Political deaths that hit you hard

[RFKHumphreyObama]

In other words, politicians whose deaths hit you hard

Yitzhak Rabin -Former Israeli PM. Such a wonderful and visionary courageous man of peace. The peace process never recovered from his murder and I was very, very sad to lose him

Senator Paul Wellstone -I just couldn't believe this one. Such a wonderful, enlightened, compassionate and courageous political figure. I was devastated over this one and am still mourning his loss

Rajiv Gandhi -Former Indian PM and an early political hero of mine. His assassination absolutely shocked and angered me and continues to do so to this day sixteen years later

Peter Nugent -An Australian conservative politician who was nevertheless one of his party's most compassionate MPs who championed human rights, racial tolerance and social justice to the extent where he was prepared to publicly dissent from his own party leadership to stand up for what he thought was right. He died very suddenly in 2001.

Peter Andren -Another Australian politician who was an Independent Member of Parliament. During his eleven years in office, he took a very courageous and principled stand on issues such as racial tolerance and social justice. His death from cancer last year was not unexpected but it was sudden and nevertheless greatly saddened me.

[SeattleGirl]

1. JFK, MLK, and RFK.

:cry:

[Ptah]

2. I'll add John Lennon to that list.

:cry:

[SeattleGirl]

6. Thank you.

That was another heartbreaker for me too.

[LostInAnomie]

3. John Edwards

I know he's not really dead, but his political future is. It's sad too, because he had a way of talking about poverty and the needs of the working class that no one could match.

I was hoping he would be president one day.

[last_texas_dem]

4. Paul Wellstone is the only one I can think of that just flat-out shocked me

I was in San Antonio, on a field trip with my college geology class, walking around downtown when I caught the headline on the display paper on a sidewalk newspaper machine. There was just something about first finding out about a tragedy in black-and-white newsprint that made it hit harder. One of the only times I can remember flat-out questioning if I could really believe my eyes...

[Radical Activist]

5. Wellstone

I was hoping he would run for President. That was very hard to deal with. For a long time I felt like he was the last best hope of the Democratic Party so I had a strong sense of hopelessness when he was gone.