Coming off a particularly strong performance in last night’s final debate between the three candidates in next Tuesday’s special election — an appearance described by the Boston Globe as both “crisp” and “straightforward,” and in sharp contrast to his major-party rivals — Joe Kennedy will be a guest on Neil Cavuto’s show on the FOX Business Network this evening between 6 and 7PM Eastern time.
KennedySeat.com blogger “the Senator,” who covers all the candidates in the race and to our knowledge has not endorsed any of them, writes “The big winner tonight was Joe Kennedy. [...] Joe carried himself with class and pride, and exhibited a solid grasp of critical issues. [...] Joe got his message out, and everyone who watched is better off for having heard his opinion.”
For a history of IPR posts on Joe Kennedy, visit this page.
31 responses so far ↓
1 Third Party Revolution // Jan 12, 2010 at 7:05 pm
I wish him luck.
2 Darcy G. Richardson // Jan 12, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Another solid performance by Joe Kennedy. Looking calm and relaxed on Neil Cavuto’s show, Kennedy performed admirably, reminding the citizens of Massachusetts that they already pay the highest health insurance premiums in the nation, courtesy of the state’s 2006 health care reform law — legislation, incidentally, that had been championed by his Republican opponent.
My favorite line, however, was his one about being an “actual” or “real” Kennedy, but without the money and the house in Hyannis Port.
3 d.eris // Jan 12, 2010 at 9:57 pm
4 d.eris // Jan 12, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Here’s a link to video of Kennedy on Cavuto
5 Anony mouse // Jan 12, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Go Joe Go!
6 Ben // Jan 12, 2010 at 11:27 pm
At the debate, Kennedy received a couple of friendly laughs from an audience that was otherwise completely silent. Once, when asked what parts of government he would cut, he began by saying “I don’t think we have enough time…”
I’ll let a Boston TV political commentator cover the other:
“And once again, Joe Kennedy proved that he can handle the pressure without melting down; his description of his father’s reaction to his run (“Oh no! I’m so proud of you”) was the night’s sweetest moment.”
http://pod08.prospero.com/n/blogs/blog.aspx?webtag=WBZ_Keller
I think Kennedy had better delivery in previous debates. He was also unfortunately ignored by the moderator for much of this one – but he got his points in and provided a refreshing contrast.
7 Ben // Jan 12, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Kennedy looks good here on Cavuto – I think he comes across better than his opponents. When you consider that they have had careers as both lawyers and politicians to practice the craft of public speaking, I think that Kennedy has more upside potential to be a truly statesman-like Senator.
8 d.eris // Jan 13, 2010 at 8:26 am
Sorry about that video formatting, or rather, lack thereof, everyone. Should have changed the parameters before I hit submit, and now I can’t change it at all.
9 Aroundtheblockafewtimes // Jan 13, 2010 at 10:15 am
Let me go out on a limb and predict Joe Kennedy will not be the “balance of power” in this race.
We have seen good/great debate performances before by Libertarian candidates that did not translate into much bigger vote totals. Case in Point: the Libertarian candidate absolutely destroyed Rick Santorum in a state wide debate but Santorum won his senate seat with the Lib getting under 5%.
We have a long long way to go before debating excellence ends up consistently winning races.
10 FairTaxGuy // Jan 13, 2010 at 11:50 am
All you commenters surely know that Joe will simply siphon the votes needed by Brown to defeat Coakley.
I love the idea of independent Libertarian candidates, but this year, in this particular race, Joe Kennedy needs to bow-out and throw his support to Brown.
11 There's no such thing as a fair tax, guy // Jan 13, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Ben on the Rasmussen thread:
“It’s interesting to see where Joe’s votes come from:
1% of conservatives, 3% of moderates and 4% of liberals support him.
He also gets:
2% of Republicans, 4% of Democrats and 3% of other.
He gets 15% of those in the 18-29 age group. ”
Has anyone here asked Scott Brown to withdraw and endorse Joe Kennedy on his page yet? And if so, what did they say over there?
As far as I can tell, Brown is basically Coakley in man-drag, but favors torture and endless war. BTW polls show more progressives than conservatives are likely to vote for Joe. If Coakley had sensible policies like ending the wars now (including the drug war) she would have earned those votes, but some on the left have felt betrayed by Obama and don’t want more of the same.
Everyone in the grassroots from the Green Party to the Tea Party should be behind Joe, and only the elite should support Martha Brown/Scott Coakley as no regular working people will benefit from his/her policies.
12 LibertarianGirl // Jan 13, 2010 at 12:11 pm
*sigh* , thats what the two parties always say.
I cant wait for the firestorm of hate mail we all get in the LPNevada when the GOP realizes we are running a candidate for US Senate against Harry Reid. LOL
13 Progressives Against Reid (PAR) for the course // Jan 13, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Has Harry Reid done anything to end the war in Iraq, the war in Aghanistan, or the war on drugs?
Has he done anything to end marriage apartheid against our LGBT brothers and sisters?
Does he support taxing and regulating marijuana, the safer alternative, like alcohol?
There are many reasons for progressives to vote against Harry Reid.
If the Libertarian is the only choice in the election for progressives who consider those issues to be the most important ones to them, they should vote for the Libertarian.
The power elite does not serve the political or real world interests of grassroots progressives and conservatives – workers, mom and pop businesses, students, single mothers, the “regular people.”
It pits them against each other by throwing out rhetorical red meat and failing to deliver.
In the end, the power elite gets together, in function, as one party of power (and yes, it really is one big party for them in DC) and screws main street America in favor of Wall Street, K street, and the whole incestuous revolving door of the corporate and political elite.
The only wasted vote is a wasted vote for one of the faces of the Janus-like Party of Power whether you call it Republocrat, Demopublican, or just plain Evil.
14 Steve // Jan 13, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Fair Tax Guy makes a good point. With the crucial debates in the Senate on health care and taxes, we need someone there who will represent our views that tax cuts are bad and health care should be the government’s responsibility. : P
Libertarians Carla Howell and Michael Cloud had a good take on Brown v. Kennedy in their Small Government News, maybe someone has a link, all I have is the text courtesy of a facebook friend’s note.
15 sullivan // Jan 13, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Joe Kennedy sounds like an upstanding man. I wish him luck with his future ventures. However, he should stop running in the race for MA Senate because he is the spoiler who will retain the seat for Democrat majority. If he truly believes in the things he says, he should drop out of the race and throw his support behind Brown for the win against more outrageous government spending and control.
16 Mik Robertson // Jan 13, 2010 at 1:13 pm
@ 15 Nonsense! If anything, I think he will pull D votes at a higher rate than R votes just because of the name confusion. I also think there will be some backlash against some of the policies that are being pushed by the D’s.
Go Joe!
17 George Phillies // Jan 13, 2010 at 1:31 pm
For another Libertarian opinion on Brown
http://GoldAmericaGroup.net
Vote for Brown, Support Torture is the title.
18 George Phillies // Jan 13, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Inverted link, sorry
http://GoldMassGroup.com
19 There's no such thing as a fair tax, guy // Jan 13, 2010 at 1:46 pm
I guess Sullivan didn’t read my response to the oxymoronically named “fair tax guy.”
Joe is getting more support from progressives than conservatives. It has already been polled.
And Mik, it’s not because of name confusion, by now people know he’s not Joe For Oil.
It’s because the Democrats have the White House and both houses of Congress and our hope for change has been dashed.
The troops are still in Iraq. More troops are going to Afghanistan. The US is still justifying and making excuses for torture, operating secret prisons where people are held without due process, and spying on its citizens, residents and visitors.
Federal goon squads are still finding excuses to destroy and sieze medical marijuana gardens, even in states where the people voted for legal relief for the sick and dying. Sure, now they use the fig leaf that some other state laws were broken, but the reality continues to be the same.
Instead of real reforms to make medical care more affordable, the Democrats have passed mandates for working class people and struggling small business owners to buy jacked up, low quality medical insurance from big corporations.
The corporate bailouts have continued.
Has anything really changed?
It’s more of the same, and it’s only getting worse.
THAT is why true progressives are supporting a Better Kennedy this time!
20 There's no such thing as a fair tax, guy // Jan 13, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Oh yeah lest we forget…
LGBT couples are still treated as separate but unequal when it comes to marriage. And not only have the Democratic leaders not done anything about it, they are defending it in court.
Just like they are defending the Bush era abuses of executive power, while continuing to engage in them and even inventing new bizarre excuses for q1uasi-dictatorship.
All while failing to bring the Bush War Criminals to justice!
I’m hoping for real change, really, for a change!
21 There's no such thing as a fair tax, guy // Jan 13, 2010 at 1:56 pm
George Phillies is absolutely right. A vote for Scott Brown is a vote for torture.
http://goldmassgroup.com/diary/12/vote-for-scott-brown-support-torture
I looked at the site and there is another good article there, a vote for Martha Coakley is a vote to ignore the people on legalizing marijuana. Come to think of it, it’s also a vote for torture because that is what medical marijuana patients experience when they are denied safe access to their medicine.
http://goldmassgroup.com/diary/13/vote-for-martha-coakley-to-ignore-the-people
22 Anti tax guy // Jan 13, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Steve @ 14
You are probably talking about this
http://www.centerforsmallgovernment.com/headline/warning-to-tea-party-activists-and-supporters-town-hall-meeting-protesters-and-tax-cutters-living-in-massachusetts-who-are-even-considering-voting-for-scott-brown-for-us-senate-january-19th/
Other good articles include….
http://www.rightcondition.com/2010/01/breaking-coakley-up-by-2-as-mass-senate.html
“Today Scott Brown raised over one million dollars, an impressive feat for a Massachusetts Republican. Of course one’s amazement dissipates upon discovery of Brown’s legislative record. Brown not only wrote and supported socialized medicine in Massachusetts, but spoke out against ending…” read more at
http://www.rightcondition.com/2010/01/scott-brown-and-breakdown-of-gop.html
“Are you positively giddy over the prospect of Scott Brown winning in the upcoming Massachusetts special election? Are you currently supporting Scott Brown through time, money or both? Do you believe that limited government policy over the past thirty years failed, leading us to ever growing government? Are you partial to the Tea Party movement? If you have…”
Read more at
http://www.rightcondition.com/2010/01/voting-for-scott-brown-and-big.html
(Voting for Scott Brown and big government Republicans is a fatal mistake.)
http://www.rightcondition.com/2009/12/hotaircom-undermines-tea-party-movement.html
http://www.rightcondition.com/2009/12/examining-candidates-for-ma-senate-2010.html
Scott Brown is a fake. He is one of the authors of RomneyCare and is still proud of it. He opposes ending state income taxes, or rolling back sales taxes. He supports raising property taxes. He loves big spending.
Don’t be stupid, good people – vote for and send your financial contributions to the ONLY small government candidate in the race, the only anti tax guy on the special election ballot, Joe Kennedy!
23 Mik Robertson // Jan 13, 2010 at 3:00 pm
@19 All good points. Even if people are aware this is not Joe For Oil, he is still a Kennedy! That name carries a lot of weight in that particular area, and not just because of the tubby former Senator.
Some, I won’t say many, but some will be confused by the name regardless of how much press the candidates have beforehand. People who follow politics tend to overestimate how closely normal people follow politics. When people get in the voting booth, it can be surprising what they can forget. It a close race, that can make a difference.
24 Mik Robertson // Jan 13, 2010 at 3:01 pm
In a close race..
25 Coakley is not progressive // Jan 13, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Mik, you are correct that there are still plenty of people in Mass who have no idea who Joe Kennedy is or that he is not Joe for Oil.
The thing is, this is a special election in the middle of winter in New England, and most of those people will be staying home. That is – they will plain and simple not vote. Shocking, I know.
The people that will actually bother to get their butt to the polls on Jan 19 will by and large either be somewhat informed voters, or big party machine drones responding to scary robocalls and party machine door knockers. The latter will not be very smart, but they’ll be smart enough to remember who they are supposed to vote for, since that is the only reason they are there.
Joe will definitely get some votes from progressives who can’t stomach Coakley, but it won’t be because of his name. In fact he will get more votes from them than he will get from conservatives who can’t stand Scott Brown.
The only thing his name did for him was get his foot in the door.
26 Mik Robertson // Jan 13, 2010 at 4:11 pm
“The latter will not be very smart, but they’ll be smart enough to remember who they are supposed to vote for, since that is the only reason they are there.”
Voting for someone is the only reason anyone shows up at the polls. I agree that there will be low turnout, and the the majority who vote will do so because they know about the special election. I still think Joe Kennedy will get some votes just because of his name, although no one will likely admit to mistaking him for someone else on an exit poll.
27 Libervention Price Club // Jan 13, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Voting for someone is the only reason anyone shows up at the polls.
In a general election, there are many people to vote for running for a variety of offices, and someone may show up to vote for – say – Obama and the rest of the Democrats and/or for/against certain ballot questions, and end up voting for “Joe Kennedy” for (Senate, Governor, House, etc) by mistake.
But in a special election when the only reason to brave the cold is to specifically vote for one of the three candidates, I don’t think this will be a big factor.
There are legitimate reasons why most of Joe’s vote is coming from the left/those usually more predisposed to vote for Democrats, and it’s not because of name confusion.
28 d.eris // Jan 13, 2010 at 5:22 pm
“Voting for someone is the only reason anyone shows up at the polls.”
Among Democrats and Republicans, and other assorted lesser-evilists, it is at least if not more likely that voting AGAINST someone is the only reason anyone shows up at the polls.
29 Libervention Price Club // Jan 13, 2010 at 5:29 pm
@ 28
True, but I think even morons can remember “Coakley, Democrat” if they are motivated enough to go out on a cold winter night to vote with only one race on the ballot, and no ballot questions (what are called initiatives in some state) being decided.
30 Mik Robertson // Jan 13, 2010 at 5:55 pm
All of that is true and I should have said to vote for someone or something, referring to ballot questions. Even voting against a candidate means voting for someone else.
If someone does go to the polls to vote for a candidate in a specific race and doesn’t want to vote for other races, often those races are left blank. Some will just pick names without knowing anything about the candidates, but they probably went to the polls with an idea to vote for (or against) someone.
You might think even morons will remember a name. Some will and some will not, that’s all I’m saying. Some people will know there is an election, go to the polls and think “Kennedy” and cast that ballot. Especially if they see a Kennedy sign just before going into the polling place.
Sure, there will be a lot of people who vote for him for other and very legitimate reasons. Some small percentage will go to the polls thinking to vote for Kennedy without realizing he is not the D nominee. I think saying everyone who votes for Kennedy will have done so because they knew his policies and agreed with them, or votes specifically against one of the others, is giving too much credit.
31 Carla Herwitz // Jan 20, 2010 at 2:22 pm
The other Joe Kennedy, Libertarian (which actually means pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and get rid of the government), did not win but it is very clever to find the other Joe Kennedy who claims to be a Kennedy without the estate and the money. Obviously he fooled enough Massachusetts pinheads to take votes away from Martha Coakley and give us a Republican that previously had no chance of winning. I’d call that fixing the vote–wouldn’t you? Sure both parties do it, but the Republicans have gotten much better at it than the Democrats because the Dems don’t want to believe it could happen in America. Guess what–it does, and it did. Bush and Cheney were selected, not elected. Almost everyone comes to DC pre-corrupted by the big-money lobbies and not interested in the welfare of their consituents. Let them try to live without us–which so far they are trying rather effectively to do. Obama will get blamed for a 10 TRILLION dollar (you can’t even wrap your mind around a trillion dollars), backed by no gold but pure electronics, that Bush and Cheney, with the preceding help of Clinton and Gore ran up by selling off our businesses to the Chinese, who are trained from early childhood how to kill Americans and Indians, who consider themselves superior to us in every way. This country is still in a backlash against the politics of the 60s and even the 50s and people a little older than I who say we won WWII. We did not–Russia did. We came in at the end with our tremendous ability to build war machines. And I could go on all day,because honesty is gone from American politics–read President Jimmy Carter on the reality of what I’ve said, since I’m nobody.
Leave a Comment