Ted "The Liberal Lion" Kennedy Returns To The Senate

It is truly a blessing to see this grand Senatorial fighter back on Capitol Hill today, working on behalf of President-Elect Obama to pass legislation that puts workers first instead of what the GOP and President Bush are trying to do by putting the wealthy ahead as they have for years.



Cheers to Teddy!

Mr. Cantor, Silver Is No Kennedy

Dan Cantor is a great guy and does a lot for progressive values here in New York. Though as he points out, no politician is perfect and he screwed up by trying to compare Sheldon Silver with the liberal lion Ted Kennedy. Mr. Cantor, I am sorry but lending Teddy's good name to one of the three men in the room up in Albany is just ridiculous.

From The NY Observer:

Sometimes the candidate who'll fight for working families is a challenger, sometimes it's an incumbent who's been doing it for years. Think about Teddy Kennedy if you want the best example of such a person at the national level.

Time after time, on the crucial fights of the day - Silver has been the most important leader standing up to right-wing corporate power. He beat back Republican attempts to end rent regulation, slash public schools, and reduce access to healthcare coverage. He actually believes that the government has a role to play in making sure everyone has a decent shot in life. That's not trivial.

Just last session, he led the way on legislation to create a paid family leave program, to expand affordable housing, to cut taxes on working families and raise taxes on millionaires, and to create a public campaign finance system that would finally end the dominance of big money in Albany.

Shelly Silver isn't perfect - no politician is. But those bills could become law next year if the State Senate flips, and Shelly's leadership is there to get it done. (more on why the WFP endorsed Silver)

Now Silver isn't all bad, he has done some good things in over three decades. He is a Democrat of course. Yet when you look at the grand scheme of things, Silver is a reinforcement of the status quo in Albany where nothing gets done. Silver may have led the way on the legislation mentioned above, but for the most part bills die in the Assembly overwhelmingly not because of the will of the Assembly but because Silver says so. He has an enormous amount of power based on the arcane and anti-Democratic rules of the legislative body. He has and will do anything to hold onto that power and that is why all candidates are working so hard now before election day, one for the status quo and the others that fight for the change we so desperately need.

Silver certainly can fight, but more so like a hyena than a lion.

An Incredible First Night In Denver...And Tragedy Averted

If you were one of the millions that watched tonight's speeches (or at least just Ted Kennedy's moving 10 minutes and Michelle Obama's passionate oration) then you know we all saw something incredible in the making. While the media has been trying to frame the convention as an overtly negative, internally divisive event, the reality of what is going on in Denver is anything but. Tonight I heard hope and American stories from Senator McCaskill, a heart-warming few minutes from the man who hired Barack as a community organizer 23 years ago and the cutest thing of all, the Obama kids up on stage talking to their daddy via satellite for all to see.

On stage and throughout the convention, there is the hope for a new day in American politics. Obama speaks to issues while mercilessly defending his character from the uncalled for dirty tricks that McCain applies to this election in order to win through the appeal to fear. Since McCain has nothing to offer our country but more of the same that Bush has given us, he has decided to play in the lowest cesspool of mud that is available in political discourse. Well, Barack Obama isn't going to stand for it and neither are we.

Yet not everyone feels the same way. Some Americans out on the fringe of society hear McCain's call to their fears and ignorant ideas. Tonight, thanks to the great work by Denver, Colorado and Federal authorities, a plot to kill Barack Obama was broken up. Four white supremacists were arrested with various instruments of death, but it was their meth that really gave them up. So their plot probably wouldn't have succeeded, but the fact that it existed is horrifying enough.

We must stop playing to the worst characteristics in our society and stick with the best. What I heard tonight at the convention pointed in the direction of the latter, but all I hear from the other side is nothing of what we need to live in a decent and just society.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, Still Is And Will Always Be A Lion

What a truly remarkable man, working hard for Massachusetts, America and the world for nearly 50 years. Now, he comes to the 2008 Democratic Convention without letting anything stop him, not even a brain tumor. His incredible niece Caroline had the honor of introducing him.

Here is the tribute to him:



And then came his remarkable speech:

Keeping Senator Kennedy In Our Thoughts Today

As the news is beginning to report, Senator Ted Kennedy is undergoing brain surgery today. The operation is the first step to reduce the tumor before he undergoes chemotherapy and radiation. He is definitely in good hands this morning with one of the nation's top neurosurgeons, so all we can do is say a prayer (or send good thoughts if you choose) as he begins to fight this as he has fought every other challenge in his life.

From The Huffington Post:

Kennedy said that over the past few days he and his wife, Vicki, "along with my outstanding team of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, have consulted with experts from around the country and have decided that the best course of action for my brain tumor is targeted surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation."

Kennedy said he selected a team of neuro-oncologists from Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital and Duke University Medical Center.

Friedman is "one of the thought leaders" and a giant in the field of neuro-oncology, said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, speaking from Chicago, where more than 30,000 cancer specialists are attending an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference.

Friedman is chief of the division of neurosurgery in the surgical department at Duke and also co-director of the neuro-oncology department there. His clinical interests are brain tumors, skull-based tumors, peripheral nerve surgery, pituitary tumors and cerebrovascular disaster, according to his resume on the medical center's Web site.

After his treatment, Kennedy said, "I look forward to returning to the United States Senate and to doing everything I can to help elect Barack Obama as our next president." Kennedy has endorsed Obama, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

I'm so happy to see his fighting spirit still remains, and further proof that absolutely nothing can keep this great man down. If you haven't done so already, you can send him a letter at his Senate website.

Wishing Ted Kennedy The Best

The Liberal Lion, the longest serving Senator second to Robert Byrd, the great Ted Kennedy was given the terrible news that he has a malignant brain tumor, the likely cause of his seizure this past weekend. His family is all around him at the hospital in Boston and he is good spirits, but malignant tumors like this are not a good sign.

From the AP:

Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma.

His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.[...]

The doctors said Kennedy will remain in the hospital "for the next couple of days according to routine protocol."

"He remains in good spirits and full of energy," they said.

Kennedy's wife and children have been with him each day but have made no public statements.

Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year — and the most common type among adults. It's a starting diagnosis: How well patients fare depends on what specific tumor type is determined by further testing.

Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types — such as glioblastomas — or to about five years for different types that are slower growing.

We should know in the next few days what type of tumor the Senator has and of course like all cancers, nothing is set in stone when it comes to life expectancy and treatment procedures. What is certain is that Sen. Kennedy will be getting the best possible care and will continue to be a prominent political figure as he has been for nearly half a century.

Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the Kennedy family.

Ted Kennedy Spreads Some Truth On Petraeus's BS Sandwich

Like only the "liberal lion" can do it:

Obama Might Not Want To Throw Stones Through His Own Glass House

In politics, everything you say must be assumed that it is recorded and stored for future use. Barack Obama, being a little green, might not have heard about this memo, since it came back to bite him in the ass this week. Back when he was running for Senate he called out Ted Kennedy for not showing some backbone and "getting some spine and standing up to the Republicans." He was talking about prescription drugs and health care for seniors, but political spine can apply to anything. One example would be fighting against retroactive immunity for the telecommunication companies that were willing accomplices for the Bush Administration's prerogative to spy on American citizens.

This is what he said way back when:

"We've got to call up not just Republicans," said the Illinois Democrat, "but we got to call up Ted Kennedy and say, Ted, you're getting a little old now, and you've been a fighter for us before I don't know what's happening now, Ted get some spine and stand up to the Republicans."

The appearance was at an AFL-CIO forum. And Obama was obviously passionate, as many Democrats were, that the then-pending drug bill wasted billions of tax dollars in payoffs to pharmaceutical companies, denied seniors a true choice on prescription drugs, and generally did little in reducing drug costs.

Kennedy, for his part, forged a bipartisan compromise because he believed the legislation would provide millions of seniors with drug benefits for the first time in history.

It should be noted that while on the campaign trail Obama has frequently argued that the Democratic Party should not compromise on its main principles.

I would think holding people accountable for their actions is one of our party's principles. That is especially true when we are trying to uphold the validity of the Constitution and the rule of law. You would think that would be something Barack cares about. So where was he on Monday when push came to shove in the Senate?

Certainly nowhere near the Senate floor, and definitely not next to Chris Dodd and his effort to thwart retroactive immunity....something that Ted Kennedy was shouting out against at the top of his lungs on the same Senate floor.

Ted Kennedy Backs Up Dodd

And he does it in a big way, leading to the small victory we had over retroactive immunity yesterday.

Congressional Snafu Snarls Hate Crimes Bill

Any ordinary person can tell you that the way Congress works is confusing as f%@k. That little cartoon about how a bill becomes law that I saw when I was small is complete crap. Things do not work that simply. Due to the messy Congressional conflagration, there will be no Matthew Shepard Act this year which means that the public will get the message that Congress does not want hate crimes legislation extended to the GLBT community.

From RawStory:

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was widely supported by Democrats and some moderate Senate Republicans. But because it was attached to a major defense policy bill that would have authorized more money for the Iraq war, many anti-war Democrats said they would oppose it.

"We don't have the votes," said one House Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because conference negotiations on the defense bill were ongoing. "We're about 40 votes short, not four or six."

The development is a blow to civil rights groups which say that broadening federal laws are necessary to address a rise in crimes motivated by hate and based upon a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

So the bill had widespread approval, yet it failed. It failed because it was attached to a military spending bill and therefore it would be denied ironically by hardcore conservatives and anti-war Democrats alike. Conservatives (at least those ones) do not think gay people deserve to be protected from hate crimes....and while anti-war Democrats are in support of the Matthew Shepard Act, they do not care to fund more missile programs.

So if you want to blame someone, blame Pelosi for not sending the legislation to the floor for a vote. She says she won't give up on it, but in her mind, this isn't the right time. For now though, this is one more hurdle for victims of these hate crimes to get appropriate justice and also keeping the funds out of law agencies hands to prosecute the crimes.