Kennedy came from a politically powerful family and was able to hold on to that power all of his life, despite a crime that would have sent anyone else to jail. As a Democrat he was on the wrong side of history on every foreign policy issue, ready to surrender to the Soviets, Al Queda, and anyone else. He is as responsible as anyone for the financial crisis this country is in due to runaway entitlements and a failure to curb illegal immigration. None of his policies have done anything to help those he professed to care about. I have sympathy for his family and their situation, but he is a public figure and his legacy needs to be clearly understood for what it is, not whitewashed and used to further justify pushing our republic into its twilight.