Ted Kennedy, in 2007, Opposing the Surge

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) didn’t win every fight, as this clip of his January  2007 speech against the troop surge in Iraq at the National Press Club shows. But what’s remarkable about this speech is how, despite the anguished and passionate tone (“We cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq, we must act to prevent it.”) Kennedy was arguing for traditional congressional prerogatives of oversight and open debate. Typically statesman-like, even if the outcome he wanted ultimately didn’t come to pass during the Bush administration. Video after the jump.