Yesterday, Cynthia Tucker, a columnist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and frequent television pundit, argued that “John McCain could be the Senate’s new Ted Kennedy.” While acknowledging McCain has “bowed to the harsh nihilism that seems to be all that Republicans represent these days,” Tucker said there’s hope that McCain could embrace Kennedy’s “reputation for pragmatism.” Yesterday afternoon on CNN, host Wolf Blitzer amplified the emerging meme:
I was talking earlier with some friends and I asked, who might emerge as the new Ted Kennedy in the United States Senate? You know who a lot of people think it might be? … That would be Senator McCain.
Watch it:
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Ted Kennedy said “Americans want the choice of enrolling in a health insurance program backed by the government for the public good”; McCain says we have to “abandon the public option.” Kennedy joined with McCain to push aggressively for comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, a bill that McCain “would not” vote for anymore. Kennedy is remembered as a passionate gay rights advocate; McCain thinks discrimination against gays in the military is “working well.” See the similarities?
Check out “The Dream Lives On” — ThinkProgress’ video tribute to Sen. Kennedy.