"It is enough to make the Statue of Liberty weep,"
Kennedy lambasts Bush
Senator tells Austin group the war in Iraq is wrong
By Dick Stanley
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, December 13, 2003
U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy on Friday excoriated President Bush for "squandering" the good will of America's European allies after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and invading Iraq, a move that Kennedy contended is only "breeding more terrorists" to attack the country.
"It is enough to make the Statue of Liberty weep," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a speech to the annual fund-raising dinner for the Texas Civil Rights Project.
Several speakers at the event at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Austin drew rousing applause from the hundreds in attendance when they said they wished they could wave a magic wand and make Kennedy president instead of Bush.
Kennedy is "the statesman of the century . . . in these very difficult times," said former Texas Democratic Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes.
The Texas Civil Rights Project is a group of lawyers who pursue civil rights cases around the state. University of Texas constitutional lawyer Michael Tiger hailed the group's director, Jim Harrington, for taking cases that "are a finger in the eye of power and privilege."
Harrington thanked Kennedy for "your very many years of heroic leadership," and said the senator was continuing the civil rights legacy of his assassinated brothers, President John Kennedy and former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
But Sen. Kennedy, who Barnes noted has been in the U.S. Senate since 1962, contended that the work of such groups as the Texas Civil Rights Project was necessary because of "a quiet erosion . . . taking place" in the progress of civil rights in America.
He spoke of the Latino poor's continued lack of equal access to health care, and he said the judiciary has denied Congress' intent in passing laws to give the disabled equal opportunities. He also citedthe existence of a large and growing work force of undocumented immigrants who labor at low wages without equal opportunity.
He said it was also "time for Congress to do its part" in expanding the rights of gay and lesbian Americans.
"We must be vigilant, not compliant," Kennedy said. "The struggle for civil rights is never, never in vain. All of us must go all out. Failure is not an option."
dstanley@statesman.com; 445-3629
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