"The Dream Shall Never Die." (4.00 / 2)

The end of his speech in 1980.  He begin that campaign by campaigning by rote, barely able to articulate why he was running other than the vulnerability of President Carter.  When that campaign ended it was all there, all the dreams embodied, at thier best, of his brothers, all of the hopes of a people.  He has never stopped fighting since 1980 when it all came together but a little too late to be President but never too late to make a difference.

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by: howardpark @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 14:23:14 PM CDT

You can listen to speech here. (0.00 / 0)

http://www.americanrhetoric.co...  

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by: jbarab @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 15:04:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Doonesbury (4.00 / 1)

Remember the famous cartoon early in the campaign as Kennedy stumbled to find his voice?  A reporter holding a microphone out to him says, "Senator, a verb please."

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by: ArthurKC @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 15:23:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What I Remember--But Don't Remember (4.00 / 1)

was his eulogy at his brother Robert's funeral.  I remember it was wrenching, but I don't remember the details. I do remember it was probably the first time that I felt a truly unmixed sense of identification with the Kennedys.

Prior to that, my identification with the Civil Rights and anti-war movements had always made me view them as establishment allies--with all the ambiguities that entails.  But at that point, the degree of their sacrifice and the overwhelming sense of loss and distress just moved me on a purely personal level--which I do not often get from political figures.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 14:27:20 PM CDT

RFK's Eulogy (4.00 / 2)

When he's eulogizing his slain brother, Teddy starts choking up when he reads the line "he saw wrong and tried to right it."  Kills me every time.

In my house, you don't speak ill of a Kennedy, and if you grow up in it, you have nothing but the absolute utmost respect for John, Robert, and Teddy and their work.

I have an EMK in '72 campaign button that I treasure.  And some day, I'll have a dog that gets named Teddykennedy, one of the higher honors in my family being having a dog named after you.  

This just kills me that Teddy's got a tumor.  At the 2008 convention of my Democratic Party of the 2nd Congressional District in Wisconsin, as chair, I had to announce to everyone that Ted had had a stroke on Saturday (with details sketchy at the time).  Very tough to do.  He's a hero to me and I'll be pulling for him through this all.

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by: Peter from WI @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 14:30:14 PM CDT

Kennedy Rescues Amtrack year after year (4.00 / 2)

when I was working for rail road employees.  A real fighter.

We only have a short period time left in the presence of Ted Kennedy.  However, Teddy is not gone yet...and I say we push, like never before, to give Teddy what he has sought for years - Health Care for All.  Year after Year Teddy has proposed the Kennedy Medicare for All Act...which extends Medicare to all.  

As Kennedy is getting the best coverage possible in Boston...many many Americans with similar outlooks are being deemed unable to receive insurance or being dropped from their insurance.  I'm positive that fact is not lost on Teddy.  Congress goes on Memorial Day recess next week, and we should take the summer to push through this legislation.

When Teddy returns to the Senate, and he will, even if it is a short return.  I imagine this is what he will stand for.  

Lets cut out the Eulogies and Back-Looking Tributes and Fight.  Teddy is reportedly "walking the floor, antsy, and driving the nurses crazy, wanting to get out."  Lets push, lets fight, and lets do it with Teddy!  People will say we are using this moment for political ends...this right, we are, for politically right ends.  Teddy has brought so much to our nation through politics, and I refuse to let that be it.  We can do this.  We have the numbers.  We have the popular backing.  And we have Teddy.

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by: cardboard @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 14:30:47 PM CDT

self-deprecation (4.00 / 1)

I also saw Kennedy in that general light as I started off in this realm, speaking at an intern lunch about 5 years back, where his presence resulted in an SRO crowd overflowing a large Senate hearing room. But also, while he can be forceful and even stubborn-- and rightly so in the aggregate-- there's ALWAYS a levity and humility to it. Case in point is his relationship with the immigrant rights movement and Latino groups, probably the context in which I've seen him speak the most in person.

It's become a Kennedy trademark, whether in front of an awards gala or a million people on the National Mall, to deliver a portion of his remarks in Spanish. He doesn't actually speak Spanish, and its painfully obvious to all involved. Yet he's developed a loving bond out of that fact by not even trying to adapt his accent or anything of the like, and going all-out with the same Bostonian affectations and general forcefulness we see in every other context. Crowds eat it up. And both substantive commitment and his/his family's history aside, its a huge part of why, out of the McCain-Kennedy pair that pushed immigration reform (before McCain bailed), he's always been the more trusted and well-received.

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by: sip1983 @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 14:32:20 PM CDT

hillary's message to superdelegates (0.00 / 0)

"Kennedy's oncologist traced the origin of the tumor to a speech the Senator gave at American University on January 28."

Seriously, though......since I was old enough to notice, Ted Kennedy has been an inspiring, iconic figure.

I remember attending a concert/festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in what must have been 1995, and in between the bands (which included TMBG in a typically great performance), Jon Stewart did a set. One of his jokes suggested Ted Kennedy's head was so big it was like a case for a head. Perhaps not the greatest joke to remember considering the circumstances, but it's one of my earliest memories of both Kennedy and Stewart.

Get well, Senator. We need you.

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by: dave marley @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 14:34:38 PM CDT

Stopping Bork (4.00 / 2)

Without that, Roe would already be history.

I suppose it was something that could only work the one time, but damn I wish he had at least tried it against Alito.

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by: Daniel De Groot @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 14:50:54 PM CDT

"The Senator from Labor" (4.00 / 1)

The labor movement looks to Ted Kennedy as a natural friend and ally on all our issues.  It's not really a moment, but a lifetime commitment.  His work here has touched tens of millions of working Americans and beyond....

Join the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee in the fight for guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model at www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org/blog

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by: California Nurses Shum @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 15:04:27 PM CDT

1962 and 1980 (4.00 / 2)

In the fall of 1962 I was a freshman at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and one dark evening a black limo pulled up outside the student union as I was walking by.  A very young man got out and started shaking everyone's hands and I asked who this guy was.  That's Jack Kennedy's kid brother, I was told.  He's running for the Senate.  No one knew his first name.

In the summer of 1980, I was Ted Kennedy's statewide co-chairman in Missouri and as such was invited to his home in Hyannis about two weeks before the convention, as were all state chairs, at our own expense.  Of course we all went.  We spent a wonderful day at his home and at a cookout in the backyard.  Almost no political substance, just building morale for the team.

Two weeks later, at Madison Square Garden, I was the chair of Kennedy's Missouri delegation.  For some reason I was walking through one of the tunnels about an hour before he gave his concession speech, and came upon a short woman, not too much older than I, who was slumped against the wall, crying and sobbing.  I tried to comfort her and she hugged me, saying she had just come from a meeting with Senator Kennedy and he was conceding.  That was a shock to us true-believers.  I helped the woman regain her balance and she, Barbara Mikulski, went on her way.

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by: ArthurKC @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 15:15:59 PM CDT

A smattering... (0.00 / 0)

When I was younger, I remember liking Ted a lot, partially in spite of some relatives who detested him as an "arch-liberal" and whatnot. I also remember when he was detained as a possible terrorist at an airport (it's a little known fact that the Democratic Congressional Caucus hates freedom). When he was full throttle behind Kerry I was quite upset, even if I could understand why. But generally speaking, the last few years have been very good.

My most recent memory would be of the Barack Obama rally at the Meadowlands the day before the NJ primary this year. It was right after the Kennedy endorsement, and I was very excited. I believe I went to the rally almost more because Kennedy was rumored to attend than because of Obama himself. Sure, Obama will be around for quite some time (barring Mike Huckabee's bad taste in humor), but a national treasure like Teddy might not be around forever -- a sadly prescient thought.

And more's the pity. When Daschle lost his seat and the Senate caucus elected a new leader, I was fervently in support of Kennedy for the role, and why the hell not. If the GOP tries to get the more staunchly conservative members to lead their caucus, why shouldn't we get one of our liberal champions to do the same? I certainly don't believe we'd be seeing the kowtowing to Bush that we have under Reid.

At the rally, when he was introduced, the cheering was almost as powerful as it was for Obama, and I added my voice to them with a forceful "Teddy for Leader" several times then, and again after it had ended. When it did end, Barack, Teddy, and Caroline mingled with the front rows. Being 3 or 4 back, it was quite difficult to get close, but my friend managed to shake Barack's hand, though I failed with Teddy. I'm just glad I was able to see him in person. As someone born 2 years after he ran against Carter, it's just very powerful to be near to someone so involved in history, when I've only seen so little.  

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by: hellenica @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 16:00:12 PM CDT

I interned on EMK's HELP Committee staff (0.00 / 0)

January-June 2005. I had the privilege of researching how Social Security privatization would affect veterans, single mothers, Massachusetts residents in general, low-income folks, and taking the data to make them into Powerpoints, then taking the Powerpoint files downstairs to have them put onto giant posterboards for the floor. I would go pick them up and drop them off in the Capitol room adjoining the floor, and then feel pride watching C-SPAN when EMK (as we called him) came on the floor and pointed to them as he ripped into how privatization hurt the most vulnerable members of our society and would make FDR roll in his grave. If he had something in his hand to shake, like a CBO report on the issue, he would do that angrily; if he didn't, he would just take off his glasses or a pen in his jacket and passionately gesture with that.

To make those charts for EMK and watch as he worked so hard to defend the last leg of the retirement stool really filled me with pride.

I hope he makes it through this, more than anything.

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by: Adam Bink @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 16:56:19 PM CDT

I'm going to miss Ted Kennedy (4.00 / 1)

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

I don't think anyone in American history has positively impacted more lives then Ted Kennedy.

We're going to miss ya Ted. Let's hope your with us for a few more years.

John McCain: Beacuse lobbyists should have more power

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by: Populista @ Tue May 20, 2008 at 17:26:28 PM CDT