CNS News has just published an AP report, "Ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy Requests Speedy Process to Name His Replacement", that says that Sen. Ted Kennedy is trying to get the Massachusetts law changed so that the Governor can quickly name an interim replacement until an election can be held. I don't agree with Senator Kennedy on much, and I certainly don't wish him any ill will as he battles cancer, but his action is illustrative of the lack of statesmanship in the Democrat party leadership.
Kennedy's request is interesting because it would reverse a change in the same law that he lobbied heavily in 2004 when Senator John Kerry was running for President. At that time Kennedy successfully lobbied a change that took away the Governor's authority to make such interim appointments. Kennedy did so to prevent Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, from naming a replacement for Kerry.
The article states that Kennedy wrote in 2004, "it is vital for this commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election." So, according to Kennedy, it is vital for the commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens as long as they are Democrats, but the people can get along on one "voice" if a Republican would be appointed.
Kennedy's action confirms, once again, that even though the Democrat party proclaims itself "the party of the people" the party really is all about power, and is led by politicians, rather than statesmen.
The letter is a sad, but accurate, epitaph for Senator Kennedy.
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Comments: 17
I admit that Washington has a pretty good record of corrupting principled politicians, but isn't that what "We the People" are trying to change?
This is just typical of an old party hack.
I repeat, I wish Senator Kennedy no ill will, and I sincerely hope he has a cure or a peaceful death. I have spent too many years as a hospice volunteer to think otherwise.
Kennedy was a major force in getting the law changed in 2004, and now he wants to change it back. He has no principles except the retention of power.
Ted Kennedy will go down as one of this country's greatest senators and politicians, much to the chagrine of the rightwing haters. I only hope that they don't let his rotting corpse lie on public display for weeks on end, like the diseased GOP did with their precious St. Redink.