I’ve read dozens of diaries and thousands of comments about Senator Kennedy here at Daily Kos today. And it hasn’t been easy because more than one has caused me some tears. Most poignant of all have been those people who have told how legislation he fought for changed their lives. Or how his unwillingness to give up has given them strength not to surrender. I’ve linked and excerpted 30 of these, gleaned from diaries and comment threads. But before you read them and add your own, please watch the video tribute below.
In December 2008, the Physicians for Human Rights presented Kennedy with its Award for Outstanding Leadership on the Right to Health. Last night the PHR issued this statement:
In our lifetime, no one has done more to champion health as a universal right than Senator Ted Kennedy. He was a passionate advocate for quality, affordable, accessible healthcare for the many, not just for the few, and a tireless champion of the human rights of all people everywhere. During his career spanning five decades, he passed landmark legislation to secure the right to health for all.
A few months before that, on August 25, 2008, Kennedy gave a stunning speech. In his diary last night, my friend DallasDoc wrote, "I will remember the thought that speech left me with that night":
Our history is greater than any man. In a democracy, it is up to us. It is always up to us.
In the weeks and years ahead, let us never forget those words.
ramara: "This afternoon I received an e-mail from Ted Kennedy's office. I had written to thank him for his work for universal healthcare, and especially for Medicare. I have written about it here before, how having Medicare because of my disability saved my life just about two years ago, when a CT scan of my chest showed cancer on my kidney. You see, I knew that if I had had to pay even a percentage of the cost, I would have chosen not to have the scan. I am alive because Ted Kennedy made sure that Medicare got passed, and has never stopped protecting it."
Wildthumb: And as late as AUGUST 5TH, for God's sake, Kennedy proposed amending OSHA to include more workers and protect whistleblowers. TO THE END, he was about protecting blue-collar workers from being injured on the job ..."
Elisa Massimino: "Senator Kennedy’s belief in the inherent dignity of all people, combined with his drive to ensure that the United States lived up to its potential to advance that concept at home and throughout the world, animated every battle he fought in his long and distinguished career. We have lost a tireless ally, but the lessons we all learned from him—about perseverance, principle, and how to make progress towards a world in which all people can live in dignity and freedom—will ensure that his legacy lasts forever."
soccergrandmom: "It saddens me that in the midst of this titanic struggle so many seem willing to give up. That's the difference between those who roar and act and those who merely squeak and flee."
Barry C aka Casey: "Teddy wasn't just the senior senator from Mass.; he was America's senator at large. He spoke for me when [he helped pass] legislation that had a ... personal effect on my life. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 insures that when I go to the grocery store I can actually get in the store. Believe it or not nearly twenty years later this is still a problem. I know one grocery store that locks the gates that allow people in wheelchairs enter the store. The reason given by the woefully uninformed owner gave for doing this, "people steal the shopping carts." This is exactly the attitude that Sen. Kennedy sought to end. You can't guard your bottom line by locking me out to keep grocery carts in."
Casey: "I didn't know it, but my sister's working on his 1980 Presidential campaign [when I was 9 years old] would have an impact on my life that would last until this very day. I remember sitting at home awaiting news from my sister on the campaign trail. This was before the internet, email, twitter, facebook, all of those things that makes communicating with family, friends and other loved ones almost instantaneous. Every week, or so, my sis would send me a letter from the road. She has a way with words, my sis. Moreso than I, that much is for sure. But, in each of these letters she told me of where she had been that week, writing about the importance of the issues, and explaining them in such a way that a 9 year old boy could understand."
pale cold: "His passing has brought me near to tears too, because this was the fight where he really was needed once again. And the fact that he tried to ensure that his constituents were represented as one of his final acts. That is love. I hope the love is returned to him now."
JeremiahFP (who interned for Senator Kennedy): "Ted Kennedy was born in an America where black kids and white kids couldn't serve in the army together, couldn't go to school together (in much of the country), couldn't marry each other (in much of the country), and where millions were denied jobs and opportunities because of the color of their skin. Senator Kennedy died in a country with a black president. We still have racial issues today and lord knows this country has problems to overcome, but we have come so far. I'm a white guy and I'm marrying a black woman in 2 weeks - Ted Kennedy deserves our eternal grattitude for building a world where most people don't bat an eyelash at our President or at my marriage."
Bluejoy: "I believe that a person is not measured by the magnitude of their mistakes, but rather the accomplishments and deeds inspired by the lessons of mistakes. ... I am grateful that this man had the courage of his convictions and stood by us every step of the way. Even when being liberal was not cool."
skindig55: "Ted Kennedy was a humble man and I can imagine him up there looking down on all of us saying ‘get back to work and stop all this fuss over me.’ But that is extremely hard to do considering the impact that he has had on all our lives."
California Lieutenant Governor JohnGaramendi: "As we mourn the loss of a great man, we must continue the work that is required to make sure his lifelong cause is accomplished. Senator Kennedy’s passing gives renewed focus to the need to pass meaningful health care reform that includes the public option."
The Rational Hatter: "I can think of no better memorial to Senator Kennedy than making the bill that will inevitably carry his name one that creates a public institution that will benefit all Americans in the generations to come."
crescentdave: "Teddy Kennedy stood for an America concerned as much for the least as for the mightiest. An ugly zeitgeist borne of greed, self-centeredness and fear began to characterize much of what has occurred over the last 3 decades. Anyone trumpeting ideas like health care should be a right, not a privilege in a civilized country, was dismissed as an impractical, overly idealistic pawn of big government. Meanwhile, as the working poor died unnecessarily, the rich got richer. It is still the way of America."
dougdrenkow: "Ted Kennedy was never a serviceman in harm's way. But he came to champion the fight against the Vietnam Conflict, which he called ‘a monstrous outrage’; he pushed to abolish the draft and give 18-year-olds the right to vote; and he voted against the 2002 authorization for Bush to take us to war in Iraq, which he called ‘the best vote I've made in my 44 years in the United States Senate.’"
never forget 2000: "Saw Ted Kennedy in 1968. As he accompanied the coffin of Robert Kennedy by train to Washington. The railroad tracks were lined with people. I remember him waving from the back of the train. Sen. Kennedy was a symbol of redemption for me. May he indeed rest in eternal peace. He certainly worked hard in the vineyards for his fellow man."
umasslefty: "During the course of our fruitless fifteen months of trying to bargain with UMass administrators, we had tried to enlist any number of state-level legislators to take an active role in our negotiations, to intervene with the university on our behalf. While some expressed support, no one did anything of any real merit or consequence. But we decided it was worth it to reach out to Senator Kennedy's staff anyways to see what his reaction would be to a picket at the inauguration where he was going to be honored.
Our union president and a few other officers had a meeting with a couple of Senator Kennedy's staffers. We explained our predicament and informed his staff of our intentions to picket the inauguration. We asked whether the Senator would cross the picket line. His staffers told us they would talk to Senator Kennedy and get back to us.
It wasn't long before his staffers called. Senator Kennedy would not cross our picket line to accept the honor UMass planned to bestow on him.
Suddenly, the bargaining impasse was broken. The university dropped its demands that we give back benefits we had won in the past, and we reached an agreement on the outlines of a contract that was fair for our members. We dropped our plans to picket the inauguration, and Senator Kennedy was honored as originally planned.
Senator Kennedy had basically nothing to gain by agreeing to honor our picket line. But he did so readily, I believe, based on a principled belief in supporting anyone struggling to improve their daily working and living conditions."
Chris Andersen: "It is so easy to get depressed when you follow politics closely. No wonder most people don't even bother. It's the optimists that make it worth while. People like Kennedy make you feel that all the shit you have to go through will actually result in something worthwhile. Who are the optimists in politics today?"
kayla9170: "When I think of Senator Kennedy, I reflect that by his bill SCHIP, allowed for my children to have health care for many years--without me having to worry about on limited income, how I would pay for it. I think of the Pell Grants that he supported, that allow me the opportunity to obtain my Bachelor's Degree in 2004. One of my proudest moments in my life was when my Daddy hugged me after walking off the stage after 13 long years, when I obtained my degree. I have Senator Kennedy to thank for that moment."
grannyhelen: "Ted Kennedy was my neighbor. He was your neighbor, too. When my two children were born with autism, a developmental disability, Ted Kennedy was there speaking out about the need for head start, a program that my son used to help him make eye contact and understand that he could communicate his needs with words, and not just with crying."
itzik shpitzik: "As we mourn the loss of Ted Kennedy and hopefully rededicate ourselves to what he stood for, condolences to his staff are in order to."
Something the Dog Said: "We have lost a good man and a good Senator today. But if we are to achieve the goals of a better life and world for our fellow citizens, if we are to honor a lifetime of commitment to these goals from Sen. Kennedy, then it is not a time to mourn, no, it is a time to Organize!"
leeleeFL: "The Dream can only die if you give up. Don't let that happen! We need new Lions in our political life. We need the young Progressives to see the future and begin to try to build it."
TheGreenMiles: "To know how great Ted Kennedy was, you have to know how low he was in the summer of 1994. Ted had already served a long, successful political life. There would have been no shame in fading into history. But at the age of 62, he reinvented himself as something no one thought he'd become -- a bridge from my grandparents' generation of progressives (Jack) to my parents' generation of progressives (Ted) to my generation of progressives (Barack)."
Democrat Debbi: "Even after watching his family dragged through the mud as some sort of sport of the ignorant, he fought for freedom of speech. He never stopped serving. He served as an example of how to live as a true American. Fighting and defending freedom, no matter the cost. He served as an example of how to die with dignity. ‘Kennedys don’t cry.’ But I do."
globalcitizenlinda: "I have been crying too much for those who value social justice most. I am hurting so bad for someone I was proud to follow as my unapologetic liberal leader in the search for social justice."
aaraujo: [In 1965] Senator Ted Kennedy fought hard for the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that removed the racial quotas from immigration and allowed the continuation of Cape Verdeans moving to the US. An uncle came over first, followed by the rest of my extended family. In the spring of 1976, a young pregnant mother and two babies landed in New York City on a flight from Paris. I had come to America."
blueness: "The real Ted Kennedy was in his music. Which, as William O. Douglas once expressed it, was all about using his considerable powers to try to help ‘the miserable, the sick, the suspect, the unpopular, the offbeat.’ He was a rich man's son who considered lost and suffering people his ‘base.’ And through a personal live riven, as all human lives must be riven, by missteps and failures, in his public life, for those people, his music never stopped."
webrant: "I met Ted Kennedy in 1979 when he was campaigning for president at a rally in Hyannis Port. I was very impressed by him even at the age of 16 and I worked on his campaign, my first taste of presidential politics and in his primary defeat, my first lesson on the long slow battle for progressive change. Because popular progressive causes can always be ignored to focus on the ‘character’ of the individual campaigner. A wealthy man that runs on a platform of greed raises no expectation beyond avarice but a man who champions justice and human rights for all, champions the poor, is held up to the standard of sainthood. And Ted Kennedy was no saint. But he was a Senator like no
other. He was my age now at the time I met him in 79 and he had already contributed more as a senator than most do in their lifetimes."
mem from somerville: "It will take scholars decades to work their way through all of the threads of legislation that involved our Lion of the Senate. But most recently I was following the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, or GINA. As someone who spends most days looking in the genetic databases I knew both the power and the danger of this data. In the wrong hands this data could result in discrimination against anyone with a medical flaw--or even a suspected medical flaw--buried in their genomes. Especially in a time where obtaining insurance can be very difficult."
Guadalupe59: "The impact that the Kennedy family had on Mexicans, like my mother, and probably other Latinos too, cannot be overstated. Mom loves that family. And not because they were Catholic, but because the Kennedys always spoke to them, not down to them. She got very involved in Bobby's run for President. My cousin who was visiting from Mexico when Bobby campaigned in California, shook his hand. She honestly didn't want to wash it. JFK sending Jackie to speak to Latina women was a huge hit, her Spanish was quite good as I recall, it didn't have to be, we all loved them. The overriding thing though, was that Mexicans knew the Kennedys had the backs of all working people."