Breaking News: Ted Kennedy has Passed Away.

Image from source, ABC News

Sigh. Wow. Two Kennedys in the same month. I am too young to remember the idealized "Camelot" Kennedy mystique. By the time I was old enough to know what was going on, Jackie was an "O" and Edward Kennedy was fodder for jokes on Saturday Night Live. Still, despite his faults, I know that he did a lot of good in his life.

The timing of course couldn't be worse for health care reform, which was ironically Ted Kennedy's pet project. Will this give Democrats added drive to get it done, or will the whole thing just unravel? Time will tell. RIP, Teddy.

[Excerpt]

Ted Kennedy Dies of Brain Cancer at Age 77

Sen. Ted Kennedy died shortly before midnight Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 77.

The man known as the "liberal lion of the Senate" had fought a more than year-long battle with brain cancer, and according to his son had lived longer with the disease than his doctors expected him to. . .

Read more at:

Sen. Ted Kennedy Battling Brain Tumor

Photo from MSNBC

I'm too young to have experienced "The Kennedy Mystique." Camelot to me still conjures imagery of Merlin and Lancelot, not Jackie and John. So my connection to the Kennedys is tenuous at best. Still, Senator Edward Kennedy has--whatever his shortcomings--done a lot of good over a lot of years. Hopefully, his health crisis can be beaten. Because even though I didn't see most of their travails happen, I really think that the Kennedy's have had enough strife to deal with. Good luck, Teddy.

[Excerpt]

Sen. Kennedy battling brain tumor

Friends and colleagues of Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy instinctively reached for the same word Tuesday as they learned that the last remaining representative of Camelot had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

They called him a fighter. They said he had fought for children, the poor, African-Americans and immigrants during his nearly 46 years in the Senate. He fought for access to health care, for quality education, for civil rights and for workers' rights. And now, they said, he would fight for himself. . .

Red more at: Chicago Tribune