Posted on 02/12/2010 8:06:52 AM PST by raccoonradio
U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy decided to abandon public office to focus on his personal life and family after watching his father die surrounded by loved ones, the 16-year congressman said in a wide-ranging magazine interview.
Kennedy, who announced his decision not to seek re-election in a two-minute video clip, told Rhode Island Monthly he decided to let go of his House seat at Christmas after spending the fall reflecting on the death of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Its pretty simple in this respect: I went through something that caused me a great deal of soul searching and self-reflection, Kennedy said. Right now, a personal life is of greater value. Emotional connections that are real and loving and personal just trump everything else.
Kennedy appears on the cover of the magazines March edition. The storys author, Mark Arsenault, this morning told WPRO-AM host John DiPietro he believes Kennedy wants to have a family.
That certainly goes into his thinking. He stood around his fathers death bed and there were a lot of people there, Arsenault said. Hes 42 years old and never been married and I think at some point he would like to have a family.
In the interview, Kennedy said he became closer to his brother, Ted Jr., and sister, Kara, during his fathers dying days. He also said he could not imagine dying alone.
I cant imagine if I had a year to live and I didnt have kids. All the legislative accomplishments in the world wouldnt matter, Kennedy said.
Kennedy also described the time he spent with his father after his brain cancer diagnosis in May 2008.
Ill never forget what he said to me (in late summer, 2008.) He said, Can you stay at the house with me and just clear your schedule, Kennedy said. We had a couple of weeks. Ill never forget it for the rest of my life. His just asking me to be there was the greatest gift he ever gave me in his life.
Kennedy told the magazine he is not sure whats next for him, but he wants to model the next chapter of his life after his late aunt, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics. Shriver died shortly before her younger brother, Ted, last August.
Service is in my future. I know it as fact that service is an essential part to maintaining your sobriety, he said.
Kennedy added: Theres a hole in the soul that we all try to fill, sometimes with the wrong things, like booze or drugs. Society would tell us to fill it with consumerism. But its only really filled through love and service, by serving a high purpose. By doing Gods will.
Had nothing to do
With his tanking poll numbers...
Oh no! Of course not!
Bullspit! That election in Massachusetts, along with New Jersey and Virginia is what did it.
Yep. I’m believing that. Uh-huh.
LOL...typical Kennedy . . no credibility, no morals, no ethics
>>He said, Can you stay at the house with me and just clear your schedule, Kennedy said. We had a couple of weeks. Ill never forget it for the rest of my life.
Ted should have resigned so that The People’s Seat could be filled; instead he stayed till his dying breath. So much for
“family comes first”
Speaking of family, does he have a wife and kids? nope...
>>He has never married and resides in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
(wikipedia)
He also gets in car crashes in both DC (the Ambien incident) and down in R.I. (at one point Howie Carr’s
site had an accident report he had to fill out after
a minor car crash outside a CVS in either Portsmouth or
Middletown RI...you could see PK’s shaky handwriting
The Kennedy era is over and it’s tough to handle. Maybe now they should just enjoy life.
His father’s DEATH??? or the fact his Father’s Seat went to a REPUBLICAN.. or the Polls show him LOSING his BUTT!!!
Don’t bother attributing Honesty or Integrity to a KENNEDY.. just makes us want to LAUGH HARDER!!
I wish him a long life in the private sector.
Well, maybe he could start a local chapter of AA. If it already has one, maybe he could start a thrift store to assist with wino rehab.
oh, here it is; luckily nobody was killed unlike in his dad’s case...
>>(wiki)
Rhode Island accident
In an earlier incident, on April 15, 2006, Kennedy was driving a Ford Crown Victoria registered to the “Friends of Pat Kennedy Inc” on Turnpike Avenue in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. As Kennedy attempted to turn left into a CVS pharmacy parking lot, his vehicle struck a Nissan Maxima driven by off-duty U.S. Coast Guard Warrant Officer Thomas Guthlein who was attempting to make a right turn into the same parking lot. Portsmouth police did not issue a citation to either driver. One woman who witnessed the accident has expressed her opinion that Kennedy was impaired, but this has never been proven. Kennedy’s handwriting on the police report was messy. Guthlein is quoted in the Daily News (New York City) as saying “I never really got that close to him ... It was just a regular traffic accident”.
Yeah Kennedy, do “God’s will” and GTFO of government.
It’s a good day for the country when a Kennedy no longer blights the congress.
Patches will now return home to spend more time with his family (except he doesn’t have one.)
As I mentioned on the Boston Herald’s message board, if his last name were not Kennedy he would have been handling bedpans at some hospital for the past few years.
He’s doing God’s will...
Is God a Republican?
He might be this year...
or
“He’s doing God’s will...”
Doesn’t the Left freak out when
Palin says such things?
My true hope for all the Kennedys is now that there is no more pressure to carry on the family business, they will be free to try their wings and achieve their own niche in the world. His dad didn't want the mantle he picked up, but what else could he do? Poll numbers are probably a very good reason to finally say, “Enough.”
No hard feelings, Kiddo. Now go do something that keeps you sober and happy. Stretch and fly.
“Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son”
Oy vey. Isn’t Patches the pol who shoved a female airline security worker?
>>WPRO-AM
Kennedy was a carpetbagger when he got his House seat. When he ran for the first time he was a guest of former Prov mayor Buddy Cianci who at that time had a show on WHJJ (now he, like Depetro, is on WPRO) and Buddy and his listeners kept trying to trip him up on questions like “where is this
neighborhood?” “how does one get to your campaign office?”
He still won. (source: The Prince of Providence, Mike Stanton, which I borrowed from the library recently)
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