Ted Kennedy - Thank you

"RIP" is supposed to be the appropriate short-hand response to someone's passing, but for me "rest in peace" is inadequate for Sen. Ted Kennedy. The words that keep coming into my mind today are "Thank You."

Thank you, Ted, for speaking up for LGBT people long before others thought to do so. Thank you for a lifetime of struggle to bring fairness, health care and and so much more to our nation. Thank you for being willing to do the hard work of legislating. Thank you for keeping progressive values alive in a time when to be a "liberal" was to be called a traitor. Most of all, thank you for having lived so public a life and for having served your nation so well.

Some of the best coverage of Kennedy's passing can be found at Talking Points Memo. Steve Benen at Washington Monthly talks about what Kennedy's death might mean to the health insurance debate.

[update] Think Progress has more on the impact of Kennedy's passing on the health debate.