The Eulogies

by digby

There are some really great eulogies for EMK all over the internet and I hope you take the time to read as many of them as you can. Liberal heroes don’t come along every day and it’s immensely gratifying to read all these thoughts from people who knew him and lived through his time.

For instance, via Eric Alterman, I came across this wonderful piece from a few years back by the great Charles Pierce:

If his name were Edward Moore . . .

He would not have served so long, if he’d served at all. He might not have served with more than 350 other senators. He would not have served with all three men – Everett Dirksen, Richard Russell, and Philip Hart – after whom the Senate office buildings are named. He would not have had his first real fight over the poll tax and his most recent one over going to war in Iraq. None of this would have happened if his name were Edward Moore.

If his name were Edward Moore . . .

If his name were Edward Moore, Robert Bork might be on the Supreme Court today. Robert Dole might have been elected president of the United States. There might still be a draft. There would not have been the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which overturned seven Supreme Court decisions that Kennedy saw as rolling back the gains of the civil rights movement; the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, the most
wide-ranging civil rights bill since the original ones in the 1960s; the Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill of 1996, which allows “portability” in health care coverage; or any one of the 35 other initiatives – large and small, on everything from Medicare to the minimum wage to immigration reform – that Kennedy, in opposition and in the minority, managed to cajole and finesse through the Senate between 1996 and
1998, masterfully defusing the Gingrich Revolution and maneuvering Dole into such complete political incoherence that Bill Clinton won reelection in a walk. None of this would have happened, if his name were Edward Moore.

Go through his speeches of just the last decade and you’ll find that he was on the right side every time, making the argument. God knows there were few enough who did.

Update: I just got an email from Bold Progressives with this mesaage, which I think is great:

Senator Kennedy called health care reform “the cause of my life.” We’ve seen comments from across the country saying the Senate should pass the strong reform bill that came out of Kennedy’s health committee — which includes the public health insurance option — and name it “The Kennedy Bill” in his honor. We agree. So we created a petition to the Senate that we’ll deliver Monday — can you sign it? PETITION: “Ted Kennedy was a courageous champion for health care reform his entire life. In his honor, name the reform bill that passed Kennedy’s health committee ‘The Kennedy Bill’ — then pass it, and nothing less, through the Senate.” Please click here to add your name. In less than an hour, over 1,000 people have already signed! All signatures will be hand-delivered to the offices of Harry Reid and other key senators in Washington DC next Monday, August 31 — just as the Senate is returning from August recess. Senators will soon choose between Kennedy’s bill and another being written by conservative Democrats and Republicans, which likely will not include a public option. Let’s honor Kennedy’s memory by naming his own bill after him — and telling his Senate colleagues it would be a disgrace to vote against it or to water it down. Can you join us? Click here to add your name. Then, please forward this email to others.

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