There Are 2 Ways to Look At This Ted Kaufman Thing
1) You can say that Ted Kaufman is qualified to serve two years in the Senate, that he will (like LBJ) serve out his predecessor’s term in honor of the man whose shoe (he will state) he has no hopes of filling. And you can say that with this pick Ruth Ann Minner has done the right thing in not installing a Senator, but is allowing the voters to choose in two years.
2) You can say that th above rationalization is is transparent bullshit and that Joe Biden has now rigged the seat for Beau Biden.
Unless you are a child you know which one is correct and which one is spin, and unless you are an idiot you know which one Ron Williams is going to go with in his next column.
I listened to the beginning of RAM’s speech and it didn’t pass the smell test. Really, she’s doing this for us, only thinking of us…
Puh-leeze!
I don’t mind the pick; given that Beau will still need to run in a primary. So nothing’s certain.
Plus it offers that the next election will not have an incumbent, who would have a clear, and undeserved, advantage.
I should have been clearer. I don’t dislike the pick, per se. What bothered me was RAM’s self-sacrificing delivery.
Ah…grandma-ma hilda can come off like that.
Yo comprendo.
It is literally the best possible caretaker pick that could literally have been made. The guy was literally Biden’s brain for decades, God love him.
The other side is will the Republicans be in the game or not?
Yes, the seat will be a likely Biden seat but if the GOP can keep Dave Crossan away from the race there is a chance.
My guess is Taliban Light O’Donnell will try again. That would be a waste of time.
Good question, WTFC. Will the Republicans have their act together enough to run a real race in 2010. I guess it will either be O’Donnell again or perhaps Copeland.
Easy on the overblown rhetoric. To say nothing of RAM’s speech, neither of your two points is “correct” so far as the choices (divorced of motive) as concerned.
We can say that there is a “correct” and “incorrect” way to look at RAM’s motive. Perhaps this is what you meant. But there is, in actuality, a legitimate difference of opinion about whether a Governor should choose a caretaker Senator and let the people choose the one that they want. (There are progressives clamoring for the Illinois Governor to do the same thing.)
Whether the result is Senator Biden, part 2, is up to the voters.
Will the Republicans have their act together enough to run a real race in 2010?
No.
Petey,
Who knows. This could be a great pick for a bunch of reason’s (one of which might be that Beau Biden would make a great Senator) but let’s not play games about the motives for this pick.
If there is really democracy at work in this State, and if we had leaders who truly cared about our citizens, there should have been a “special election”.
Who knows who might have come forward that is none of the above, whom we could have voted for, because they would work to serve the people, not the freakin parties.
There will be a special election in 2010, liz.
Jason,
How can you compare Ted Kaufman to LBJ? LBJ later won the presidency in his own right and wasn’t just filling someone’s shoes.
Joe Biden got 64.7% of the vote in 2008 and won every six years since 1972. That tells me, rightly or wrongly, the voters have repeatedly voted for someone with Joe Biden’s voting record. Who better to extend that voting record (which the voters have supported over 36 years) for 2 years than the guy who was his chief of staff and long-time loyalist?
To diverge very far from that seems like you would be snubbing the will of the voters. Whether Gov Minner’s motives were this or not, the consequence of her action is to endorse the will of the people.
Aye Carumba.
Is it charitable to say that Minner did the right thing by accident while following orders?
Stranger things have happened .
Remember the Reeses commercial where the two people are eating candy and one guy complains over the other guy tainting his chocolate with peanut butter and the other complains about having his peanut butter tainted with chocolate until they realize that what they had not expected would work(peanut & chocolate combined)was actually really good?
Maybe this will be like that?
You seemed to be really down on spin,but perception is a pretty big part of politics.
Anyone notice how much Senator-designate Kaufman resembles Carper? Eerie.
John Tobin is so dang smart. 🙂
there should have been a “special election”
*
O’course, sometimes we actually ‘follow statute’ Lizzy. Move to another state or change the books, deary.
I guess it will either be [Taliban Light] O’Donnell again or perhaps Copeland.
*
Oh lawdy. Make it Copeland, please.
Thanks, Nancy. You beat me to it. Oh those pesky laws.