Ted Kennedy's Last Will and Testament

Back when I was active in Massachusetts politics, one of my roles was as a coordinator working for Romney when he ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate. My best friend at the time was an Irish-American, retired airline pilot who loved boating as much as I did, and who did boating stuff with me almost every day (as a college professor, I had summers off). One time I laid out the case for Romney over Kennedy to him, and he sadly agreed, but then said that he had to vote for Kennedy because “we owed it to him”.

In Rhode Island, where I was born and now spend my summers, one of the state’s two House seats is held by one of Kennedy’s sons, a drug-addicted nitwit named Patrick Kennedy. He holds the seat for two reasons: he’s a Kennedy, and “we owe it to him”, and Rhode Islanders believe he can bring home the bacon better than anyone else.

The reason I am bringing this up is because the main topic of discussion in Massachusetts right now involves Ted Kennedy’s attempt to change the rules again in order to ensure that whoever follows him will do what he, Kennedy, wants. The following excerpt from the American Spectator explains this latest example of political arrogance:

Ted Kennedy's Last Will and Testament

By Daniel J. Flynn 8.21.09 American Spectator (Excerpt)

“"It is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate in the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election," an ailing Ted Kennedy wrote the leaders of the Massachusetts General Court in a letter made public yesterday. "I therefore am writing to urge you to work together to amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs."

Five years ago, with high hopes of electing their junior U.S. senator to the presidency, the Massachusetts state legislature stripped the governor of the power to fill senatorial vacancies. Every Democrat voted for the measure. Then, the governor, Mitt Romney, was a Republican. Now, the governor is a Democrat.

Welcome to the banana commonwealth of Massachusetts, where more than fifty years of one-party dominance has fostered a make-up-the-rules-as-you-go-along mentality among those who make the rules. Almost a half century ago, in the infancy of the Democrats' Bay State hegemony, Jack Kennedy maneuvered his baby brother Ted into a Senate seat, though he had never held a steady paying job (save a stint as an army private) prior to that point.

After his election to the presidency, John Kennedy refused to resign his Senate seat until the outgoing governor, a Democrat, agreed to appoint a seatwarmer senator -- John Kennedy's Harvard roommate -- who would essentially cede the seat to Ted once he became constitutionally eligible. President-elect Kennedy threatened to allow the incoming Republican governor to make the appointment if the outgoing Democrat didn't do his bidding.

With both nephew Joe Kennedy and wife Vicki Kennedy reportedly interested in the seat, Ted Kennedy seeks to orchestrate for the benefit of his relatives a repeat performance of the skullduggery that helped make him a senator in 1962. The banana commonwealth way of doing political business a half-century ago is still the way of doing political business in Massachusetts today. So is Ted Kennedy's habit of abandoning professed principles for personal benefit.” American Spectator