Many of this blog's readers are too young to know precisely what Sen. Kennedy has done over the course of his near half century in the Senate. So, via Ezra and from Mike Lux, here's a partial list of his major accomplishments:
Kennedy has been a player in literally every major progressive accomplishment of my life, usually a major player, quite often the leading player: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Legal Services, the War on Poverty, environmental legislation, OSHA, bringing down Richard Nixon on the Watergate investigations, ending the Vietnam War, stopping military aid to the Contras in Central America, the Martin Luther King holiday, stopping Robert Bork, the increases in the minimum wage, Family and Medical Leave, National Service, Motor Voter Act, S-CHIP. His fingerprints are on all of that legislation, and more. And even where he failed, on universal health care and labor law reform and stopping the Iraq war and other battles, he fought the good fight with passion and heart and courage. I hope like hell his fight is not ending, that he does not go gentle into that good night, because we need his passion and heart and courage in these cautious, careful times all the more.
If you want to understand why even his ideological opponents admire his career, this list is a great place to start. Try to imagine an America without all of these accomplishments and you'll begin to understand the impact his career has had on our nation.
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