>> thank you very much, nbc's andrea mitchell. we're told that the motorcade is, in fact, moments away. we also want to take this opportunity to remind you that this coverage live on nbc and, of course, on msnbc, will continue. some stations may be, leaving u now. but we ask all of you to have patience. we'll be back in a heartbeat. >> we're back with the continuing coverage of the arrival of the body of senator edward moore kennedy who, for 47 years, one of the most active and, in fact, longstanding senators in united states history, with more legislation to his credit than probably anybody else who served in that chamber, everything from the voting rights act, civil rights law to the disabilities act,

title 9, giving women the opportunity to compete the same level as men in collegiate athletes and the end of his career, his great passion, national public health bill of some kind. he also, of course, became a lightning rod for a lot of criticism for his to his outspoken resistance. he led the fight in a contentious and what many people believe was a landmark fight in that it removed whatever stability might have existed about supreme court nominations from that time forward. senator kennedy was also not in favor of welfare reform, signature issues of bill clinton's administration. he resisted that. it passed. and the results of all that depend very much on your point

of view. in many instances people believe it's helped to move the country in a different direction and in helping those who are less fortunate than others find their way in the workplace. for all his wealth, and it was considerable, no one knows for sure, very privately held, but there are a lot of cousins, nephews and nieces, that continue to livo of the dividends, very privately managed from a small park avenue office in new york. it is obviously in the billions of dollars right now. for all of his wealth and all of his privilege, senator kennedy was the most consistent, outspoken advocate on behalf of those who really had no representatives. he was the champion o those who had none was the expression today, used by president obama. michael, i think it's fair to say, however you feel about

senator kennedy's ideaiology, he always walked the walk and taed the talk when he got on the senate floor. >> yeah, he sure did. you were talking about joe kennedy a moment ago, tom. the interesting thing, as you were saying, joe kennedy before world war ii, was a huge isolationist and extremely conservative, so conservative he thought seriously about converting to be a republican. after the war, he supported his children, john kennedy when he ran for congress in 1946, in the 1950s and finally as president, 1960 as a pretty forward-going liberal and he said you're the person in public loof i love the most and the person with whom i just about disagree the most and john kennedy said about his father, i think my dad would be for me even if i were a marxist. you can imagine the joke with joe kennedy.

>> michael, results of that great line from joe kennedy, about being able to buy an election, he just didt want to buy a landslide. >> absolutely. the joke about his father. the kennedy fortune, as overwhelming as it was in 1960, probably the self funded campaign, a lot of that paid for by the kennedy fortune. now it's not possible for the later generations to do that. >> michael, i wonder, as you look at the larger picture, with senator kennedy gone from the senate floor, the last liberal lion in the truest sense of that, he believed -- he was a great federalist, believed in the role of the federal govement from the top down. now, as you go across the country, you hear so many democratic senators and governors, and mayors saying, really, we ought to have the distribution of federal money,

but let the cities and states decide how best to use it. do you think we'll have any kind of seismic shift in how washington has an impact across the country once we get out of this recession where there has been a lot of federal intervention? >> absolutely. with the absence of kennedy, you'll see kennedy was, perhaps, the last great leader in the senate who came o of a period in which big government and liberalism was pretty much unquestion in certain orders of the democratic party. even now, liberals on the senate floor grew up in the time of ronald reagan, '70s and '80s, if you were a progressive democrat and got elected, you better explain yourself very well to voters who are a lot more skeptical. >> andrea mitchell not too far away from you there as well. andrea, we can't, i think,

underestimate the importancef the endorsement of senator kennedy and caroline kennedy for senator obama, a man in ascendency when he was running a year ago. when the two most prominent figures in the kennedy came out for him and said he is the best hope to extend the vision of my brother, john kennedy and robert kennedy, it did have an enormous impact, didn't it, on the democratic constituencies in the primary states that were still to come. >> it certainly did. even though hillary clinton went on to win big states on super tuesday, the fact that he validated, and caroline did, validated the passing of the torch to this young african-american candidate who did not have a long track record in the senate and with the democratic party nationally, that was such an important moment. it seemed at the time that it would have a huge impact then with the super tuesday victories of hillary clinton. people said maybe it didn't, but

it nearly did. in the long run, teddy kennedy, vigorously gng out and campaigning, hitting the road with barack obama. he and caroline and maria shriver and the big event in california made a huge impact on large numbers of voters in critical states. i think that embraced, also at the democratic convention, when he left his hospital bed and also said he was determined to see the january swearing in. and he did, on tse ste on the other side of the capitol, of course, west front of the capitol that cold day, frigid day. we remember seeing him in the hat and blue muscler and came out despite his chemotherapy and treatments, braving the cold, and being in a crowd, not advisable for people whose immune system has been compromised and the terrible upset during the ceremonial luncheon later when he did collapse and went back into the hospital. the drama of the past 15 months has been extraordinary, and the

battle he fought with vicki at his side and had a lot to do with the way barack obama's election came ou >> very good-natured teasing among the cousins, however, some who had endorsed hillary clinton for president and then maria shriver and caroline kennedy, and senator kennedy endorsed barack obama and, in fact, senator kennedy made a memorable tour of california on president obama's behalf. maria shriver was the first lady of california. guess who won. hillary clinton won california. so, they were able to have a good laugh about that. always competitive within the kennedy family, whether it was touch football, sailing races or certainly the great game of politics. i've just been told that the motorcade is now about two miles away altogether, and that they will have this brief stop here before going across the bridge

after circling the lincoln memorial for the burial ceremony of edward kennedy. there's been a lot of talk, obviously, about is this the end of an era. and, you know, that's always a subjective judgment. but, in fact, with the death of the last kennedy brother, gene kenne kennedy smith is now the soul surviving member. with the death of the last brother, the last public servant in the kennedy family who is a sibling of john f. kennedy and robert f. kennedy, it is fair to say that an era has come to an end. and the kennedys always talked in their political campaigns about the need for change. in fact, senator kennedy, when he was talking about bobby kenn dy at his eulogy in 1968

cited his memorable speech to young people in south africa, at a time when apartheid was at its peak, nelson mandela was in jail. he cited alexander the great, joan of arc, reminding them the time thomas jefferson wrote the declaration of independence at the age of 32. he said the future does not belong to those who are content with today. those were the words of robert kennedy, cited by edward m. kennedy in his eulogy at st. patrick's cathedral in 1968. and what happens always been quite remarkable about senator kennedy, even at the age of 77, he had a youthful outlook and was constantly encouraging young people on a number of programs in massachusetts and across the country, to get involved in public service and to leave

their own imprint. i want you to look at these faces. this is the face of america here. these, as i said a moment ago, are the people that come across the country and go to work on capitol hill. some stay for a long time. some join senate or congressional staffs and run for office themselves or take positions in cabinet departments. others of them become lobbyists. something has happened in washington in the past several years. two young men came up to me a couple of years ago, one a democrat, one a republican, and said they want to talk about the old days. i think they meant 1996, when they were talking about the old days. when i asked them what they

mea meant, they said my boss won't talk to his boss. my boss is a republican, his boss is a democrat and they won't have anything to do with each other. in fact, so many people in waington for both sides of the aisle has said it has become a curse of modern governance and the modern political culture. that was something that senator kennedy and john mccain on the republican side, and others, constantly tried to work against. at the end of the day, they tried to find that common ground that would move the nation forward. they didn't give up their fundamental principles. they continued to hold to their strongest beliefs. they believed that in that building and in other buildings in washington, the will of the people was best expressed when it moves forward with a common effort. to give here and to give there, so that the country doesn't become paralyzed by pitical

instabili instability. in his eulogy today, president obama made reference to that. he said of ted kennedy, he was the product of a time when adverse adversaries still saw each other as patriots. there was a fleeting reference to that, as well of ted kennedy. here comes the motorcade now across the bridge into the nation's capital.

>> these are the rituals in the capitol, public servant being honored for years of service, nation representing the state of massachusetts, in this case. the youngest memr of a very robust client, great wealth and privilege from the state of massachusetts, the commonwealth as it's known, who came to washington at the age of 30, to fill the unexpired term of his brother, the president of the united states, and stay for 47 years. these are the kinds of rituals

normally reserved for presidents of the united states. rarely do you see a united states senator get this kind of response from not just across party lines, but the public as well, in washington and certainly in his home state here in massachusetts, where he was a great champion of everything in the bay state, red sox, patriots, historic sites. when he went out to iowa to campaign, he was a little uncertain about how he could deal with the farm vote. as he reminded everyone, the big crop in massachusetts are cranberries, and he didn't think that the iowa corn farmers could identify with that.

last night at the memorial service, showing the senator sailing his beloved wooden mya, giving orders to his grandchildren and kids on board. senator john culver, former senator from the state of iowa, football teammate at harvard of ted kennedy's gave a hilarious account of participating in a race with ted kennedy when john culver who, as he pointed out, came from iowa and only knew about barges on the mississippi river and nothing about sailing. it was a long and cold, and stormy night, and a long and cold following day in nantucket with an extra crewman they

picked up off the beach who finally dragged home at 11:00 at night, senator culver said he really never learned much about sailing, but was always invited by his friend, ted kennedy, to go with him, greek islands, mediterranean, the caribbean, hyannisport and concluded to his friend, happy sailing, ted. happy sailing. we're told the motorcade is literally moments away on south capitol about to make the turn into that side of the capitol, the supreme court is on this end of the picture, obviously and that's where the staffers are

gathered, and many other people have lined the streets of washington, d.c., to be part of this today. in washington, some estimated 50,000 people passed by the senator's coffin after it was placed at the kennedy library thursday night and had an honor guard, military honor guard and members of the staff, who took turns sitting by the coffin through the night. >> tom, remind us again. we'll have a brief religious moment when the senator arrives. will there be any other speeches? >> we don't know yet, tom. father dan coughlin, chaplain of the house, will say a few words. no one else has been scheduled to say anything, though there's been speculation that if any

kennedy family member wanted to talk to the stfers who have come out, as well as his colleagues here, senator byrd and others, this might be the occasion to do so. they're running nearly two hours behind schedule, tom, but it's fair to say that this crowd has not thinned out. if anything, it's actually grown, and certainly there has to be a good deal of relief that the sun has managed to slide behind the cloud. we've lost some humidity. we have a nice breeze now as the people of washington and the surrounding areas come out to honor a man who spent 47 years of his life i this institution, and contributing not only to the causes of the country and the democratic party, but so many people here would argue change their lives in one fashion or another. and made an impact. >> and, no doubt, some of those people gathered on the steps of the capitol, inspired by the kennedys, maybe by president john f. kennedy who did, in

fact, animate an entire new generation of peoplend public policy with his famous inaugural address and inauguration of the peace corps and public service and senator kennedy was a great liberal hero to so many young people who are of that political perfect situation just as ronald reagan was to another generation of young people when he was elected president in 1980 and created an entire generation of young conservatives, who came to washington and have stayed as well. now moving at a more stately pace through the streets of the capit capitol. senator kennedy has not been there much at all in the last year, obviously. he was there for the inauguration, made one or two other brief visits, spent most

of his time either in florida or family compound in high yannisp being treated here in the boston area. he had a particularly virulent form of brain cancer, a tumor that, as one expert said, there's just not a hell of a lot that you can do. that's a direct quote. and at the moment that he was diagnosed, he knew that it was not a good end game for him. they did, obviously, go through treatment. but, in fact, the chances of survival were going to be very slim, indeed. the irony is that ted kennedy was one of the original promoters of the war on cancer, which was begun during the nixon administration. he was one of those who believed that we should begin to find a way to wipe out cancer. health has always been an important component of his political and public life.

it's been true, as well, in the mental health services. his family had a very difficult experience with rosemary kennedy, who was born with some defects and, unfortunately, was ebotomized, a treatment they used at the time. the family lived with that forever, and it inspired eunice kennedy to start the special olympics for people who had some mental, if not disabilities, some cognitive skills that needed some attention or even physical skill that is needed some attention, that they, too, would have an arena in which to compete. senator kennedy certainly is a supporter of that. that, again, was something that was supported across partisan lines. it was neither republican nor democratic program. it was much more of a

humanitarian program. i think i know where we are now. i would say that we're probably another, at that pace, four to five minutes away from the capitol. costello, can you see it?m >> i believe, tom, we're looking at the house side now, the house side of independence avenue, crossing in that vicinity and now approaching. yes, we are, indeed. here they come in front of us now. >> okay. that's where we are. okay. >> we have an ovation, tom. i don't know if you can hear that. >> i can. let's st watch this me pl outow. there's not good deal we can add to it.

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>> that's vicki kennedy, married ted kennedy in 1992. friends, family and alike give her so much credit for turning around his personal life, giving him new meaning. came from louisiana, family deeply involved in politics, her father had been a friend of the kennedys for a long time. she handled herself during this very difficult time with grace and dignity and good humor as well. that's warren schribe, well-known harvard professor, who is a great consultant to ted kennedy on traditional matters

and was one of the expert witnesses, and probably with his participation in that, he acknowledged, ruined his chances of ever being on the u.s. supreme court. you, the family and dear r with friends, to express our solidarity with you at this time. so members of both chambers of congress, officers, co-workers, collaborators and especially former and presently serving staff of the senator are

gathered here on the steps. here we are, to briefly pray with you, offer our sympathy, and to thank you. thank you for sharing the senator and so much of his life with us. and thank you, also, for your love and your care throughout the years, especially during the time of illness and these last moments. be assured of our prayers and anything we can do for you, as you move on. let us pray. >> though in the sight of people, your servant, senator ted kennedy, suffered greatly, and took on enormous tasks. lord, you knew his hopes were

unquenchable, full of immortality. you knew his strengths and his limitations. he knew you, lord. he knew you could use anyone or anything to accomplish your purpose and draw people closer to one another and to his divine presence. grndedn fait fashioned by family values and once expanded to a world vision, true contemplative leadership would draw staff and friends to new depths of human understanding. embrace with compassion such a vision would inspire people around the world to believe, to believe with all their hearts that peace and justice will