RIP Ted Kennedy

I tend to see the political system in the U.S. as cracked, if not broken, but I felt Teddy Kennedy got better with age and fought passionately for some important issues. No matter how you look at it, forty-six years of public service is significant.

I was reading about Kennedy in the NYT tonight and this paragraph, written by John M. Broder, caught my eye. It encapsulates Ted Kennedy perfectly. I would be proud to write it in a fiction novel:

"He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy."

Sweet (the quote, I mean).