Hotline After Dark -- A Good & Decent Man
"World News," "Evening News" and "Nightly News" each led with the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
Talk about Kennedy dominated the news coverage yesterday.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT): "We had tremendous fights the whole time, throughout his whole tenure and my whole tenure in the Senate, but when we got together, people would tend to get out of the way. They figured if Kennedy and Hatch can get together, anybody can" ("Situation Room," CNN, 8/26).
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): "He was a good and decent man. He espoused his cause with passion and fervor and dedication. I could trust his word. He was a person that I could trust and he was also a lot of fun to be around. But he loved the institution and he reached across the aisle. And we need some of that" ("Hannity," FNC, 8/26).
Ex-Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN): "He could have had a life of ease, but he didn't. He spent his life helping for people who couldn't help themselves, whether they were the poor, the afflicted children that needed education, people who needed health care. Ted Kennedy was a champion for people who needed a champion" (Situation Room," CNN, 8/26).
After the jump, more on Kennedy and the health care debate.
(RACHELLE DOUILLARD-PROULX/ABBY LIVINGSTON)
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA): "He was a champion for justice, for civil rights, for voting rights. And I think it was part of his makeup, part of his DNA to get out there, to speak up, and to speak out" ("NewsHour," PBS, 8/26).
Ex-Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ): "I think that he was that rare politician that didn't see principle and pragmatism as a conflict. And he knew that he wanted to be true to himself. ... I can't remember one vote where he compromised his principles. I also think one of his most admirable qualities was I don't think he held a grudge. I don't think he held a grudge against anybody" ("Ed Show," MSNBC, 8/26).
WILL THE DREAM LIVE ON?
Kennedy's impact on health care was also discussed.
Karl Rove, on whether Kennedy's passing will affect which bill is passed: "That may be the case, but I doubt it. I think people are not looking to pass a bill to honor Senator Kennedy that changes their life, their health care, makes their health care worse, raises taxes, spends a trillion dollars, you know, changes a whole big chunk of the American economy just to sort of honor a passing senator."
More Rove: "With all due respect to Senator Kennedy's memory and his ... prodigious work ... over the years in health care, I don't think that at the end of the day, members of Congress are going to feel comfortable going home and saying, I know the bill was bad, but I voted for it because it had Kennedy's name on it" ("On the Record," FNC, 8/26).
Huffington Post's Huffington: "Senator Kennedy passed the torch, the JFK torch, the Kennedy torch, on to Obama during the primaries. So now Obama needs to rise to that occasion and actually speak passionately about health care as a moral imperative, the way Ted Kennedy has been speaking about it for 40 years" ("Ed Show," MSNBC, 8/26).
Ex-WH advisor David Gergen, on Kennedy's passing: "Whether this may open a new window for Barack Obama to change the conversation, to bring Democrats and Republicans back to the table in Teddy Kennedy's memory is, I think, one of the big questions, sort of practical questions, overhanging this very sad night. I'm not sure that Barack Obama can do it, but I do think he's got a very short window when he could change the conversation, take charge when he gets back to Washington" ("AC 360," CNN, 8/26).