| | Kennedy exerted enormous power thanks to his seniority and committee chairmanships, his willingness to work with Republicans, his unusually energetic staff, and the celebrity accorded the most famous name in politics. More than any senator in recent decades he was the master of legislative legerdemain: handling negotiations over broad policy goals, vetting the smallest details, negotiating with the concerned lobbyists, orchestrating the public hearings, briefing and leaking to the media, crafting compromises, cutting deals with the White House and with Republicans, and designing a legislative path through committee and onto the floor to get his legislation passed. | | Kennedy exerted enormous power thanks to his seniority and committee chairmanships, his willingness to work with Republicans, his unusually energetic staff, and the celebrity accorded the most famous name in politics. More than any senator in recent decades he was the master of legislative legerdemain: handling negotiations over broad policy goals, vetting the smallest details, negotiating with the concerned lobbyists, orchestrating the public hearings, briefing and leaking to the media, crafting compromises, cutting deals with the White House and with Republicans, and designing a legislative path through committee and onto the floor to get his legislation passed. |
| − | Kennedy garnered the nickname "Lion of the Senate" for his long and vigorous career in public service. In the club-like atmosphere of the U.S. Senate, Kennedy enjoyed personal support acreos s the board. Republican Senator [[Orrin Hatch]] (R-Utah) said "he's like a brother to me,"<ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/the-lion-of-the-senate_b_103322.html</ref> while Senator [[John McCain]] (R-Arizona) said that he has "the highest respect for him," calling him a "skillful, fair, and generous partner" in the times they have worked together<ref>http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1807447,00.html</ref>. President [[Obama]] called Kennedy "the greatest United States Senator of our time."<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Senator-Kennedy</ref> | + | Kennedy garnered the nickname "Lion of the Senate" for his long and vigorous career in public service. In the club-like atmosphere of the U.S. Senate, Kennedy enjoyed personal support from Washington insiders.<ref>Republican Senator [[Orrin Hatch]] (R-Utah) said "he's like a brother to me,"[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/the-lion-of-the-senate_b_103322.html] while Senator [[John McCain]] (R-Arizona) said that he has "the highest respect for him," calling him a "skillful, fair, and generous partner" in the times they have worked together.[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1807447,00.html] President [[Obama]] called Kennedy "the greatest United States Senator of our time."[http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Senator-Kennedy]</ref> But outside of Washington, Rev. Thomas Euteneuer had a more objective view of his fellow Catholic: "It is not enough for Kennedy to have been a 'great guy behind the scenes' as we have seen him referred to even by his political opponents. ... Every indication of Senator Kennedy's career, every public appearance, every sound bite showed an acerbic, divisive and partisan political hack for whom party politics were much more infallible than Church doctrines."<ref>http://www.hli.org/index.php?option=com_acajoom&act=mailing&task=view&listid=2&mailingid=666</ref> |
| | The [[Kennedy Family]] has been a major part of the Democratic Party for a century, beginning with his grandfather as mayor of Boston, his older brothers President [[John F. Kennedy]] (assassinated in 1963) and [[Robert F. Kennedy]] (assassinated in 1968) and their [[special needs]] sister Rosemary. Despite the family's immense [[financial]] resources she was shunted off to an institution in [[Wisconsin]] at the age of 23 and spent her entire life abandoned by the family where she died alone in 2005 at the age of 86.<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-07-kennedy-death_x.htm</ref><ref>http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/Rosemary_Kennedy/2008/06/17/105127.html</ref> Ted Kennedy was long a presumptive nominee for president himself, but the [[Chappaquiddick]] scandal in 1969 caused him to delay his candidacy until 1980, when he was whipped by incumbent Democratic President [[Jimmy Carter]]. | | The [[Kennedy Family]] has been a major part of the Democratic Party for a century, beginning with his grandfather as mayor of Boston, his older brothers President [[John F. Kennedy]] (assassinated in 1963) and [[Robert F. Kennedy]] (assassinated in 1968) and their [[special needs]] sister Rosemary. Despite the family's immense [[financial]] resources she was shunted off to an institution in [[Wisconsin]] at the age of 23 and spent her entire life abandoned by the family where she died alone in 2005 at the age of 86.<ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-07-kennedy-death_x.htm</ref><ref>http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/Rosemary_Kennedy/2008/06/17/105127.html</ref> Ted Kennedy was long a presumptive nominee for president himself, but the [[Chappaquiddick]] scandal in 1969 caused him to delay his candidacy until 1980, when he was whipped by incumbent Democratic President [[Jimmy Carter]]. |