The Passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy

Sen. Edward Kennedy passed away last night at the age of 77 from the brain cancer that was diagnosed last year. He was the last surviving member of the Kennedy clan that shaped the political landscape of the 1960s. He outlived his two brothers, John and Robert, each of whom was assassinated. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends:

In nearly 50 years in the Senate, Kennedy, a liberal Democrat, served alongside 10 presidents — his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy among them — compiling an impressive list of legislative achievements on health care, civil rights, education, immigration and more.

His only run for the White House ended in defeat in 1980. More than a quarter-century later, he handed then-Sen. Barack Obama an endorsement at a critical point in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, explicitly likening the young contender to President Kennedy.

To the American public, Kennedy was best known as the last surviving son of America's most glamorous political family, father figure and, memorably, eulogist of an Irish-American clan plagued again and again by tragedy.

Kennedy's death triggered an outpouring of superlatives, from Democrats and Republicans as well as foreign leaders.

"An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time," Obama said in a written statement.

"For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts," said Obama, vacationing at Martha's Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast.

Kennedy's family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.

"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all."

Reactions to his death were filled with praise and respect from both sides of the aisle for his tenacity and dedication to his causes.

Democrats have already said that they would press ahead with the health care reform, which was one of the issues near and dear to Kennedy as his lasting legacy. It also raises questions in Massachusetts about who will replace him.

In fact, Sen. Kennedy had raised this issue earlier in the week, in what was perhaps a harbinger of things to come. He urged a quick filling of the seat, realizing that the Democrats needed the seat in order to protect against a filibuster that could thwart passage of the health care bill and other items on the Democrats agenda.

However, it wasn't just a quick filling of his seat he was concerned about. He was worried that the GOP might take the seat in the special election held, and therefore wanted to change the law back to what it was before GOPer Mitt Romney became governor; he wanted the governor to select his replacement. The law was changed when Romney became governor so that Democrats could have a better chance of holding on to the seat. Now that a Democrat is the governor, the Democrats figure they're going to have a better chance of holding the seat than if they leave it up to the public to decide.

UPDATE:
Jammie finds the New York Times writing about the rank hypocrisy that the Democrats face if they attempt to switch the law back in order to give them the ability to push ahead with their agenda when they were behind the effort to push for special elections in just this kind of circumstance. Well, the Times didn't point out the rank hypocrisy; only that they need to get this done to move ahead on Obamacare.

It definitely looks like Democrats are going to try and capitalize on his death to attempt to speed passage of Obamacare (H.R. 3200).

On a more personal level, my only connection to the Senator is that he cited one of my law review articles in a paper on hate speech.

I have very few things in common with Kennedy when it comes to matters of politics, but one cannot deny the impact he and his family have had on US politics. Few people can stay on the political stage as long as he has.

UPDATE:
Don Surber has more to say about Kennedy's passing, and is from where I grabbed the photo of the Kennedy brothers. Memeorandum has much more blog reaction to Kennedy's death.