Senator Edward Kennedy Dead at 77

Sadly, his cancer finally claimed him.

He was a great man, a strong progressive, an honest-to-goodness liberal who helped its cause, and as Meteor Blades said on Kos:

Kennedy was a liberal fighter in the old mold. The plethora of legislation he helped pass made life better for children, for the poor, for African-Americans, for immigrants, for workers. He didn't just give lip service to the rights of workers, he stood in their corner. He fought for access to health care and for quality education. And he opposed the likes of Robert Bork and others who wanted to trash the gains American women, workers and minorities had made over the years.

Yes, he will be missed. But so will his contribution, unless the rest of us have the courage to take up his torch.