May 2, 2009

Jack Kemp dies

RIP.

Posted by Jeff G. @ 9:15pm
23 comments | Trackback

Comments (23)

  1. Joe says May 2, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    Jack Kemp was a good man.

  2. Sean M. says May 2, 2009 at 10:27 pm

    I hadn’t heard that he was sick. RIP, Jack.

  3. router says May 2, 2009 at 10:53 pm

    godspeed progg

    Congress (1971–1989)
    Congressional Portrait Collection image (1971)

    As a self-described “bleeding-heart conservative”,[5] Kemp represented a part of the suburban Buffalo region that is known as the southtowns and that traditionally voted Democratic for the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1989.[65][66] He is as fondly remembered for his good hair and handsome looks as for his athletic prowess and political savvy,[67] and he is described as having the charisma of the earlier J.F.K. (John F. Kennedy)[5][68] David Rosenbaum described Kemp as an independent politician who often legislated outside his committees’ jurisdictions and often spoke in favor of ideals and principles rather than his party’s political platforms.[3] As a supply-sider, he was not a proponent of balanced budgeting and trivialized it while speaking of growth as an economic goal.[3][6

  4. router says May 2, 2009 at 10:55 pm

    die proggs die

  5. Darleen says May 2, 2009 at 10:59 pm

    router

    back off, dude. Kemp was a good guy.

  7. router says May 2, 2009 at 11:03 pm

    Kemp was a good guy.

    i like arlen and Olympia too

  8. RDub says May 2, 2009 at 11:04 pm

    RIP, and thoughts to his family.

    Suggestion for anyone looking for a sports oriented take on the man – spare yourselves Gregg Easterbrook’s insufferable piece on ESPN.

    Examples: did you know that unlike many conservatives, Kemp was actually concerned with the plight of the poor? And he was a decent guy, but helped foment the anti-tax sentiment that lead to our current debt situation…because if you’re not paying enough taxes, you can’t just expect our betters in gov’t to stop spending, after all. That’s crazy talk.

  9. Darleen says May 2, 2009 at 11:06 pm

    fuck off router

  10. Darleen says May 2, 2009 at 11:11 pm

    did you know that unlike many conservatives, Kemp was actually concerned with the plight of the poor?

    RDub, go hang with router and fuck off, too.

  11. router says May 2, 2009 at 11:12 pm

    When his children would leave the house, Kemp has often said, he always had three words for them. They are words worth remembering now as his influence on the modern world is assessed. As the forces of big government — the competition, he once called it — rally in Washington ready to act. They are words worth remembering in conservative precincts when it comes to standing up as an unabashed champion of free market principles and, for that matter, the principles of freedom and liberty around the globe.

    get this

    Be a leader.

    Amen.

    And a prayer or two might help.

    ?

    thanks asshat

  12. SBP says May 2, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    did you know that unlike many conservatives

    Liar.

  13. router says May 2, 2009 at 11:16 pm

    my dear darleen these are politicians after all?

  14. ECM says May 2, 2009 at 11:21 pm

    Uh, I think Rdub was saying stay away from ESPN’s take because it’s filled with the usual lefty canards/articles of faith about conservatives, not that he agrees with the examples given.

  15. SBP says May 2, 2009 at 11:25 pm

    Ah. Apologies, RDub. I thought that was you rather than a sarcastic take on ESPN.

  16. peter jackson says May 2, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    My memory of Kemp was that he was a capitalist, which puts him head and shoulders above half the Republican Party. What’s more, he could articulate the moral case for capitalism by arguing that moral is as moral does, and thus capitalism was moral by virtue of the demonstrably superior socio-economic outcomes it produces.

    When was the last time you heard a Republican make that argument?

  17. Darleen says May 2, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    RDub

    My apologizes, too. I took your examples as YOURs, not ESPN’s.

  18. B Moe says May 2, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    How about the opening of that piece, router?

    “When you tax something you get less of it, and when you reward something you get more of it.”

    With that simple exhortation — and this is a man born to exhort — Jack Kemp changed his party, changed his country and, ultimately, changed the world.

    You got a problem with that?

  19. RDub says May 3, 2009 at 7:52 am

    Not a problem Darleen.

  20. Lovernios says May 3, 2009 at 10:31 am

    I’m not a Republican, more of a conservative libertarian. I agree with Kemp that the GOP should do more to engage minorities, particularly black Americans, to try break the stranglehold of the Democrats on that voting block. For political reasons, and for the sake of the country and our fellow Americans who happen to be black. This doen’t have to be by pandering, either.

    RIP, Jack.

  21. Americaneocon says May 3, 2009 at 10:47 am

    As I noted previouisly, “Jack Kemp, in my mind, was the premier Republican on race relations in American politics. No one spoke to the power of markets and opportunity to empower black Americans as he did. His agenda as HUD Secretary in the first Bush administration would still be light years ahead if its time if applied today. We need more conservatives like him. What a wonderful man, and a great loss to the nation.”

  22. McGehee says May 3, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Unfortunately, whether Kemp favored pandering or not, too many in the GOP took his advice to mean the party needed to pander more effectively than the Democrats — which in my opinion has had a lot to do with where the GOP is right now.

    I was certainly under the impression at the time that pandering was what he intended.

  23. serr8d says May 3, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    Another irreplaceable. RIP.

Leave a Reply