"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Lessons and Inspirations from Ted Kennedy's Funeral

I just heard Mark Leibovich of The New York Times tell Andrea Mitchell on MSNNC that Ted Kennedy enjoyed watching 24 on DVDs ... take that, Keith Olbermann :)

Ted Kennedy, Jr's speech at the funeral earlier today was powerful indeed. I hadn't heard him speak ever before, and was moved and mightily impressed by his delivery and his words. The clarity of vision in this family is remarkable.

Barack Obama's eulogy was excellent, but I wish he'd picked up what Ted Kennedy, III (11 years old, and a real winner) said earlier in the funeral about health care, quoting his grandfather's words that health care is a right not a privilege. The Republicans in the audience need to hear that, as often as possible.

Ted Kennedy's journey will end in a few hours at Arlington Cemetery, next to his two brothers. But as Ted Kennedy, Jr. said at the end of his oration, quoting again from his father, "the work goes on".

2 comments:

Lis Carey said...

They need to hear it as much as possible, but Teddy III wasn't the only one making it. Many of the speakers today and last night made the point, in a variety of ways.

I think there's circumstantial evidence that Teddy III is the one who noticed yesterday that somebody ought to send cold drinks and sandwiches out to the police detail in Hyannisport. And he had the presence of mind to ask for a tape of the interview he did. I think Republicans will be running scared, in about twenty years.:)

Paul Levinson said...

Yeah, I picked that up, too - Teddy III asking for a tape of his interview. He definitely has the savvy.

InfiniteRegress.tv