Ted Kennedy then and now...

Courtesy of Radioblogger.com...

Here is what the senior Senator from Massachusetts had to say about the filibuster in 1999, according to the Congressional Record from September 21, 1999 (HT: BlogsforBush):
“When the Founders wrote the Constitution and gave the Senate the power of advice and consent on Presidential nominations, they never intended the Senate to work against the President, as this Senate is doing, by engaging in a wholesale stall and refusing to act on large numbers of the President’s nominees.”

Ted Kennedy then, in 1975, when the filibuster cloture rule was changed from 67 to 60 votes, in the middle of the game (HT: Itzazu):
"Again and again in recent years, the filibuster has been the shame of the Senate and the last resort of special-interest groups. Too often, it has enabled a small minority of the Senate to prevent a strong majority from working its will and serving the public interest."

More Kennedy then, in 1998. (HT: Talk Show America):
"We owe it to Americans across the country to give these nominees a vote. If our Republican colleagues don't like them, vote against them. But give them a vote."

More Kennedy then, in 1998, quoted in The Oregonian 3/17/05:
“The President And The Senate Do Not Always Agree. But We Should Resolve These Disagreements By Voting On These Nominees – Yes Or No.”

More Kennedy then, in 2000, according to the Congressional record, March 7th):
“The Chief Justice Of The United States Supreme Court Said: ‘The Senate Is Surely Under No Obligation To Confirm Any Particular Nominee, But After The Necessary Time For Inquiry It Should Vote Him Up Or Vote Him Down.’ Which Is Exactly What I Would Like.”

NOW:
Kennedy from today:
And the list goes on. They're going to have to break scores of these rules. That's what they're going to have to do. It's going to make a sham! A sham of the rules and parliamentary procedures of this body, and it's wrong, Mr. President. What we're witnessing in this debate is an arrogant power grab by the Republican right. This is what happens when the right wing of the Republican Party calls the tune for the Republican Party as a whole. We're spending days and weeks debating five right-wing judges, but not five minutes on what counts in most people's lives. Secure jobs, healthy families, educational opportunity. Those aren't the values and priorities we see today from the White House and this Republican Congress. To them, history doesn't matter. Mainstream values don't matter. Our commitment is to working families, and that doesn't matter. What the Republican Party cares about today is putting a right-wing agenda ahead of mainstream values. Corporate interests ahead of the public interest, and the agenda of the privileged few ahead of the American dream for all.