Posted 10:03 AM by Jason
Ted Kennedy

I thought this Boston Herald piece was funny, partly because of the bad reporting, mostly because it was about Ted Kennedy.  It is short, so here is the whole thing, with my comments in brackets:

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — who ripped Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito for ties to a group that discriminates against women  — says he’s going to quit a club notorious for discriminating against women “as fast as I can.”

[A group in which Alito was apparently not active, that didn’t so much discriminate against women (Laura Ingraham was an editor of their magazine), but did allegedly oppose Princeton’s move to coeducation, or rather the way in which the change was brought about, among other things.  The group dissolved years ago, incidentally, so even if the statement were true, it does not discriminate in the present tense.]

Kennedy was outed by conservatives late last week as a current member of The Owl Club, a social club for Harvard alumni [well, it wasn't just alumni until later, after being cut off from the university, though there are apparently no alumnae in the group] that bans women from membership.

In an interview with WHDH Channel 7’s Andy Hiller that aired last night, Kennedy said, “I joined when I . . . 52 years ago, I was a member of the Owl Club, which was basically a fraternal organization.”

Asked by Hiller whether he is still a member, Kennedy said, “I’m not a member; I continue to pay about $100.” [I know I usually pay dues to groups of which I am not a member]

He then said of being a member in a club that discriminates against women, “I shouldn’t be and I’m going to get out of it as fast as I can.”

The Harvard Crimson reports that, in 1984, the university severed ties with clubs like the Owl, citing a federal law championed by Kennedy.

Meanwhile, Kennedy admitted to Hiller that he himself probably couldn’t pass Judiciary Committee muster.

“Probably not . . . probably not,” Kennedy said. [How true]

The committee will vote on Alito’s nomination on Jan. 24, and the full Senate will begin debate the next day. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he looks forward to a “fair up-or-down vote.”

Me: Honestly, I really didn’t care about Kennedy’s Owl Club “issues”, and I don’t think anyone else really did either, except Ted, who as THE liberal in the Senate, must not allow the impression that he committed the sin of hypocrisy, the ultimate mortal sin in the church of liberalism.  


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