'Lion' Kennedy King of the Senate

'Liberal lion' invoked by both left and right, but what would he think?

(NEWSER) - The memory of Ted Kennedy was a vivid presence today on both sides of the aisle as the Senate passed its version of his signature issue, health care reform. The late Massachusetts senator “remained the Democrats' spiritual floor leader,” Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post , and almost everyone credited him for the success. The tributes didn't sit well with some Republicans. More»

(NEWSER) - If you ask leading Democrats who can replace Ted Kennedy as the Senate’s liberal standard-bearer, the most frequent answer is “nobody,” writes Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times. No one has a record to match Kennedy’s, and in today’s Senate, building one would be virtually impossible. "The Senate is much more polarized than it was when Kennedy arrived in 1962, and that makes legislating—especially legislating based on bipartisan compromise—more difficult," McManus writes. More»

(NEWSER) - Senator Robert Byrd wants his colleagues to honor Ted Kennedy by renaming health care legislation in his honor, Politico reports. “As a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling,” said Byrd, 92, himself in poor health. "My heart and soul weeps at the loss of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend." More»

Kennedy, Collins named most bipartisan

(NEWSER) - If you want to reach across the aisle in the Senate, chances are you're stretching toward Ted Kennedy or Susan Collins, according to a Hill survey of the upper chamber. “I’d love to co-sponsor every piece of legislation with Ted Kennedy,” says Sen. Richard Burr. The most partisan least faves? Democrat Patrick Leahy, for whom Dick Cheney had some explicit advice in 2004, and Republican Jim Bunning is so partisan that many Dems won’t talk to him except about baseball. More»

Docs want Mass. senator, 76, to cut back on work

(NEWSER) - Ted Kennedy was released today from the Washington hospital where he was sent yesterday after suffering a seizure during Congress’ inaugural lunch with President Obama. The 76-year-old Massachusetts senator was back “in good spirits” this morning, the Boston Globe reports, but doctors urged him to reduce his workload. Such seizures, brought on by fatigue, are common among brain-cancer patients. More»