Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Kennedy Confused
TownHall.com ^ | Saturday, October 25, 2003 | Robert Novak

Posted on 10/24/2003 11:25:11 PM PDT by JohnHuang2

WASHINGTON -- The Senate chamber was filled with audible gasps last Tuesday when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the pro-choice champion, clearly voted "yes" on final passage of the bill to ban partial-birth abortion. It was a mistake, however, and Kennedy changed his vote to "no" a few minutes later.

This marked the second time in a week that Kennedy, widely considered the most powerful member of the Senate, became confused on an important vote. He mistakenly voted with President Bush in opposing a Democratic-backed amendment to require partial Iraqi repayment of U.S. reconstruction aid. On that occasion, Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle conferred with Kennedy and prompted him to change his vote.

A footnote: All three of the senators still running for the Democratic presidential nomination voted against the partial-birth abortion ban. That included Sen. Joseph Lieberman, supposedly the most socially conservative of the presidential hopefuls.

NEW FILIBUSTER RECORD?

Freshman Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is intent on breaking the record held by his predecessor, Strom Thurmond, for the longest speech ever delivered in the U.S. Senate.

In 1957, Thurmond -- then a segregationist Democrat -- spoke for 24 hours, 18 minutes to protest the imminent passage of the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction nearly a century earlier. Graham has notified the Senate Republican leadership that he wants to exceed Thurmond's length with a protest against Democratic blocking of President Bush's judicial nominations.

Neither Thurmond's speech nor Graham's effort to break his record fits the filibuster's normal purpose of stopping specific legislation from passing. In 1957, passage of the civil rights bill was assured when Thurmond spoke. In 2003, Graham's intended speech would be a demonstration against Democrats who are successfully filibustering confirmation of Bush judges.

LOBBYING FOR TEAMSTERS

The Teamsters Union, anxious to free itself from 14 years of government supervision, has hired the prestigious Washington lobbying firm of Patton Boggs to try to end the federal consent decree.

The union's insiders had hoped Teamsters President James Hoffa's support of the Bush administration on several issues would help end the government monitoring of alleged corruption and mob influence in the union. However, the White House has been unable to help, and Hoffa's relations with Bush have cooled as he vigorously boosts Democratic Rep. Richard Gephardt for president.

Patton Boggs, which has had experience in representing other unions trying to shed criminal influences, is headed by super-lobbyist Tommy Boggs. Both of his parents were powerful Democrats in Congress. Robert D. Luskin, who is the Patton Boggs expert lawyer on white-collar crime and union corruption, will handle the Teamsters' account.

PRO-TAX REPUBLICANS

Two Republican senators who are former governors -- Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and George Voinovich of Ohio -- have broken with the GOP line against state taxation of sales on the Internet.

They are blocking passage of a Republican-sponsored bill that would extend the moratorium on Internet taxation. The National Governors Association (NGA) is sponsoring a bill to coordinate state tax plans on the Web. Alexander and Voinovich are both former NGA presidents and remain close to the organization.

A footnote: Ohio's Republican Gov. Bob Taft, under conservative fire for his high tax policies, is pushing hard against extension of the moratorium.

J.C.'S CLIENTS

Former Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, the ex-chairman of the House Republican Conference registering for the first time as a Washington lobbyist, has not started out with the Fortune 500 as his early clients.

His client list contains less than household words in American business: Robinson Aviation, Xyant Technologies, Luther Speight & Co. and Syntroleum Corp. Watts also is representing the Oklahoma Heart Hospital, the Golden Hill Pauggussett Tribe and Langston University.

A footnote: Watts has been urged to run for the U.S. Senate seat left open by the retirement of Republican Sen. Don Nickles, an opening in serious danger of being filled by the Democrats. However, Watts has made clear he has no interest in returning to politics at this time.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: robertnovak
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last
Saturday, October 25, 2003

Quote of the Day by nonsporting

1 posted on 10/24/2003 11:25:11 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
I think the New Tone worked well on Ted. You never can tell when he'll convert and proclaim himself a Bush Republican one morning! hehehehe
2 posted on 10/24/2003 11:28:32 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2; remember; Perlstein; holdonnow; William McKinley
Massachusetts has a Republican governor, so the Democrats have to hope that Teddy sticks around in office for a while yet (Senate appointments and all that).

What a thing to have to hope for!

3 posted on 10/24/2003 11:32:00 PM PDT by Southack (Media bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Did Uncle Ted (i cant drive sober) Kennedy accidentally vote his conscience? Or was it a 14 martini lunch?
4 posted on 10/24/2003 11:35:22 PM PDT by carlson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Confused? Are they voting with punch cards?
5 posted on 10/24/2003 11:36:53 PM PDT by California74
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Southack
Have you heard the exchange between Sean Hannity and Ted Kennedy in a phone conversation?

Ted Kennedy claimed Sean was trying to interupt him and came off like "How Dare you ask me a serious quetion" when Sean kept saying "That's not the question I asked you sir"

Ted Kennedy has been living in his own little security bubble for so long now, and so far out of touch that he feels he shouldn't be held accountable for what he says in public or provide any evidence to back up his psychobabble .

6 posted on 10/24/2003 11:45:06 PM PDT by MJY1288 (This is your tagline "Bush/Cheney04", this is your tagline on drugs "AnyOtherChoice/04")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Who am I?? .. Why am I here?? .. Who is that crazy guy in the mirror?
7 posted on 10/24/2003 11:50:08 PM PDT by GeronL (Please visit www.geocities.com/geronl)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Age and alcohol have finally begun to take their toll on him.
8 posted on 10/24/2003 11:52:00 PM PDT by Bonaparte
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MJY1288
"...living in his own little security bubble for so long now, and so far out of touch..."

This is a description of just about all of the so-called "liberals" in America. They are insulated from the real world by the US Armed Forces, the economic power of America, left wing institutions like the National Education Association and the protection of tenure, and of course the heavily progressive income tax. These all allow "liberals" to live their lives with little to no contact with reality.

Pregnant by "accident"? Exercise your "right to choose", you don't need that unborn child to support you in your old age because we have Social(ist) Security.

Threatened by crime? Call a taxpayer-saleried cop, you have "no need" for a firearm, after all you might shoot a Democratic Party voter, can't have that.

Lost your job? Welfare, food stamps, WIC, Medicare, there is no need to keep money in the bank for a rainy day when Uncle Sugar can give you someone elses money.

Kennedy is more insulated from reality than most. But he is only different in degree, not in kind.

9 posted on 10/25/2003 12:04:53 AM PDT by the lone wolf (Good Luck, and watch out for stobor.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Teddy, being of the manor born and from a dysfunctional family, was never exposed to the realities and consequences of life. Now that his brain and liver are aging, reality has become some other galaxy for him.
10 posted on 10/25/2003 12:47:10 AM PDT by pt17
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop
Looks like Teddy is back on the sauce.
11 posted on 10/25/2003 2:05:51 AM PDT by ambrose
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Bonaparte
I don't believe he wrote that speech calling President Bush a liar. I believe that he has to give the speeches written by the woman in charge to pay off the debt for having the convention of the "lying liberals" in Boston next summer.
12 posted on 10/25/2003 2:11:48 AM PDT by Just mythoughts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: ambrose
The voice of reason in the US Senate.


13 posted on 10/25/2003 2:20:51 AM PDT by Aeronaut (In my humble opinion, the new expression for backing down from a fight should be called 'frenching')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: carlson
He does not need a 14 martini lunch, he has a pump, a 5 gallon bucket filled with booze and an IV directly into a vein.

When he does to lunch, he has 25 woppers to help suck up the booze.

14 posted on 10/25/2003 2:23:00 AM PDT by chiefqc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop
lol!
15 posted on 10/25/2003 2:59:31 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
No he's just hedging his bets so his children can tell their grandchildren the he voted 'yes' on that historic day. He's also thinking of using it in his defence on judgement day "but my Lord ...I voted yes...you...you do remember?"
16 posted on 10/25/2003 3:10:55 AM PDT by Free_at_last_-2001 (is clinton in jail yet?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Confused, perhaps. I bet he wasn't confused when it came time to vote himself another big PAY INCREASE. Sure wish I could vote me a payraise...
17 posted on 10/25/2003 3:15:36 AM PDT by JamesA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Just the other day a radio caller said that Teddy Kennedy needed to hire new speech writers because Jim Beam and Jack Daniels were getting old.
18 posted on 10/25/2003 3:21:43 AM PDT by Samwise (There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Samwise
lol
19 posted on 10/25/2003 3:33:34 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
It is a grave moral offense in the Catholic Church to assist in the procurement of an abortion. As a pro-death Senator, Kenndy is complicit in tens of millions of these procedures. He has publicly flouted the Church's teaching on a matter of life and death. I do not know the standards for excommunication, but it ought to be seriously considered.
20 posted on 10/25/2003 3:57:11 AM PDT by Atticus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson