Reply #13: I dunno

[Lexingtonian]

Ol' Ted is smart and in many ways exceedingly practical.

There are two major points to his pronouncements today. One is just a signal that the Presidential nomination contenders can now throw around the 'it's a con job and was all for partisan gain' line with impunity. He must have concluded that the Bush people have no real defense against the charge.

The other is to put the media onto the money trail and the Bush people on the defensive with their own base- the 'bribing foreign leaders' bit is masterful provocation and gets at the "wasting taxpayer money on foreign aid" stupidity among Republicans.

It's all clearly going get Teddie solicited by e.g. Russert and Koppel to "explain what he means" and lay out the evidence he has. (Hint: this is going to be some fun.) It makes him the target of Republican anger but benefits all the folks running for W's job far more than himself.

As for Kennedys going into politics, I think we might see the present generation hang around in the House a bit but they're starting to vanish into the monied upper class at much the same time their base constituency, the Boston Irish, are vanishing into middle class suburbia.