I was lying in bed just a half hour ago when one of my closest friends from home gave me a call. He told me Ted Kennedy was dead. “The Edward Kennedy?” I responded. “Yeah man, Ted’s gone.”

It’s difficult to define the emotion that has precipitously washed over me. As a Democrat, I am devastated to know that the last of the extraordinary sons of Joseph Kennedy is gone. As an American, I am saddened to see a man who gave forty-seven years of his life—that’s a majority, in fact—to the United States Senate yield the proverbial floor for good. As an enthusiast of all things political, I have not yet fully accepted that the “liberal lion” has given his final, rousing oration before a rambunctious convention hall.

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I think it goes without saying that Senator Edward Kennedy’s life has been exceptional. The lion of the Senate, a longtime leading Democrat, died this morning at age 77 of brain cancer. He has been a champion of a multitude of issues, particularly health care, throughout his career.

Although I would like to post a full obituary for all of our readers on The Blue Line, this will have to wait for a more decent hour. However, it is important to recognize that his life’s goal of providing quality, affordable health care to all, health care that could save other people’s lives from preventable loss. As the health care bill hopefully finally comes to pass, let us all remember Senator Kennedy, the man who devoted his life to making this happen.

Rest in peace, Senator Kennedy.

The news of Libyan dictator Moammar al-Gaddafi’s upcoming address to the United Nations and planned stay at a Libyan-owned mansion in Englewood, NJ might not be getting a lot of buzz elsewhere, but it’s big news in the Garden State, with a veritable who’s who of Jersey politicos expressing outrage and vowing to prevent their state from hosting the despot, who just last week raised eyebrows by embracing the freed Pan Am 103 bombing mastermind upon his incredibly inappropriate hero’s return to Libya.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Rep. Steve Rothman, various and sundry state assemblymen and the Englewood Mayor have come out against the Colonel’s itinerary. Clearly, the popular thing to do is speak out against it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Corzine and Christie express their disapproval. I for one don’t think the outrage is justified, and here’s why…

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Hannity can moan all he wants about how Obama is a “radical leftist,” but he’s dead wrong.

For all that Obama has achieved for the left thus far, he refuses to go as far as Kucinich. Don’t get me wrong now, we have made 2 steps forwards in the past 8 months while Bush took us twenty steps back in the past 8 years.

Environmentally friendly laws have been signed, we are on our way out of Iraq and increasing our presence in Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay is on its death bed. But those of us farther to the left are feeling more and more frustrated as the Obama presidency continues. We have a lot more to do in changing this country for the better, but Obama is failing to deliver in key areas.

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I recently stumbled upon an article that was in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in July discussing how, at the urging of President Obama, the Arab League is revising their peace initiative in order to alleviate Israeli concerns and increase Israeli support for the plan. Namely, if they adopt these changes, they will call for the Palestinian state created under the plan to be demilitarized and end their call for a right of return to Israel proper.

When I saw this article, I was encouraged that maybe, finally, the Arab states were looking to actually have peace with Israel. I began to think that maybe this could be the first step in a hypothetical full peace agreement between all of the Arab states (including the Palestinians) and Israel. It would be implemented, in full, in one action.

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One of the peculiar aspects of Bush foreign policy was the insistence that we could not trust the Syrian government enough to talk face-to-face on regional issues, but that we were happy to receive assurances that the people we sent over there for interrogation wouldn’t be tortured. Silly us.

President Obama, sadly, has said he’ll continue the policy of extraordinary rendition — the temporary deportation of terror suspects to other countries. If American torture doesn’t get us good information, then neither will foreign torture. If our interrogation methods aren’t good enough for the president, then he needs to set about addressing that — not outsourcing the torture business.

I recently read a comment on a conservative/libertarian campus blog which criticized The Blue Line’s writers for choosing to address national and international issues rather than campus stories. Although I doubt a great many individuals like the writer are reading this blog, his point was valid, and I will try to clear up his concerns here.

As any of the other writers will attest, The Blue Line does not mandate certain topics and exclude others. Rather, writers choose to focus their energies on fields of expertise or strong personal interest. For example, Dan Rozenson has written several posts regarding Israeli policy, about which he cares a great deal. If anyone wanted to write about a campus policy (the latest SA scandal or administration antic) they’d be free to do so.

Moreover, the GWCDs’ Communications Committee (which is responsible for this blog) is currently advertising The Blue Line to the incoming class of 2013. By and large, these are students who aren’t going to care yet about what Julie Bindelglass and Jason Lifton are up to, and thus would likely not be interested in stories about SA policy at this time in their college experience. That is likely to change as they become active in campus politics, but in terms of an outreach effort it makes no sense for current writers to try and attract readers with stories they can’t relate to.

I look forward to meeting all the interested freshmen once we get back to campus, and hopefully recruiting plenty of new writers for the 2009-2010 academic year!

By now just about everyone has seen the video of Rep. Barney Frank clowning on a crazy right wing protestor who decided it was a good idea to compare President Obama to Hitler in front of a gay Jewish man. While I understand his reaction (and really enjoyed watching it), Rep. Frank should have avoided the all-too-easy ad hominem attacks and stuck to criticism of the protester’s ideas themselves. Here’s what I would have done if I were in old Barney’s shoes: (more…)

I’d like to make a quick follow-up to my post yesterday about the health care debate and rightwing mobs. One of the hottest YouTube videos in the last 24 hours is a video of an Israeli expatriate defending health care reform at an event in Las Vegas. Off-camera, a woman shouts at him, “Heil Hitler!”

Conservatives need not distance themselves from crazy people like this, or from the lady who called Barack Obama a Nazi to Jewish Congressman Barney Frank’s face; we know that they are not representative of mainstream opinion in the United States. Unfortunately, this just goes to prove my earlier point — that a few far-right screamers have hijacked the political scene with the help of a news media interested only in conflict and people showing up to town hall meetings with loaded assault rifles.

Over the past few months, I’m sure you’ve endured your fair dose of Republican salivation over deep blue New Jersey’s uncharacteristically close gubernatorial election. I’m sure you’ve heard people who have insisted that Gov. Jon Corzine’s unremarkable first term will cost him a second one, that GOP challenger Chris Christie will milk the recent corruption scandal to shore up his corruption credentials, and that Corzine’s millions won’t be enough to quash the mounting discontent in the Garden State. Indeed, Christie seems to be enjoying a comfortable leadin most reputable polls. But are all signs portending a Republican win, or will Jonny find a way to pull it out? I wholeheartedly believe that Corzine will secure another four years in Trenton, and I base that on three factors: the demographic nature of the state, Corzine’s improving strategy, and Christie’s mounting problems.

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