrutinizer

    May 3, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    What’s clear to me, from reading some of these comments, is that the Republicans haven’t got a monopoly on small-minded, bitter, ignorant, vicious, ill-bred haters who foul the cesspits they sprawl in.

  44. 44.

    Mike in NC

    May 3, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    Kemp was one of the most vitriolic partisans in Congress during the Reagan administration, and he continued it in retirement with his ceaseless assault on anyone who criticized his tax policy as engaging in “class warfare”.

    Hadn’t given the guy much thought since way back when he ran as Dole’s VP. No doubt all the talking heads on network and cable TV today have been lionized old Jack, whether deservedly or not.

  45. 45.

    Cromagnon

    May 3, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    Jeez, some you people are as hateful and petty as the wingers… just reconfirms my long-held theory that the only difference between a moonbat and a wingnut is the line of BS they spout off

  46. 46.

    BruinKid

    May 3, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    @Papa Tony: Comments wishing that he burns in hell qualify as hatred, justified or not. Be careful in your quest to drive out the monsters, that you do not become one yourself.

    We need to be better than this.

  47. 47.

    Jrod

    May 3, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    Right, I’m supposed to pretend that an evil man who worked hard to make the world a more miserable place for me and mine (and many others beside) was actually an honorable saint because he wrote something nice on his deathbed.

    Jack Kemp did what he did. Nothing he or anyone else can say now will change that. The world is better off without him in it, and that’s a solid fact. Pointing that out makes me petty and hateful? So fucking be it.

  48. 48.

    gil mann

    May 3, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    When you call someone classy you’re saying they’re like those rich folks who are inherently better than the masses.

    Yeah, I wish the English language had some elasticity to it.

  49. 49.

    Jrod

    May 3, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    There are plenty of words with the same meaning as “classy” without the (incredibly obvious) etymological implications. Do you think there’s no problem with calling someone hysterical? Do you think it’s just fine to call anything you don’t like “gay” because heck, English is flexible enough to contain several meanings for that word?

    As an idiot once said in a rare lucid moment: words mean things. If you think it’s fine that our catch-all word for socially good, honorable, and sophisticated explicitly refers to the wealthy upper class, then we disagree.

  50. 50.

    baldheadeddork

    May 3, 2009 at 7:59 pm

    @Common Sense:

    I think you’re missing the point. I’m happy Kemp wrote this letter. But it doesn’t turn him into a genuinely decent Republican pol like Richard Lugar or Warren Rudman. (The latter managed to be a co-chair of McCain’s campaign last year without lowering himself into the gutter.)

    I’m also not saying that Kemp’s career was without virtue. For as stridently wrong as he was about tax and economic policy and as little respect he gave his opponents, Kemp wasn’t afraid to cross the conservative base on race and urban housing issues. Saying that he should “burn in hell” is as ignorant as using this one letter praising Obama’s election to define his character.

  51. 51.

    SFAW

    May 3, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    If you think it’s fine that our catch-all word for socially good, honorable, and sophisticated explicitly refers to the wealthy upper class, then we disagree.

    Be careful not to light any matches near that straw man.

  52. 52.

    Jrod

    May 3, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    Right, SFAW, obviously he didn’t mean that classy was a fine word to use. All he said was that English was elastic enough that we can ignore a word’s plain meaning in favor of the one we’d prefer. That’s like a totally different argument, dude!

    Strawman has a meaning too. I suggest you try looking it up.

  53. 53.

    gil mann

    May 3, 2009 at 9:02 pm

    Right, SFAW, obviously he didn’t mean that classy was a fine word to use.

    You’re out, Jrod. I didn’t say Simon says act like a walking caricature of a Marxist literary critic.

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    May 3, 2009 at 9:20 pm

    Jrod –
    I suggest that you consider that you may be the only one in this string who has decided that the word “classy” can only be legitimately associated with society’s upper crust. Yeah, right, and “gay” only means “happy” or “bright and showy”. (What’s that, it can mean something else? Well, who’da thunk it?) Because you’re doubtless a wicked-smaht (as they say in Maine) guy (“Oooh! he said ‘wicked’, he thinks I’m evil!”), I know you’ll be rushing off to look up “class” at someplace like Dictionary.Com. And doing so, you’ll find they list, let’s see … 25 definitions for the noun “class”. And looky looky! Your definition is #25! Neat-o! I guess that means you were right.

    So having decided that “your” meaning is the only correct one, and claiming that some were using it either (a) incorrectly, or (b) to mean what perhaps YOU alone think it should only mean (and therefore were guilty of denigrating the “masses”), you proceeded to “demolish” that argument.

    Yeah, you’re right, I should look up “strawman”. Oh wait, I didn’t need to, because I was using it properly. What an asshole I am, fighting dirty like that.

    What’s your excuse for your ignorance?

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    May 3, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    You’re out, Jrod. I didn’t say Simon says act like a walking caricature of a Marxist literary critic.

    gil –
    I used to think I was reasonably intelligent – before Jrod showed me the error of my ways, that is – but I’m missing the point (or reference) on that one. (Re: “Marxist literary critic”; the “Simon says” I think I can figure out.)

  56. 56.

    Jrod

    May 3, 2009 at 9:32 pm

    Wow, that’s clever. You sure got me there. Ouch! Painful. It’s a fucking wit barrage that no mere literary critic could withstand.

    I yield! Oh God, have mercy!

    Or try refuting my points. You know, whatever. I will continue to be highly suspicious of self-declared Republicans, (but not the bad kind, oh no) who are overly concerned with how classy a politician is, rather than the effect he had on the world. Kemp helped build the foundation of today’s Republican party, but that’s all good because he’s a classy guy. He’s as responsible as Reagan for allowing AIDS to be ignored until it became a global epidemic, but that’s alright, he was real classy about it.

    Maybe Michael D.’s definition of classy has nothing to do with actual honor and decency.

  57. 57.

    Jrod

    May 3, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    I didn’t decide my meaning was the only correct one. I said that the word originates with the idea that the upper class is superior. There are many, many synonyms one could use that do not. Why then, did our “true” Republican buddy choose to use that specific word, class, multiple times in his post?

    I’m sure it had nothing to do with Kemp being a wealthy member of the ruling elite.

  58. 58.

    gil mann

    May 3, 2009 at 9:44 pm

    Yeah, right, and “gay” only means “happy” or “bright and showy”.

    God damn it, how’d I miss that? Way to recover a fumble, SFAW.

    I’m missing the point (or reference) on that one.

    See, Marxist literary criticism dates back to… nah, I dunno. Sounded good at the time, googled it just to make sure it was an actual thing.

    But then I’m the kind of guy who would call someone “hysterical” without even a cursory inspection of their uterus, so you’d do well not to put a lot of stock in my language usage.

  59. 59.

    SFAW

    May 3, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    gil –
    As long as I don’t have to determine what the meaning of “is” is, it’s all good.

    Of course, what I find interesting is the progression from one of the commenters here:

    On another note though, can we please stop using the word class to mean anything other than social strata? When you call someone classy you’re saying they’re like those rich folks who are inherently better than the masses. Fuck that shit.
    .
    If you think it’s fine that our catch-all word for socially good, honorable, and sophisticated explicitly refers to the wealthy upper class, then we disagree.
    .
    All he said was that English was elastic enough that we can ignore a word’s plain meaning in favor of the one we’d prefer.
    .
    I didn’t decide my meaning was the only correct one. I said that the word originates with the idea that the upper class is superior. There are many, many synonyms one could use that do not. Why then, did our “true” Republican buddy choose to use that specific word, class, multiple times in his post?
    .

    And I thought it was only Cheney and McCain who thought they could get away with saying something, then claiming later “I never said that!” Learn something new every day.

  60. 60.

    The Populist

    May 3, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    To those all worked up about Jack Kemp, get over it.

    I may sympathize with Dem ideals but I can still show some respect to a guy who seemed to be a stand up person who didn’t see color.

    Can we not give the man some respect for not being a bat shit insane a-hole?

    Jack Kemp cared about making America color blind. To me that is a worthy thing regardless of what party somebody belongs to.

    Is he right about Supply Side Econonsense? Yep….but the left can always be better than the crazies on the right because one can accept the sane from the insane and try to work with them.

  61. 61.

    The Populist

    May 3, 2009 at 10:31 pm

    Jeez, some you people are as hateful and petty as the wingers… just reconfirms my long-held theory that the only difference between a moonbat and a wingnut is the line of BS they spout off

    I agree. I read some of the hate here and I think I accidentally popped into Malkin or Freeper.com

    C’mon folks…I HATE the insane idiots on the right. Why hate on those willing to at least TRY to work with our ideas? We don’t ever have to agree, but to not try means many of us are no better than the fucks on the right.

  62. 62.

    The Populist

    May 3, 2009 at 10:32 pm

    @Papa Tony: Comments wishing that he burns in hell qualify as hatred, justified or not. Be careful in your quest to drive out the monsters, that you do not become one yourself.

    Are we sure the hatred isn’t being posted by people planted here to make dem friendly sites look like the haters O’Reilly likes to rail against?

    Most Dems I know (liberals too) are sad the man died and acknowledge the good he TRIED to accomplish.

  63. 63.

    SFAW

    May 3, 2009 at 10:34 pm

    But then I’m the kind of guy who would call someone “hysterical” without even a cursory inspection of their uterus, so you’d do well not to put a lot of stock in my language usage.

    I think your entomology is slightly off. Doesn’t “hysterical” come from the Latin word for “Looks like Jack Gilford”?

  64. 64.

    The Populist

    May 3, 2009 at 10:34 pm

    Kemp was one of the most vitriolic partisans in Congress during the Reagan administration, and he continued it in retirement with his ceaseless assault on anyone who criticized his tax policy as engaging in “class warfare”.

    Well…some people believe what they believe. As head of HUD he tried to make it easy for minorities to buy homes as well as divert guvmint funds to economic trouble spots. To me that deserves a tip of the cap.

    It doesn’t mean I want to hang out with him and debate.

  65. 65.

    The Populist

    May 3, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    Right, I’m supposed to pretend that an evil man who worked hard to make the world a more miserable place for me and mine (and many others beside) was actually an honorable saint because he wrote something nice on his deathbed.

    You don’t get it do you? He did a few good things in his life for people of color. He was colorblind. Just because you have a hatred of anything with an (R) next to their name doesn’t mean they are all evil.

    Wrongheaded, sure. Evil? Michelle Bachmann is evil. Michelle Malkin is evil. Gary North is evil. The KKK are evil. Jack Kemp was just a man who believed in many things we could easily call wrong (and prove it) but overall tried to make some difference.

    Not evil my friend.

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    May 3, 2009 at 11:06 pm

    Wrongheaded, sure. Evil? Michelle Bachmann is evil. Michelle Malkin is evil. Gary North is evil. The KKK are evil. Jack Kemp was just a man who believed in many things we could easily call wrong (and prove it) but overall tried to make some difference.

    Not evil my friend.

    Well said.

  67. 67.

    gil mann

    May 3, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    See, now I feel bad about ganging up on Jrod. Seriously though, man (it has “rod” in it, no fair calling gotcha if you’re not), if you’re still there, just look at SFAW’s string of quotes and tell me you can’t at least imagine someone not understanding why you’re so hung up on tt. “Classy” is nothing like “gay” as a derogatory. Hell, it’s not our fault the word’s fallen into such loose usage (f that is, indeed, the case, I mean, I’m not gonna go sleuthing every time I wanna use an adjective).

    And seriously, “hysteria?” What, you’re saying it’s misogynist? That’s like saying “scumbag” is anti-birth control.*

    *no, seriously, the analogy totally works

  68. 68.

    Corner Stone

    May 4, 2009 at 12:39 am

    @Jrod: Points for Jrod.
    And fuck anyone who thinks Kemp was one of the good guys. He wasn’t. He and Atwatter can compare/contrast deathbed confessions.
    Who cares what he thought, said or did on racial equality? He worked his ass off his entire political career to implement an economic scheme that made sure those groups never got out from under.
    One less.

  69. 69.

    Papa Tony

    May 4, 2009 at 1:01 am

    I’m not even going to list the folks that I am responding to – Most of you folks just don’t get it.

    While you were off having happy lives, us gay folks were having a little ol’ HOLOCAUST, and now you’re trying to lecture me on how I should respond when one of the worst of the tormenters is dead.

    My anger doesn’t just belong to me – It belongs to thousands and thousands of good people who died in poverty (abandoned by family), in horrifying circumstances (too weak to clean up after themselves, so living in their own diarrhea), and in the full knowledge that Jack Kemp wished them all in quarantine camps. Hated, scorned, dying alone.

    Legionnaire’s Disease? No amount of money spared. AIDS? Gay people deserved it, so we got no help at all from the Federal government for years…

    So, if you still persist in believing that my response is inappropriate, then maybe you’re just a typical sociopathic Republican anyways, and can’t relate to actual, real feelings. You are to be pitied.

  70. 70.

    Common Sense

    May 4, 2009 at 1:18 am

    Jack Kemp defends Obama wrt Wright on Sean Hannity.

    In March. When it mattered.

  71. 71.

    Common Sense

    May 4, 2009 at 1:35 am

    @Corner Stone:

    I think it is absurd to compare Atwater to Kemp. As has been pointed out many times for your education, this wasn’t a last minute deathbed change of heart for Kemp. I’m guessing the millions of blacks able to buy a home and leave the projects thanks to his efforts care about what he did on racial equality.

    You may not give a shit, since Republican = Satan in your mind apparently. This doesn’t mean no one else cared.

    And Tony, if you really think that the people unable to relate to actual real feelings are the ones actually feeling empathy for the man’s family, then your vitriol is too far gone to even be debated. You have demonstrated about as much pity and empathy as the most callous Republican in this thread. Yes, I get that he didn’t support federal funding for AIDS treatment. The fact that you feel this justifies the poison you are spewing shows exactly how much empathy you hold.

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne

    May 4, 2009 at 2:06 am

    @Jrod:

    All his “class” doesn’t change the fact that he acted to make the world a worse place.

    Except for black people, who he tried to make sure would be treated equally when it came to buying homes. But, hey, he was a Republican, so he must have been lying about that concern, even when it cost him his job.

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    May 4, 2009 at 2:21 am

    @someguy:

    Saying he was a nice guy on a bad team is like saying a particular Nazi was less of a war criminal than some others. Sure, but he still played for the wrong team and advanced its evil goals.

    You have no idea how publicly Churchill and Patton admired General Rommel during World War II, do you?

  74. 74.

    DanJoaquinOz

    May 4, 2009 at 2:38 am

    Papa Tony is absolutely right about Kemp, as even the most cursory search of the public record would verify. Kemp was a virulent homophobe who vilified AIDS patients, gays and lesbians at every opportunity, but, most despicably when the nightmare of AIDS was at it’s most lethal and devastating. The appalling positions he took, the fires of ignorance and hatred he fanned, cost and wrecked countless lives. His rabidly ideological support for supply side economics was positively benign by comparison.

  75. 75.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    May 4, 2009 at 3:34 am

    File this thread under “Maybe he treated you like shit, but he was always nice to ME”.

  76. 76.

    Common Sense

    May 4, 2009 at 3:39 am

    @DanJoaquinOz:

    Yeah, except for the whole passing of unsubstantiated 30 year old rumors on the day the man died, he’s dead on. Oh and the whole comparing funding of AIDS with the freakin’ Holocaust. Drama Queen much?

    I had cancer. I watched friends that I’d made die, and there is a chance their lives could be spared had the clueless God freaks actually given a damn about human suffering and allowed funding for life saving research. It’s one of the primary reasons I could never vote GOP. But I never ran around claiming that their suffering was the equivalent of 6 million people put in forced labor camps. Which medical experiments did Kemp perform on gays? How many gold teeth did he steal from cremated corpses? Anyone who compares Kemp’s treatment of gays with Nazi Germany clearly needs to research what they did to gays in 1940’s Germany — Kemp may have well have been wearing a pink tutu when compared to those guys.

    Dude’s running around accusing Kemp of being a closet gay because he co-owned a business with gay men. He sounds like my 90 year old virulent homophobe grandfather.

  77. 77.

    Tattoosydney

    May 4, 2009 at 5:17 am

    @Common Sense:

    I’m with Common Sense on at least part of his comment…

    Hold Kemp accountable for his homophobia, his silence on HIV AIDS – definitely.

    Throw around unsubstantiated rumours that he liked a bit of man on man action back in the 80s – crossing a line. I mean, really, so what if he was a hypocrite? Does it make the actual effect of his actions worse in any practical way?

    However, CS, while I have believe that nothing less awful than the actual Holocaust should ever be compared to the Holocaust, it is worth remembering that AIDS in the gay commmunity in the 80s and 90s was truly, awfully devastating… friends of mine lost quite literally every friend they had. One of my ex partners said quite truthfully that by about 1995 every gay man he knew in 1985 was dead. This was in Sydney, where we had progressive governments who actually tried to deal with HIV properly – the situation in places like SF and NY must have been worse (somehow).

    Sure, the anger needs to be expressed in an appropriate way, but don’t underestimate the depth of the justified anger there still is in the gay community against Reagan and his enablers, including Kemp.

  78. 78.

    brantl

    May 4, 2009 at 8:31 am

    If we have to talk about Jack Kemp in any sort of laudatory tones, it should still be along the lines of “a relative giant among lesser men”. So, he wasn’t a complete creep? Great; good on ya, Jack Kemp.

    Did he ever repent of an economic policy that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer? No. Was there obvious evidence that the trickle down horseshit doesn’t work? Of course there was. And there is one hell of a lot of evidence that 95% of the Republican focus is bullshit, too.

    Maybe we shouldn’t doubt that Jack Kemp loved his grandkids and his kids, and that isn’t a bad thing in itself, but there are a hell of a lot of other people in the world besides his kids and grandkids, and some of them are gay, and all kinds of other things that he disapproves of, and he never caught on that they were just as human as him, his kids and his grandkids.

    So, Jack Kemp: a nice slow (very slow) man. The best the Republicans had to offer on the national stage, and only behind that grumpy old fart, Bob Dole, and as kind of a quiet apology for what a grumpy, old, pissant fart Bob Dole was.

  79. 79.

    John Cole

    May 4, 2009 at 10:14 am

    What in the hell is wrong with some of you people?

    You are a damned embarrassment to the human race. Even if every one of these unsourced rumors you are chucking around is true, basic human decency dictates that when a man dies, you either say nothing at all or issue a polite goodbye. For christ sakes, his family includes 17 grandchildren. They have internet access and google, and the last thing they need is to look for their grandfather’s obit and find degenerate scumbags like you all trashing his memory. I have deleted several offending comments and shut down the rest of the comments.

    I’m embarrassed for you, I really am.

  80. 80.

    Corner Stone

    May 4, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    @John Cole:

    I’m embarrassed for you, I really am.

    Yep, you’re the perfect arbiter for embarrassment. You enabled ideology like this Cole, and I pray to whatever God exists that you will never live it down.

  81. 81.

    John Cole

    May 4, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    @Corner Stone: Oh, nonsense. I never enabled any sort of “ideology” that involved crapping all over dead people. And take your prayers and cram ’em.

    For someone who thinks so little of me, you sure spend a lot of time here. Piss off.

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    May 4, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    @John Cole: Firstly. Fuck you. The real problem you have here is that you’re no better than that hypocrit Kemp. You both spent a lifetime backing a mindset and an ideology that crushed people who desperately needed help.
    People who chose between meds and food, meds and rent. If you can’t admit that then you’ll have to live with it and answer to a higher power than me one day. Don’t piss on me because you’re too much of a coward to admit that you and Kemp full-throatedly backed a whole hell of a lot of shit that destroyed peoples’ lives.
    And it’s true. I think very fucking little of you. I visit this site to escape the possibility of an echo chamber, not because your insight is so enigmatic and wise. I find value in the comments section – sometimes.
    You can take crazy ass spoofs like BoB on your site but when it comes to someone calling you on your shit you run like a little girl. Weak.

  83. 83.

    Corner Stone

    May 4, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    @John Cole:

    I never enabled any sort of “ideology” that involved crapping all over dead people.

    ETA – No, you crapped all over them while they were alive. When it really mattered. The dead suffer no ill will.
    Fuck you.

  84. 84.

    John Cole

    May 4, 2009 at 8:22 pm

    @Corner Stone: You’re a moron. Seriously. Taking issue with people when they do odious things while they are alive is in no way the same as crapping all over people when they are dead and can’t defend themselves.

    And like I said, you are invited to leave and never come back. No operating system that I am aware of boots up, opens a web browser, and types https://balloon-juice.com automatically.

    You are just a poor hostage of my “enabled ideology,” aren’t you. Moron.

  85. 85.

    Corner Stone

    May 4, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    @John Cole: Coward.
    You fucking punk. One day when you’re man enough to look in the mirror…what am I saying? You’ll never be man enough.
    You’re calling me a moron? And you voted for Bush twice? It took Schiavo and Frost to twist your tit? You’ve been wrong about everything in your adult life yet I’m the moron?
    It’s cool if you want to be a little bitch for the rest of your life. Ban me.
    Otherwise expect me to continue calling you and your Republican lifemates on your hateful shit.

  86. 86.

    John Cole

    May 4, 2009 at 8:43 pm

    You’re not even making any sense now.

  87. 87.

    gil mann

    May 4, 2009 at 10:35 pm

    Oh, man, the liberal purity police have been crossbreeding with the internet tough guys? That’s two online cliches for the price of one, is what that is.

    Mr. Cole, what with the horribleness and all, I was about to say that you could be forgiven for skipping the moderate Republican obits from now on, but then I realized it’s a moot point since both of ’em are perfectly healthy.

    Sorry those of us on the “let’s not be a bunch of fucking ghouls” side of the argument got shut down so hard. Makes the place look a lot less hospitable than it is.

  88. 88.

    The Populist

    May 5, 2009 at 1:24 am

    FACT: The irony that Republican policies on stem cells ultimately killed Jack Kemp.

    Yes, he had homophobic tendencies, but don’t a lot of men from that era? Not excusing it, just sayin’.

    As for the guy telling me to fuck off and I don’t get it? Sorry dude, I don’t play well with people who call names and can’t back up their points.

    To my fellow Dems who get what is being said here and don’t want to march down the path of what the right is doing (scorched earth hatred), amen.

    It’s time to move on and fight for what’s right people. Calling out a dead man who isn’t evil, just wrong on many things is pretty low.

    When Karl Rove inevitably dies of some horrible disease that stem cell could have helped him fight off, I will gladly say my peace because a-holes like Rove deserve the scorn and vitriol of smart people who see the damage he and his ilk have done to this country.

  89. 89.

    The Populist

    May 5, 2009 at 1:26 am

    Otherwise expect me to continue calling you and your Republican lifemates on your hateful shit.

    Wow, so either you are some bizarre plant or you really believe this crap you spout? Cole rips righties new ones on a daily basis. Too bad you don’t get it.

    Embrace those willing to change. Don’t be like them and try to make everything “pure”.

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