As the Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby once wrote, “That which is permitted to Massachusetts congressmen is not permitted to congressmen from other states.” And Ted Kennedy’s latest attempt to rebend a law he himself had altered in 2004 is merely the latest example, as the fellas at the Say Anything blog write:
Ted Kennedy wants Massachusetts to change state law to allow a speedy replacement should he be forced to step down from the Senate due to health.
A cancer-stricken US senator Ted Kennedy has asked Massachusetts leaders to change state law to allow a speedy replacement if it becomes necessary for him to surrender his seat, fearing a months-long vacancy would deny Democrats a crucial vote on Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul.
The note has been sent to Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and the state’s senate president and house speaker at a time when Congress is considering an overhaul of the US healthcare system, a life cause of Kennedy’s.
I appreciate Ted Kennedy’s desire to see the people of Massachusetts represented by two Senators during the heated health care debate, but maybe he should have thought about as his health failed months ago. Kennedy has known that he was going to battling cancer for some time now. He’s also been in
the Senate for, frankly, generations now. Maybe he should have stepped aside a while ago?
He didn’t, because like most of our political elite he just can’t let go of power. And now it appears as though he’s actually angling to name his own successor.
I know that it’s fashionable among some in the media elite to refer to the Kennedy’s as American royalty. Maybe Teddy has started to believe it. [Started? — Ed]
More by the Whistler
Ted Kennedy was the driving force behind changing the law back in 2004. Back then John Kerry had a chance to become President which meant that Mitt Romney would have been able to appoint a Republican to
the Senate. Kennedy created the up to five month delay before a Senator could be replaced.
Kennedy just doesn’t want the governor to choose when a Republican is governor.
Shades of the 2002 race in New Jersey, when, rather than risk Bob “the Torch” Torricelli going down in a sea of corruption, the Democrats did an 11th hour swap with Frank Lautenberg of staggeringly questionable legality.
When John F. Kennedy said, that “the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans”, who knew he was talking about the plug-and-play nature of modern Democrat politics?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member