During today’s funeral Mass coverage for Sen. Kennedy, there was ample time for newsers to add their own color to the proceedings. We’ve collected a small sample of the quotes we heard that supplemented this morning’s coverage as we flipped between networks.
Shepard Smith anchored FNC’s morning coverage and said:
“In his nearly 47 years in the Senate, Ted Kennedy worked on legislation that affects every single one of us every day of our lives. And now the nation mourns his passing and celebrates his life. Last night we watched an incredible Irish wake, I suppose it was. There were tears of laughter and joy. There were stories of childhood and adulthood, of days sailing in the harbors and bays of Massachusetts, of quiet times, of celebration throughout a storied history.There were Kennedy tales that many of us had never before heard, and here were remembrances from both sides of the political aisle, as Republicans, Democrats, moderates, liberals, conservatives remembered the man whose life had so many ups and downs, a man who shared so much triumph and so much tragedy.”
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Keith Olbermann reflected:
“We don’t have royalty, this is the closest thing we have to it. We somehow psychologically dally with the idea, but it’s more than that. That would mean a certain connection and familiarity with people from generation to generation and brother to brother. But an affection seems to be built on…that public vulnerability. It’s as much the tragedies, the failures as…the story of redemption in Senator Kennedy’s life, that I think threads throughout the family and has been expressed again today. That’s the bind between people and a group of politicians…The benefit of the doubt, when they don’t always live up to the expectation, is, I think, based on the willingness to say, ‘Here are my problems. maybe you have problems too. While I’m working on mine, I’m also working on yours.'”
George Stephanopoulos, Brian Williams, James Carville, and Andrea Mitchell after the jump.
George Stephanopoulos speaking of Sen. Kennedy’s son’s speech:
“Even thinking about it again, makes me tear up. I have to say, you’re exactly right, Charlie. The litany from the grandchildren and the nieces and nephews. And eulogies from his son, Teddy Jr. and Patrick. And also President Obama calling him the greatest legislator of our time. The human touch.”
Brian Williams said after joining the MSNBC broadcast from NBC:
“I was thinking as we looked at that achingly painful shot of the Kennedy widows…straightening out the fabric on the casket. All of their suffering. The rest of us get to grieve in private. All of their suffering it seems comes with live television coverage, making it all the more poignant. We get to watch them. we consider it at times our duty to watch them grieve and mourn as a family. And we sit here listening for clues and eulogies by two sons about things we thought were going on in this family we’ve looked at from afar, we’ve examined up close. Extraordinary stuff.”
James Carville noted the magnitude of the ceremony and subsequent coverage:
“It’s hard to imagine that this is a United States Senator, not a president. Never in my lifetime ever has there been anything like this for somebody who’s not President of the United States. You just sit back and tell yourself it was well deserved. As I said earlier, you say are we overdoing this? And the answer is no. It was an extraordinary life and extraordinary family and it was an extraordinary service that they had.”
Andrea Mitchell took note of the political cross section in attendance and said:
“Teddy Jr. said, his father told him that republicans were real people, just like democrats. This driving rain, perhaps the perfect weather for such a sad day, tears of heaven coming down.”