The voice is unmistakable. So is the profile. But the setting is strange. No podium on the Senate floor. Just a cutout of Boston's skyline and a woebegone basket of flowers on a little caf table.Having done cable access television, I can certainly give the senator his props for taking a project like this on...
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, one of the best-known figures in American politics, is now hosting his own community-access cable show, and he fits in perfectly amidst the weird, wacky, and unfailingly earnest.
Kennedy's show, ''Capitol Perspective," is equal parts C-SPAN and Rosie O'Donnell and vaguely reminiscent of "Wayne's World." The gushing introductions, the missed camera cues, the lapses into senatorial speak -- it's a half-hour of homespun policy chat with the third longest-serving senator in United States history.
And it is broadcast in all its fuchsia-toned glory in 158 communities across the state. Just listen for the kettledrums and cymbal crashes at the start of each episode.
Mary Jo Kepechne was unavailable for comment on the story though...
Mark's Remarks
Wow, I bet his show did not get as good ratings as ours did. As for people saying we should not dredge up the past by mentioning Chappaquiddick or Ms. Kepechne, I say: quit calling Bush AWOL, a draft dodger, chimperor, and oil baron, or some other such nonsense, especially since most of those charges were based on forged memos. There is far more evidence to convict Sen. Kennedy of negligent homicide than there is evidence to convict Bush of AWOL. But, of course, we cannot look at a Democrat's past, hell no. Because it is all about the present. Except if you are a Republican, then, let's dredge up the past and run a whole campaign on it. I mean, it worked so well for John Kerry, right?Seriously, the whole Chappaquiddick thing needs to be explained. People like Teddy boy have gotten by on what their siblings or parents have done for years (like Ron Reagan Jr., et. al.) and they should be judged on their own actions. Ted Kennedy is a living disgrace to his two brothers' vision of governance and dreams of tolerance, and a disgrace to the US Senate. Your mileage may vary....