Ted Kennedy

Well, I knew (as did we all) that it was coming sooner rather than later, but still it is kind of a shock. I remember when my family and I went to Washington, D.C. as a family just after I graduated from high school.

What luck to be there at that time. I remember watching the very end of the filibuster on, if I remember correctly the Voting Rights Act, with Kennedy (and incredibly young Kennedy, and the last one left alive of that generation of political activists) presiding over the Senate. I think that the way it worked was that you ended up presiding at some point. My Mom said that he was the prettiest politician she'd ever seen, and that she would vote for him just 'cause he looked so good.

We were there the night the filibuster was finally broken, and got to see Humphrey, and other democratic senators outside announcing it.

We got in to a lot of places because my Dad had grown up with our then Congressman, Delbert L. Latta. As reactionary an asshole as one can imagine. His son, also as reactionary an asshole as one can imagine inherited his seat.

As crazy as Kennedy's personal life was he was a great liberal in all the good sense of the term.