This weekend, funeral services were held for Senator Ted Kennedy and with his burial, the end of a long and storied Senate career. Though there were many controversies over the issues in his personal life, he was true to his personal political convictions.
Kennedy didn't try to re-invent himself with each election or poll and proudly proclaimed himself a liberal when most ran from the label. I respect people who are honest in their own political leanings far more than those who change with the season.
No one can accuse Ted Kennedy of campaigning differently than he served nor than he believed.
My experience has been that you can work with a principled liberal far more effectively than an unprincipled conservative who is more about the political game of winning than actually solving problems. A government like ours isn't always neat and pretty and rarely does it give everybody everything they want, but it works because, like the airplane with both wings attached to the fuselage, it has balance that keeps the torque of one engine from putting it into a death spiral.
I once sat alongside Ted Kennedy at a Senate hearing where both of us were testifying in support of a bill that continued a federal state partnership for families whose children had severe developmental disabilities. Here were two men who were as far apart in everyway as two men could be: One from a wealthy, powerful, Catholic family from big city Boston; the other from a poor, working-class, Baptist family from a small town in Arkansas. Kennedy was caviar and Cape Cod to my cornbread and catfish. But on that day, our vast differences found common ground to make sure that families who were struggling to care for a severely disable child didn't have to become impoverished in order to receive care for their child.
There are already attempts to politicize and capitalize on his death with calls for hurriedly enacting government-run health care as a tribute to him.
I spoke about it Thursday on my radio commentary "The Huckabee Report" that is heard on 500 radio stations across America. I pointed out that when Senator Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he chose to fight with all that was within him for life, instead of choosing the pain pill that President Obama spoke of in his answer to Jane Sturm during his White House town hall.
George Stephanopoulos, Time magazine, the Huffington Post and scores of liberal bloggers have gone berserk calling me everything imaginable and saying I had made things up. Here's my challenge to George, Time magazine and anyone else: Go to my Web site — mikehuckabee.com — click on "The Huckabee Report" and then follow the links to "On Demand" and listen to the morning commentary for Thursday, August 27.
Now listen to this comment from President Obama during the telecast that George's own network aired on June 24:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: But what we can do is make sure that at least some of the waste that exists in the system that's not making anybody's mom better, that is loading up on additional tests or additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care, that at least we can let doctors know and your mom know that, you know what, maybe this isn't going to help. Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
My challenge: What did I say that wasn't true? In fact, listen to what I said — it was actually a tribute to Senator Kennedy and an observation that he did what other Americans want to do: Follow the best health care they can find. And we don't want the government telling us to go home and take a pain pill and die.
Lest someone think we edited President Obama's comments and took them out of context, let me play a couple of things he said as he opened and closed the answers to Jane Sturm about her 105-year-old mother. He first acknowledged that it is already a form of rationing by Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I don't want bureaucracies making those decisions, but understand that those decisions are already being made in one way or another. If they're not being made under Medicare and Medicaid, they're being made by private insurers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
But at the end, says the decision is between a patient and his doctor:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We're not going to solve every single one of these very difficult decisions at end of life, and ultimately that's going to be between physicians and patients.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The irony is that the final months of Senator Kennedy's life are the very reason we shouldn't let government take us to the Nancy Pelosi-Barney Frank-Barack Obama plan. When diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at age 77, Senator Kennedy didn't do as President Obama suggested and take a pain pill and ride it home. He did what most of us would do or would want to do: Went to the very best medical facilities in the world, had surgery and sought to live as long and as strong as possible.
That's what Americans are trying to tell Congress. We aren't looking for the cheapest health care, but the best. And we know everyone can't have everything, but let us and our family decide that, not the government.
By the way, the program that Senator Kennedy and I were testifying for that day is the approach that Congress should be taking: Government involvement when no private option exists and which provides for those who have exhausted all the options.
If America wants to truly honor the Senator, make it possible for everyone to have the kind of care he had in his final months.
That's my view, I welcome yours. E-mail your comments to: huckmail@foxnews.com
Go to mikehuckabee.com and click on to FOX News feedback — let me know your thoughts about this week's show. You'll also find a link to all members of the House and Senate so you can make contact today and tell them what you think.
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