Frankfort, KY – REPUBLICAN SENATOR JIM BUNNING CALLED KENNEDY " A POLITICAL ICON WHO SERVED WITH GREAT DISTINCTION." SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL SAYS KENNEDY WAS 'ONE OF THE GIANTS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL LIFE."
KENNEDY ACCEPTED AN INVITATION FROM MCCONNELL IN 2006 TO SPEAK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE, WHERE HE BEGAN WITH A READING FROM A POEMBY JAMES MULLIGAN.
"the bluegrass waves the bluest, the songbirds are the sweetest, the thoroughbreds are
the fleetest, the landscape is the grandest and the politics are the damndest... in Kentucky."
KENNEDY TOLD THE AUDIENCE HIS FAMILY HAS A SPECIAL CONNECTION WITH KENTUCKY, DESCRIBING HOW MOVED HIS BROTHER BOBBY WAS BY A VISIT TO THE PIKE COUNTY COAL FIELDS, AND HOW ANOTHER BROTHER, JOHN, CAMPAIGNED FOR PRESIDENCY IN LOUISVILLE IN 1960.