Senator Kennedy passed away a bit after midnight today. He lived 15 months after being treated for an advanced form of brain cancer. To the end he fought for what he believed in and was warmly regarded by everyone he dealt with of both parties -- staff included -- for his kindness, trustworthiness and comraderie. He was instrumental in reshaping FDA reform bills to refocus them on modernization not mindless retribution and it is unfortunate that illness left him unable to be fully engaged in the current health care debate. I will let others reflect on the other apsects of his life and legacy. As for me, I remember his moment of grace when delivering the eulogy for his brother Robert Kennedy:
"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world."
As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:
"Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."
