Senator Kennedy has died.

Senator Kennedy is dead. He and his brothers are heroes. At 17, the first political campaign I involved myself with was his 1980 bid for the White House. He was one of the greatest senators we have ever had and this country is better because of his life. He made two huge mistakes which will tarnish his legacy, Chappaquiddick and his foolish endorsement of the lying sack of shit Obama.

Still, the contributions of Senator Kennedy are incalculable.

From the LA Times tonight:

Though his most cherished legislative goal of universal health insurance eluded him, Kennedy helped write a number of laws that ranged from making it easier for workers who change or lose jobs to keep their health insurance, to giving 18-year-olds the right to vote, to deregulating the airlines, helping lower airfares.

He several times spearheaded legislation to raise the minimum wage and, in the early 1970s, wrote the law creating Meals on Wheels, which delivers meals to seniors. He was influential in reforming immigration laws and in expanding Head Start programs.

In 1982, he helped gain an extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and he was a principal sponsor of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which negated Supreme Court decisions that made it more difficult for minorities to win lawsuits charging job discrimination by employers. In 1990, he worked with then-Sen. Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) to gain passage of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act giving disabled Americans greater access to employment, among other things. That same year, he was author of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act providing funds for community healthcare and support services.