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End of the Kennedy Legend
If his widow had run for Ted Kennedy’s seat, would she have won yesterday’s election?
Although Victoria Reggie Kennedy had spent a lifetime in politics and, on the weekend of the wake, showed unusual poise and grace, the Senator’s widow rebuffed all suggestions that she run for his seat in a special election to be his proxy in passing legislation for what he called “the cause of my life.”
In what would truly have been the last hurrah for the Kennedy dynasty, Tea Party rage would have been tested against half a century of Massachusetts love and loyalty for the family that dominated its politics for so long.
One left-handed indicator of what might have happened can be seen in the robocalls for Libertarian Joe Kennedy (no relation) meant to draw Democratic loyalists away from voting for Martha Coakley. Even in their absence, the Kennedys counted.
Scott Brown insisted he was not running for the “Kennedy seat” but, faced with defeating the Senator’s widow, he would probably have ended up as luckless as Ted Kennedy’s first opponent in 1962, who pictured him as a 30-year-old novice who would not impress voters if he were running as Edward Moore rather than Edward Moore Kennedy. But as the brother of the President and Attorney General and heir on his mother’s side to colorful “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, Ted Kennedy won easily and kept winning for the rest of the century.
12 Responses to “End of the Kennedy Legend”
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by TMV, Pamela Leavey. Pamela Leavey said: If Vickie Reggie Kennedy had run it would not have been the… End of the Kennedy Legend | The Moderate Voice – http://bit.ly/7QzKLw [...]
Not a fan of dynastic politics. Glad to see an ending to at least one example of it.
“Well, with all due respect, it's not the Kennedys' seat, and it's not the Democrats' seat, it's the people's seat.”
A legacy abandoned in a car gasping for breath in agony, wondering why no help had arrived?
Good riddance
Up yours.
http://tinyurl.com/ya9c65j
I'm totally stunned how pundits are missing the mark on this one. Anyone remember that Ted Kennedy held that seat forever? Ever wonder why?
Because he was the L-I-O-N of the left. He wasn't the “compromising, lay-on-your-back-and-piss-on-yourself gerbil” of the left. He was leo, the fierce, the uncompromising, the fiesty, vicious even. THAT is what MA wanted.despite labels. They wanted their lion back and old what's-her-name playing hookie in the skirt was DEFINITELY the lesser of two evils as far as they were concerned.
People are no longer defined by a party name or even a platform. They are defined by their immediate needs and that is how they will vote. One word: Single Payer or else..
It was about the Dems losing for putting forth an out of touch candidate and a broken partisan agenda, and overstepping the bounds of their mandate won in the elections of 2006 and 2008.
Here is a good analysis
Lessons from the Brown Victory in Massachusetts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVj7ve0BnzI
Follow the Yellow Brick Road, Sil.
Kennedy, in fact, was like so many people in Washington, there for far, far too long. (The “fixtures” are probably not afraid at Obama at all. They've seen one President after another come to town and learned how to handle them.) In Kennedy's case, he was like Robert Byrd, and to name another of the same kind of example, Strom Thurmond. Years past his prime, and when he was a serious DC figure, at least in the news. Kennedy may still have been a facilitator behind the scenes, which is what he is reputed to have been. But there's nothing to the lightweight appeal he had in recent years with his past history, long ago. Anyone harkening back to the 60s and 70s to feel good about him is a throwback to what is obsolescent as well as discredited and rejected in 1980 and onward.
“One word: Single Payer or else..”
By the way, which word?
“gerbil of the left” – good one Sil.
Of course if they were looking for a lion it's doubtful they found one in Brown. Reckon they'll have to work on it again in 2012.
“He was leo, the fierce, the uncompromising, the fiesty, vicious even.”
Oh — OK. Coakley forgot her Sexy Adult Cowardly Lioness Costume.
Is this better?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487…