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MA-Sen: Ted Kennedy Passes Away

by: Crisitunity

Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 1:34 AM EDT


Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, one of the Senate's most iconic liberals, has died at the age of 77 from brain cancer.

Kennedy had recently requested Democratic governor Deval Patrick and the state legislature change the succession process (previously changed by the Democratic legislature in 2004 to prevent Mitt Romney from appointing a Republican to John Kerry's seat) so that there would be an appointment instead of the required waiting period before a special election; however, it looks like that we'll need to wait until a special election occurs to fill the vacancy.

The best way to honor his memory? Let's get universal health care done, just as he'd want. One bright side is that maybe this tragedy will provide Senators the moral kick in the pants to get it over the hump.
Crisitunity :: MA-Sen: Ted Kennedy Passes Away
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MA-Sen: Ted Kennedy Passes Away | 78 comments
Im crying
Im crying right now!!!

17, Gay Male, Democrat, NJ-8  
Amen
I second the statement on passage of health care.
RIP Ted Kennedy
More appropriate place for me to put this:

I first heard it here on SSP in another thread. Wow. I just didnt think itd happen so soon. This is very, very sad. It shouldnt matter if you agree or disagree with his politics he deeply cared for this nation and its people and tried so hard to help it.

FOX News
Sorry, a little, tiny, short rant here. FOX News isnt even covering this live right now. theyre going back to a Greta re-run. They have basically admitted, right there, that theyre constituency is conservative & Republican and they are catering to their views, such as for ratings (they are assuming they dont want to watch alot of live coverage of Kennedy's death which i think many would. just like how many Dems did of Reagan).

Watching CNN right now. I wonder how far Hyannis Port is from Martha's Vinyard. It would be nice if Obama is able to quickly go see the family.

hyannisport to the vineyard
i live on nantucket and its about a 30 min ferry ride from the vineyard to hyannis

25. gay jewish male. amherst, ma
[ Parent ]
Very sad news
RIP to Teddy. I started to tear up when I first read it (via Facebook, of course). It seems so bizarre to even imagine the Senate without him.
Keep the Kennedy clan in your thoughts; losing Eunice and Ted in less than a month is surely incredibly difficult.

22, Democrat, AZ-01
Peace. Love. Gabby.
I'm praying
as much as an agnostic can.  And while I'm praying for Ted and his family, it's the loss to each one of us, as citizens, that I think is most saddening here.  A huge rudder for the masses has been lost. Who can take up the mantle?

30, male, Democratic, CO-01
[ Parent ]
What a Terrible Bizarre Night
I've been out drinking for the last several hours and only found this out as soon as I got home when my room mate who drove me home told me.

I've been offered a job to run campaign media consolation for the foreseeable future, but I'd have to give up my current cushy on campus job to do it, and I was so torn up about this an hour ago. Now, I'm just numb and don't care about my issues any more. This is just . . . someone punch me and slap me. I need help waking up from this. I am in shock.

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

RIP
he will be missed
this would only be appropriate here, I think
I'm still in the holy shit, too shocked to cry state... the same feeling I had the day I overheard someone at the resteraunt where I was eating say that Paul Wellstone had been fatally injured in a plane crash.

For some reason one of my first reactions was to check the Wikipedia page for the HELP Committee. It felt like a blow to the chest to see Kennedy's name replaced with Vacant. Now, it says Dodd is the acting chairman, but in his position as Banking chairman I'm sure he will not remain in that position.

Next is Harkin... will he give up his Agriculture chairmanship to take up HELP? I guess I have a hard time seeing which would be better, HELP is more powerful nationally, but Agriculture is a good position for a Midwestern senator, I know that.

If not the next up is Mikulski. Followed by Gang of Sixer Bingaman.

Wonder what will happen when the Senate comes back together.

chairs
my assumption is that with health care being up front and dodd prob wanting to let the banking and housing thing go by the way side for 2010, hell take over help, leaving johnson, reed, schumer and bayh nxt in line for the banking commitee. not being from south dakota, im not sure how good johnsons doin. reeds more of a military guy. my bet is on schumer but reid might give it to bayh in order to buy his vote for a few things

25. gay jewish male. amherst, ma
[ Parent ]
chairs
my assumption is that with health care being up front and dodd prob wanting to let the banking and housing thing go by the way side for 2010, hell take over help, leaving johnson, reed, schumer and bayh nxt in line for the banking commitee. not being from south dakota, im not sure how good johnsons doin. reeds more of a military guy. my bet is on schumer but reid might give it to bayh in order to buy his vote for a few things

25. gay jewish male. amherst, ma
[ Parent ]
Probably Mikulski
she's the most senior Democrat without a committee chairmanship. (Excluding Reid, the next in seniority without a chairmanship are Russ Feingold and Patty Murray, elected six years later.) I'd be surprised if Harkin, from Iowa, would give up Agriculture.
[ Parent ]
Mikulski should replace Reid
as majority leader.
RIP TED KENNEDY-The most effective senator in congress.
http://www.congress.org/congre...
[ Parent ]
Chris Dodd
Hasn't Dodd been Acting Chair for quite some time now? That would seem to imply he wants to chair HELP permanently. And de-linking himself from Banking would seem to be helpful to his reelection chances.
[ Parent ]
Very sad
Ted Kennedy was a great man and his actions made America a much better place. He will be missed by many!
So sad

uncle teddy
my fathers a boston irish catholic and if ur one of them the kennedys are royalty. not having one of them represent us in congress (pat dosent count, hes in ri) is flabbergasting

but now its down to business. whos gonna take his spot. personally, my bet is ed markey. hes just as liberal and has been waiting to move up for decades. theres quite the list of people to run, though. besides ever single member of the ma house delegation, theres former rep marty meehan, lt gov tim murray, st senate pres therese murray, worcester mayor konnie lukes, west springfield mayor ed gibson, boston mayor tom menino, cambridge mayor denise simmons, ag martha coakley, fmr ag tom reilly, fmr gov hopefully n business dude tim gabrielli, soc bill galvin, ... then theres always dukakis...

for the gop, i doubt mittens will run, hes got his eye on the big kids chair, former lt gov and 2006 gov nom kerry healey, every other fmr gov (weld, cellucci and swift) as well as some randos who dont stand a chance over ne of the dems listed before. i doubt mihos would be pulled away from the gov race as deval has had a pretty shaky term numero uno and hes could actually take the gov down

i wouldnt be surprised if d-turned-i tim cahill runs as and indi or turns back to the blue side  

25. gay jewish male. amherst, ma

Wow, Dukakis
That's a name I blessedly haven't heard for some time. I can't see him having a chance in Hell. Has he shown any interest in running?

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
mikey d
i put him in there as a place holder that patrick would appoint till the special election

25. gay jewish male. amherst, ma
[ Parent ]
Dukakis
That sounds strangely like a Minnesota 2002 redux, when Walter Mondale stepped in to run in the late Sen. Wellstone's place.

What's Dukakis been up to?  According to Wikipedia, being a professor, getting Deval Patrick elected, and writing a 2008 op-ed in the Orange County Register. Interesting.

[ Parent ]
RIP, Ted
Now let's honor his memory.  
Damn.
This is really a kick in the chest for me, like the Pope dying a couple of years ago was for everybody else.

RIP, Senator. You'll be missed.  

RIP Senator Kennedy
Ted Kennedy was not just the most effective legislator Congress has seen in at least two generations, he was the last living link to the Kennedy Dynasty (aka Camelot). A time when idelism, hope, and optimism kicked off a decade of change and activism that established America as we know it today. Especially now in this crucial time when Obama is trying to pass health care, his voice will be sorely missed. Unfortunate as this may be, maybe Kennedy's death will be a rallying cry for pro-reformers to get that final push to pass this thing, public option and all.

That said, the special election Massachusetts has to have will most likely send another Democrat, since I don't see any Republicans on the horizon (other than Romney, who's planning to run for President) that could actually win it. Of course, no Democrat could ever replace someone like Uncle Teddy.

Rest in Peace, Senator.

Fuck
I really wish I could skip class now at 9 now and just cry all day.  I have so much I have to do today and I just want to start drinking like an Irishman now in his honor.
Aw, Teddy, I'll miss you
There's no one like him and there never will be. The only thing about this that is good is that Teddy isn't feeling anymore pain.

RIP Sen. Kennedy, there'll never be another one like you.

Politics and Other Random Topics

24, Male, Democrat, NM-01, Chairman of the Atheist Caucus, and Majority Leader of the "Going to Hell" caucus!

I will never forget him
He fought so hard for the rights of people. He never gave up. I still find it hard to believe he is gone. After his brothers died, he still remained strong. He led the Kennedy torch for 41 years, letting us know the Kennedys were still strong. His brother JFK changed the world and RFK would have.

Ted Kennedy, we will never forget you. Always remember that we are hoping you at last have peace.

for more election analysis, visit  http://frogandturtle.blogspot....




17, CA-06,  

Well, dammit.
He's gone to where the weary are at rest.
As an undergrad at American University
I was present for the rally at Bender Arena where Teddy endorsed Obama, a moment that many prognosticators today are saying was a seminal one in the campaign. As important as it may have been for that reason, the memory has taken on a whole new resonance for me personally given his passing.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Male, 23, DC-At Large

Rest in Peace.
Ted will be dearly missed.

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Scribd
28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
i'm terribly sad for the loss
he was a great senator, perhaps one of the most effective ever.

but this being swing state, anybody know the rules for the special (& the status of the law change that sen kennedy himself was advocating for allowing for a temporary appointment).

....
"In his honor and as a tribute to (Ted Kennedy's) commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American." - Sen. Robert Byrd.
Death of JFK helped civil rights get through
When it was going nowhere. In a similar vein health care would be a fitting tribute to Ted. I love that family.
This might be too early to say this
but the Massachusetts legislature needs to get back in and quickly pass a law to allow Patrick to make a temporary appointment.  
appointment
will the law be retroactive?

25. gay jewish male. amherst, ma
[ Parent ]
Can they even do that?


Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
Some of the conservative response has been nothing short of evil

Reading Redstate this morning (as I often do, for some masochistic reason) I was really revolted to the point of almost being ill at the reaction to Senator Kennedy's passing.  True, he was a complicated, flawed person, and things like alcoholism and Chappaquiddick will always be "above the fold" lines on his biography.  But he was also, especially later in life, universally known as a kind and genuine person by all who knew him.  He also has achieved a record in the Senate that belongs at the same level as Clay, Webster, and LaFollette.

For ONE DAY you would hope these vile, contemptable teabagging nutjobs could at least keep their hypocritical pie-holes shut, if nothing else.  But no.  It shows what has happened to the Republican Party.  Look at what decent, honorable conservatives like Nancy Reagan and Orrin Hatch are saying about Senator Kennedy today compared to this rabble.

Totally agree
"Wellstone on steriods" is one disgusting catchphrase. Libs aren't allowed to honor their heroes while Repubs can lionize Reagan. It is sick. They are sick. The base. In Arabic "Al Qaeda". Nuff said.
[ Parent ]
Also
they call themselves "God's Own Party". Hezbo = party; Allah = God. GOP = American Hezbollah!

My blog
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28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
Umm yeah.....
that sounds like something liberals attacking Republicans would call the GOP.  

A cat can have kittens in an oven but that doesn't make them biscuits.
[ Parent ]
I have a sort of right wing website trainwreck syndrome
I check memeorandum to read both sides of the issues, and read some right wing blogs daily... then bug my friends about the crazy stuff I read on wingnut sites.

But today I can't visit any of their sites. Even the relatively sane blogs are flooded with nasty comments. It makes me heartsick both as someone who respected Teddy so much and someone who's had a family history of alcoholism. There is nothing funny about car accidents or manslaughter. Kennedy did not lie about his involvement. He went to MJK's funeral. I don't know what else they want.

But as a commenter on Wonkette said: "Of course they are going to spit. They have no Ted Kennedy to be proud of."

[ Parent ]
Ted Kennedy
A sad day for all.However when he didn't attend his sister's funeral and he sent the letter about his successor I knew things were not looking good.We could have
used more senators like him.Remember back In 2002 he never
fell for Bush's Lies about Iraq.

At 538 I sent message to RW trolls those cheering about his
death can go to hell.

On the topic of healthcare reform
http://community.livejournal.c...

I posted this earlier today.  I had planned on it for a while, but Ted Kennedy's passing away kinda kicked me and convinced me to take care of it ASAP.

Those electoral-vote.com articles have some interesting thoughts, including some talking points you and your progressive friends may find useful in talking to independents and conservatves.

In memory of Ted Kennedy, let's get this thing done.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

I have to ask
First off I want to say I wish the best to Kennedy's family in dealing with their loss. But I am seriously shocked as to the emotions Kennedy's death has caused some bloggers on here.

I wish to ask, with all respect, what makes him such a great man in the eyes of so many here given what kind of things hes done?  

A cat can have kittens in an oven but that doesn't make them biscuits.

Why the shock?
Same way you guys love Reagan - stood for what he believed even when it wasn't popular with the majority. And Saint Ronnie was no Saint either.
[ Parent ]
Reagan was way before my time
but Reagan also never did things such as drive his car when hes drunk into a lake resulting in the death of someone, and tried to hide it for awhile.  

A cat can have kittens in an oven but that doesn't make them biscuits.
[ Parent ]
And below is his redemption


30, male, Democratic, CO-01
[ Parent ]
I guess I just disagree
that bad personal actions of a politican can be overlooked because they agree with me politically.

I was very, very happy to see Tom DeLay resign, dispite the fact we probably agree on 80% of the issues.

A cat can have kittens in an oven but that doesn't make them biscuits.

[ Parent ]
Who said anything about overlooking it
You should look at someones whole life, warts and all before coming to a judgment. Whatever happened in the accident (nothing ads up about it) it shouldn't be to the detriment of the all the good things he did in his life that had a positive impact on millions of Americans. Also, I didn't see many Repubs moan about Bush and his DUI and Laura actually killed someone in her youth. Anyway, I'm uncomfortable having this discussion here - it isn't the place.
[ Parent ]
I think maybe heres my point
of asking this is because there are people on here crying, even to the point of saying how they feel like a Catholic when the Pope died. Im not saying Ted Kennedy was this all evil man. But what I am trying to ask is why such strong emotion over someone with such a bad history?

A cat can have kittens in an oven but that doesn't make them biscuits.
[ Parent ]
Redemption and resolution
Because, yes, while it is a story of a great misjudgment that may have cost a life, it's also a story of redemption. A story of great heights and great flaws.  And because, save Wellstone, I've never seen a Senator in my shortish life with greater and more resolute convictions than Teddy had.

30, male, Democratic, CO-01
[ Parent ]
"Don't speak ill of the dead"
I think that's part of it. In this country, there's a great tendency to lionize people after they die, whether their names are Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, or Ted Kennedy. The incident at Chappaquiddick was horrible, and I believe Senator Kennedy should have served jail time for negligent homicide, obstruction of justice, or some similar kinds of crimes. But for those who believe in Heaven and Hell (I don't think I do), the senator will now have to face the judgment of a higher authority. And there are many people who believe that God weighs the good and the bad people do when judging them. That's a traditional Jewish view, for example. So you would have to consider that despite some moral turpitude in his personal life, through his great leadership in getting humane legislation passed, Senator Kennedy undoubtedly saved many lives.

The Kennedys were all complex, problematic individuals, but whether because of personality, ideology, or most likely, simply not being assassinated, Ted Kennedy was able to do a lot of good. And various conservative Republicans who were friends of his and worked productively with him, like Orrin Hatch, would undoubtedly second that statement.

Kennedy may have been lacked personal integrity almost 40 years ago, but his political integrity as someone who fought uncompromisingly for what he believed in but was always ready to negotiate with Republicans on issues of mutual interest was unquestionable.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

[ Parent ]
You might want to listen to Biden's reflections on Ted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

See if any of his remarks strike any kind of chord with you.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

[ Parent ]
This is very inappropriate.
Today we learned of Teddy Kennedy's passing. This thread is our memorial to him. It is not the time and place for these kinds of remarks. Nor are attempts to incite a debate over the unfortunate aspects of Kennedy's life welcome here. There are many other sites for that - just not here.
[ Parent ]
The Power of forgiveness
Yesterday I picked up my father so he could go to traffic court (Dad is 69, and he got caught speeding.  Dad has lost some of his reasoning ability, so I was happy to be a caddy for him).  On the way, I told Dad that Kennedy had died.  My father told me that he learned so much of his own morals from Kennedy during his life.  Like Kennedy, my dad is no saint.  Dad learned that he can't be a prisoner of his past, much like Kennedy in his later years.  We must move forward, much like Kennedy did in his life multiple times.  In a lot of ways, I think my Dad may have been a prisoner of his past if it wasn't for the fact that men like Kennedy (and Bill Clinton) were able to move on with life and not dwell on their shortcomings and failures.

We all should learn to forgive people for making mistakes.  If it wasn't for people forgiving Kennedy for his past, there wouldn't be a lot of passionate legislation that has been passed that benefits all of us.  I try to forgive everyone for their mistakes, and that includes Delay, Bush, Cheney, Gingrich, Clinton, et. al.  People make mistakes because people are human.  

40, male, Democrat, NC-04

[ Parent ]
Yes obviously Chappaquiddick is the only thing that matters

[ Parent ]
This is real low
but not surprising coming from a Republican.
[ Parent ]
I don't think so
I consider Kyle's questions quite legitimate. I think that even in death, it is fair to consider the life of a public person, warts and all. And I hope that with all the discussion of Senator Kennedy's accomplishments, Kyle is now better able to understand why so many liberals - and indeed others, including some conservatives - have so much respect for the late senator.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
Have you ever known an alcoholic?
People say things like he "dr[o]ve his car when hes drunk into a lake" like it was some kind of lark after a booze run.

Well, if you have known an alcoholic, I would hope you'd know it's not that simple. It's a disease and an addiction that preys on one's mind and sense of reason.

Ted Kennedy was not the only person ever to drive drunk with another passenger. Ted Kennedy was not the only person ever to have killed a passenger while intoxicated. And you are wrong that he "tried to hide it". He may have taken time to report it but he never tried to deflect blame or cast aspersions.

Now here is where it gets tricky, 'cause I have to be honest in saying that my religious beliefs factor really heavily into my feelings on forgiveness. But even if you don't believe in a spiritual element to repentance then I hope that, logically, you would believe that people can atone for past wrongs. Otherwise every single person in the world would be walking around with a stain on their names, with no hope of ever saving his soul. That sounds like a pretty hopeless way to live.

Kennedy sought forgiveness and whether you like the man's positions or not you should take into consideration how seriously he strove to pay his dues and make the world a better place, every day of his life. Would that every man who has known such tragedy work so hard to redeem himself for America's benefit!

[ Parent ]
Let me count the ways
I'm young, so I'm sure I'll miss a few accomplishments, but this is my memory of the late, great, Senator Kennedy.  In his early career that I was not fortunate enough to see, and though it needed Dirksen of Illinois to get it done, as a very young Senator, Kennedy played an outsized role in shepherding through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Fast forward to 1971.  Senator Kennedy was one of the earliest American politicians to call out the Guatemalan and El Salvadoran governments in their massacres in Central America.  The same is true of Chile later in the decade.  In Europe, he was George Mitchell in Northern Ireland before George Mitchell was George Mitchell.  In 1985, he was the Senator to first call for disengagement with apartheid South Africa.  In my own time, along with the great Tom Harkin (and, yes, Bob Dole too, to be fair), Kennedy was a spearheading force behind the Americans with Disabilities Act (which is a personal act to me).  His vigorous opposition to Robert Bork also gains him points for me.  He has been a faithful advocate for raising the minimum wage.  He has tried his best, against the tide, to boost public education like no other (no, I don't like NCLB, but Kennedy was up against a barrel and he did what he could).  Maybe more than all of this, he took up his brother's mantle and encouraged us as citizens to get up, off our butts, and out into our communities to create the change we wanted to see in the world.

30, male, Democratic, CO-01
[ Parent ]
There's so much more. VRA renewals & immigration reforms
That is a pretty excellent start.  For me the Voting Rights Act renewals are key to understanding Kennedy's greatness.  The VRA might have become a historical footnote of the 1960s, a temporary band-aid on our massive racial problems, had its central provisions not been extended nationwide and renewed repeatedly in the 1970s and 1982, and Kennedy was a key player in those extension/renewals.  It was a good example of his working across the aisle to make sure that the Voting Rights Act wouldn't become an area for (most) conservative Republicans to try to score points by opposing.  It's too important.

In addition, at the start of his legislative career a really key law is the immigration reform of 1965.  Various bloggers have been writing about this, so you should look them up if you're interested.  This immigration reform, which eliminated a huge system of racist quotas that favored northern Europeans over everyone else (and was especially hard on Asians and Africans), was hugely important in making the United States what it is today: once again a great nation of immigrants.  Some attacked Kennedy for favoring immigrants with family ties to existing immigrants, saying that we should instead admit only the rich and highly skilled.  Kennedy stood for the principle that the huddled masses of the world, yearning to be free, still have a place in this country.  Without this law, we would be a much more closed society, less diverse, and frankly, less "American," in terms of how I understand "American" and what I love about this country.  

[ Parent ]
Immigration
Thanks for that. I was unaware of Kennedy's role in passing the landmark liberalization of immigration laws the year I was born. It had such a powerful effect on the nature of the country, city, and neighborhood I grew up in. In my public elementary school on the Upper West Side, I remember one time when we all said what countries we were from, and pushpins were stuck on a map. I had classmates from the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Cuba, and over 10 more countries.

Wasn't Kennedy also heavily involved in the 1986 immigration amnesty law that Reagan signed?

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

[ Parent ]
Kennedy really had a hand in most of the major legislative accomplishments of the last four decades...
I actually don't know much about the history of the '86 Act, but a quick google suggests that Kennedy was "instrumental" in its passage as well.  Not a surprise.
http://blogs.chron.com/txpotom...
Immigration was one of many issues that Kennedy was really passionate about, and it's one where his advocacy literally changed the face of this country.  The sources at this link also note that he played a big role in creating our modern refugee/asylum system, which despite many flaws, provides much greater opportunities for refugees to seek refuge in America than the system that preceded it.  (And of course he and Joe Biden and others were key to the Violence Against Women Act, which among many other things made it more possible for women (or in theory men) facing domestic abuse to escape and seek asylum in the U.S.)

The list of accomplishments is just far too long - even if we keep replying on this thread we're going to omit huge numbers of major legislative accomplishments.

[ Parent ]
Well, let's see. Why do I respect Kennedy...
I'm a woman so I respect his commitment to my bodily autonomy and equal rights regardless of gender.

I have several LGBT friends, so I respect his bold advocacy for equal rights regardless of sexual orientation.

I have several PoC friends, so I respect his bold advocacy for equal rights regardless of race or ethnicity.

I have seen my grandfather struggle with a disability he's had since childhood, so I respect Kennedy's push to lighten that burden by way of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

I consider the Iraq war a tragedy that has lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and I remember the surreal months leading to Congress's fateful vote, so I respect him from voting against it and speaking against it when such a position was not politically expedient.

I cast my first vote at age 20, so I respect him for fighting to lower the minimum voting age.

I was educated in public school so I respect his commitment to improving our educational system.

I work a minimum wage job, so I respect his push to give me and my coworkers a living wage.

I am uninsured so I respect his legacy of pushing for healthcare reform and pray that the Senate will get it together and come up with some kind of plan - the way Kennedy would have wanted.

And that's just me personally. I think everybody in America can point to at least one way Senator Kennedy's legacy has left him or her for the better.

[ Parent ]
Thank you
Siobahn.  That was far better than I could have said.

30, male, Democratic, CO-01
[ Parent ]
But wait, there's more!
Siobhan's list is really great.  One law that Kennedy championed that is a bit more obscure that I think is worth highlighting is the Civil Rights Act of 1991.  This one is known more to law junkies than normal people, because basically what it did was reverse a pile of terrible Supreme Court decisions that would have made it impossible to win various kinds of discrimination claims.  It's still hard enough to win a discrimination claim, but this act fixed a lot of bad stuff.  Also on the anti-discrimination front: Kennedy was a longtime sponsor of ENDA (the employment non-discrimination act which would protect against sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace) - that law has not passed yet but hopefully will in the current Congress.  One big one that he did successfully get passed was the Pregnancy Non-Discrimination Act, which stops business from firing workers who get pregnant or have a child.  (This overturned yet another amazingly crappy Supreme Court ruling, which had held that "pregnancy" discrimination wasn't "sex" discrimination because it didn't discriminate against "women," just against "pregnant persons.")

Also on the gender front: Title IX - if you or anyone you know has ever played girls/women's sports, then you should thank Ted Kennedy & co. for getting the law in place that required educational equality for women (including in sports).

This is just scratching the surface...

[ Parent ]
That list applies to me too!
I too am a woman, with LGBT and PoC friends, a disability myself (Asperger's, a form of autism, which my BF also has), strongly opposed the Iraq war, cast my first vote at age 19, was public school-educated from kindergarten all the way through college, earn $8/hour at my current job, and have no insurance myself. And of course I appreciate all that the "Lion of the Senate" has done for us all.

My blog
Twitter
Scribd
28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
Red State Totally Pissed Me Off
Sure, the man was an ultra liberal that many conservatives, including myself, would have to take years to find something we agree on. But this man was a father, a friend, a brother, an uncle to many, many people. How bout instead of pointing out the negatives of his life, we look at the positive? I will certainly miss Ted Kennedy. My liberal friend and I were just talking about how weird a US Senate would be without a Kennedy or Robert Byrd. Today is a sad,sad day in the US
So post that comment on Red State. I dare you.

[ Parent ]
I posted a shorter form of it.
This was a man of honor. He was one of the view Democrats willing to work with Republicans, and you start off by insulting him? He was a father, a husband, an uncle, a friend to many, many people. Please, this is a tragic event? Even if you despise his liberalism, can't we honor all the good he has done?
Thats what I said. Read reponses here- http://www.redstate.com/dan_mc...
My comment is the one titled "Seriously, WTF?"
[ Parent ]
Thank you
That was a classy move on your part.  We all get so caught up that Liberals must hate Conservatives, Conservatives must hate Liberals, that we lose sight that these men are humans who have family and friends.  Ted Kennedy was dearly loved by the members of the Senate, and that includes a load of Republicans, too.  

We may not agree on the meat of politics, but I thought your words show that you are a class act.

40, male, Democrat, NC-04

[ Parent ]
Couldn't agree more
Regardless of what you thought of President George W. Bush, when he dies the nation will still mourn. There is a time for politics, and the death of a national statesman is not the time. Spitting on Senator Kennedy's grave is disgraceful.

May the Senator rest in peace. He was truly one of the greatest Senators of the last fifty years, if not the greatest; he belongs in an elite class with Sens. Henry Clay, Robert Taft, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and "Battlin' Bob" La Follette (all recognized as such in 1957) as one of the greatest Senators in our history.

[ Parent ]
Thank you
If the rest of the GOP was as civil and as respectful as you, your Party and our country would be better off.

And, by the way, the thing about Teddy is that he would have taken all the time he needed to find common ground with you.

God Bless Ted Kennedy.  

[ Parent ]
Amen
n/t

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
Agreed. Thank you.


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28, New Democrat, Female, TX-03 (hometown CA-26)
[ Parent ]
Good for you
I probably don't agree with you on much, but you have a sense of class.  Even one of your fellow Republicans on this site, don't have that class.
[ Parent ]
Come on
You don't have to personally insult Kyle because you don't like what he wrote.  I don't think there is anything wrong with discussing the man's whole life, of which the car accident was a part.  James asked him to stop and he stopped.  No real need to pile on.

34, WM, Democrat, FL-11
[ Parent ]
Well I think I've been vindicated
this individual proved whom he was on another thread.
[ Parent ]
MA-Sen: Ted Kennedy Passes Away | 78 comments

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