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The Kennedy way of grief
Is the clan's Irish stoicism linked to its history of alcoholism, risk-taking and self-destruction?
By Joan Walsh
[07/22/99]

It could have been me
John F. Kennedy Jr. didn't make any serious judgment errors in his decision to fly to Martha's Vineyard on Friday night.
By Phaedra Hise
[07/22/99]

What's in a name?
Upon the death of the scion of America's greatest political dynasty, a quick survey of American politics reminds us how much it helps to have a famous name.
By Bruce Shapiro
[07/21/99]

The Texas way of death
George W. Bush is subpoenaed over the alleged special treatment of a funeral-home mogul who's a big campaign contributor.
By Robert Bryce
[07/21/99]

Social absurdity
The push to entrust the rapacious financial industry with our Social Security money is being led by a former advisor to murderous Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
By Ian Williams
[07/20/99]

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Weicker's early career in politics is littered with the sorts of problems all moderate Republicans face; he was too socially liberal for the controlling conservative right wing of the party, too fiscally conservative to join the Democrats. He is pro-choice and against school prayer. He believes that term limits "take power out of people's hands." His three terms in the Senate are marked with his overwhelming support of traditionally Democratic liberal social issues. In 1988, he introduced what was to become the Americans with Disabilities Act, and he was one of the first politicians to publicize AIDS awareness and seek funding for research in the early '80s. In the late '70s, he helped create legislation to protect the oceans from oil drilling and promote fish farming. While still in the Senate, he took an active interest in oceanic research and Hydro-Lab, an underwater habitation, where he spent a total of 10 days underwater.

Social and environmental issues notwithstanding, Weicker's most damaging and noted "betrayal" of the Republican Party came during the Watergate investigation, when he led the charge against the Nixon administration. A March 1973 editorial in the Bridgeport Post praised his diligence to seek the truth, and asked, "What more could be asked of a United States senator?" Republican colleagues, on the other hand, remembered this transgression and quickly turned against him.

Weicker has already done battle with the Bush political dynasty. In 1982, with the support of national party officials, Prescott Bush Jr., uncle to current Republican presidential front-runner George W. Bush, challenged Weicker for his Senate seat in the Republican primary. But, after 51 of 69 Republicans in the Connecticut state legislature endorsed Weicker, Bush dropped out of the race; Weicker went on to win his third term in the Senate. Eventually his failing relations with state and national Republican party officials cost him his seat. In 1988, Weicker lost to Democrat Joe Lieberman, with 49 percent of the vote to Lieberman's 50 percent.

In 1990, feeling his strength was with the people rather than the establishment, Weicker registered as an independent and ran as the "A Connecticut Party" candidate for governor. Running on a platform of name recognition and a promise not to increase taxes, Weicker won the three-way race.

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