Drowned by The Swimmer

One wonders what kind of political deathwish some Republicans have by aligning themselves with Ted Kennedy. George W. Bush should have known better when he first entered the White House, as he aligned himself with the drunken sot and allowed him to write education legislation, only to be stabbed in the back whenever he needed the favor returned.

Now Lindsay Graham, among others, committed himself to Kennedy and is going to pay a price.

Kennedy alliance costly to GOP senators

An immigration alliance with Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts is damaging Arizona Sen. John McCain and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham among conservative Republicans.

The damage to the two Republican senators caused by their support for Mr. Kennedy's immigration bill -- which was blocked by a Senate filibuster last night -- is especially clear in Mr. Graham's home state, scene of an early presidential primary next year.

"I'm very wary of a Republican who is talking to Ted Kennedy," Rick Beltram, Republican Party chairman for Spartanburg County, S.C., told The Washington Times yesterday, after it was reported that Mr. Graham and Mr. McCain had first checked with Mr. Kennedy before deciding to vote with the Massachusetts Democrat on an amendment to the Senate bill.

The Kennedy-McCain alliance was criticized by one of Mr. McCain's Republican presidential rivals, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo.

"John McCain has always prided himself as a man who marches to the beat of a different drummer," Mr. Tancredo told The Times yesterday. "How depressing to learn that the drummer is Ted Kennedy."

Memo to Republicans: Ted Kennedy is not your friend.