Biden: Kennedy's optimism infectious

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Vice President Joe Biden, voice trembling, paid tribute to one of his closest friends, Sen. Edward Kennedy, calling him a "truly remarkable man."

Biden, scheduled to announce energy-related grants through the economic stimulus package, offered a remembrance of Kennedy, who died late Tuesday of brain cancer at age 77.

"Today, we lost a truly remarkable man," Biden said. "To paraphrase Shakespeare, I don't think we shall ever see his like again. I think the legacy he left was not just with the landmark legislation he passed but in how he helped people look at themselves and look at one another.

Kennedy "spent a lifetime working for a fair and more just America," Biden said. "And for 36 years, I had the privilege of going to work every day and literally ... sitting next to him and being a witness to history every single day the Senate was in session."

Kennedy's optimism about America's future was infectious, Biden said, often speaking haltingly and struggling for composure.

"He was never defeatist. He never was petty. He was never small," Biden said. "In process of his doing, he made everybody he worked with bigger -- both his adversaries and his allies."

Biden said when he spoke to Kennedy's wife, Victoria, Wednesday morning she told him, "He was ready to go, Joe, but we were not ready to let him go."

When people look back on Kennedy's nearly half-century as a senator, "I just hope we remember how he treated other people and how he made other people look at themselves and look at one another. That will be the truly fundamental, unifying legacy of Teddy Kennedy's life ... ."