Ted Kennedy was all that.
There are rightly going to be tributes to this man and his legacy.
He should lie in state as the symbol of an era that lies in state. I was too young to remember JFK’s assassination. But the books at St. Robert’s in Chester trumpeted the Catholic hero, the first of us, as a man who made the world turn.
I remember at being told of RFK’s demise in Sister St. Gabriel’s 2nd grade class by Father Sabatini. The tears of those in charge made me realize what we lost that day too. RFK defined the talk to walk with respect to the USA’s role in looking out for the least of ourselves.
Teddy Kennedy is the final extension of that loss. This guy walked the talk. I think this rich man’s camel has already passed through the eye of the needle. He fought. He fought hard for those who didn’t or couldn’t.
This is the good side of things.
He had failings, like all of us. I won’t go to Chappaquiddick and point at that or the personal demons.
The fact that he fought too hard sometimes makes the timing of his passing a bit more ironic. The GOP needs to acknowledge the fact the Teddy Kennedy was partly responsible for the Reagan Revolution.
Kennedy fought his sitting president, Jimmy Carter, for the 1980 Democratic Nomination. There was a lot going on at that time -- gas crisis, Iranian crisis -- but Kennedy delivered the body blows that took down Carter’s ability to get anything done. Saturday Night Live was brutal on both these guys during the primaries.
Kennedy’s run in 1980 split the party in two. While not getting the nomination for himself, he crippled Carter. We were so disgusted at each other that a third party guy became a credible factor. John Anderson stepped from the fog and was the precursor to Perot in 1992. Reagan wins - history made.
I don’t know what he thought in retrospect about how 1980 played out. But he was a damn good Democratic Senator.
I am saying the timing of Teddy Kennedy’s passing ironic because we now have a party split of Blue Dogs and liberals sniping at President Obama on healthcare. The issue can lie in state and be buried with him, or…
The last and ironic legacy of this man would be to heal the divide of the donkeys and get us on move in one direction as a one team again on healthcare.
True health care would be the lasting and greatest legacy for all. A final gift from a generation of Kennedys that gave us the moon and so much more.
Rick Horowitz: Kennedy: The Lion at Rest
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, dead at 77 -- and thank goodness for that. None of his three brothers -- his three older brothers -- made it to 70. Or 60. Or even 50.
Those of us in the middle get tired of our politicians bowing to the extreme vocals on the fringe....
for the purpose at hand - healthcare there are only a couple of I's in the game (as opposed ot the D's and R's). We need to get them moving - that is why i want you to sell your body... see the last post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-the-nerd-ferraro/i-want-you-to-sell-your-b_b_268319.html
we need to pick one thing that we want right now and go for it!
Keep following - I will be writing a blog on the conservative arguement for Universal Single Payer.
we've got a lot of pushing and boxing out to do here.