A Kennedy Staggers Into Connecticut

Connecticut was honored with a visit from an unusually sober Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) yesterday afternoon. Kennedy, the son of Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), was in the state to help his good friend, Connecticut Congressman Chris Murphy in putting on a very boring forum in Hartford trying to boost their "mental health parity bill."

CTN ran the forum last night, and it featured a number of panelists who appeared heavily medicated themselves. Accoding to CTNewsJunkie, Rep. Murphy boldly asserted “Mental illness does not discriminate whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat.” Heh heh. Well, I'm not so sure about that.

Naturally, with Kennedy and Murphy behind it, the proposal is a $4 billion budget-buster.

Presumably Kennedy wants to help people like his father; the kind of person who can drive a car over a pier with a female passenger and kill her, or get so loaded he can't pronounce Barack Obama's name.

Or perhaps he's more interested in helping people like himself... the sort of person who can get into a drug-induced stupor and drive up onto a sidewalk and crash into a security barrier in Washington at 2:45 in the morning.

Patrick Kennedy just completed probation last summer for the much-publicized incident which culminated in his being prosecuted for driving under the influence, reckless driving, and driving without a permit.

If Murphy and the Kennedys really want to improve the health and well-being of Americans, they will pass legislation that keeps members of the Kennedy family from getting behind the wheel.