The Next Kennedy (Kathleen Kennedy Townsend)

The Weekly Standard ^ | 08/05/2002 | Matt Labash

[surely_you_jest]

Ah, yes, once again, the sainted Kennedys.

And she is, apparently, the bright and shining star of the current generation. This reminds me of the old expression about sudden family money . . . shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves, in three generations.

We should applaud this woman. How long has it been since a Republican has been elected to a significant state-wide post in Maryland?

[SevenofNine]

Hey Pokey reason why Demos are promoting her is because she is Kennedy

Demos do you realize the Kennedys are dead Dynasty nobody out there in Kennedy bloodline don't be suprise if certain in law named Arnie run for govenorship of Cali

Matter of the fact new political family is

IS BUSH FAMILY

They are healthy yes there are some that in that family that could speak SPANISH Kathy

NOT HISPANIC

Get with the program Kathy ERRR

[speekinout]

I truly hope she continues to refuse to debate Ehrlich. She's so stupid that if they do debate, he's going to look like a bully.

And if they debate before the primary, the Dems will have a chance to find another candidate (they don't care who it is; just as long as it's Dem)

[joeyman]

How long has it been since a Republican has been elected to a significant state-wide post in Maryland?

THe only republican gov I can ever think of associated with MD was Spiro Agnew. Don't know if one has ever been elected guv since.

[maxwellp]

I dislike her because she goes by the name of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. What's wrong with Kathleen Townsend and then run on personal abilities. She thinks "Kennedy" is going to carry her. Sorry! There were three Kennedys who had "star power" - Jackie Kennedy, John Kennedy, Jr. and President Kennedy. That's it. The rest are fruitaka - nothings.

[jackbill]

I know they are thoroughly disgusted with what has been happening in this state lately ... and particularly in Baltimore City.

Lately?????? Where have you been for the past several decades?

[jackbill]

How long has it been since a Republican has been elected to a significant state-wide post in Maryland?

I go back 70 years and there have been none during that period. Of course we had Gov. Theodore McKeldin and Senators Charles (Mac) Mathias and J. Glenn Beall - but they were all RINO's of the first magnitude.

We've have a couple of Congress persons, the gutsiest were women - Helen Bentley and Marjorie Holt. I was proud to call the latter my Congresswomen until she retired.

[Quietly]

Which Kennedy kid was it that was supposedly ruined by a lobotomy? I've been wanting to look that up.

[Freee-dame]

She is one of the rich Mr. Daschle, you gonna take her down in your class warfare?

She is one of Orwell's animals that are "more equal than others," just like Mr. Daschle.

[staytrue]

"There's not one honest Democrat that would tell you that she's got any gray matter upstairs in terms of leadership. It's a joke. Everybody knows it's a joke. But what they say is, 'She's got money. She's a Kennedy. And she can win.' I feel bad, because she's a nice person. But she hasn't given me any reason to think she should be governor."

Perhaps calling her an idiot was a poor choice of words, but upon further review, it may not have been too far off.

[staytrue]

Ross Pierpont is a physician and a really nice guy and a political joke like Harold Stasen was. I think KKT is also nice and that's why you and I are ambivalent about calling her an idiot. I've met Pierpont 20 years ago and he is as nice as they come. But still, relative to most people who run for governor, she is very close to being an idiot.

[IronJack]

I dislike her because she's liberal garbage trading on a name. The Kennedy's are nothing more than self-appointed aristocrats who deserve to suffer the fate of their brothers and sisters in the court of Louis XVI.

[GaConfed]

I knew Mrs. Townsend sparodically, but informally, for several years while attending St. John's College back in the early 90s. She always struck me as being a fine person who I would never be ashamed of being associated with. For all y'all that think she is just a stiff trading on her family's name, I never knew she was a Kennedy until she ran on the ticket with Spenddining. It is others that are trading on her name more than she, herself.

It's my impression that she doesn't really want to be governor. She is being pushed on stage by the slime balls that want to be her puppet masters if she gets elected. I hope she loses so she can go back to being what she really is, which is a loving wife to Mr. Townsend, and a great friend to all that know and love her.

I think I can answer the poster that asked where Mr. Townsend is. He is teaching and learning at the greatest institution of higher learning in the world, St. John's College. It's one of the few colleges where a serious search for the truth is an on going thing. Mr. Townsend has much more important and rewarding things to do than engage in crass politics.

[mr.sarcastic]

Buddy, give it a rest. Must you add your repetitive and irrelevant comments to practically EVERY Maryland governor thread or anything about KKT?

We KNOW that you think she is just the nicest thing alive(even though you supposedly don't agree with her politics...) but for crying out loud it's getting old!

We are also aware that you think she is being lead around by her handlers, and is innocent of the treachery that has led to and will lead to if she is governor. That fact alone makes her an idiot (among other things), and a piss-poor candidate for public office!

Yes, we also know you went to St. John's College, think it is the greatest university in the world, and for that you are my hero and my idol. (or something) Heck, you've done everything except post your GPA. (no, not interested, although I'm sure it was awe-inspiring) Now please, enough of this nonsense.

[PJ-Comix]

Townsend's eyes dart nervously and habitually to Fleischmann, who, like a third-base coach, gives her visual and verbal cues, though none seem necessary since the only task at hand is not falling off the stage.

This sounds like the same deal that Beachboy Brian Wilson had with his handler. The big difference is that Wilson holed up in a room for about a dozen years and didn't run for governor.

[PJ-Comix]

Instead, her infectious smile does a slow fade. She looks as if she's just been asked to hand over her lunch money. She fumbles for words, saying her campaign has worked with lots of pharmacists, that they've really reached out, that, "Uh, basically, you know what, I can talk to you. But if you're really trying to get background, why don't you go ahead and talk to [one of her aides]." At that moment, a young, statistics-spewing aide snatches me aside and fills me in on cash-and-carry markets, dispensing fees, volume increases, and other specifics that neither I, nor Townsend, it appears, know anything about.

Translation: "Uh, basically, I'm too brain dead to give you an answer. Talk to one of my handlers."

[PJ-Comix]

Anxious for her to "close the loop" on her do-over, Foxwell grabs Townsend, whispers some talking points, and sends her back my way.

"Psst! Kathleen! Just recite word for word what I am about to feed you for an answer. DO NOT veer from script."

[PJ-Comix]

He has lost to the best, and lost to the worst, and of those, he says Townsend "is the most inept candidate by a wide margin. She's an airhead of the first order. She's a trained bear. She has two or three people around her . . . I call them the 'babysitters' . . . telling her to open her mouth, to shut her mouth, to wave her arms. It's like training a bear."

BINGO!!! Except instead of "babysitters" I would call them "handlers" ala Brian Wilson's handler.

[PJ-Comix]

In fact, Townsend may be the only lieutenant governor in America to have a chief of staff, an assistant chief of staff, and two deputy chiefs of staff.

Real titles: Chief Handler, Assistant Chief Handler, and two Deputy Handlers.

[PJ-Comix]

...and has herself authored several thoughtful articles on religion, virtue, and voluntarism for the Washington Monthly going back 20 years.

To give KKT credit, she does have the best damn ghostwriters that money can buy.