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"I worked with him on many issues across party lines. There has never a major reform accomplished in the history of this country that hasn't been bipartisan, and he certainly, uh...all of the negotiations and efforts that I made with him, we never engaged in this kind of unsavory process of offering people different deals, which in the end cost people from other states lots of money and put burdens on them."

The whitewashing of Ted Kennedy continued on the cover of Parade magazine, a supplement to many Sunday newspapers around the country. Dotson Rader interviewed Victoria Kennedy, the second wife of the late senator. Decades of womanizing and a woman’s death at Chappaquiddick after Kennedy left the scene of an accident weren’t really noteworthy. One large bold pull quote read "Nobody had a better sense of what was right than Teddy." "Tell that to Mary Jo Kopechne" was not a sentence that appeared in the article. The other large pull quote from Mrs. Kennedy was "He was elected to make...

‘We were so happy,” Victoria Kennedy says, describing her marriage to the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. “It wasn’t fake. It was the real deal. We built a home and a family. Then one day everything changed.” That day was May 17, 2008, when Ted Kennedy suffered a massive seizure at his family’s historic residence on Cape Cod. “We’d driven to Hyannis Port the night before, just the two of us,” Victoria recalls. “The next morning, we had coffee, read the papers, chatted. It was a regular morning. Teddy got up to take the dogs out and, as...

My late husband, Ted Kennedy, was passionate about health-care reform. It was the cause of his life. He believed that health care for all our citizens was a fundamental right, not a privilege, and that this year the stars -- and competing interests -- were finally aligned to allow our nation to move forward with fundamental reform. He believed that health-care reform was essential to the financial stability of our nation's working families and of our economy as a whole. Still, Ted knew that accomplishing reform would be difficult. If it were easy, he told me, it would have...

The American Revolutionary War began in Massachusetts with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, on April 19th, 1775. Following what Emerson referred to as the “Shot heard ‘round the world”, a small fledgling colony stood up against the tyranny of the greatest military force on earth… And won. Great men and women stood up in perilous times and prevailed against what appeared to be unconquerable odds. Some have referred to the present day as perilous times, and once again the people of Massachusetts have an opportunity to set into motion a political revolution. On January 19th, a special election will...

DECEMBER 15--The former office manager for the late Senator Ted Kennedy was indicted today on federal theft and fraud charges for allegedly pocketing more than $75,000 in unauthorized bonus payments over five years. Ngozi Pole, 39, was named today in a six-count felony indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. (a copy of the charging document can be found below). According to prosecutors, Pole, pictured at right, was in charge of processing bonus payments approved by either Kennedy or his chief of staff. These payments, according to the indictment, came in two forms: a "holiday bonus" paid in...

On the Next Right blog serial poster Ironman calls for Republicans to seriously contest the January 19 special election to fill Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts. I’ve argued that this is a long shot, and Ironman doesn’t persuade me that it isn’t. But he does make one good statistical point. While Barack Obama’s 62%-36% margin in Massachusetts makes it seem out of reach for a Republican, Republican Chris Christie did win the gubernatorial race in New Jersey which Obama carried 57%-42%

The first flare-up in the general election U.S. Senate race happened just hours into the six-week contest as Republican Scott Brown challenged Democrat Martha Coakley to sign a no-tax pledge and she promptly slapped down the move as a “gimmick.” “I don’t get involved with campaign gimmicks,” Coakley said. “I’m just not going to respond to that.” Brown, a Wrentham state senator, said of Coakley’s dismissal: “I find that disturbing,” adding, “I think I’m more in line with what people are feeling - the burdens of family issues.”

For all their protestations to the contrary, liberals have an awful habit of trying to tell people of faith, notably the Catholic Church, what their faith means and how it should apply in the political sphere. If you can stomach the irony, let’s take a look at the latest example of this genre, an opinion piece in the Politico by Robert Kennedy’s daughter, former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Kennedy (I use her maiden name because it’s the only thing that gets her published) starts off well enough, with the title “On health care, the bishops have lost their...

I had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Kennedy (website) who is running as an independent for MA special election (January 19th, 2010) to fill the vacant seat of the late Ted Kennedy. Joe Kennedy is a small government kind of guy and is not at all related to the famous Massachusetts family and in fact is offering voters something new and fresh as opposed to the two incumbent parties. If you are tired of the federal government growing regardless of which party is in charge, understand that our entitlement programs are broken and believe that the media treats third party...

Attorney General Martha Coakley has defeated three other candidates to win the Democratic nomination in the race to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. On the Republican side, State Sen. Scott Brown defeated attorney Jack E. Robinson. Jim Gomes, director of the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise, a policy research group at Clark University, Worcester, Mass., said public interest in filling the seat with someone like Mr. Kennedy, who died Aug. 25 after a bout with brain cancer, faded after the senator's wife and other family members declined to enter the race. "I have not sensed the voters of Massachusetts...

With the clock ticking down towards the close of the polls at 8 p.m., some communities reported low voter turnout in the special primary elections for US Senate. People breezed past community centers, gymnasiums, town halls, and other polling places without a second thought, the majority paying no mind to the race to fill the office left vacant by the late Edward M. Kennedy. Four Democrats and two Republicans ....

BOSTON – Massachusetts had a light turnout for party primaries Tuesday as voters took the first step to fill the U.S. Senate seat held for nearly a half century by Edward M. Kennedy.Four Democrats, from political insiders to newcomers, and two Republicans were competing for their respective party nomination in the quick campaign to succeed Kennedy. He died of brain cancer in late August at age 77 after holding his seat since 1962. The primary winners will face off in a general election on Jan. 19.Kennedy's widow, Vicki, called each of the Democrats early Tuesday to wish them well, an...

After the dreary wilderness years of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, when many Catholic bishops in the United States practiced a kind of know-nothingism in their silence and lack of real leadership on life issues, such as abortion, things are quickly changing. Individually and corporately, the American bishops are really starting to lead the Church determinedly in the right direction: the battlefront. Everyone knows that the white-hot center of this present generation's battle is abortion, and in increasing numbers, many of today's stalwart bishops are leading from the front, showing the way forward and, by their own example of fearless...

Six Candidates Seek Ted Kennedy’s SeatBy JIM HICKEY Islanders go the polls in the state primary on Tuesday to cast votes that will help choose Democratic and Republican candidates to run for the Massachusetts seat in the U.S. Senate left vacant in August when longtime Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — who held the seat for 46 years — died after a 14-month battle with brain cancer. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in every town. The four Democratic candidates are Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, Stephen Pagliuca, a managing partner of the Boston Celtics, U.S. Rep. Mike...

Representative Patrick Kennedy Boston, Mass., Dec 3, 2009 / 07:48 am (CNA).- Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) has decided to pull out of the Communion controversy after unsuccessfully “milking" his confrontation with Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, said Joe Fitzgerald, a political analyst from the Boston Herald.Fitzgerald wrote: "Patrick Kennedy’s announcement that he’s 'not going to indulge in this debate any longer,' referring to his rejection of Catholic Church beliefs, was reminiscent of a strategy George Aiken floated at the height of the Vietnam War: 'Declare victory and pull out!' the late Vermont senator suggested.”The Boston Herald columnist added that Kennedy...

Patrick Kennedy’s announcement that he’s “not going to indulge in this debate any longer,” referring to his rejection of Catholic Church beliefs, was reminiscent of a strategy George Aiken floated at the height of the Vietnam War. “Declare victory and pull out!” the late Vermont senator suggested. Speaking at a Brown University forum Monday evening, Kennedy said he was pulling out, having milked his confrontation with Bishop Thomas J. Tobin for all it was worth after igniting it by indiscreetly disclosing a private communication he had received from the latter. Tobin had informed him it would be inappropriate to receive...

Rhode Island’s own Bishop Thomas Tobin went head-to-head with Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s Hardball last Wednesday. While it is uncertain who won the confrontation, it is quite clear that Matthews was wrong. Whatever Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy is, he is not a good Catholic. Bishop Tobin is free to tell him as much without exposing himself to accusations of “transgressing into the law.” The casus belli was Patrick Kennedy’s public announcement that he was asked to refrain from taking communion by Bishop Tobin in February 2007. The Bishop told Rep. Kennedy that certain positions he took as a legislator...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rep. Patrick Kennedy says all people deserve health care because they are "children of God" in his first public appearance since escalating a public feud with Rhode Island's Roman Catholic bishop over abortion and health care. The Democratic lawmaker spoke Monday at a panel discussion at Brown University.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Brown University police forcibly removed a man attending a panel discussion about the politics of health care this afternoon after the man told Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy: ``You're not Catholic if you force Catholics into funding abortion.'' Kennedy was one of four panelists at the discussion. After each panelist made brief introductory remarks, the 200 people in the audience were allowed to ask questions. Christopher Young, a perpetual candidate for several public offices in Rhode Island, was the second person to take the microphone. As he made a loud and rambling statement about public funds being...

"Let the healthcare bill allow for one sterilization for everyone of these whacked out females who are so intent on killing babies . . . Then . . . if these Femme-a-Nazis want to have a child, they can rent one." Reader comment posted on my Nov. 25 column Incendiary e-mails are still rolling in on Wednesday's column. It proves you can't write about abortion, women and Catholic bishops and not get heavy heat. Add universal health care to the conversation? Kaboom! It's OK. I've had great role models in taking heat. Jack Egan, for one. In the winter of...

Asked during last night’s Republican debate about whether his campaign was downplaying his health care plan, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney replied, “I love it.” While praising the plan as a model of bipartisanship — and citing support for it from both Ted Kennedy and the Heritage Foundation — Romney failed to tell viewers what was in the plan. It’s worth reminding people, therefore, that the plan Romney loves: Imposes an unprecedented individual mandate, requiring everyone in Massachusetts to purchase a government-designated insurance product or face thousands of dollars in tax penalties. Significantly increased Medicaid eligibility and provided taxpayer-funded subsidies...

November 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - With the Patrick Kennedy Communion flap and the recent action of the Bishops of Spain having opened up the issue of denying communion to pro-abortion politicians, it is worthwhile to review the position of the Vatican on the matter.Since the controversy came to a head in 2004, the stance from the Vatican on the matter has been clear and consistent.  For the Pope and top Curial Cardinals in charge of the matter there is no question about the responsibility to deny Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who obstinately support abortion. In fact, the issue was closed...

The widow of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy told Oprah Winfrey in an interview broadcast Wednesday that even as her husband knew he was dying of brain cancer he had been "in training" to make sure he had enough strength to attend President Barack Obama's inauguration. In the most extensive interview since her husband's death in August, Vicki Kennedy said she wouldn't try to run for her husband's former U.S. Senate seat and described how he battled brain cancer — but she would not talk about the last thing he said to her before dying. "I think I'll just keep...

In an effort that has produced heated public feuds as well as significant changes in proposed health care legislation, religious leaders are zeroing in on followers of their faith in Congress to make sure that taxpayer money will not be used to fund abortions.  The latest confrontation comes between Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., an abortion-rights supporter, and Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, who asked Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion if he maintained his position.  The tension is palpable as senators prepare to take up a version of legislation that pro-life leaders say does not provide the same assurances as...

Chris Matthews / Bishop Thomas Tobin Washington D.C., Nov 24, 2009 / 03:06 pm (CNA).- On Monday Bishop Thomas Tobin tangled with television pundit Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hardball” about the relation between religion and politics as well as the legal status of abortion. Matthews’ comments, which charged that the bishop has overstepped his authority, were criticized as a “rant” and an “extended lecture.”Bishop Tobin, of the Diocese of Providence has been critical of Rhode Island U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s attacks on the Church for opposing abortion. Rep. Kennedy recently revealed that the bishop had asked him to refrain...

For the first time since her legendary husband’s August death, Victoria Reggie Kennedy is poised to face the nation tomorrow in a rare and emotional sitdown with TV talk queen Oprah Winfrey - a heart-rending tribute in which the stately widow reveals her last months with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. During the wide-ranging, one-hour interview - taped last Friday at Winfrey’s Chicago studios - Kennedy talks about her 17-year marriage to the liberal lion and her late husband’s memoir, “True Compass” and discloses behind-the-scenes tidbits between the couple.

Gerry Moniz didn't hesitate when asked what she thinks of the nationally publicized dispute between Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin and Patrick Kennedy over whether the congressman should refrain from taking Communion given his support for abortion rights. "I think Patrick Kennedy is wrong," Moniz, 56, said when asked to comment on Monday at an East Providence shopping plaza. A Catholic from West Greenwich, she added, "If he doesn't want to be Catholic, he should go to another church. The rules of the Catholic Church are, "We don't approve of abortion.' And he doesn't like that." At St. Francis Chapel...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s dispute with Rhode Island Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin attracted national attention on Sunday when Kennedy said that Tobin had asked him to refrain from receiving communion because of his pro-abortion views. MSNBC television talk show host Chris Matthews debated Bishop Tobin today about abortion, law and Rep. Kennedy’s Holy Communion:

Bishop: Patrick Kennedy Misrepresenting Letter on Communion, Abortion Washington, DC -- Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a pro-abortion member from Rhode Island, says Bishop Thomas Tobin has asked him to stop receiving communion because of his pro-abortion views. However, Tobin says the demand was merely a voluntary request that was issued two years ago and meant to be private. http://www.lifenews.com/state4590.html

Bishop Tobin has released a response to Congessman Kennedy's earlier statements on not being allowed communion because of his position on abortion. Statement of Bishop Thomas Tobin in Response to Congressman Patrick Kennedy's Published Interview of November 22, 2009 Bishop Tobin says: I am disappointed and really surprised that Congressman Patrick Kennedy has chosen to reopen the public discussion about his practice of the faith and his reception of Holy Communion. This comes almost two weeks after the Congressman indicated to local media that he would no longer comment publicly on his faith or his relationship with the Catholic Church....

Massachusetts voters will have to wait until Jan. 19 to elect a successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy, but Gov. Deval Patrick is pushing to name an interim appointee in the meantime.... Right now, Massachusetts law does not allow the governor to appoint a temporary Senate replacement. But Patrick said he supported plans for a hearing Sept. 9 on a bill that would give him the power to do just that.

The Roman Catholic bishop of Rhode Island says he asked Rep. Patrick Kennedy to stop receiving Holy Communion in 2007 because of the lawmaker's stand on what he called moral issues. Kennedy told The Providence Journal in a story published Sunday that Bishop Thomas Tobin "instructed" him not to receive Communion because of his abortion rights stance. Kennedy said diocesan priests have been told not to give him Communion, but he did not explain how he knew that. Tobin said in a statement Sunday that he "has never addressed matters relative to public officials receiving Holy Communion with pastors of...

Congressman Patrick Kennedy has been barred from receiving Communion by his Bishop in Rhode Island. Bishop Thomas Tobin has barred Patrick, the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, because of his position on abortion rights.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Communion, the central sacrament of the church, in Rhode Island because of the congressman's support for abortion rights, Kennedy said in a newspaper interview published Sunday.The decision by the outspoken prelate, reported on The Providence Journal's Web site, significantly escalates a bitter dispute between Tobin, an ultra orthodox bishop, and Kennedy, a son of the nation's most famous Roman Catholic family."The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion," Kennedy told the...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rep. Patrick Kennedy says Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin has barred him from receiving communion because of his support of abortion rights. The Providence Journal reports on its Web site Sunday that Kennedy said in an interview that Tobin issued the order during discussions with the Democratic lawmaker, further escalating a simmering ideological dispute between the two men. Under church rules, Tobin can prevent Kennedy from receiving communion within his diocese, which covers Rhode Island. It’s unclear whether bishops outside Rhode Island will take the same path.

HOW do you tell a wealthy heiress from a family farmer? It sounds like the setup for a joke. But in fact it is the fundamental problem underlying sensible reform of the federal estate tax. Members of Congress are hoping to revise the current law on the estate tax by the end of this year; if they don’t, the estate tax will disappear for a year. Lawmakers should use the opportunity to solve the farmer/heiress riddle once and for all and move our tax system closer to the values on which the country was founded — that hard work should...

Scott Brown acknowledges that he faces an uphill battle as ... Republican seeking to fill Edward M. Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat. Although the seat has been in Democrats' hands since the 1950s and more than a decade has passed since Massachusetts voters sent a Republican to Congress, Brown, one of just five Republicans in the state Senate, says there is no inevitability to a Democrat victory. "This isn't a Democratic seat, it's a seat of the people of Massachusetts," said Brown, 50, whose victory in a 2004 special election to fill a state Senate seat vacated by a Democrat was...

WHEN IT comes to America’s most famous Catholic family, no true compass guides the Roman Catholic Church. (snip) With Patrick Kennedy, the cassocks are off. After Representative Kennedy of Rhode Island questioned why the church is vowing to fight any health care bill that does not explicitly ban the use of public money for abortions, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence fired back. Tobin called Kennedy’s support of abortion rights “a deliberate and obstinate act of will’’ that was “unacceptable to the church and scandalous to many of our members.’’ In a radio interview, Tobin went on to say, “If...

Dear Congressman Kennedy: “The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.” (Congressman Patrick Kennedy) Since our recent correspondence has been rather public, I hope you don’t mind if I share a few reflections about your practice of the faith in this public forum. I usually wouldn’t do that – that is speak about someone’s faith in a public setting – but in our well-documented exchange of letters about health care and abortion, it has emerged as an issue. I also share these words publicly with the thought that...

Among likely Democratic voters (27% of whom know that the special primary for the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat is next month), Attorney General Martha Coakley holds a commanding lead with 44% of the vote, followed by businessman Steve Pagliuca (17%), Rep. Michael Capuano (16%) and City Year co-founder Alan Khazei (3%), according to a new Suffolk University poll (Nov. 4-8, 600 RV). One-fifth of likely voters remain undecided. On the GOP side, just 6% of voters know that a special GOP primary will be held in less than a month. Still, State Sen. Scott Brown leads former statewide candidate...

Shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue in Washington, D.C. recently, Maria Shriver and her daughter left all the clothes the daughter tried on -- but didn't purchase -- on the floor of the dressing room. The sales staff was shocked that Shriver allowed her daughter, whose father is California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to leave her rejects in a pile during their visit in mid-October. "She left the dressing room in a shambles," according to a sales clerk. "Why doesn't Maria Shriver teach her daughter manners and respect for others?" Shriver writes: "My role model, like most daughters, was my mother. She...

Among those Catholics in public life who openly defy the clear teaching of the Catholic Church concerning the inviolable dignity of every human life from conception to natural death is Representative Patrick Kennedy. The son of the late Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, he represents Rhode Island’s First Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. We bring to our readers the full text of a letter which Congressman Kennedy received from his Bishop, Thomas J. Tobin. This letter was in response to Kennedy's public defiance against the truth revealed in the Natural Law, confirmed by science, affirmed in Scripture...

Dear Congressman Kennedy: “The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic.” (Congressman Patrick Kennedy)Since our recent correspondence has been rather public, I hope you don’t mind if I share a few reflections about your practice of the faith in this public forum. I usually wouldn’t do that – that is speak about someone’s faith in a public setting – but in our well-documented exchange of letters about health care and abortion, it has emerged as an issue. I also share these words publicly with the thought that they...

Jack Spillane column: A cup of joe with a guy named Steve (Pagliuca, that is)By Jack Spillane November 08, 2009 12:00 AM He's actually better in person than his ads. I'm talking about Steve Pagliuca, the venture capitalist and Celtics co-owner who's running for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. In the wake of my initial column about Pagliuca, I had the opportunity to sit down with him for a short interview this week. He had toured a New Bedford scallop company — which must have been in between his cutting TV ads. (I don't need to tell you, of course, that...

Scott Brown knows he faces an uphill battle as a Republican seeking to fill Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat. Until last week, when Jack E. Robinson filed nomination papers, Brown was the only member of the GOP seeking the seat, which is also the goal of four Democrats. Although the seat has been in Democratic hands since the 1950s, and more than a decade has passed since Massachusetts voters sent a Republican to Congress, Brown, one of just five Republicans in the state Senate, said there is no inevitability to a Democrat victory. “This isn’t a Democratic seat; it’s a...

WARREN KOZAK "All war is based on deception." —Sun Tzu In the summer of 1962, the leader of the great Soviet empire, Nikita Khrushchev, faced a serious problem. His huge intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) didn't work. Their launchers were unreliable, their aim was off and the fuel used to rocket them skyward was so volatile that they had to be stored empty. In case of an attack, they would first have to be tanked up before being fired. The Soviet premier understood that since his ICBMs were a crucial part of his nuclear balance with the U.S., this put him...

Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence has invited Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to engage in a discussion about the issue of health care reform following the legislator's sharp criticism about the U.S. Catholic bishops' role in the debate. Bishop Tobin told Kennedy in an Oct. 27 letter that, as Congress "nears agreement on a final bill, I believe it is important that you are provided with specific facts about the Catholic Church's position on this critical issue." As of early afternoon Oct. 28, the congressman had not responded to the bishop's invitation. The bishop sent his letter in response to...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy / Archbishop Timothy Dolan New York City, N.Y., Oct 27, 2009 / 09:55 pm (CNA).- Joining the response to U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s charge that the Catholic bishops are spreading discord on health care reform, Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan has said the congressman’s remarks were “sad, uncalled-for, and inaccurate” and has asked for an apology.In an interview with CNSNews.com, Rep. Kennedy (D-RI), son of the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, had accused the Catholic Church of fanning “the flames of dissent and discord” because Catholic bishops declared that they will oppose the proposed health...