Ted Kennedy passed away last night at the age of 77.
If you turn on the news anytime in the next week or so you're going to see something about this, usually followed by some one calling him the lion of the Senate or maybe, an more appropriately, the liberal lion of the Senate.
He was something of a tragic and flawed, yet accomplished figure whose name will be written in American History books for years to come.
Tragic for the loss of so much family at way too young an age. His brothers John and Robert are obvious, but he also lost two other sibling as a teenager and more recently a brother-in-law who became like a brother and three young nephews who in Ted's words didn't live long enough “to comb gray hair.”
Flawed because of the drinking and the skirt-chasing. In fact, these speak to the larger tragedy of Ted Kennedy because for all that he did accomplish he could have accomplished so much more. He could have been president, he could have sunk Clarence Thomas, he could have done so much.
In fact, in a way, he reminds me of Mickey Mantle. He accomplished so many great feats and was such a force in the Senate for so long, while clinging to the title of liberal just as so many ran away from it, yet it's hard not to imagine what could have been accomplished had he not been hampered by booze.
But his accomplishments will outlive any of his flaws.
This is from the Nation:
"After forty years, Ted Kennedy's name, or imprint, is on an impressive array of legislative monuments, including: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for which he delivered his maiden Senate speech; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the expansion of the voting franchise to 18-year-olds; the $24 billion Kennedy-Hatch law of 1997, which provided health insurance to children with a new tax on tobacco; two increases in the minimum wage; the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, which made health insurance portable for workers; the 1988 law that allocated $1.2 billion for AIDS testing, treatment and research; the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act; the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act ... Kennedy has also helped abolish the poll tax, liberalize immigration laws, fund cancer research and create the Meals on Wheels program for shut-ins and the elderly."
But his legacy isn't just what he's done domestically. He also spearheaded the effort to overturn Reagan's veto of Anti-Apartheid Sanctions (that Ted Kennedy co-sponsored in the first place) despite fierce opposition from Bob Dole, Jesse Helms, Dick Cheney, and Ronald Reagan at his most powerful (proving once again that the republican platform is "f*ck [anyone with dark skin]").
And despite being the symbol of all that is liberal he has made dear dear friends and often collected many votes from across the aisle. He has made a career of passing legislation, together, with Orrin Hatch, the Republican from Utah.
It seems the one thing that Mr. Kennedy was unable to pass, but constantly chipped away at the entrenched interests towards, was Universal Health Care, which he considered to be a lifelong goal and the most important issue of them all. It is a shame that he won't be able to see the greatest effort towards said goal pass, but perhaps in his death he will be propel it forward with one last gift to the American public
Comments (16)
I wonder if his death will get half the coverage MJ's did.
RIP.
@C0ll33Ncorps@xanga - I doubt it.
Rest in peace.
I suddenly have an urge to listen to the Dead Kennedys.
I feel so bad for the Kennedy family. Less than 2 weeks after Eunice died....RIP Senator Kennedy, you did so much for our country. This man is living proof that party labels dont matter as he got along & had friends on both sides. In the end we're all human & every voice is important.
He survived over a year with his cancer, shocking many in the medical field & the rest of the world, that says something about this man's spirit. The last time I saw him was during President Obama's inauguration, I'm glad he made it there. It wasnt his last name that got him where he is today. I think he was a good man, plain & simple.
He left behind a great legacy as a politician who genuinely cared for the American people. The Senate will be a darker place without him. R.I.P.
Great man. R.I.P.
I hope Ted Kennedy's soul rests in peace. He has done many great things for the betterment of all,regardless of race,religion, and sexual orientation, as much as he could. I am hurting as well, because I am a fan of the Kennedys and always believed in their liberal ways. To know that he went through the loss of his own two brothers, very good hearted people as well, being brutally assassinated and not able to see them anymore throughout his lifetime, makes this even more tragic, i feel. I will keep his family and his soul in my prayers now. Once again, Thank you very much Ted Kennedy and may you find peace in the afterlife.
RIP Ted Kennedy. What a great individual.
nice eulogy.
hmm, I don't really know anything about him, because I do not live in America..
but he sounds like a great person from reading all of this. May he rest in peace :(Normally I don't bash people postmortem but Ted Kennedy is a different story and I feel no sense of loss because of his passing. Whether his driving was impaired or not when the car he was driving went over the bridge and after he swam off he didn't call the cops or the fire department to let them know that Mary Jo Kopechne was still inside the car.
kevthemoron - agreed totally. People seem to forget he was responsible for the loss of her life. And if you ever saw a photo of the car submerged in the lake, you'd realize the lake was only about 6' deep at that point, and the car was on its side. An 8th grader could have gotten into it and gotten her out. We'll never know the true story on it, but because he was most likely in a drunken stupor, he thought only of himself. If he wasn't a "Kennedy", he would have been charged with vehicular homicide and most likely done time.
Just watch. In the days and weeks to come, the gutless liberals will come crawling out of the woodwork ( or out from under a rock, as the case may be) and try to guilt us into "Univesal Health Care", as a tribute to "old Teddy". Yes, why pass up a good crisis? Let's use his death to forward the liberal agenda. After all, Ted Kennedy was one of the granddaddys of liberals. He loved socialism, especially when he put himself in control over others lives, taking their money (taxes) and spending it for them, since they are too stupid to spend it properly on themselves...and he loved to position himself as "holier than thou", which is quite a stretch for a guy who got kicked out of Harvard for cheating. The entire Kennedy clan has always made it's living off Joseph's successful business, which mostly revolved around importing alcohol. None of the boys were successful businessmen or generated wealth, in fact, they've used their political power over the years to remain above the law in many ways. All three fancied themselves as wealthy playboys, and in the 50's lived a whirlwind life. But that family is full of tragedy, from the seldom talked about Rosemarys lobotomy which caused her to be institutionalized for most of her life, to the plane crashes, drunken parties, untimley deaths, etc. The Kennedy curse seems to finally have come home to "ol Ted" at last.
I hope when he enters the Pearly Gates, Mary Jo Kopechne is the angel that greets him...
He was flawed as a man, but better than flawed as a politician - which is usually the story. RIP, Senator Kennedy.
I didn't like him and it would be hypocrisy to pretend that I do now.
I'm proud he was my Senator. RIP Uncle Ted.
A pinko who believed that Man's only strength was fealty to government. Just another dead Marxist.