Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Law of Convenience, Wrong Then, Wrong Now

Back in 2004, the heavily Democratic state legislature of Massachusetts created a law that stated that any Congressional vacancy must be filled by a special election... not by an interim gubernatorial appointee. This was done because the Massachusetts Democrats didn't want the then-governor, Republican Mitt Romney, appointing a Republican to the U.S. Senate if/when Senator John Kerry won the 2004 Presidential Election, creating a vacancy.

Bad law, but okay.

Now, in 2009, Democrats are considering repeal of the law so that the now-governor, Democrat Deval Patrick, can immediately appoint a pro-healthcare interim Senator to fill the recently-deceased Ted Kennedy's Senate seat and ensure a possibly/probably critical vote in favor of Obama's healthcare plan.

Bad law... and not okay.

I disagree with a partisan political body creating a law for their own benefit, but I particularly disgree with that same partisan political body repealing that law once the threat to their hegemony is gone... or even/especially when their own law winds up threatening the very hegemony they sought to protect with the law in the first place.

To quote the British: That's just not cricket.

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