Ted Kennedy Addresses the DNC

Battling brain cancer (with the best health care the U.S. has to offer) Senator Kennedy rose to the occasion as he has so many times before, just not that time at Chappaquiddick.

I listened. He was telling his life story, perhaps for the last time.

What I heard was a man who has dedicated his life to making health care accessible for everyone, who has raised the minimum wage, who said “straight against gay” in a nationally televised speech and meant that there was no difference in what human rights each should have. I heard a man who left a woman to drown and has since been unable to leave anyone else behind.

Is it true that we make mistakes that amount to personal atrocities and then we either try to repair the damage or deny that it happened on our watch? I think a man with brain cancer who has been under chemo and radiation for weeks to show up in front of millions of people risking his own fragile health is a man still atoning. He cannot leave anyone behind again.

For those who cannot forgive Senator Kennedy for what he did in 1969 look at his record. He has not forgiven himself. In his search for forgiveness which may never end, he has made a life out of helping those that are left there to sink to the bottom. That is his record. That has been his political life. What we do with what haunts us is another measure of who we are.

Listen to his speech.