Tribute to Ted Kennedy

By Richard K. Barry

The Democratic National Convention featured a tribute video for the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy on Tuesday night. As Mark Landler of The New York Times writes, the piece featured a section on Mitt Romney's unsuccessful bid to defeat Kennedy in a 1994 U.S. Senate race:

Mr. Kennedy was shown debating Mr. Romney over abortion rights during that campaign. Mr. Romney insisted he supported Roe vs. Wade, a position he later disavowed.

"I'm pro-choice," Mr. Kennedy declared, with a gibe that has been thrown at Mr. Romney many times in his political career. "My opponent is multiple choice."

The video portrayed President Obama as the steward of Mr. Kennedy's legislative legacy, with his passage of longtime Kennedy causes like the health care overhaul and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mr. Kennedy's endorsement of Mr. Obama in 2008 was a crucial imprimatur for the young senator in his battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It seems that the tribute annoyed Reince Priebus, chairman of the RNC, who criticized the video as inappropriate, saying, "Classless Dems use tribute video of deceased Ted Kennedy to attack Mitt Romney."

Only in the world of today's GOP could it possibly be considered classless to draw attention to a position Mitt Romney actually once held with words he actually once said.

I can also only imagine Ted Kennedy would enjoy the fact that he is still, in some small way, in the game.

Here's the tribute:

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)