What is it about the Democratic Party and Senate seats?
First it was Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted for abuse of power when he tried to sell President Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat. You might remember that as the governor of Illinois he had the power to appoint a replacement for Obama after the president-elect vacated his former U.S. Senate seat for the White House. Blago was caught when the FBI wiretapped his home and recordings were made of him attempting to sell the seat to the highest bidder.
Children throughout the state of Illinois are getting prepared to celebrate the first annual “Obama Senate Seat Day” on January 29th. It is hailed as the anniversary of Blago’s conviction (just nine days after Obama’s inauguration!). The Chicago corruption machine vows that no child will be left behind without a Senate seat.
Anyway… Something even worse than the Blago disaster is happening. Now a Republican has the ‘nerve’ to run for the Senate seat left vacant by the Democratic Party’s demigod, Ted Kennedy. Except for a gap of two years, this seat has been in the hands of the Kennedy family since 1953, when John F. Kennedy first won it. (Benjamin A. Smith II, a Kennedy loyalist, kept JFK’s seat warm for two years until Ted was old enough to take over.)
Remember how Blago had the power to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy by appointment? Get ready for some heavy-handed irony.
In 2004 Ted Kennedy was instrumental in helping to push legislation that would have prevented Mitt Romney, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, from appointing a replacement to John Kerry’s U.S. Senate seat if Kerry had won the presidential election.
In August 2009 Ted Kennedy made another appeal to change the law once again. At the time Kennedy was terminally ill and worried about his soon be vacated seat. However, Massachusetts now had a governor who was a Democratic Party loyalist, Deval Patrick. Kennedy wanted to change the law so that the governor could choose an interim replacement. This would give the Democratic Party the 60 votes they needed to pass their health care bill. Otherwise the seat would be vacant under the law Kennedy fought to pass in 2004.
The law was duly changed thanks to the Democratic Party’s majority in the Massachusetts Legislature. So they got their 60 votes when a Kennedy loyalist was appointed as the interim replacement. That means blue-blooded legislators can just change the law when they don’t want a Republican to be seated in the Senate and change the law when they want a Democrat seated. The arrogance seemed limitless…
However, it is now the turn of the voters of Massachusetts to strike back. Scott Brown, the Republican candidate for the Senate seat that has been held by the Kennedy family for 54 years, has came from out of nowhere to become a serious contender. This is despite the fact that it is one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal voter districts.
Here is an example of why Brown is making such an impact on the election. In a recent debate the biased moderator from CNN, David Gergen, led with this query;
“Mr. Brown, let me ask you this question, it’s on a lot of people’s minds. You said you’re for health care reform, just not this bill. We know from the Clinton experience that if this bill fails, it could well be another 15 years before we see health care reform efforts in Washington. Are you willing under those circumstances to say, ‘I’m going to be the person. I’m going to sit in Teddy Kennedy’s seat and I’m going to be the person who’s going to block it for another 15 years’?”
Brown brilliantly replied;
“Well with all due respect it’s not the Kennedys’ seat, and it’s not the Democrats’ seat, it’s the people’s seat. And they have the chance to send somebody down there who is an independent voter, and an independent thinker and going to look out for the best interests of the people of Massachusetts. And the way that this bill is configured, I’d like to send it back to the drawing board because I believe people should have insurance. Not just this particular bill because it’s not good for the entire country. You’re talking about another trillion dollars in costs, a half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts, military people, if you’re veterans, you’re going to have cuts in Tricare, and it’s not good. We need to go back to the drawing board. Nobody has confidence in this bill right now.”
As Gergen admits, he “got stuffed”. The arrogant sense of entitlement that defines such anti-democratic talking heads is becoming unglued.
First it was Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted for abuse of power when he tried to sell President Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat. You might remember that as the governor of Illinois he had the power to appoint a replacement for Obama after the president-elect vacated his former U.S. Senate seat for the White House. Blago was caught when the FBI wiretapped his home and recordings were made of him attempting to sell the seat to the highest bidder.
Children throughout the state of Illinois are getting prepared to celebrate the first annual “Obama Senate Seat Day” on January 29th. It is hailed as the anniversary of Blago’s conviction (just nine days after Obama’s inauguration!). The Chicago corruption machine vows that no child will be left behind without a Senate seat.
Anyway… Something even worse than the Blago disaster is happening. Now a Republican has the ‘nerve’ to run for the Senate seat left vacant by the Democratic Party’s demigod, Ted Kennedy. Except for a gap of two years, this seat has been in the hands of the Kennedy family since 1953, when John F. Kennedy first won it. (Benjamin A. Smith II, a Kennedy loyalist, kept JFK’s seat warm for two years until Ted was old enough to take over.)
Remember how Blago had the power to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy by appointment? Get ready for some heavy-handed irony.
In 2004 Ted Kennedy was instrumental in helping to push legislation that would have prevented Mitt Romney, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, from appointing a replacement to John Kerry’s U.S. Senate seat if Kerry had won the presidential election.
In August 2009 Ted Kennedy made another appeal to change the law once again. At the time Kennedy was terminally ill and worried about his soon be vacated seat. However, Massachusetts now had a governor who was a Democratic Party loyalist, Deval Patrick. Kennedy wanted to change the law so that the governor could choose an interim replacement. This would give the Democratic Party the 60 votes they needed to pass their health care bill. Otherwise the seat would be vacant under the law Kennedy fought to pass in 2004.
The law was duly changed thanks to the Democratic Party’s majority in the Massachusetts Legislature. So they got their 60 votes when a Kennedy loyalist was appointed as the interim replacement. That means blue-blooded legislators can just change the law when they don’t want a Republican to be seated in the Senate and change the law when they want a Democrat seated. The arrogance seemed limitless…
However, it is now the turn of the voters of Massachusetts to strike back. Scott Brown, the Republican candidate for the Senate seat that has been held by the Kennedy family for 54 years, has came from out of nowhere to become a serious contender. This is despite the fact that it is one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal voter districts.
Here is an example of why Brown is making such an impact on the election. In a recent debate the biased moderator from CNN, David Gergen, led with this query;
“Mr. Brown, let me ask you this question, it’s on a lot of people’s minds. You said you’re for health care reform, just not this bill. We know from the Clinton experience that if this bill fails, it could well be another 15 years before we see health care reform efforts in Washington. Are you willing under those circumstances to say, ‘I’m going to be the person. I’m going to sit in Teddy Kennedy’s seat and I’m going to be the person who’s going to block it for another 15 years’?”
Brown brilliantly replied;
“Well with all due respect it’s not the Kennedys’ seat, and it’s not the Democrats’ seat, it’s the people’s seat. And they have the chance to send somebody down there who is an independent voter, and an independent thinker and going to look out for the best interests of the people of Massachusetts. And the way that this bill is configured, I’d like to send it back to the drawing board because I believe people should have insurance. Not just this particular bill because it’s not good for the entire country. You’re talking about another trillion dollars in costs, a half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts, military people, if you’re veterans, you’re going to have cuts in Tricare, and it’s not good. We need to go back to the drawing board. Nobody has confidence in this bill right now.”
As Gergen admits, he “got stuffed”. The arrogant sense of entitlement that defines such anti-democratic talking heads is becoming unglued.
4 comments:
It was argued by Democrats that Obama's vacated Senate seat was also a so-called "black" seat. For a party that supposedly is dedicated to "democracy" the DNC sure seem to love hereditary monarchies.
It was an embarrassing start for the Obama Administration. A bad omen of corruption yet to come.
With control over the Justice Dept they have brazenly suppressed the notion that other Obama allies can be prosecuted.
Perhaps that is part of the reason why his poll ratings are so low...
Leave it to those idiotic Democrats to lose a seat from the most Democratic district in the country that has been solidly Democratic since 1953 (five years before I was born!) Every time I forget why I left that joke of a party twelve years ago, they always cheerfully remind me.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
I know how you feel Tom. Back in the 90s I voted for Clinton.
Times change...
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