They say it could be weeks, if not days, before Ted Kennedy (D-Chapaquiddick) finally loses his Senate seat, something that could only be made possible by death. One tries not to speak ill of the dead (unless you’re a liberal commentator and the deceased is Ronald Reagan or Tony Snow). So, before Kennedy finds himself face to face with Mary Jo Kopechne, maybe we can nail for something one last time.
But what scandalous acts could such a terminally ill man possibly get into? Let’s see … let’s see … Ahh, here we go! From Politico:
Kennedy asks for change in succession law
The Boston Globe reported late Wednesday evening that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) has privately asked Governor Deval Patrick, state Senate President Therese Murray, and state House Speaker Robert DeLeo to change the Massachusetts succession law so that the state will not be without a vote in the Senate if his seat becomes vacant.
According to the Globe, which obtained a letter sent by Kennedy to the state’s top Democratic leaders, the ailing senator wrote that he still backs the state’s existing succession law, which gives voters the authority to fill a Senate vacancy, but asked that Patrick be granted the power to temporarily appoint someone to the seat before a new senator is elected in a special election.
“I strongly support that law and the principle that the people should elect their senator,’’ Kennedy wrote. “I also believe 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.’’
The Globe reported that the letter was drafted in early July but not sent until this week. Discussions about pursuing a change in the law began months ago, and involved Kennedy advisers and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
A brain tumor has kept Kennedy away from the Capitol for much of the past 15 months, and his absence from recent public events has generated concern about his declining health.
A change in the law to allow Patrick a temporary appointment would give Senate Democrats an additional vote that they may need to pass President Barack Obama’s health care reform. Without the change, under the succession law Massachusetts lawmakers passed in 2004, the seat could remain vacant for as long as five months until a special election .
That succession law had a political design of its own: the Democratic-controlled legislature wanted to deny Republican Mitt Romney, then governor, the opportunity to appoint a Republican to Kerry’s Senate seat in the event he won the presidency.
You getting all this? In 2004, had John Kerry beat George W. Bush, the filling of his vacated Senate seat would have been decided by Republican governor Mitt Romney. So, Kennedy played the piece of scum he’s always been and got Massachusetts law changed to take that decision out of the governor’s hands up to the five months before voters elected Kerry’s replacement.
Now, in 2009, with every precious vote needed in Senate to pass a health (s)care bill and a Democrat Deval Patrick as governor of Massachusetts, Kennedy is spending his last days on earth getting his own law changed back, so that governor Patrick can immediately replace Kennedy with an ObamaCare-supporting Democrat Senator of his choosing until an election takes place.
Edward Kennedy, a self-serving, result-oriented piece of excrement until the very end.
Today’s Wall Street Journal wonders:
Beacon Hill [Mass.] has long sported heavy Democratic majorities, so the state legislature has the votes to grant Mr. Kennedy’s wish. But does it have the chutzpah? An election is the more democratic option. After witnessing recent attempts by incompetent Governors in Illinois and New York to fill Senate vacancies, Massachusetts voters may have soured on such appointments. Especially when Mr. Kennedy’s motivation for changing the law is so obviously born of partisan interest, not principle.
That’s an understatement!
Like I said, it’s not proper to speak ill of the dead, so I’m gonna say this right now while I have the chance:
Chapaquiddick Ted, you are a detestable human being and represent everything that is wrong with American politics. When you are gone, the nation and the world will be a better place.
There. Too mean-spirited? Too vitriolic? Tough. Go back to your New York Times editorial page and your Jon Stewart show. They’re just ohhh so polite and civil.
Related reading: Ted Kennedy's Last Will and Testament by Daniel Flynn
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