Story Of The Day: The Lion....

Ted Kennedy lost his battle with brain cancer last night. As the last of the Kennedy brothers who were at the heart of the Democratic party, Ted was an enigma to those not passionate in politcal history. In fact, for most, including me as a younger man, the cariacture of the bloated, drunk, philanderer whose horrible mistake at Chappaquidick which cost him his presidential aspirations, but more importantly the life of a young woman. There's no excuse for those incidents, and you can argue back and forth about it, but if you try to focus on the legacy of what he's accomplished as a Senator, including the fight for a fair wage, the advancement of civil rights, and being a sane voice against the Iraq War. Also, he's been one of the strongest advocates for the LGBT community in the history of Congress, even better than the gays and lesbians that are there. The more I read about his history, the more I will miss him. May his memory inspire the biggest cause of his career, the struggle for the promise of health care as a fundamental part of American's rights. How anyone could argue against that (and in effect argue for the greed of those running the insurance business) is beyond me.

And courtesy of Josh Marshall's awesome Talking Points Memo blog (the first political blog I had read then followed), here are two of the most striking videos of Kennedy...the first is his speech after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr...



The second showcases his fire as a Senator - namely, to fight for a vote on raising the minimum wage...