Newly minted Democrat Senator Arlen Specter in a Sunday appearance on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer angered many on the right for using Kemp’s death to score political points.
From the show’s transcript:
I’ve been the spear carrier to increase medical research. And I’ve even established a Web site, Specterforthecure.com, to try to get people to put more pressure on Congress to join me in getting more funding.
If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today.
Senator Durbin noted on Fox News Sunday, that Kemp’s legacy should teach the GOP a lesson.
I hope that Jack’s passing will be a lesson to the Republicans of today that their future should be more embracing and more inclusive.
President Obama’s statement was more subtle remembering the passionate tax advocate for his public service and football career.
Jack Kemp’s commitment to public service and his passion for politics influenced not only the direction of his party, but his country. From his tenure as a Buffalo congressman to his ascent in national politics, Jack Kemp was a man who could fiercely advocate his own beliefs and principles while also remembering the lessons he learned years earlier on the football field: that bitter divisiveness between race and class and station only stood in the way of the ‘common aim of a team to win.”
