What Ted Kennedy got right

September 1, 2:32 PMBaltimore Republican ExaminerSean O'Donnell

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Kennedy campaigning for the U.S. Senate in 1962. (Senate.gov)

For all his faults and flawed liberal ideas, Senator Ted Kennedy was actually right on some political issues. What follows lists Kennedy’s true achievements.

War on Terrorism

After the tragedy on September 11, 2001, Kennedy supported the overthrow of the Taliban government in Afghanistan by the U.S. military.

In 2002 when the Iraq Resolution came before the Senate, Kennedy voted against the resolution that eventually authorized the costly and unproductive Iraq War.

Kennedy was also a strong supporter of Israel on foreign policy in the Middle East.

Supreme Court nominee votes

As a Senator, Kennedy voted to confirm Supreme Court nominees Sandra Day O’Conner, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy. In 1990 while Kennedy was on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he voted against Supreme Court nominee David Souter, although Souter was eventually confirmed.

Miscellaneous issues

Kennedy was an advocate of raising the minimum wage and did so by his support of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.

He was also a longtime proponent of amending the U.S. Constitution to allow 18 year old citizens to vote. "Long ago, according to historians, the age of maturity was fixed at 21, because that was the age at which a young man was thought to be capable of bearing armor. Strange as it may seem, the weight of armor in the 11th century governs the right to vote of Americans in the 20th century," said Kennedy in 1970. His dream was accomplished in 1971 with the signing of the Twenty-sixth Amendment that lowered the voted age from 21 to 18.

For more information: See the slide show below and the headlines below.

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President Obama's eulogy of Ted Kennedy (transcript)

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