I'm more in agreement with your point of view on Ted and his accomplishments than I am with the folks who are saying Chappaquiddick negates anything he did after.

I feel, like you, he used his power in the Senate as a way of atonement for his Great Sin. Changing lives, bettering lives, dare I say even saving lives through his major role in passing:

• the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
• the National Cancer Act of 1971
• the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974
• the COBRA Act of 1985
• the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986
• the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• the Ryan White AIDS Care Act in 1990
• the Civil Rights Act of 1991
• the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
• the Mental Health Parity Act in 1996 and 2008
• the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997
• the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002
• the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009.

I think he spiritually repaid his debt. And I mourn his passing, and the passing of a genuine source of good in this world. True, a flawed, human source, maybe not someone I'd want to know in real life and call a friend, but still a source of good.

And who among us isn't a flawed human? Seems I remember something about sin and casting stones....