"Rep. Kennedy to bow out, spelling end to family era; Will not seek a 9th term in R.I." by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | February 12, 2010
WASHINGTON - US Representative Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek reelection, capping a dramatic year for the Kennedy family and probably leaving it without a member in Washington for the first time in more than six decades.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: The Last Kennedy
Kennedy made the decision based on “some personal struggles,’’ including the death in August of his father, Edward M. Kennedy, according to a Democratic official briefed on the decision. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Patrick Kennedy has not yet made a formal announcement....
Unless another Kennedy decides to run for Congress and wins, Patrick Kennedy’s decision will mean that a Kennedy family member, or close associate, will not be serving in Congress next year for the first time since 1947....
Kennedy has been seen as vulnerable, particularly after 62 percent of voters statewide gave the eight-term congressman an unfavorable job rating in a poll released last week by WPRI-TV (Channel 12). Just 35 percent of respondents in Kennedy’s district said they would vote to reelect him....
So he wimped out because he didn't want to lose (like a lot of Democrats these days, heave you noticed?)
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However, I did get full coverage and more on Slow Saturday:
"Pondering a Congress without Kennedys; Some see turn against an activist government" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | February 13, 2010
Patrick Kennedy’s unexpected decision not to seek reelection to the US House prompted widespread reflection yesterday on how swiftly the political climate had changed, from the adulation for Edward M. Kennedy after his death to the voter fatigue that has helped end the family’s decades in power.
I can't believe Democrats took less than three years to blow the trust we gave them, folks.
With Patrick Kennedy bowing out amid dismal poll numbers, some read the shift as a measure of the declining political cachet of the family name.
That's part of it.
Others say it goes deeper, reflecting the fading popularity of the activist federal government the Kennedy family has long championed....
That is because they are DOING NOTHING but TAKING OUR MONEY for themselves and dishing OUR MONEY out to special interests that kickback some of the cash as campaign contributions -- and GIVING US NOTHING in return!!
Patrick Kennedy’s exit also highlighted how the Kennedy family’s guiding belief in using government to make transformative changes in people’s lives has fallen somewhat out of fashion in an era of sharp partisanship, gridlock in Congress, and incessant media scrutiny, historians said....
That is because it DOES NOT WORK! We are BETTER OFF KEEPING OUR TAX DOLLARS and SHRINKING GOVERNMENT because it is nothing but a shell for TYRANNY now!!!!
Btw, that last little bit a real stinker!
Scrutiny of what, where?
Indeed, Patrick Kennedy’s abrupt decision to quit politics at age 42, after a rocky career, stood in sharp contrast to his father, who, despite his own struggles in his private life, continued to serve until he was 77 and battling brain cancer, and of President Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, who were assassinated as their political careers were in ascent....
Hard for me not to choke up when thinking about them and what motivations were behind their murders.
Related: Why Ted Kennedy Lived So Long
Yeah, I guess he got the message, huh?
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WASHINGTON - With this decision, Patrick Kennedy relinquishes a chance to carry on the Kennedy legacy in Congress; he also, colleagues say, escapes a poisonous political environment....
Translation: He didn't want to be dumped like all the other incumbents.
Kennedy wrestled with his own problems. In 2006, he drove his car into a cement barricade near the Capitol shortly before 3 a.m. Police said at the time that Kennedy appeared intoxicated; Kennedy said he was disoriented by prescription Ambien, a sleep medication, and Phenergan, an antihistamine....
Typical Kennedy problems.
Colleagues said Kennedy could have won reelection this fall, despite an angry voter mood that threatens incumbents in Washington.
You guys just keep deluding yourselves. You will never see what hits you.
But after the personal difficulties of recent years, including the cancer of his sister, Kara, (now in remission); the struggles of his mother, Joan, with alcohol; his father’s death; and his own battle with addiction, Kennedy might be better off averting a nasty political season, they said....
The last Kennedy quit, folks. That's how far they have fallen.
PAWTUCKET, R.I. - He was a blue-blooded liberal who bonded with his blue-collar constituents, a scion of the country’s leading political dynasty who made people feel as if he was one of them. Blessed with the Kennedy name in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, he won elections in landslides.
Even Patrick Kennedy’s personal struggles, including highly publicized battles with depression and drug addiction, earned as much sympathy as scorn. To some supporters, his flaws made him real.
How come those flaws are always a character asset for these guys, but not when I was pulled out of the car?
Yet when people in this hard-luck mill city heard this week that Kennedy, their congressman since 1994, had decided not to seek reelection this fall, many acknowledged that Kennedy’s popularity had slipped as his political missteps piled up. After events of the past few months - the death of his father, Edward M. Kennedy, and seeing the elder Kennedy’s Senate seat won by Republican Scott Brown - even steadfast supporters said the writing was on the wall.
“I always liked him, but I think people are ready for a change,’’ said Joe Davis, a 35-year-old forklift driver from Cumberland, just up the hill from Kennedy’s district headquarters. “Even hard-core Democrats think it’s about time. We don’t want to see the seat go to a Republican.’’
And it won't really matter as we have seen over the last decade.
With anti-incumbent fervor seemingly on the rise, Kennedy appeared vulnerable in the November election. Still, some supporters took his decision hard and said the downturn in his political fortunes was regrettable....
But even in a district that had elected Kennedy eight times - in 2008, he won with close to 70 percent of the vote - some were happy to see him go.
Citing Kennedy’s often tumultuous personal life and proclivity for political gaffes, they said it was well past time for a change.
“He’s got too much going on in his personal life and has just been getting by on the Kennedy name,’’ said Phyllis Maynard, 51. “With the economy the way it is, we need someone who’s going to fight for us.’’
In a downtown marked by neglect in empty storefronts and ice-covered sidewalks, many said voters are fed up with politics as usual....
That sure is an understatement -- and yet nothing changes.
“We need a change in Rhode Island; we need jobs,’’ said Gary Ethier, 50. “Kennedy’s part of the old guard, the same old faces doing the same old thing.’’
But just down the street, others mourned the fading of the old guard.
For as long as anyone could remember, a Kennedy had served in Congress. Without one, things would feel different, more uncertain....
Why?
How much do politicians really effect you other than screwing you, readers?
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Related: Rep. Kennedy lacked ‘fire’ for another race
More: With iconic father gone, a son leaves politics to seek his own path
I think I'll go off on my own, readers.
AmeriKan politics and the MSM coverage of them makes me sick.
