>> production assistants for insight -- for "inside washington" was provided by albritton communications and "the politico." >> it is the glory and greg is of our tradition to speak to those -- for those who have no voice. >> the life and legacy of edward kennedy. >> an extraordinary life has come to an end. the extraordinary good that he did lives on.

to his family he was a guardian. to america, the defender of a dream. >> after the assassinations, he became the family patriarchç ad eventual become an american political icon. for nearly five decades in the senate, kennedy was the leading voice of his party's liberal wing. at the 1980 convention speech, it was a kennedy classic. >> for all of those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the hobe still lives and the dream shall never die. -- the hope still lives and the dream shall never die. ♪ >> love him or hate him, and there are still some ted kennedy haters out there, it is safe to say that washington will not be

the same without him. he died this week at the age of 77 at his home in massachusetts. he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in may of 2008. we knew and he knew that there was no cure, only delaying action. >> there will be again a new generation of americans and i hope rises again and the dream lives on. >> despite his condition, the kennedy made an appearance at barack obama's convention in denver a year ago and attended the inauguration in january carried he spent his final days in cape cod surrounded by family. but clearly, washington and the issues of the day were never far from his mind, to give the the as health care, one of his signature issues, is being debated in the capital. >> at some point in our lives, one comes along and you could never have a better one than ted kennedy. he was a good one to have in

your corner. >> he would get out there and flailed his arms and his face would get red and he would make all of those liberal comments and when it was all over he would come up and say, was that all right? things like that, you could not help but like him. >> senators chris dodd and orrin hatch. ted kennedy as the final resting place is at arlington national cemetery with his brothers. >> he was a remarkable political figure because he understood that politics is addition, not subtraction. he did not have any pureean ene. but fundamentally, people like ted kennedy. conservatives, constituents -- because of who he was and he was genuinely like them.

it was an incredible asset and strength for a political leader. >> he was the most important centers and lyndon johnson and certainly the most important senator as majority leader. also, as the leader of american liberalism, i think history will remember him as the man who took it from the century of his brother john f. kennedy to the liberalism of obama. he's banned all of that change. >> -- he spanned all of that change. >> he exemplified flawed redemptions regrate is both in his professional life and his personal life. he did enormous things for millions and millions of people. >> those of us who were raised with the generation of the kennedys will remember john kennedy and robert kennedy as

the promise and ted kennedy was the fulfillment of the gaddy promise. >> people would say -- of the kennedy promised. >> people would say that health care is his signature issue, but i would say it is civil rights because from the earliest days in the senate, that was his issue, all the way through the americans with disabilities act. >> i think that is absolutely right. people forget one of his first legislative achievements in 1965 was as chairman of fiduciary subcommittee regret the integration lotaws which at the time allowed europeans and asians and africans to emigrate at the same level. >> a child of privilege, the son of one of the bulk of his men in america the time. where did his concern for others -- one of the wealthiest man in

america at the time. 9 for others come from? >> he joined the senate and his brother had just promised a civil rights bill. he did not see it through. ted kennedy came along at the time when the civil rights movement was at its height. he was there to see it moved through to become a lot. it was a fighter -- to become a law. he was a fighter. people forget that behind the kennedy that was really interested in people, during the vietnam war when he talked about bringing home -- out of vietnam at the end, the generals were talking about how they were going to do this, speaking in

terms of moving through the pipeline. and kennedy said, we'd a minute, general, you are not talking about units. we're not talking about pipelines. we are talking about people. and that was his signature, that he really saw the people behind the numbers. >> in 1968 he was somewhat ambivalent of the war and made a couple of trips over there. but after 1968 he was very much against it. the senate will not be the same without him. >> one of the great strength that he had was highlighted in most of the memorial's paid to him. he had a great self-deprecating humor. in january of 1971, robert byrd of second in the democratic caucus. he became 31-24. he had been senate democratic

whip. kennedy was hurt and it was painful. it is damaging to any national ambitions. he said, i want to thank that 29 senators who pledged to support me and i want to thank in particular the 24 senators who did vote for me. >> he had come up for a senator anyway, relatively little ego. he was always interested in getting -- he had, for a senator anyway, relatively little ego. he was always interested in getting something done. he would always try for a the maur, a little more. >> when he did run in 1984 president, the word we heard over and over again west chappaquiddick. did that hurt him? >> for schur. he was heir to the royal family. there was no way he would have been denied the presidency at that not happened. he was lucky that he was a

kennedy and because of the proximity to the death of the brothers that chappaquiddick did not end his career. his behavior was inexcusable, as he himself has said. he himself has said that he would live with the memory every day of his life. he transcended politically and he came back. 1980 was not a good year. i remember what we saw, the dream shall never die. he was not running against the conservative at the time. he was running against a centrist at the time, democratic, for president. and that is what he represented. he was always in a struggle with that centers them. -- centrism. if he had ever run against jon in theory, he would have been on the left and john was on the senate -- would have been in the center. >> these are obviously different times and a list of different

issues with the cold war was over. the point is this, he changed the language in 1980 speech "the dream will never die" and he spoke at the next convention and said, "the dream lives on." he could have been the nominee in 1968 and i think he could have been richard nixon that year. after chappaquiddick, he was doomed. and he has said, i do not mind being president, i just mind that somebody else is. [laughter] >> what does his death me to the future of health care in the united states? >> his ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws that are reflected in millions of lives, seniors who no new dignity, families who know do opportunity, inç children you know education's promise and in all who can pursue their dream in an america that is more equal and more just, including myself.

>> president obama, speaking from martha's vineyard. in washington, caroline and ted kennedy passed the torch to barack obama. why did he go with obama instead of hillary clinton? >> i think it was stated during that stirring speech. he recognized the country was ready to go in a new direction and change was the watchword. he saw that in obama and what he could bring to the presidency, to the country. it was a good appeal for the clintons, but they represented the past. and kennedy saw the need to move for. >> if not for ted kennedy would barack obama be president? >> i do think he would.

massachusetts in the primaries for barack obama. i think it was psychological, an important moment, but that is all it was, an important moment. >> could barack obama become president with just 18-year-old boats? ted kennedy's monument, an enormous appeal among young voters, carried them to 21. -- 2 to 1. i think two things, ted kennedy's support for obama over clinton, and he also said that his the most important vote that he cast in the senate was his vote against the war in iraq. second, bill clinton had, in fact, been quite disparaging and this missive in conversations with ted kennedy of barack obama.

ted kennedy was offended by it. >> there is also a political, ideological component. the clintons represented centralism in a way and kennedy was more on the left. i think that was part of the region. even though i'm not sure the endorsement of obama swayed a lot of votes, it was the symbolism. he used the phrase "the torch has been passed" which john kennedy had used in his inaugural address in saying that the torch had been passed from the eisenhower generation of the 19th century to his. i think there was that symbolism, this really was a new era and i think the way that obama has governed is as a very kennedy-esque per cent.

it is extremely important. it is a passing and a change. >> despite the absence of ted kennedy, tell us about that. >> john mccain is probably sitting as the most prominent republican. he said this week, president obama, people want him to succeed. people like kim and republicans better understand that. he said -- like him and republicans better understand that. the problem is, he said, is that the numbers in support have gone down with the obama plan. they had better come up with something in every, a repackaging, whenever you want to call it, a new and improved and changed plan that is. to be successful. the difference, quite honestly,

ted kennedy is missed in the sense that ted kennedy could have told very early on what the problems were and what to do about them. his ability to forge coalitions was just so impressive. he understood the matters of the issue and the dynamic of that institution. >> he could have sold it to the liberals. >> there's an expression that we have heard at the table before, but let's not kill the book on this health care debate at this point. çby one count, 35 hearts and votes for the public plan. 35 hard senate votes for the public plan. that is hardly something to

throw away. at this point, barack obama needs to find the other votes to put him over the top. it is not impossible. i think the kennedy legacy is going to help him push that over the top. >> the current health care debate includes a succession problem in massachusetts because if there had been a special election -- ted kennedy wrote a letter to the governors saying, you know, i would like this seat filled and i will have a personal promise that he or she will not run again. >> it is a hypocritical act. in 2004 when mitt romney was sitting in the governorship believing that john kerry was going to be president, he was just kept there for historic purposes.

they overwhelmingly voted to deny the governor the appointment and have a special election. now there are only 59 democratic senators and they want to feel that in a hurry to the magic number is 60 in the senate. why all of a sudden does the in massachusetts legislature want to change it so the governor can make this into -- >> i am shocked. >> there is reluctant, great tension between the governor and legislators. the legislators do not like the governor. the governor does not like the legislators. all politics is lower as has been said. the question is, will there be enough demand to force the legislature to do something? >> beverley is a way to finesse this issue and to keep -- there really is a way to finesse this issue and to keep from having to

change the governorship. i think that what they ought to do in massachusetts passed a law that says the governor will appoint a senator if the centre dies in office if the senator is a democrat. it cracks [laughter] -- >> [laughter] >> they would think it is a great idea to do something like that in massachusetts. >> you know, i do not think that people there the want to be without a senator for five months. they just saw what happened in minnesota >> why did they change it? >> they changed it for purely political reasons and they're going to change it back for purely political reasons. hypocrisy lives with schear korte it is, which we have in a lot of pot -- with sheer curtains -- sheer crookedness.

>> there had been one vacancy in 1984 when john kerry was elected. from middle age and beyond their planning their senate campaigns. you can look for a lot of people to take a long and searching and personal look at this race. it is a no lose. you have to give up your current office to run, so why not? >> can you give us some names? >> the attorney general. the massachusetts never lets a woman into the senate or governor. despite its liberal traditions. mike catalana, a democratic member of congress. steve lynch, democratic mayor of congress.

>> at the marquee. >> i do not know about at the marquee. -- eddie markey. a former congressman who is now the chancellor at the university abeof lowwell. >> why not ask the people of massachusetts but they think? >> absolutely. >> we will discuss cia interrogations' after 9/11. the cia was back in the news this week with the release of a heavily redacted to report. the allegations include staging mock executions, using tools

like handrails. -- hand drills. >> they have an investigation before and under the justice department rags, you have to think that you get a pretty good conviction. the more people will say, they told us to do anything they could -- we could to get this information, the further of the chain you go, the more there is authorization. and the president has said and the attorney general is said -- has said that they're only going to prosecute an authorized methods. >> -- unauthorized methods. that is what they do not want you to see the picture, the pictures of the kind of condition people were in.

>> having someone in the next room and trending towards somebody's family and actually being killed, there's a difference. that is where the investigation needs to focus. what happened to the individuals what they were in the custody of the united states government? >> does it destroy any of this where we ought -- because we are debating this out in the open where america's enemies can read it? >> the report itself makes it pretty clear that we got extraordinarily important information out of this trad. it is not unequivocal and saying that we got it out of enhance interrogation, but in this report, the detainee was said to have said nothing of

importance until he was subjected to waterboarding and afterward, he became a world? -- a rolodex of operatives around the world connected to various events. the same is true of the interrogation of another detainee who was very uncooperative at the beginning. >> it is not clear from the report how much came from the fbi and how much came from the cia. >> the complications of the geneva convention over torture, which were endorsed by the u.s. and embraced by ronald reagan, totally outlawed torture. that is the complication. the division emergencs politicay

between those who served and those who did not. when you get general saakashvili and general job corps and john mccain saying it is about war. i think we have to listen to them. >> some final thoughts on ted kennedy's death. >> ted kennedy was an individual with thousands of best friends. you talk to people and they will relate to you especially individual relationship that they had dreaded we know what he did for that -- that they had. we know what he did for the country, what he did for the world. but oftentimes, those acts of charity that he did in the time that he had here on earth were never noticed. there was not a tv camera, he still photographer, was a reporter.

>> thousands of unreported acts of kindness. >> there are incredible stories. you know, one staffer, his father was dying of brain cancer, kennedy went on a plane and went to see the father and told him what a great job that the son was doing and then sat with the sun for a couple of hours and then got on a planeç for washington. there are tens of stories like that, that kind of experience with ted kennedy. >> might longtime colleague -- my longtime colleague robert novak died past week of the same illness. in his autobiography, he did not have the kind were complimentary word about ted kennedy. from the first moment he was diagnosed he had recommendations on procedures and doctors. it was overwhelming.

>> i was sitting across the table from them at the washington post and talked to him off the record. his passion is great -- was great and that is what he will be remembered for. >> i feel as if i'm crashing an irish wake. he was a great senator, an historic center. all i'm saying is that history will judge whether his brand of liberalism was suited to 20th- century america. >> thank you, charles. to see you next week. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

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