We can only hope that someone will pick up the torch now that Senator Kennedy can no longer carry it.

It is my hope that the Senator's legacy will be that people remember that he fought for a set of principles and beliefs that mean something and that he did not simply adopt positions based upon what was the most expedient political position of the moment as is the case with so many of our supposed leaders today. It was is unwavering support for those principles that caused so many to rally to his banner, to continue to fight for what is right, and to remember that some things are worth fighting for even if you may not prevail immediately. Senator Kennedy never forgot that he was a Democrat and he was one of the few members of Congress in recent times who unapologetically represented the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

In my view, Ted Kennedy was the greatest Senator in the history of the republic.

In the early 90's I worked at an alternative school in Boston, helping get young people involved in community service projects. I was asked to take my students to an event showcasing community service projects at which Sen. Kennedy would be in attendance.

I wanted the students to know a little about the senator they were about to meet so we watched a documentary on the Kennedys. When I got to the event, Sen. Kennedy was working the crowd, shaking hands with people in attendance. One of my students was practically apoplectic to get to meet the senator, so we walked over to shake his hand and introduce ourselves.

My student told Sen. Kennedy about the documentary we had watched and then said something that absolutely mortified me. "I think I like your brother John better than you." I must have looked ashen, but Sen. Kennedy just laughed and said, "That's OK with me, but your teacher looks a little upset about it." Then he just winked at me with a great big smile and shook my hand.

So, that will be my memory of Sen. Kennedy. A gracious man who helped a young teacher get through an embarrassing moment.

I'm not old enought at 39 to remember John or Bobby Kennedy. For me the Kennedys have been represented most prominently by Ted. While I can certainly remember the Carter/Ford race from '76, I wasn't, at 6, old enough to understand much more than my parents were voting for Carter.

I was 10 in 1980 and I distinctly remember the primary (my parents are very political so this stuff was always on the tv etc.). I can remember Ted's campaign stops covered on the news, his speeches, the commercials etc. Obviously, I couldn't articulate why at the time but he inspired me and I came to the conclusion he should be President.(mighty presumptuous of me I know)

That is the power of passionate oratory; the power of a speaker who truly believes what they are speaking about - that was the power of Ted Kennedy: to inspire not just political junkies, or people at a campaign stop, or a U.S. Senator - but to also inspire a ten year old kid (who probably only understood a 5th of what was being said.)

Ted Kennedy has his flaws, we all do. No one is perfect. That said, few people have come forward to serve with his dedication to helping other people, to fight for people who could not fight for themselves, to fight for what they believed to be right. What made him even more special was his ability to know when to fight and when it was better to compromise. Politics is the art of the possible. Ted Kennedy was the master at balancing when to compromise with when to push because more was possible.

Whether you agree with his politics or his ideology, there should be no disagreement that Ted Kennedy was a devoted public servant and a Senator who tried as hard as possible to do everything possible to make the country a better place to live.

The Kennedy name was revered in my Midwestern Irish Catholic family as I grew up. My grandfather had been appointed assistant postmaster of St. Louis by JFK, and upon the death of the beloved president, he erected a shrine of JFK memorabilia, plaques, campaign buttons and more downstairs.

Teddy never really entered my consciousness until Bobby's death and the song "Abraham, Martin and John/What the World Needs Now" played often on the AM radio I used to fall asleep. The song includes the last lines of Teddy's eulogy for Bobby. Every time I heard the quavering sorrow in Teddy's voice, I cried. Later I heard the stories and political attacks about Chappaquiddick, which seem in retrospect as hateful as anything the Far Right has spewed since.

As an adult far from the centers of power, I watched and listened as Teddy grew into a champion of the common man worthy of a Steinbeck novel. He was tireless, fearless and occasionally self-indulgent to his own shame. I never have blamed him for Carter losing the 1980 election to Reagan because I saw Carter as a weak president who probably should have taken an LBJ and headed for the door anyway.

In his final years, Teddy earned his nickname. The volumes of legislation he produced in concert with other Democrats and allies he made across the aisle is enormous. I will miss his voice and the lion's heart he brought to public service.

It's hard to separate Ted Kennedy's passing from my own aging. I was 23 when JFK was killed.

He was flawed, no question. Without the Kennedy family legacy, he would have been finished as a politician many years ago. His challenge to Carter in 1980 was in my view a disaster for the party and the country, although it seems unlikely that the swing to the Right would have been stopped, and it is also true Carter was failing. Still, I guess I'm a traditionalist who thinks you don't challenge a sitting president of your party...dude.

But alone among the Kennedy brothers, he may have achieved greatness in the senate as a fierce fighter for his issues and a man who could work with and was liked by fierce opponents. He knew how to make a deal and make it stick. Boy, do we ever need that now!

And the Freepers rejoice.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2325152/posts#comment

My only opportunity to be near Ted Kennedy was when I heard him speak in behalf of his brother, and president to be, John at a rally in San Antonio during the closing days of the historic 1960 election. Needless to say, I was extremely impressed with the young Ted Kennedy.

I visited the U.S. Congress but once as a tourist. We had maybe five minutes to linger in the visitors galley of the Senate. I recognized only one senator there, and unmistakeably so, because he was a head taller than anyone else in the room. This was a long time ago, when there was still serious talk of him running for president.

Ted Kennedy never offered the promise of his larger than life elder brothers, but he lived a long life working in Washington after they were gone. Ted has also departed leaving unrealized potential behind, but think about this: If John had lived as long as Ted, he would have died on almost exactly the day George W. Bush was first elected to public office, as governor of Texas.

Ted Kennedy started early and worked hard at one job his whole career, but the country needed more than him. We will now have to try to figure out how to get by with less.

Ask not what another Kennedy might do for the country, ask what the country should do with no more Kennedys.