As Joe Kennedy considers run, Chávez ties loom

Boston Globe ^ | 09/06/09 | Michael Rezendes and Noah Bierman

[raccoonradio]

Firm relies on Venezuela oil

As Joseph P. Kennedy II contemplates a race to reclaim the Senate seat held by his family for nearly half a century, his most formidable obstacle may not be a Massachusetts politician but a political leader some 2,000 miles away: President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela.

Over the past four years, Citizens Energy Corp., the signature nonprofit founded by Kennedy in 1979 as a political launching pad, has grown from a local charity serving 10,000 Massachusetts homes a year into a national effort delivering free fuel to 200,000 households in 23 states.

And Kennedy, a former US representative, has relied almost exclusively on Chávez, a vociferous critic of the US government, for that growth.

(snip)In addition to forging increasingly close ties with Chávez and Citgo Petroleum Corp., an oil company controlled by the Venezuelan government, Kennedy has used the proceeds of Chávez’s donated oil to fund millions in advertising for the heating oil charity - $16 million over the last two winters alone. Those ads, in turn, prominently feature Kennedy, often personally delivering Chávez-funded oil to needy recipients.

(snip)

“I don’t think you’re going to persuade the public that Citizens Energy and delivering free oil to people who can’t afford it is a bad thing. I really don’t think that’s going to stick,’’ said William F. Weld, a Republican and a former governor of Massachusetts. “[Kennedy’s] not loony left at all, and I think he could be very good in office.’’

But in a taste of what Kennedy might expect from a Republican opponent in a general election, or even a conservative Democrat in a primary, one operative said the issue could be pivotal in a campaign.

[libstripper]

To reduce the story to its essentials, Kennedy has received Chavez' oil and used that oil to build a matrix of enterprises that he's likely to use as a launching pad for a U. S. Senate campaign, all while he's trying to convince people he isn't beholden to Chavez. Hell, if he gets elected, he might as well be the Senator from Venezuela, not Massachusetts.

[dusttoyou]

the majority of the people of Mass-of-2-$h !ts would vote for Chavez for Senator, let alone a mere Chavez booster...

BINGO!!

[Patsygirl]

Do we “really need or want” another member of That Kennedy Family?

[Little Bill]

Let us sort this out. Joe is Banging an aide while his brother Michael is banging the Babysitter.

Joe gets an annulment and divorces his wife, marries the aide, Michael keeps his wife, pays off the baby sitter and Arkancides a tree.

Joe resigns as a Congresscritter after his wife writes a book about what a lowlife scum Joe is, she is a Mellon after all, and the favors the Archdiocese handed him.

Joe, who has an IQ of 7, goes out on the campaign trail, with all of the oratorical skill of mumbles and expects to be anointed Senator.

[nufsed]

I th9ught POatrick was the dumb one. You mean there's more than one?

I guess the dumbs ones are the voters.

[Little Bill]

Obviously you are not a Masshole or an Ex-one. I spent 42 years as the right opposition and fled. The Kennedy’s breed like Rats and have a genetic propensity to stupidity.

[nufsed]

I like it when they’re elected. Then when they’re stopped for a drunk driving crash at 2 AM, the can tell us they were on their way to the capital for a roll call vote.