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 
Ted Kennedy will continue to grow in stature as time goes by, even exceeding that of his two brothers whose lives were cut short by an assassin’s bullet.
I’m ready to see some butt kicking take place and am especially looking forward to Biden’s debate with Ryan
Ted Kennedy will look like the man responsible for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne except for those who still want to bewail the Glorious and Sorrowful Mysteries of the Kennedy Brothers.
Pingback: The DNC Tribute to Ted Kennedy « polentical
and decrying “the lowliness of using a dead guy”, of course, is coming from the people who can’t hardly make a 1 minute speech without mentioning Reagan.
Which means you deserve each other. Pitiful people. And ludicrous religion.
The Lion that Roared was Bubbua Bill Clinton last night. Did some serious Republican ass-kicking. Finally someone telling it like it is.
You need to celebrate the wonderful way these two men relate to the women in their lives! Mary Jo and Monica-you did not suffer in vain!
What’s a matter Fred? Disappointed that politically successful men in the GOP are not able to be unfaithful to their wives? Oh wait. Never mind. I guess you’re disappointed because people like Mark Sanford and Nevada Senator John Ensign were disgraced before they accomplished great things, huh?
We’re all aware of these infidelities in Clinton and Ted Kennedy’s life. Somehow though they have risen above these character flaws and achieved things that have benefitted millions of people. And because of it, some of us, though never forgetting, are willing to forgive.
Not everyone like Bush can be faithful to their wives and take a budget surplus and create a budget deficit while putting us in to a needless war based on lies, (how many thousands have died from that war?) all while promoting a period of deregulation allowing the financial industry in this company to melt down and cause the greatest recession this country has seen in about 80 years.
Ah well. We all have our own idea about what a hero is.
oops. Country, not “company”
Yeah, wish I had said that.
Like you, I will always be grateful to Mary Jo for making the Kennedy dynasty’s accomplishments possible. Really, it’s the little people who allow the great to become who they were always meant to be.
And as an atheist, I laugh my ass off whenever I see a Kennedy at Mass or a Clinton or another Southern Fried Bubba with a bible or a Farrakhan with a koran.
Religion is so boring.
I think you prefer to be hateful. People who are so sure they are right, are as Clinton said, never right all the time, and even a broken clock is right twice a day. As has been said, you apparently forget all the little picadillos committed by members of the GOP. And I would imagine a couple of them have risen above their failings and done some good as well. But heck, life in your cold little pinched world of hate.
What forgetting the GOP’s pecadillos? Are you accusing me of being partisan-you, who treat “Rev.” Jackson seriously? Trust me-I still get laughs watching Falwell swell to moon of Jupiter proportions while demanding self-control and “I have sinned against you , my Lord!” on YouTube still makes me laugh on sad days.
Cold and pinched? Seriously? Do you hear yourself? Is “hateful” the best you’ve got? Are you that pathetic that motive is more important than action? I can’t imagine a poorer or more pinched world than that of the freakazoid Fundiegelicals or the withering on the vine “mainline” protestant world of over 95% White middle/upper middle class Protestants who’ve managed to convince themselves that they’re “celebrating our diversity!” while remaining as vibrantly diverse as skim milk or that “we’re the future of religion” with a median age of 68 and rising.
“Hate”? You know at least as much about hate as your Fundiegelical opponents; clearly, you both deserve the other. Leave us atheists, the reality-based community, out of your fantasy lives. You want to believed that there’s someone invisible and inaudible whose politics are an exact mirror or yours-fine. But have your churches start paying taxes-you’ve been freeloading for far too long.