MA-SEN: Pelosi Endorses Kennedy In Massachusetts Senate Race

[RandySF]

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is endorsing Rep. Joe Kennedy in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race, putting her in the very rare position of backing a challenger to a Democratic incumbent, the Boston Globe reports.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. This surprises me.

I wonder what the back story is here....

[W_HAMILTON]

2. Isn't Kennedy a current member of Pelosi's House of Representatives?

If so, I would guess that is the story: she is endorsing one of her members.

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. Right...that makes sense....thanks. nt

[Sanity Claws]

3. Markey is 74.

Maybe it is time for a new generation.

[BeyondGeography]

5. Making him at least five years younger than anyone in House leadership

Is irony dead or just on life support?

[Sanity Claws]

6. They've got to go too.

[BeyondGeography]

7. We agree

[ms liberty]

8. No s**t...and really, how old is our nominee again?

I mean really, that's a horrible excuse. And I doubt it's why Nancy endorsed Kennedy anyway.

[Sanity Claws]

9. Biden is older

but at least he has a much younger VP.
I also wonder what the real story is behind Pelosi's backing of Kennedy.

[Autumn]

13. Irony has been dead for some time now.

[BeyondGeography]

14. Lol...Hey there

[BannonsLiver]

16. You're telling me!

[Autumn]

27. No, I wasn't telling you anything. nt

[BannonsLiver]

28. Bahahahahahaha

[Autumn]

29. If you're bored and looking for someone to harass try elsewhere. I'm just not into you Bannon.

[BannonsLiver]

30. Oh, I'm having a great week

Not bored at all. Have you enjoyed the convention so far? I thought Bernie did a great job with his Tuesday night speaking slot

[Paper Roses]

10. Markey has been in Washington for 44 years.

Time for some new ideas. Too long for so many of them, no matter what party affiliation.

[JI7]

18. There is no difference on issues and ideas between Kennedy and Markey

[frazzled]

11. I used to live in Massachusetts

and Ed Markey was my representative. Like most others in my community, I had written and called his office in 2002 to ask him to vote against the Iraq War Resolution. Of course, he didn't (nor did Senator Kerry, but that was a another story).

So, very shortly after that vote, Rep. Markey showed up in our town square to give a speech in support of Robert Reich's run for governor that fall. The substantial crowd in the square was not happy, and there were quite a few shouts and boos. After his speech I spotted Markey near me, looking both stunned and dejected, as if he did not understand what had happened. I moved over to him and explained that it was his aye vote for the IWR that was causing the stir: it was fresh, and people were angry. He seemed surprised.

A week or so later, he tried to make amends with a long e-mail explaining his vote. It wasn't very convincing (nor was anyone else's, for that matter; at least he tried, I guess; others did not).

Well, that was a long time ago, and I'm not sure what the point of my story is. Except to say that things like this, the non-responsiveness to constituents' views and needs, builds up. It's probably damned well time for a new US representative there, and Joe Kennedy is a good choice.

[JI7]

21. So how come Kerry got support in mass ? And even non mass people like Hillary and Biden

in presidential primaries.

And even Markey himself until a Kennedy decided to run against him

[frazzled]

24. Both of them

were not well liked in my town, which was pretty liberal. Kerry especially was seen to be non-responsive to constituent needs, while Ted Kennedy, on the other hand, was revered. I remember being at a meeting at which it was stated that Kerry's office never cooperated with the requests of local groups on important issues, while Ted was "the go-to guy," who if he didn't show up himself to listen, always sent top staff.

Overall, though, it's hard to dislodge big-name incumbents, and many don't want to disrupt their seniority. Both Kerry and Markey were good guys, in terms of usually doing the right thing, but both had gotten pretty distanced from the people they served. It took me a long time (more than a decade) to forgive Kerry. He had bigger ambitions than serving his constituents, and when he got that chance, as SoS, I felt he was better suited to that kind of work.

[BannonsLiver]

15. There there

[Pompoy]

17. AOC endorses Markey in all the ads

Maybe Pelosi is like my wife, and pushing back against the AOC side of the party. That also did it for me in the end, because I'm not up to date on the Kennedy story.
Today I dropped my, my wife's and my son's ballots in the City Hall dropbox, all of us went for Kennedy.

[BannonsLiver]

19. Good for the Speaker

She’s free to endorse who she wants. I do enjoy the sour grapes, though.

[Celerity]

20. Very disappointing nt

[mahina]

22. Ouch. That's sad.

Markey’s been a work horse. Poor guy.

She is a pragmatic person so there m he st be a good reason, but still, ow.

[still_one]

25. I don't agree with her on this one

[Croney]

26. I love you Nancy, but I finally received my ballot and I filled in the oval

by Markey's name. Now to find the nearest drop box.