America has stood for fairness, opportunity and justice. Generation, after generation, our nation has been able, often with intense debates, to give greater meaning to these values in the lives of our citizens. But what we have seen in recent years is a breach of these values in order to reward the powerful at the expense of average Americans.
Those in power passed massive tax breaks for the wealthy and short-changed everyone else.
They granted sweetheart deals to Halliburton Corporation in Iraq while our troops went without armor.
They let the polluters write the pollution rules for our water and our air.
They let the oil industry write the energy policy in secret meetings in the White House.
Two weeks ago, over the opposition of every Democrat in the House and Senate, they forced through a federal budget that preserves corporate tax loopholes at the expense of college aid, and slashes Medicaid for poor mothers to pay for tax breaks for millionaires.
They twisted arms for three and a half hours in the dead of night on the floor of the House to pass a so-called Medicare reform that rewards HMOs and drug companies at the expense of senior citizens and the disabled.
They broke the ethics rules of the House of Representatives, then changed the rules to avoid investigation.
They want to break the promise of Social Security to our citizens by privatizing it, handing it over to Wall Street, and cutting benefits for middle-income Americans.
Now, Republican leaders want to break the Senate to get their way – this time with the nation’s courts.
Whole speech here:
http://www.tedkennedy.com/page/invite/speech 
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