In Sunday’s Boston Herald, the inimitable Howie Carr —the longtime bane of Kennedy and scourge of Kerry— examined the odds and the consequences of Joe Kennedy running for his uncle’s Senate seat.
Apparently the former congressman has renounced the seat that would almost certainly have been his for the declaring — which, as Carr pointed out, would have been a case of being careful what you wish for. And Carr’s handicapping of the other possible candidates is worth checking out.
You’re Joe Kennedy, and there are only three ways this whole Senate thing can work out for you.
No. 1, you run and “win” a life sentence to the Senate, and a decade from now, you’ll look in the mirror and see … Chris Dodd.
No. 2, you run and you lose, as unlikely as that now seems, and that’s the end of the Kennedy dynasty, once and for all, and it’s your fault.
No. 3, you give the race a good leaving-alone. You keep collecting that $544,792 salary from your energy companies and never have to worry about getting a call from some newspaper wiseguy about what have you done lately for Pam Kelley, the girl who wound up in a wheelchair for life thanks to your crappy driving on Nantucket in 1973.
You’re Joe Kennedy, and it’s a pretty easy decision, isn’t it, except that … you’re a Kennedy.
What would Hugo Chavez do?