Patches Gets So Bombed He Calls Obama 'The Best President Ever'

Geez, whatever happened to family loyalty? Unfortunately his uncle's presidency was cut short, but he at least served nearly three years, twice as long as this abomination currently occupying the White House.

Must have been some incredibly strong vodka he was knocking back.

After a candid speech discussing his substance-abuse problems, Rep. Patrick Kennedy sauntered into a DC watering hole and ordered up so many vodka shots that the bartender refused to serve him any more, it was reported yesterday.

Kennedy, the troubled son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, downed at least six shots of straight-up vodka before the bartender cut him off, a source told the Roll Call's Heard on the Hill blog.

He strolled into the Capitol Lounge just hours after being recognized for helping people with mental-health issues.

When a patron offered to buy him a drink, Kennedy eagerly ordered up a vodka shot, according to Roll Call.

The Rhode Island Democrat -- who is not running for re-election -- was in high spirits, calling President Obama "the best president ever," the source told Roll Call.

When the source told Kennedy he reminded him of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, the lawmaker guffawed, "Oh, yeah! Good one."

Patrick Kennedy Freaks Out on House Floor

The cut-and-run Congressthing from Rhode Island launches into a spittle-flecked meltdown over the paucity of media coverage of House members looking to cut and run from Afghaninstan.

Uh, Patches, you want to know why so few media were there? Because it was just some far left kooks such as yourself and Dennis Kucinich braying about in opposition to your president, while Republicans were saluting Obama and the media doesn't want to show the one being opposed by members of his own party.

The resolution led to an unusual three-hour debate on war policy, one of the few formal House floor sessions on Afghanistan since the U.S. sent troops there in 2001 following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Some Republicans passionately praised Obama for his policies on Afghanistan during the debate, while many liberal Democrats angrily denounced the continuing U.S. involvement there, although most refrained from attacking Obama directly. Neither party's leadership formally instructed their members to take one side or the other in the debate as they do on most important votes.

"The military escalation cements the path of the United States down the road of previous occupiers that earned Afghanistan its nickname as the 'graveyard of empires," said Kucinich.

Good thing for his own mental health Kennedy is leaving Congress. A few more tantrums like this and he might have a seizure.

Gutless Kennedy Quits

Who's the joke now, Patches?

Bringing down the curtain - at least for now - on Camelot and one of the most storied political dynasties in the nation’s history, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, says he is not running for re-election.

In a taped message intended for broadcast Sunday night and obtained by the Herald, the R.I. Democrat, looking haggard and speaking directly into the camera, said it was time to leave Congress after 16 years.

“Now having spent two decades in politics, my life is taking a new direction, and I will not be a candidate for re-election this year,” Kennedy said in the ad.

Kennedy’s bombshell comes as polls show the eight-term Democrat in an uphill fight against Republican John J. Loughlin II, a veteran state lawmaker and well-financed foe.

A WPRI-12 poll out just last month showed Kennedy with a staggering 56 percent unfavorable rating in his own district, swelling to 62 percent statewide. Moreover, just 35 percent in his district would vote for him again

Assorted reaction here.

Memo to Patrick Kennedy: You're Next

This punk has the nerve to trash Scott Brown as a "joke" after taking his father's seat in Massachusetts. Well, he better keep his head up because his own seat in Rhode Island may well be in jeopardy.

John J. Loughlin II, a three-term state representative from Tiverton, has formally launched his Republican bid to unseat the only remaining member of the storied Kennedy clan in national elective office.

Though he has been raising money for months, Loughlin, 50, officially entered the race against U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, an eight-term Democrat representing the First District, with an announcement Thursday morning outside the office park where his Lincoln grade school used to be.

Touting himself as a “new voice for Rhode Island,” Loughlin denounced Kennedy as “a guy who is out of touch,” who is vulnerable to the same “sentiments” of voter-dissatisfaction that carried Republican Scott Brown to victory in Massachusetts last month, in a contest for the U.S. Senate seat that Kennedy’s father — the late Ted Kennedy — held for nearly five decades.

“People are tired of government not being responsive, of government not listening,” Loughlin, who describes himself as both a fiscal and social conservative, told a small, but enthusiastic group of supporters. On abortion, for example, Loughlin said he is “pro-life.” A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, he said, he sees no reason to repeal the military’s “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy for gay servicemen because “service in the military is about defending our country … it is not necessarily about open sexuality of any kind.”

He leveled this broadside at the Democrats controlling Congress: “In Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s world, there is no problem that can’t be solved by more government. But Washington today is not the solution, it’s part of the problem ... Our national debt is an unthinkable $12 trillion. ... and the president’s new budget forecasts trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see.”

“And what,” he asks, “has all [this] spending gotten the people of Rhode Island? Nothing. Not one job.”

If Patches doesn't realize he's vulnerable, he may want to sober up and have a look at these numbers.

Talking at length about his 26-year military career, Loughlin, who now runs Media-Rite, a television, radio and film production company, said: “We must treat our adversary for what they are — not as ordinary criminals, but as enemies in wartime. That means military justice,” he said, “not civilian court trials where they are granted the right to remain silent and the right through the legal process to obtain sensitive information.”

His announcement coincided with the release of a Channel 12 poll that found 59 percent of those surveyed said they would vote to replace Kennedy (28 percent) or at least consider another candidate (31 percent). Only 35 percent said they’d vote to reelect him.

Thank to Ed Morrissey for the link.

The Difference Between Conservatives and Liberals

When you read stories about Republicans facing personal problems of their own doing, you're not going to see much sympathy from the right. John Ensign is a perfect case.

When liberals get themselves in a fix? Heck, not only does the left circle the wagons, they give awards to these miscreants.

So what if he's in rehab? The 21st Century Democrats, a 527 special interest organization, is still honoring Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) at its annual gala tomorrow night.

But don't expect to see Kennedy, who entered a medical treatment facility last week, at the dinner.

An email sent today from the group's president, Dan Lucas, reminded supporters that the gala is Wednesday evening in honor of Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Congressman Kennedy, the son of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who is battling brain cancer.

"In these difficult times, we need leaders with the integrity and vision to help President Obama move our country forward and address the big challenges facing all Americans," Lucas wrote. "Tomorrow we are proud to honor two such leaders."

So a drunken drug addict is a leader with vision. Somehow I doubt John Ensign will soon be receiving any awards.

Kennedy, 41, who has long battled alcohol and drug addiction, coupled with mental illness, checked himself into an undisclosed treatment center last week. His office said only that the facility is not the Mayo Clinic, where Kennedy sought treatment for addiction after his drug-induced car crash in May 2006.

Raise a glass in honor of Patches.

As for how long Kennedy expects to be away, a spokesman said "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Sarkozy Suspends Ties With Syria

There are a lot of American politicians who should take a cue from Nicolas Sarkozy.

France is to suspend diplomatic contacts with Syria, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced.

Links will be restored only when France has proof that Syria is not blocking progress towards installing a consensus president in Lebanon, Mr Sarkozy said.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, as rival pro- and anti-Syrian factions argue over who should fill the post.

"I ask Syria to... work to create agreement," said Mr Sarkozy.

France "will not make any more contacts with Syria... as long as there is no proof of Syria's willingness to let Lebanon choose a consensus president," he told reporters, during a visit to Egypt.

Speaking of American politicians, an odd pairing of useful idiots are over in Syria making nice-nice with Assad's people.

There is "a real opportunity" for Syria and Israel to resume peace talks with help from the United States, Sen. Arlen Specter said Saturday after arriving for a two-day visit.

Specter said he hoped Syria's participation in last month's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., was a step toward "a new beginning for real efforts" to reach a Mideast peace, including between Syria and Israel.

"I think there is a very important moment in the Middle East and there is a real opportunity if the parties are ready to move," Specter, R-Pa., told The Associated Press. "It's up to the parties. It's up to Syria and Israel, but the United States, I think, is in the position to be helpful."

Specter, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke in Damascus shortly after arriving with Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Just what we need, a RINO and a Kennedy pandering to the Syrians.

Patches Kennedy to Keep Hsu Funny Money

Only a dunce like Patrick Kennedy would do something this reckless.

Still, he'll get away with it since Democrats don't seem to care the least their party is overrun with suspicious money.

Rep. Kennedy Will Keep Hsu Donations

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Tuesday he's not returning $6,600 in donations he got from Norman Hsu, a prominent Democratic donor whose criminal past was recently revealed.

Several top Democrats, including 2008 presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Kennedy's father, Sen. Edward Kennedy, have said they will return Hsu's donations or give them to charity.

Rep. Kennedy will keep the money because there is no indication that Hsu's contributions to him were illegal, according to his chief of staff, Adam Brand.

"We are complying with all applicable (Federal Election Commission) rules and regulations with regards to campaign contributions," Brand said. "If something changes with respect to those rules, we'll take appropriate action."

Sure. Then they'll "donate it to charity," which is in his case is probably his bar tab.

Michelle Malkin has more on the friends of Norman Hsu, while Suitably Flip has an exhaustive list of Democrat recipients of Hsu's suspicious cash.

Where is the Justice Department on this?