The Kennedy Seat

MANIFESTO

Just as one of the positions in the SCOTUS has turned into the "black seat," it looks as if a comparable position has been de facto created in the Senate.

While I'm certainly sympathetic to the medical plight of the senior senator from Massachusetts, the question of his successor has arisen, and we're hearing more of the dynastic crap that's becoming all too common. At least three Kennedys are already apparently being talked about for the post when it becomes available, and the ailing Senator himself "has made clear to confidants that when his time is up, he wants his Senate seat to stay in the family—with his wife, Vicki."

The same Senate seat has been manned by someone named Kennedy for more than half a century, and, although I've rarely disagreed with the politics of its occupants, my feelings about the republic make me wish for some new blood.