The Last Gasp of The Kennedys

First it was Teddy Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate, slipping away into the Great Beyond just before his dream of socializing the nation's medical system could come to fruition. Then it was Caroline Kennedy, the darling of the New York elite, who either was spurned by Governor David Patterson in her attempt to be appointed to Senator Clinton's former seat, or who scatted away in fear at the last moment (depending on whose story you wish to believe).

And then it was Massachusetts 2010, and an election that by all rights should have been nothing more than a formality instead turned into something quite different. Despite Vicki Kennedy's heartfelt attempts on behalf of the heir apparent, the "Kennedy Seat" was given by the people of the state to a truck-driving Republican, as opposed to the candidate who swore to carry on Teddy's liberal legacy.

And that brings us to Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy, perhaps the last scion of a once-elite political family. And like the last of many lines, his blood may still run liberal, but it is filled with gross impurities (as befits a Kennedy) - he's abused cocaine, alcohol, and Oxycotin, he was at the scene of the infamous William Kennedy Smith rape, he's abused women, wrecked yachts, taken and refused to return money from corrupt Democratic financiers such as Norman Hsu, he's been denied Holy Communion by his local Bishop, and of course crashed his 1997 Ford Mustang convertible into a barricade in Washington DC while under the influence of drugs (Kennedy's confession) or alcohol, as per witnesses. And, when asked, once brazenly spat out the following statement: "I have never worked a fucking day in my life".

The Last Scion, having seen the gates of Camelot fall and is watching with horror and disbelief as the castle is stormed by a peasantry ungrateful for all he and his family has done for it, thus turns to the last refuge of a man stripped of all pretense of honor or power: Hatred. And so Patrick Kennedy directs it today at Scott Brown, the man who dared to usurp the throne and claim the mantle in the name of the people:

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) castigated Brown for having pushed to be sworn in ahead of schedule to permanently fill the Senate seat left vacant by the congressman's father's death in August."Brown's whole candidacy was shown to be a joke today when he was sworn in early in order to cast his first vote as an objection to Obama's appointment to the NLRB," Kennedy said Thursday.

"Seven out of ten of Brown's voters were labor households and he stressed that he was independent and while he was originally scheduled to be sworn in next week, they moved it up to today so he could cast his first vote, the most anti-labor, the most anti-what his constituents thought they were voting for when they voted for him," Kennedy said.

Brown, for his part, has denied trying to move up his nomination to block Becker's nomination. "This is where he shows that when they need him, he's in the tank for the Republicans," Kennedy said.

We all have a lot to learn about Scott Brown, but Patrick Kennedy has decided, rather to wait and see, to launch a pre-emptive, partisan attack against the man by claiming to know his mind and motivations, and declaring them to be evil in intent.

It's over for the Kennedys, and based on his behavior, Patrick seems to be dimly aware of it. The castle is smoldering, the enemies are mounting a counterattack, the theology has lost its magic, and the peasants are searching out their next victim. With recent polling showing only 35% of voters in his district would vote to re-elect him, while while awarding him with a 56% unfavorable rating, it seems as if Patrick will be the next - and last - Kennedy to lose his head in the great 2010 Tea Party.

And he goes out not with class, but with rage and confusion at the sudden loss of the magic that his last name has always given him; and he spits bile and invective at the new order of things, as he prepares vainly for a final battle, ready to draw as much blood as he can on the way (back) down.

The last of the Kennedys. Thanks God...

UPDATE 2/6: For some, it will be a crusade...