May 6, 2006
Should Patrick Kennedy resign?
Orthogonal at DailyKos says so. "The Democratic Party needs to show it's different, that it's not a club of the elite taking care of the elite." The idea is that Kennedy should quit for the good of the party. Memeorandum collects links to Orthogonal's post. Lots of Democrats -- unsurprisingly -- disagree. Aside from what is good for his party, shouldn't Kennedy resign out of simple unfitness to serve?
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26 comments:
Ann Althouse asked: "[S]houldn't Kennedy resign out of simple unfitness to serve?"
No. He needs to stand firm and set a courageous example for all our other drug and booze-addled statesmen.
Yeah he should resign but of course he won't.
I was struck by the length of his blowhard speech (no questions allowed) and the way he almost yelled it out. It also reminded me of Jim McGreevey's ruse..."I am a poor and unfortunate gay American".
Kennedy used essentially the same tactic..."I am one of many unfortunate substance-abusing Americans".
I admit I am paraphrasing but they must think most Americans are dopes. I want to tell them ...Just go the F away and don't come back!
Yeah, if he should resign for killing a poor defenseless traffic barrier, what would be the appropriate response for Teddy?
Being fat, stupid and drunk is no way to go through life.
If it were merely a matter of operating while intoxicated and getting caught, I would say, "No, he shouldn't resign".
If he used his power to alter an investigation in order to get the "good old boy" treatment, then he should have to resign.
The same should be true of Dick Cheney shooting a man in the face.
When Republicans are caught out in some illegal or antisocial behavior, they are, more often than not, forced out by the party, or resign on their own.
When Democrats are caught out, they usually blame everyone else, or say that Republicans do it too, and the party circles the wagons. This is what we've seen time and time again.
Maybe the Kos kiddie was waking up to the fact that the Democrat's MO is hurting the party. Well, duh!
YES! He doesn't need the money. He's got a trust fund. All sewn up. Let him get wasted on someone else's dime.
Peace, Maxine
I tend to agree with twwren, let the voters decide. I mean really who can live up to the Kossack's standards?
Side note: Do you ever just blow off the word verification so that you can get a shot at a readable one? wvuyvwuyxvwugqgqgqgqgqgqg
Of course he shouldn't resign. He is a Kennedy, and they are special.
"Kennedy used essentially the same tactic..."I am one of many unfortunate substance-abusing Americans"."
Hey, you should be glad you were not ordered by society to be a sustance abuser! What do you think, he became one of his own free will?
And if he just mixed two pills by accident, why is he going to rehab? His story doesn't hold up.
Scott Furguson: I agree that it is broadly true that the Republican party is the party of grownups; at least compared to the Democrats.
What accounts for the difference I do not know.
word verification: ppatgdyl. Wasn't that one of the characters they left out of The Lord of the Rings? You know, Hi ho lighdee lil, I'm Tom Ppatgdyl.
Seven Machos: You said that "any person with a sense of decency would resign in Patrick Kennedy's situation."
True. But, you know, in times of desperation ordinary men can become extraordinarily selfish. So we really can't blame him. Just imagine the mess this guy would become if unrestrained by the expectation he'll show up for work in the morning.
And, after all, we can't really expect him to work an ordinary job, now can we?
The unfortunate accident involving Cheney would not have occured if the person who was shot had stayed behind the fire line instead of wandering into the line of fire. His actions almost caused his death.
The person pulling the trigger -- Cheney -- is responsible for everything in his (her) line of sight. That is basic hunting safety.
Should Patches resign? Has he been charged with anything? If he had not had the accident, and just gone off to rehab, should he resign then? Is he being pressured to resign because of being a member of the Bob Kasten School of Driving and crashing, or because he's hooked on pills?
Ultimately, it is up to the voters of RI, and whomever is paying them to vote.
Then Nixon should not have resigned.
I don't see the parallel. Nixon was informed that he had lost support in his party and a vote to impeach was nearly certain. Even if Patches loses the support of his party, what happens?
Maybe that toothsome House Ethics Committee will sink its teeth into this (cough) scandal.
7m: I think you mean 1973.
Again, has Patches been charged with anything? Will he be? If a charge was imminent, and he was told the party would not support him, that would be a parallel to Nixon's resignation before impeachment because the party was no longer supporting him.
I wonder if this brouhaha would be so at-full-boil for any other member of the house? If Tammy Baldwin had done this, or Stephen Lynch, or anyone without a famous surname, what would be happening?
As a former Rhode Islander who lived in the other district (South County), I always wondered how Patches could be elected. He has absolutely no gravitas.
Nixon was drunk!!!!
I heard the tapes. Nixon was slurring and stammering on those tapes. He was drunk.
So does that absolve him? Maybe Nixon shouldn't have been impeached, because he had a "disease".
Peace, Maxine
All wise congressmen should get endless prescriptions to Ambien, and use the sleepwalker excuse for anything. Found w/ a hooker? You woke up there. Time for rehab again.
Also, loved PK's comment about how he didn't "ask" for special consideration. Pfft.
Finally, w/ the Kennedy history, I would mind it if we employed all of them so long as they stayed in one place and thus kept away from the rest of us. It's like a family of kamikazes. I wouldn't walk out of the the house w/o a helmet if my name was Kennedy.
I wonder if the Kennedy Family "legacy" is uniquely American...
Yes, he should resign and join a band.
But at least this way we can keep an eye on the drug and alcohol soaked politician. And if they are impaired often and long enough they can't do much damage to the common good.
"If he used his power to alter an investigation in order to get the "good old boy" treatment, then he should have to resign.
The same should be true of Dick Cheney shooting a man in the face."
I saw a hilarious bumper sticker a while back:
I'D RATHER GO HUNTING WITH DICK CHENEY
THAN GO DRIVING WITH TED KENNEDY
The Kennedy's have created their own social strata - the lumpen aristocracy.
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