Former Dem chief counsel: Kennedy disgraced himself

[DesertFox]

Jerry Zeifman
NewsMax.com
2 Feb 06


In my view (as a Democrat and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee), Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., has disgraced himself and our party by misusing his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee to achieve self-serving partisan ends.

Kennedy was the architect of an unprecedented tactic: using filibusters to polarize the Senate along party lines thus denying the confirmation of qualified conservative judges. In Bush's first term the Senate Democrats used that tactic successfully against at least 10 nominees for judgeships on circuit courts.

Fortunately, Kennedy has failed in his partisan attempt to deny Judge Alito a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

This occurred largely because Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska formed a non-partisan coalition of seven Democrats and seven Republicans to oppose filibusters, except in extraordinary cases.

Filibusters first arose after the Civil War as a means of defeating legislation intended to foster desegregation. They were an anathema to those of us who joined Martin Luther King's famous March on Washington in 1963.

Fifteen years later during the Clinton administration filibusters were presumably also abhorrent to Senator Kennedy, who then wanted to outlaw them entirely. On Jan. 28, 1998, he argued: " The president and the Senate do not always agree [on judicial nominations]. But we should resolve these disagreements by voting 'yes' or 'no.'" Three years later Kennedy put politics above principle and became a champion of the filibuster.

More (http://www.newsmax.com/adv/doasisay2/?PROMO_CODE=1AA4-1)

[DeclinetoState]

If one of his own party is calling Ted a disgrace, someone in the Kennedy camp had better take a long, hard look.

[Rhino]

Kennedy has disgraced himselfAnd, this is news how?

[DesertFox]

It's news cuz publicly recognized by a Democrat and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee.





So there

[True Grace]

Kennedy disgraced himself

I thought that said "Kennedy pissed himself".

[DesertFox]

But that wouldn't be news. :lol:

[Rhino]

So thereNyah nyah nyah, nyah nyah! LOL!!

[Lazarus]

More Democrats better come out with such statements or they are going to be a memory on the political stage in America... They have reduced themselves now to being only the party of the far left radicals... And THAT is not America, no matter how much Nancy Pelosi runs her mouth...

[Native American]

Jerry Zeifman
NewsMax.com
2 Feb 06

In my view (as a Democrat and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee), Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., has disgraced himself and our party by misusing his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee to achieve self-serving partisan ends.

More (http://www.newsmax.com/adv/doasisay2/?PROMO_CODE=1AA4-1)

I have to disagree with Jerry on this one.

IF the overwhelming majority of Democrats in both the House and the Senate had openly denounced the behavior of Ted Kennedy (and of Joe Biden, Democrat Party presidential hopeful!)THEN Jerry would be justified in claiming Kennedy has disgraced himself and his party.

But not only have the overwhelming majority of Democrats in EITHER the House OR the Senate not openly denounced Kennedy, to the best of my knowledge NOT EVEN ONE Democrat in either the House or the Senate has done so!

So, rather than having disgraced himself and the Democrat Party, Kennedy has merely identified what he and his Democrat Party truly are.

[Naturalized-Texan]

Once again, Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment.

[DoctorDoom]

Kennedrunk's behavior is absolutely irrelevent. The morons who comprise the large majority of the Massholechusetts electorate would vote for the bloated buffoon if he raped a Girl Scout on prime-time. As long as the porcine son of a bitch is breathing, he'll be a senator.

[Etaoin]

Teddy, the un-earned Rich, has disgraced not only himself but the State Of Massachusetts for over 40 years. He is an exmplar of why democracy is a non-viable political structure since it will always destroy itself because of the ignorance and greed of the mass voter. To compound their felonies, the Massachusetts voter has electeded Kerry, an acknowledged traitor and war criminal, as their other representative in the Senate.

It is incomprehensible to consider that any patriot who had the slightest knowledge of our history and the necessity of individual freedom would support either of their Senators. Yet, name recognition, pork and the support of the controlled media make it impossible for a person who supports the constitution to be elected.

Remember, Constitutionally, we are not a Democracy, though over the past 200 years, ignorance and the unqualified voter has assured this nation's destruction. As the prime pessimist of the board, I fail to see any possibility or even any organized desire to return to the Republic on which we were founded!

Re: THE CONSTITUTION. In 1960 I bought a compilation of the Constitution and it's amendments and the SCOTUS decisions(over 1,000 pages). In the INTRO it stated that the constitution did not exist as the SCOTUS had made so many different ruling that a court could rule anyway they liked, based on prior precedents!

We are conservative who (I believe) support the founding documents. Legally, it doesn't exist anymore! Your constitutional rights are merely that which you can wring from the sitting court!

[Warlady]

Wow. This is one of the best op ed's on Teddy [hic] Kennedy I've read in a while. And from a Democrat no less. He is not only a disgrace to his party and himself he's a disgrace to the entire country. What is with the voters of Mass that they elect the likes of Kennedy and Kerry????

[DoctorDoom]

They're stupid. Unbelievably, unfathomably, incorrigibly stupid.

[DeclinetoState]

Wow. This is one of the best op ed's on Teddy [hic] Kennedy I've read in a while. And from a Democrat no less. He is not only a disgrace to his party and himself he's a disgrace to the entire country. What is with the voters of Mass that they elect the likes of Kennedy and Kerry????They've been conditioned to vote for any candidate whose last name begins with "Ke"--or so it seems.

[JNSmith]

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., has disgraced himself

What? Again?