The Hiller Instinct: Kennedy Seat Interim Vote

The Democrats did it because they could, because they should, and because, as time passes, I think it's going to seem like a no-brainer. Is it bad government? Yes!  And it's hypocritical, too. But this is one of those very few times when the end does justify the means.

Get real: this isn't a corrupt power play--aimed at stacking the deck--because Washington Democrats aren't going to get a vote for health care they didn't have before, and Republicans aren't going to lose any votes they had.

And if the Kennedy vote does give the Democrats the 60 they need to pass health care without any Republican support, then don't forget that the other 58 votes will come from other states.

Parts of this process have been pathetic, but I don't think Massachusetts wants to be remembered as the state that denied Ted Kennedy his dying wish-- a chance to be heard on his life's cause--because a vote he worked for decades came in the relatively few weeks between his death and an election to replace him.

Flip-flopping on a state law was the right thing for Beacon Hill to do.  It may have been the wrong way to do it, but there was no other way. 

I'm Andy Hiller and that's my instinct

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