Teddy Kennedy died tonight. I think we lost our best and most effective senator.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
RIP Ted.
Somehow I don’t think he’d appreciate Rahm’s screwing up the works or that co-ops would be the solution to his life’s work.
Damn, I wish he saw health care pass. I know we have to fill his shoes, but I don’t think anyone has big enough feet.
working late and saw that on yahoo… a passing of a Sen. Kennedy is tragic.
Really a great loss on so many levels.
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His life’s goal was universal health care. His death may cause delay in legislation as Massachusetts will go to the polls to elect his successor within five months.
Massachusetts changes succession law for Kerry in 2004
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."I woke by chance, turned on the TV, and heard the sad news. I had to get out of bed (it’s now 3am here) to write a short note in his memory. I’m so sad that he’s gone, but so grateful he was eulogized, to a degree, before he was gone. He was the only one of the three brothers to know how much he was loved before he died.
See my write-up here: http://www.boomantribune.com/?op=displaystory;sid=2009/8/26/6648/28171
Thanks for your write-up on Ted Kennedy. He is irreplacable and will be missed.
very sad day. thanks for your diary
My tribute to Senator Kennedy here.
It’s a shock. I knew it was coming, but it’s a shock. They cut into Craig Ferguson here on Central Time to announce the news.
The closest I ever got to a Kennedy was meeting Eunice Kennedy Shriver. She was in a bathing suit, and she said hello to our group. I was a teen in college; my mouth flew open.
Never got to meet Ted. Yes, he did misbehave, and Chappaquidick made me grow up about the Kennedys, but often, much good outweighs a lot.
Bless him.
Now we have a special election to fill the vacant seat. Cue Joe Lieberman “reluctantly” choosing to endorse whatever candidate the Massachusetts Republican Party puts forward. You know, for the good of the nation. After all, circumstances have changed since Obama was elected. Blah, blah….bipartisanship…blah, blah,…integrity…blah blah,….change….blah, blah…deficits….ad nauseam.
Last November progressives around the world joined you in the joy of the Obama election victory. Today we mourn with you and the President for the loss of a truly progressive leader who made an enormous contribution over his 47 years in the Senate.
One of the great paradoxes about good leaders – and for that matter people who make a great contribution to society generally – is that they often also have significant character flaws. Ted Kennedy never seemed to me to satisfactorily deal with what happened at Chappaquiddick. However I think he came to realise that he could make a great contribution as an effective Senator after losing the 1980 presidential nomination to Jimmy Carter. Perhaps he ceased to be ambitious for personal power as the President and became more ambitious to achieve things for the people in America who needed change, care and protection.
He has left a very substantial legacy. The world, not just the US, is poorer without him.
Damn ya’ll Joe Biden is breaking my heart! ya’ll need to get the video of Biden’s statement. He looked like he would cry at any moment.
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“… Sen. Ted Kennedy.
For 36 years, I had the privilege of going to work every day and literally, not figuratively, sitting next to him and being a witness to history every single day the Senate was in session. He restored my sense of idealism and my faith in possibilities of what this country could do.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."I admired Ted Kennedy for so many reasons. I didn’t always agree with him, but he stood up for his core beliefs, and fought passionately for the causes he believed in.
But the main reason I admired the man because he was willing to sit down with Republicans at times and compromise and work with the likes of John Mc.Cain and Orrin Hatch to pass legislation. He never compromised his core principles, but the fact was he was willing to work with other Senators who didn’t see eye to eye with him on a lot of things for the betterment of the country.
That’s what I’ll remember Ted Kennedy for. This country is greater for having known him and damn lucky he was a voice for the people who had no voice.
We have lost a giant of a man in Ted Kennedy.
RIP TEDDY
thank you so much for all you did.