Posted on 08/29/2009 10:26:56 AM PDT by Steelfish
Obama Hails Kennedy as "Greatest Legislator"
By REUTERS August 29, 2009
BOSTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hailed Senator Edward Kennedy as the "greatest legislator of our time" at the funeral on Saturday of the towering politician and patriarch of the pre-eminent American political dynasty.
Former presidents, senators and representatives of both political parties joined the large Irish-American Kennedy clan for the funeral Mass at a Roman Catholic basilica.
"Ted Kennedy's life's work was not to champion those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard," Obama said in the eulogy at the funeral attended by members of the U.S. political elite.
Dozens of lawmakers from the last several decades -- many of whom had been Kennedy's fiercest foes on legislation -- attended the traditional Catholic funeral Mass in the stone, 130-year-old Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica.
Mourners from Hollywood star Jack Nicholson to Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer packed the church beneath soaring arches and stained glass.
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma played and opera star Placido Domingo sang as the sound of rain could be heard pounding the roof. Readings came from several generations of Kennedys.
Obama and former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton sat at the front with their wives.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
/johnny
W has an endless reservoir of class.
How he could sit surrounded by such scum is beyond me.
Tantamount to being a great tax collector.
Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffftttttt!
Kennedy was scum, and the world is better without him. The dead infants he betrayed with his advocacy for abortion will continue to haunt him.
Whoa, better reserve some space on Mount Rushmore for that.
He may well have been the greatest legislator. Problem is we have way to much legislation. What is comes down to is being greatest thief of our wealth, prosperity and freedom.
These people do not reside in the same country or plane of existence as the rest of us.
and his w/L record??
Isn't that a little like ‘biggest pothole’ or ‘largest hemorrhoid’
Isn't that a little like being the "least diseased girl in the brothel"?
. . . or the most diseased . .
The greatest Senator in my lifetime was Everett Dirksen. He passed away when I was 11.
Seems to me Kennedy was not very poplular outside Massachussets. It will be interesting to see the TV ratings on this. In any case, looney Massachussets loses a lot of seniority in the Senate.
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