Patrick Kennedy (D, RI) cutting and running.

Was it something we said?

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.

That’s the word that’s going down on the street:

A Democratic official says Rep. Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek re-election for his seat representing Rhode Island in the U.S. Congress.

The official spoke to The Associated Press only on the condition that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak ahead of the official announcement.

[snip]

Patrick Kennedy has been in and out of treatment for substance abuse since crashing his car outside the U.S Capitol in 2006.

Interesting that the Kennedy name is no longer sufficient to protect its holders from premature leaks like this. Also interesting that this is happening; then again, his numbers were abysmal. They were so abysmal that GOP challenger John Loughlin might even be disappointed about this, although… no, I doubt it.

More here: apparently, Kennedy felt the need to take his life in a ‘different direction.’ I would be cruel about my suggestions of where that different direction might end up going – but I just noticed something about this video I did a while back:

The Democrats are starting to run out of sitting Congressmen featured in it who’ll still be sitting Congressmen, starting next January.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The progressive populist, and other inane myths.

I would whale upon this Matt Bai column, except that at the end it’d just boil down to two thoughts:

  1. Only a graduate of Tufts and Columbia Universities could even seriously entertain the notion that a graduate of Columbia and Harvard Universities would ever be accurately described as being a ‘populist’;
  2. And only a progressive journalist would think that being compared to Woodrow Wilson was complimentary.

Via Hot Air Headlines.

Moe Lane

PS: Well, why not? This video still gets me hate mail, so I figure it still stings.

Crossposted to RedState.

Barack Obama: GOP PLANT?

The heck of it is, how can you tell an agent provocateur assigned to the task of driving a political party into the wall from a sincere party man doing it all on his own? Better aim?

A taste:

Upon taking office President Obama had to further enrage the Republican base, so he quickly and publicly rescinded some of the effective policies of George W. Bush by executive order. And then the fun began.

He campaigned as a Democrat who would work with Republicans, but named ultra-partisan Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff. In a move that could have been considered parody, he named Timothy Geithner to be his Secretary of the Treasury. A man who would be in charge of collecting all of our taxes while not paying his own. The media later questioned why Geithner wasn’t properly vetted.

He was.

Barack Obama later named former Senator Tom Daschle to be his head of Health and Human Services. It was later revealed Daschle had tax problems of his own. The media later questioned why Daschle wasn’t properly vetted.

He was.

Barack Obama named environmental activist Van Jones to be one of his many czars. When video and audio surfaced of Jones making questionable statements (including calling Republicans “assh[*]es”), the media later questioned why Jones wasn’t properly vetted.

He was.

Continue reading Barack Obama: GOP PLANT?

POTUS visits Objective Reality on Gitmo.

(Via Hot Air) Took him long enough:

President Obama acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that his administration would miss a self-imposed deadline to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by mid-January, admitting the difficulties of following through on one of his first pledges as president.

[snip]

On Guantánamo, Mr. Obama said that he now hoped to shut down the detention facility sometime next year, but he did not set a new deadline.

Translation: Gitmo isn’t closing in 2010, either – which means that it probably isn’t closing, period.  Which is something that I’ve known was going to be happening for months.  But then, I’m not the Fortunate Son.

Moe Lane

PS: Next time?  Run for and serve as Governor of something, Mr. President.  It helps cut down on rookie mistakes like this.

Crossposted to RedState.