How To Stay Liberal

I don't think Teddy Kennedy can bend over at the waist and stick his head in the sand any more; the paunch is far too big. But even if his body fails him, his heart doesn't.

This passage from his inteview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday may have been missed by many, who had thrown a shoe through the TV over his statements about his love of the troops, but it says a lot about what it takes nowdays to be the "Liberal Lion of the Senate:"

WALLACE: But let me ask you about this, because some people would say that there need to be bigger changes than what you're talking about. Let me give you an example. Back in 1995, you were one of only 12 senators to vote against welfare reform, which was subsequently signed by President Clinton. And you said the bill was — and let's put it up on the screen...

KENNEDY: This is...

WALLACE: 1995.

KENNEDY: Six years ago, OK.

WALLACE: On welfare reform.

KENNEDY: Here we go.

WALLACE: You said that welfare reform was a legislative child abuse. "Let them eat cake." But now, Senator, 10 years later, the employment rate among unmarried women — the employment rate — has soared, and the child poverty rate has dropped. Hasn't welfare reform worked?

KENNEDY: No, no. Your figures are wrong in terms of child poverty. Your figures are absolutely wrong.

WALLACE: Well, we got them from the liberal Brookings Institute, sir.

When challenged by reality, Liberals find a study ... any study by anyone ... that lets them continue in their alternate reality.

The same was evident earlier in the Wallace interview, when Kennedy was seen clinging just as desperately to a few retired generals who had testified that a troop build-up in Iraq wasn't the right policy. Faced with his leader, Harry Reid, saying a temporary build up was OK, Kennedy clung to the life raft of the quote he wanted, the minority report that justified his position.

Who said being a liberal was easy? But old habits, like drinking heavily and whoring mightily die hard, don't they Teddy?

hat-tip: memeorandum
Related Tags: Kennedy, Wallace, Liberalism, Democrats, War in Iraq, Welfare