If P[ork]B.S. doesn't spew it who will?
Actually, who doesn't?
-- July 23 Washington Week in Review on PBS, in a transcript
checked for accuracy the MRC's Jessica Anderson:
Gloria Borger, U.S. News and World Report: "He has become a
national legislator. Think back to Teddy Kennedy, comes into the
Senate at the age of 30, the youngest Senator. He's now the third
longest serving Senator. He's 67, spent more than half of his life
now in the United States Senate. When you think of landmark
legislation in this country, when you think of civil rights
legislation, health care legislation, job training, national
service, minimum wage, the name Kennedy always gets the top
byline. This is a man who has known how to legislate. He's had
some rocky times -- you cannot deny that, of course. And maybe
it's taken him a little bit longer to mature, but there he is. And
Republicans and Democrats agree that he is a great legislator."
"A little bit longer to mature." Nice euphemism.
Moderator Paul Duke picked up: "He is a great legislator, but
I, but I'd just like to say, Gloria, that some of us remember when
he first came to Washington back in the early 1960s, he was very
much of a lightweight. In fact, it was kind of accepted wisdom
that his brother, the president, John F. Kennedy, wasn't
particularly keen on him running for that Senate seat. Well, he
ran and he won. And as you say, he's gone on to become the keeper
of the flame."
Borger: "Well, well, he has, and he's, and he's had rough
times: Chappaquiddick in 1969, stories of overindulgent drinking,
carousing, etcetera, etcetera. And so, you know, there has been a
rockiness to him. He almost lost his election in 1994. This was a
tough re-election fight for this, for this man, because there were
so many bad stories about him. Then he got married to Vicki, and
people say that it was a life-saving marriage, that his life has
changed. And in fact, people say that this is a man who works
harder than any other person in the United States Senate. I talked
to the House minority leader, Dick Gephardt, this week, who said
to me, ‘I am in awe of this man. He comes to every meeting with
more exuberance than the freshman congressman who comes to
Washington who wants to change the world.' He said, ‘He doesn't
think about yesterday. He thinks about tomorrow,' and that's how
he gets through things."
Duke: "He's also this liberal lion who has just not changed."
Borger: "Well, that's right, and whether you agree or whether
you disagree, this is a man who has belief, which is something
that some might argue is disappearing in Washington. I remember
covering Tip O'Neill during the Reagan years, and Tip said, ‘I am
an old-fashioned liberal,' during the Reagan years, right? That
was out of style. Ted Kennedy, 1994, the wave of the Newt Gingrich
Republican Revolution was just coming. People were smelling it.
How did he run for re-election in the state of Massachusetts,
admittedly, a liberal state? Talking about Medicare reform,
talking about working families, talking about the minimum wage.
That's how he won, and that has become the agenda of the
Democratic Party."
Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times: "But, Gloria, while
everybody in America knows that Ted Kennedy is this leading
liberal, he has also had a lot of his success by working with very
conservative Republicans: Orrin Hatch of Utah, Dan Quayle of
Indiana when he was in the Senate. How does..."
Borger: "Job training with Dan Quayle."
McManus: "How does he do that?"
Borger: "I spoke with Orrin Hatch this week. I asked him about
that, and he said, ‘Look, this is a guy who has a lot of liberal
ideology, but when he wants to get something done, he gets it
done.' And Hatch told me this story. He said, ‘Look, when I took
over the Labor and Human Resources Committee in the, in the
aftermath of the Reagan landslide, Kennedy came over, took the
ranking seat on that committee. We had a meeting. I said, ‘Ted,
I'm going to need you, ‘cause I got two liberal Republicans that
you're going to bring along with you.' And Ted said, ‘Look, I'll
be with you when I can, and I'll tell you when I can't.' And
together they've passed health legislation, AIDS research
legislation. You look at Ted Kennedy -- Kennedy-Kassebaum health
insurance; Dan Quayle, job training -- this is a man who knows how
to compromise. Two weeks ago, Patients' Bill of Rights, didn't
really want to compromise with those Republicans, but there are
times he's really been able to do it."
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