RIP Ted Kennedy

Not much info yet, but CNN has posted it

RIP

Aw. RIP. A man who's contributions(for better or worse) will be overshadowed by certain hacky jokes.

rip...if its not tweeted its shite

:(

CSPAN 1/2 have it on a crawl

oh wow :(

i just heard about him trying to get them to let him appoint a successor so his seat wouldn't go vacant until an election. to realize he was so close to the end and still working at this is just astonishing and amazing.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/26/obit.ted.kennedy/index.html

"Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities. He has called health care reform the "cause of his life."

RIP. I'm disappointed that he didn't get to vote on the final bill and I hope we can sorta use him as a symbol to get it passed.

peace bro

RIP, Teddy.

RIP you badass lion of the left.

RIP

As a person, something of the archetypal messed-up Kennedy. As a senator, you couldn't ask for anyone better, stronger, or more committed to have on your side. RIP.

My Grandma used to try to get me to sleep by putting on C-Span. As a result, one of my very first memories is of Ted Kennedy speaking on the floor of the Senate. I remember really liking his voice, half because his accent was funny and strange, half because it was just so compelling. (And maybe a bit extra because he was like a more forceful version of my Grandad.) Probably wouldn't have such an appreciation for good speachcraft if not for him.

RIP

Oh man, this is going to be huge here tomorrow. I saw him at a restaurant last year and he looked awful. RIP Ted.

:( RIP

i just heard about him trying to get them to let him appoint a successor so his seat wouldn't go vacant until an election. to realize he was so close to the end and still working at this is just astonishing and amazing.

I figured the urgency with which he requested that was a sign that he & his doctors knew he was gonna die soon. RIP teddy

Doing a search for 'Ted Kennedy' is a wholeheartedly depressing thing. Obits or vile abuse. His wiki entry has had some editing suspended because of vandalism. He deserves better. RIP honorary knight.

Jesus, just when you think the '09 death toll can't get any more ridiculous, not one but two Kennedy sibs die within a fortnight. Crazy...

RIP, Teddy. (And Eunice too)

BBC seemed to be banging on incessantly about Chappaquiddick this morning. Maybe that's fair to the extent that it saw to his hopes for the presidency, but surely it's not right that it be the event that defines the man's life.

RIP. :(

I thought that was overemphasised - and oversimplified! What isn't mentioned is the brain trauma Kennedy himself suffered in the accident, but when I remembered that I wondered if there was a link to the cancer, a trigger of sorts. Of course Chappaquiddick has to be mentioned, but surely his achievements dwarf his indiscretions. RIP.

You really don't want to watch FOX or read below the lines at any wingnut sites for the next month, unless you are developing a new game called Bigotry Bingo.

Thing about Chappaquiddick, though, was that he was lying about being shitfaced at the time, which is why he didn't call the cops. No one can prove this, of course, because he didn't call the cops, who would have tested him for alcohol in a heartbeat.

I'm not trying to spoil the warm sentiment. I think he redeemed himself and then some. I'm just clarifying why Chappaquiddick is such a sticky point.

RIP

Oh no, the tabloids were right about not making it to Labor Day.

RIP.

Thank you for your work in Chile, RIP.

aw damn. he talked to our eighth-grade class on the steps of the capitol when we went to washington dc.

wow.

The two older Kennedys were deeply overrated as legislators and public figures, but it makes sense that the least articulate and most fumbling of the three probably did the most good and immersed himself in the slog of senate arcana. RIP.

RIP. I just spotted this T-shirt in my closet over the weekend, and it made me smile:

http://teenormous.com/images/t-shirts/www.retrocampaigns.com/images-graphics-cu-ready4teddy-mens.jpg

ouch. this one hurts :(

RIP

RIP

RIP, big man

What a good guy, impossible to replace. Very sad even though expected.

Best senator of my lifetime.

If you can find any cable-news cretins discussing his legislative achievements instead of The Dynasty, yell BINGO.

RIP

RIP

Morbs, we got achievements, Camelot *and* Chappaquiddick in that order on the BBC. If you can get Radio 4 on the interwebs I would check it out.

RIP

Skeleton crew day here at the office tomorrow. LBJ's birthday.

Brits don't count, we're talking a rapt Chris Matthews w/ his mouth hanging open

Joe Biden's remarks just now were...oh man, I wanted to cry at least a couple times.

Slate has a good list of his accomplishments – and failures.

This is too bad, the guy was definitely a true public servant and a great legislator. RIP

but then you remebered who was speaking xxp

here, bill, at the end:
http://gawker.com/5317300/ted-kennedy-an-assessment

and yes, i and i'm sure alfred realize that neither gawker nor slate are actually cable news media powerhouses.

"The man's many, well-documented flaws aside, he was on the right side of history, most of the time, and he did more to actually make America a better place than 90% of the careerists and charlatans who pass through the United States Senate."

^I like this line. Thanks for the link.

pareene: fair and balanced.

a very well put article.

RIP. been sad all day.

Amazing how much coverage there has been in the UK - dominated the morning, afternoon and evening news shows on Radio 4. Presenters tended to be a bit "Camelot… dead brothers… Chappaquiddick… Ireland" but interviewees from the US filled in the gaps.

just read an old GQ profile from around 1990 i think. does get around to the point about his impressive senate accomplishments but also goes into great detail about his drunken behavior at that time before he got married again. not a pretty picture even if you assume some of it is gossipy bs.

Britain was always Kennedy-mad, beginning with Joseph Kennedy's ambassadorship.

It's funny hearing usually serious presenters slavering over the Kennedy gossip and sounding quite bored and impatient with all the hard-to-follow legislative stuff. On the 6pm news some expert was talking about TK's work in the Senate and the presenter cut in excitedly with a question about booze and sex.

Would have been better if he cut in with actual booze and sex.

RIP. He spent half his adult life under the shadow of his brothers and the other half trying to live down that horrible fuckup at Chappaquiddick. But his legislative record is one of the better ones in US history and even his defeats were valiant defeats. I wish he could have lived longer than Strom Fucking Thurmond.

I had forgotten Old Joe, that bastard, was UK ambassador at WW2's outbreak; saw the newsreel footage (a lot of it) of the family there tonight.

Video of Biden's remarks: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/08/26/VI2009082601707.html

Wrote this: http://www.quartzcity.net/2009/08/27/ted-kennedy/

NPR's excellent story on Kennedy's civil rights record: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112251970

And poster Tristero on Digby's blog wonders who on the left would denounce future Robert Borks as eloquently as Kennedy.

"the left" always brings lolz

Russ Feingold, plz turn the lights off when you leave.

great funeral! kudos! orrin hatch was on fire!

I missed Orrin Hatch, but I thought John Culver's story was hilarious.

OK, let me draw a truce: Orrin Hatch's eulogy was a tremendous class act. THAT's how you celebrate a friend's life whose politics frighten you.

oh David Brooks, die, motherfucker