The Edward M. Kennedy Memorial Health Care Reform Bill?

I have nothing but blessings for the Kennedy family upon the news of Senator Edward Kennedy's passing. With his death, along with Eunice Kennedy Shriver's last week, we have now the melancholy sense of the final sunset on the Kennedy influence. I am with Michelle Malkin when she writes:

Put aside your ideological differences for an appropriate moment and mark this passing with solemnity.

That said, I'll just note that final farewells for Senator Kennedy have yet to be said and the Democratic-leftists are already exploiting the liberal icon's death for political gain.

From William Jacobson, "Rush Was Right: Dems Call For 'The Kennedy Memorial Health Bill'." William links to this post from Balloon-Juice:

" it’s time to come back after Labor Day with a single coherent Senator Edward M. Kennedy Health Care Reform Bill, and to twist whatever arms, ears, or other parts are necessary to get a good strong comprehensive bill passed and signed, NOW. We owe the memory of a great man no less."

No degree of rank hypocrisy nor indecency surprises me about the Democrats anymore. In Massachusetts, state law requires a special election to replace a U.S. senate vacancy. Passed in 2004 to prevent then-Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a possible Senate replacement to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, now Democratic state lawmakers are seeking to reverse the law to allow straight appointment by the governor's office. As Ann Althouse notes:

So there are 2 questions: 1. Is the death of Teddy Kennedy a sufficiently powerful event to counter the opposition to the health care bill? and 2. Is the death of Teddy Kennedy a sufficiently powerful event to overcome the embarrassment of changing the Massachusetts law back to what it was before it was changed to thwart a Republican?

See also, Karyn McDermott, "The Edward M. Kennedy Memorial Health Care Reform Bill 2009."