The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Senator Edward M. Kennedy passed away last evening, but his fighting spirit, and his greatest fight lives on.


"This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American...will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege."

For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years."

— Ted Kennedy


His will, his determination and his fight for all Americans will endure. We will not only continue to strive for a country where each and every citizen is guaranteed health care, but one where all of us have every opportunity, where doors are not closed to anyone because of the color of their skin, their beliefs, their sex, or who they love. In a land where liberty and justice for all is supposed to mean just that, neither race, nor religion, gender nor sexual preference shall stand as a barrier to any American in this great nation we continue to build. We seek what Ted Kennedy sought his entire career...we seek a more perfect union. We will see this fight through.

For Teddy...for all of us.

...the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.