He may indeed be gone (but then again, maybe not) but surely he is not forgotten. Last night the Old Lion raised his head once more and roared out his approval of Barack Obama, and did one of the greatest slap downs of Mitt Romney ever witnessed.
The transcript of their debate in ’94 revealed this gem:
Romney: I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it, and I sustain and support that law and the right of a woman to make that choice.
Kennedy: On the question of the choice issue, I have supported Roe v. Wade, I am pro-choice. My opponent is multiple choice. … When, Mr. Romney, are you going to tell the people of Massachusetts which health care program you favor?
Romney: I have a plan, I have a position paper on health care, I’m happy to show it to you, senator, any time you like.
Kennedy: Mr. Romney, it isn’t a question of showing me your paper, it’s a question of showing all of the people in here that are watching the program this paper. They ought to have an opportunity to know.
Romney: I think it’s a wonderful idea to take it through piece by piece …
Kennedy: That’s what you have to do as a legislator.
Romney: I understand — I understand.
Of course, today the GOP is howling–“my God, the lowliness of using a dead guy,” they moan. Yeah remembered a great man and all that he did for his country and we reminded ourselves that he dealt with the likes of the Willard many years before. It was classic!
Willard attempted to inform us that the greatest day in our life was the day we voted for Barack Obama. Everything since then has been down hill. A mother with a sick child set Willard straight.
Stacy Linn said this:
“Governor Romney says people like me were most excited about President Obama the day we voted for him. But that’s not true. Not even close. For me, there was the day the Affordable Care Act passed, and I no longer had to worry about getting Zoe the care she needed. There was a day the letter arrived from the insurance company saying our daughter’s lifetime cap had been lifted. There was the day the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare… And like so many moms with sick kids, I shed tears.”
Speaker after speaker applauded women, women’s rights, gay rights, and the rights of workers. They celebrated hard work and the ability to rise up to the middle class. Mostly they applauded fairness. Lilly Ledbetter spoke and wowed the audience with her first hand account of what the corporate world and the US Supreme Court did to her and how Obama made sure that it would not happen again.
Julius Castro, the Mayor of San Antonio, spoke with deep feeling about his grandmother, who came here as an orphan, speaking no English, and how through her hard work and her daughters, the twin grandsons went to Stanford and then on to Harvard.
And then our beautiful and brilliant First Lady, Michelle Obama took to the stage and simply brought the house down. With anecdotes of their lives together and her initial fears that the White House would impact her girls in a negative way, and change her husband, she uttered one of the most memorable lines
Being President doesn’t change you, it reveals who you really are.
And what is revealed in President Obama is a man who cares deeply about people, who relates personally to the struggles of all of us. Without ever mentioning his name, Mrs. Obama destroyed Mitt Romney.
If you wish to watch the entire tribute to Ted Kennedy, please watch:
It truly was moving.
You can watch all of Michelle Obama’s speech (30 min or so) as well.
Related articles
- Dems recall Ted Kennedy defeating Mitt Romney in Senate race (latimes.com)
- A Tribute to Kennedy and a Tweak for Romney (thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Michelle Obama pays tribute to her husband in convention speech (latimes.com)
- Republicans Immediately Express Outrage Over DNC’s Ted Kennedy Tribute Video (mediaite.com)
- 6 Things Michelle Obama Did Right (usnews.com)
Existential Ennui 