Senator Victoria Kennedy?

Yesterday, Senators Orin Hatch and Chris (bottom half of the Waitress Sandwich) Dodd expressed suppport for the idea of Ted Kennedy’s widow filling his seat until a special election.  Neither Hatch nor Dodd mentioned that for this to happen the MA Legislature would have to change the law that they changed in 2004 when a Republican occupied the corner office on Beacon Hill.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who considered himself the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s est Republican friend in the Senate, suggested on Sunday that Kennedy’s widow, Vicki, could serve as an interim successor to her husband.

“I think Vicki ought to be considered,” Hatch said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”  “She’s a very brilliant lawyer. She’s a very solid individual. She certainly made a difference in Ted’s life, let me tell you. And I have nothing but great respect for her.”

A week before his death, Senator Kennedy asked Massachusetts state legislative leaders to give the state’s Democratic governor, Deval Patrick, the authority to appoint an interim senator before the state holds a special election to elect a permanent replacement.

On the same program, another Kennedy confidant, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn), left the door open for Vicki to temporarily take over for her husband.

“Whatever Vicki wants to do, I’m in her corner,” Dodd said. “I leave it up to her decision making process.”

“Whatever she thinks is best, I’m for her,” he added.

Vicki Kennedy has reportedly told friends that she is not interested in assuming her husband’s Senate seat.

Legislators in Massachusetts said on Friday that they are likely to begin debating a bill that would give the governor the power to choose an interim successor.

The Massachusetts secretary of state presented the governor with two possible dates — both in January 2010 — for voters to go to the polls in a special election to fill Kennedy’s seat, leaving a gap of several months when the state could be without a second senator.

Forgive me for being cynical, but I am not convinced Mrs. Kennedy wouldn’t run for the seat if she were named the successor.  Now that would be interesting.  Many sharks are circling in the waters waiting for the appropriate time to throw their hats in the ring and it would be a huge political risk to run against any Kennedy – let alone the widow of the Liberal Lion.

Kennedy Grandson At Funeral Mass: Lord Hear Our Prayer…For Universal Health Care.

This is wrong on so many levels.  Using a little kid to push a political agenda at his grandfather’s funeral mass is beyond reproach.  As if this young boy knows a thing about universal health care other than it sounds cool enough.  It isn’t his fault, though.  The adults who pushed this on him should be ashamed.  Imagine if the grandchild of a Republican senator had asked that the lord hear his prayer for lower taxes?  It’s really no different if you think about it.

Via Gateway Pundit

Blue Cross Blue Shield Slams ObamaCare In Email To Customers

More trouble for ObamaCare.

The California insurer Anthem Blue Cross — a subsidiary of the insurance giant WellPoint —  today blasted out an email to its customers, attacking the Democrats’ health reform plans and asking customers to help fight them.

The email says legislation “does not meet our definition of responsible and sustainable reform and “would likely have a significant negative impact on our partners and customers.”

The email warns the plan could wind up:

· Causing tens of millions of Americans to lose their private coverage and end up in a government-run plan;

· Limiting customers’ choices of the products they can purchase and how they can purchase health coverage; and

· Increasing the premiums of those with private coverage by imposing new mandates and coverage requirements.
The emails asks customers to “make your voice heard on this important issue by writing Congress and encouraging your elected officials to get health reform done — and done right — by acting in a bipartisan fashion to make health care more affordable, improve quality, and cover all Americans in a sustainable way.”

The email directs customers to its “grassroots Web site” for instructions on contacting legislators. And WellPoint, which has some 33 million customers whom it surveyed on the subject in April, has access to a pretty large pool of citizens to persuade.

The health insurers “grassroots” online campaigns have already taken fire from the liberal site ThinkProgres.

Another nail in the coffin of this colossal crap sandwich?  Perhaps.  But not the final nail – not by a long shot.

Senator Claire McCaskill Brings Down The House…When She Tells Crowd They Have “Every Right” To Fire Her

Senator McCaskill is having a rough August.  First, her constiuents tell her they don’t trust her – TO HER FACE – and now this:

Via Gateway Pundit

Confirmed: Chris Matthews Is A Raging, Partisan Tool

Chris Matthews’ obsession with town-hall attendees and what he perceives to be their violent tendencies towards President Obama is reaching a fever pitch.  This morning on MSNBC he made the following statement:

You know there’s going to be a lot of talk about the tragic blessings of the Kennedy family, and the curse. And it’s all nonsense. These people were courageous risk takers. Kathleen Kennedy, the girl, the oldest daughter, she was killed with her lover traveling on a plane ride she never should have taken through terrible weather in Europe. Joe Kennedy, Jr. took a mission that nobody should have taken in a plane loaded with dynamite to go blow up the V-1 rocket sites. Jack Kennedy was killed in an open car in Dallas in the midst of the most hated–it’s like the mood we’re in right now.

I saw this live and I wasn’t sure if I had heard him correctly because he was in full froth mode.  Hot Air confirms my ears were not deceiving me.

Question:  Where was Chris Matthews’ outrage when anti-war protesters burned President George W. Bush in effigy?  Or when protesters held signs that called for Bush’s death?  Or when a “documentary” depicting the assassination of Bush was shown at the Toronto Film Festival on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks?

Crickets.

MA Hacks Pushing Kennedy Successor Plan

Massachusetts Democrats are moving ahead with their obscenely partisan plan to reverse the very law that the late Senator Kennedy pushed for in 2004 which stripped the governor of his power to appoint a replacement to vacant Senate seats and instead mandates a special election within five months of the vacancy.

It should be noted that at the time Democrats voted down efforts by Republicans which would have given the governor the power to appoint an interim Senator until the special election.

So what has changed?  The party affiliation of the governor, that’s what.  It was a great plan in 2004 when Mitt Romney was governor, but now that the hapless Deval Patrick is at the helm of our sinking state we all of a sudden need representation during the five months between now and a special election?  Anyone who tries to spin this as a way for the citizens of the Commonwealth to have full representation in the U.S. Senate needs to explain why it was such a bad idea a scant five years ago.

This reeks.

House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has given his behind-closed-doors blessing to an effort to hand Gov. Deval Patrick the power to appoint a temporary successor to U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, sources say.

While DeLeo has been publicly silent on the controversial measure tagged a power play by critics, the speaker indicated his tacit support.

The Winthrop Democrat met with his inner circle Monday to discuss the late senator’s request for the temporary appointment and is looking at ways to fulfill the proposal as lawmakers started collecting votes, according to sources.

Kennedy wanted lawmakers to allow Patrick to name a successor for five months until a special election can be held to elect a new senator so that there is a “continuity” of representation in Washington.

Kennedy had asked that the temporary successor vow not to seek the seat in the special election.

Patrick has previously backed the gubernatorial appointment power which was taken away from former GOP Gov. Mitt Romney by the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

But Patrick has not taken a position on the latest Kennedy proposal.

Sen. Ted Kennedy Dead At Age 77

Kennedy passed away overnight.  I wish his family comfort during this very sad time.

BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a towering figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America’s most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, died at age 77, his family said.

“Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts),” the Kennedy family said in a statement early on Wednesday.

One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history — a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker — Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.

Great! MA Convicts Received Stimulus Checks In Jail

But lets let the government run our health care system.

Federal economic stimulus cash was handed out to cons behind bars in Bay State prisons after a bureaucratic snafu resulted in $250 checks being sent to some inmates – and now red-faced feds want it back.

“Taxpayers already believe the inmates are running the asylum in Washington,” U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said in a statement. “Now it appears they are being compensated for their efforts.”

Not only did the feds send the cash to incarcerated cons, but they failed to respond to state officials who sounded the alarm about the inmate windfall – now the subject of a national probe.

The state Department of Correction initially withheld stimulus checks mailed to 23 inmates because prison officials believed the convicts were not entitled to the cash, said DOC spokeswoman Diane Wiffin.

The DOC said it released the funds after the federal government ignored several requests for guidance.

“In the absence of a formal directive, DOC determined that it did not have grounds to continue to withhold the checks from the recipients,” Wiffin said in an e-mail.

The Herald learned yesterday the U.S. Social Security Administration is asking at least 14 of the Bay State prisoners to return the cash. Inmates are generally not allowed to receive Social Security benefits while incarcerated.

Good luck with that.

9/11 National Day Of Service Being Hijacked By Left Wing Groups

Could someone please explain to me what any of the following groups have to do with honoring the victims of the September 11 attacks?

ACORN, AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Community Action Partnership, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, Friends of the Earth, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Mobilize.org, National Black Police Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Wildlife Federation, RainbowPUSH Coalition, Urban League, and Young Democrats of America

They were all on a recent conference call run by Lennox Yearwood and Liv Havstad of the Hip Hop Caucus.

With the help of the Obama administration, the coalition is launching a public relations campaign under the radar of the mainstream media — which remains almost uniformly terrified of criticizing the nation’s first black president — to try to change 9/11 from a day of reflection and remembrance to a day of activism, food banks, and community gardens.

“The organizing term is to ‘go dark.’ You don’t tell the press, don’t tell people you think will tell the press,” said the source.

Of course, the annual commemoration of the 2001 terrorist attacks belongs to the entire nation, but President Obama and the activist left don’t see it that way. They view the nationwide remembrance of the murder of 3,000 Americans by Islamic totalitarians as an obstacle to winning over the hearts and minds of the American people.

“When you criticize them, they are prepared to say, ‘Did you want 9/11 to be another day of selling mattresses, like Presidents Day?” the source said. “They are truly trying to change the American mindset.”

They view Sept. 11 as a “Republican” day because it focuses the public on supposedly “Republican” issues like patriotism, national security, and terrorism. According to liberals, 9/11 was long ago hijacked by Republicans and their enablers and unfairly used to bludgeon helpless Democrats at election time.

Despicable, but not at all surprising.

Hat Tip: Vagabond Trader

More Trouble In Paradise. Panetta Threatened To Quit

Who can blame him?

A “profanity-laced screaming match” at the White House involving CIA Director Leon Panetta, and the expected release today of another damning internal investigation, has administration officials worrying about the direction of its newly-appoint intelligence team, current and former senior intelligence officials tell ABC News.com.

Amid reports that Panetta had threatened to quit just seven months after taking over at the spy agency, other insiders tell ABCNews.com that senior White House staff members are already discussing a possible shake-up of top national security officials.

“You can expect a larger than normal turnover in the next year,” a senior adviser to Obama on intelligence matters told ABCNews.com.

Panetta’s anger is justified.  Queen Nancy tells the press that his agency “lies all the time” to Congress and Eric Holder appears bent on prosecuting CIA agents for pouring water on people who planned the murders of 3,000 Americans and had knowledge of future attacks.  And now the pending document dump while Barry vacations with the Beautiful People on Martha’s Vineyard.  I’d be livid, too.