Well, well, well…
Could it be that now that he has to stand on his own — exposed because he doesn’t have Daddy’s political muscle and influence to cover for him anymore — he’s running for cover? That he knows the noblesse oblige he’s enjoyed under the swimmer’s Magic Kennedy Mantle is history? The Camelot pahw-ty’s ovah?
Patrick Kennedy won’t run for re-election
Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy will retire after eight terms in office, bringing an end to his House career just months after his father, legendary Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, passed away.
Kennedy’s time in Congress was decidedly uneven. He was rumored to be planning a Senate bid in 2000 but decided against running. He was tasked with chairing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in that same cycle with expectations within the party that they would seize back control of the House. It didn’t happen.
After his stint at the DCCC, Kennedy took on a far less high-profile role in Congress — emerging only infrequently and not always in the best light. In the spring of 2006 Kennedy crashed his car into a police barricade near Capitol Hill; he entered rehab for addiction and depression days later. Over the summer, Kennedy admitted himself to a rehabilitation facility again.
Patrick Kennedy’s retirement means that for the first time in nearly five decades there will not be a member of the Kennedy family in Congress. His father, who served Massachusetts in the Senate for more than four decades, died on August 25.
They’re jumping like rats off a sinking ship. Plunging with pockets packed with loot they’ve pillaged from the people.
Kennedy is the 14th Democrat to announce his retirement plans this cycle. Eighteen Republicans are retiring while Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart is giving up his 25th district seat to run in for the 21st district being vacated by his brother — retiring Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
That’s 32 House members who’ve figured out that the jig is up. Gettin’ out while the gettin’s good, because they know that we’ve had enough and they’re toast if they try to keep their fannies in those cushy seats on Capitol Hill. I have just two words for these scoundrels: Buh Bye…
***
