Yeah, I felt the same way as a lot of folks when I heard Paul Kirk was the choice for Senate. a.) Who's that? b.) Great, another lifelong hack. c.) What, do the Kennedys just get to name their pick? d.) And the Gov just lets himself get rolled? etc. etc.
But actually … now I'm good with it. We wanted a caretaker Senator, and that's exactly what we got. If you wanted someone to carry out Ted Kennedy's wishes with the greatest fidelity possible, that's very likely who we've got. More than any of the other possibilities, Kirk is the person who can …
- Credibly invoke the memory and will of Ted Kennedy for the purpose of a better health care bill — as Ted explicitly wanted to happen;
- Know who Ted Kennedy knew;
- Know what he knew;
- Know how Ted operated; know more than anyone else “What would Ted Kennedy do” in any particular situation;
- Deftly manage TK's staff, who are the ones who know the current state of play in the very fluid state of health care legislation.
etc.
So, choosing another one of the clubby, in-the-know inside-y insiders doesn't have much romance. But there's a very specific task before the Senate right now, and frankly, we need an operator. Here's hoping Kirk gets it done.
And that's all I gotta say about that.
I mean if you’re gonna go with a consigliere, can you do any better than old Tom?
But I think you might be able to get Robert Duvall to play the part if it means a senate seat! He’d certainly be better than Curt Schilling…
I actually followed about the same path that you did in my thinking. At first I was disappointed, but then I thought, a two- or three-month Senator does not need to be our knight in shining armor, and cannot and will not be able to really shake things up. Kirk will be able to get constituent services done, will be able to give his fellow Senators good information about health care reform, and will almost certainly vote the right way on that and other issues. The Duke or Charles Ogletree or whomever might make some nice headlines, but would also take a couple of weeks just figuring out how the voting doohickey works, and what good does that do us? Let the voters pick a great progressive hero in January, right now we need a good worker bee.
hours, days and weeks are spent pontificating on who should chosen for this position, running mates, appointments, Judges… with clearly delineated critical remarks on why many of the possibilities would be inferior choices… but then the day after the choice is made it suddenly becomes “wonderful” “brilliant” and even by some “the logical choice”. For some, Loyalty has no bounds.
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p>I just read todaythat Kirk is the Executor of Kennedy’s estate but I didn’t realize he was to become the executor/trustee of the “state” as well.
We place trust in our leaders. While we may have our own opinions we also have faith that our leaders are capable of choosing wisely, assuming of course we support the leaders making the choice to begin with.
I’m reminded of an argument Caplan makes. As voters, our control over policy matters is very weak. That imposes a vanishingly small penalty for any given individual to get some policy matter wrong. As a result, we voters can indulge our prejudices — and we do. (See Franks, What’s the Matter with Kansas.)
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p>Our elected officials do not have the same insulation between opinion and consequence. We would expect them to make better decisions than us.
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p>In the early days of our Republic, there was also the idea that we should elect the best men, men chosen from a “natural aristocracy”, men of outstanding character and judgment.
…and that’s unfortunate. I’ve read “What’s the Matter With Kansas” and I agree with the author that we wouldn’t be human without SOME emotional component, but it is frustrating how many people wilfully ignore facts and evidence.
… here.
Having wondered at some of Governor Patrick’s appointments in the past, I had some anxiety about whom he would choose for the interim US Senate seat. Senator Kirk seems like a tactical choice as you noted, but also a powerful choice for continuity from his connections in the senate and relationships that have been noted on this blog and other media.
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p>I did not have a personal favorite “interim” but am pleased that we have one and that the appointee is not running in the special election. It would have been outstanding to have seen Vicki run. She is a class act and quite refreshing.
Nothing’s shown me that Kirk is reliably progressive just because he was that close to Kennedy. He seems more like an establishment/everyone should get along guy. Tom Hagen is the right analogy. Hagen was unbendingly loyal to the decisions of his boss, but if the decision had been his, he would never ever go to war. Kirk might help fulfill Kennedy’s wish of getting reform passed by being the guy who will go with whatever has the best chance of passing — but not necessarily what would have been Kennedy’s idea of the best policy. Where would Kennedy have drawn the line on compromise? We know from past experience he was willing to draw those lines. Is Kirk? Dukakis, on the other hand, has adhered to the same policy principles in all his work in and out of politics. In his own quiet way he would have gone to war. Oh well.
However, the reason why he got picked is that he is (arguably) the closest thing we’ve got. I am guessing and hoping that due to Kirk’s relationships with Kennedy’s staff, he will essentially take their lead and their advice, and let them do their jobs. In spite of his illness, I suspect that TK was not vague about the kinds of things he wanted or expected from reform. The staff continuity is critical.
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p>I don’t mean to diminish the point that there are definitely judgment calls for the new senator. But the argument for this pick is that the variance from Kennedy himself is the least of the alternatives. I think that’s plausible.
I’m not convinced. Neither Kirk nor any other interim will be anything like what Kennedy was in the Senate, on this issue or any other. Kennedy was who he was because of how long he’d been there, all the relationships he’d built over those years, and his unsurpassed mastery of the process. Kirk has none of that; he has a few relationships, and the other serious interim contenders would have had some too. None of the contenders would have had anything approaching Kennedy’s level. So I don’t think that’s the right question.
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p>And as for the staff: Kirk will keep them on and support their excellent constituent work. I imagine that any other interim would have done the same. So I don’t think that’s the right question either.
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p>So what is the right question? For me, it’s some combination of voting the “right” way — i.e., the way we think Kennedy would have voted, since he was right on most issues — and preserving something like democratic legitimacy, especially given all the hue and cry that surrounded changing the law. Kirk, Duke, and everyone else under consideration were surely pretty reliable on the first. But I continue to think that Kirk is less of a winner than, say, Dukakis on the second, for the reasons I’ve already mentioned.
i have recently learned that the hideous marian walsh is baqck in the game. she is surreptitiously supporting capuano for senator. surreptitiously because, who would want the poster child for patronage, thanks to the herald, to openly support them. so, here’s the deal direct from the “Cabal Patrick”, the Kennedy, Obama, Patrick triumvarate have deigned that mr. michael capuano will be the next senator, one of joe p’s twins will assume his preordained position as congressman from the 8th util he is old enough to put capuano out to pasture and assume the kennedy seat. This is why, none of the other usual suspects joined the race. The PC told them, do not f with us. so, unfortunately, ms. coakley, unless you get every female vote, you are likely to be outspent, outpolitcked and buried by the Cabal Patrick. Good Luck Martha, but at least, you do not have to worry about having the curse of Maid Marian following you down to oblivion.
Dang! If it weren’t for you tipping us off, that surreptitious Walsh support might have put Mighty Mike OVER THE TOP!
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p>HOT STUFF, COMIN’ THROUGH! YOW!
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p>Listen friend, any time you wanna come on through and drop some knowledge — we’re all ears!
ID created:Sun Sep 27, 2009 at 14:38:08 PM EDT
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p>Rumors, conspiracies, smack. Come back later with a real post on why your candidate is the most qualified in the race.
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p>This petty stuff happens around campaign season but it is discouraged on BMG.
I found it pretty entertaining. Lasthorseman’s conspiracy theories were getting a little old. It’s nice to get a fresh one now and again.
“Maid Marian” is cute, but political nicknames tend to stick better when they make a modicum of sense.
is a stand up elected official. She took serious heat in her district for supporting equal marriage and has been a supporter of working women and men throughout her career.
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p>This poorly written, lame Howie Carr knock-off isn’t worth the cyberspace it takes up.
Better stated. Thanks.
No different than that of Rome, Africa, Aztec Mexico, private companies, sports organizations, etc. We tend to surround ourselves with family, friends and close acquaintances or just people that need a payoff for favors.
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p>He’ll probably do no harm. Senators vote for their moneyed bosses, anyway. The public will get no worse.