Ted Kennedy and the Gap

February 7, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist

By GAIL COLLINS

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Really, it’s been a surprise a minute. In Massachusetts, every Democratic alpha male in the state, including the governor and two U.S. senators, endorsed Barack Obama. Democratic women then stampeded to the polls in a great show of enthusiasm for ignoring their advice.

Ted Kennedy was the particular sore point. Some people looked at Kennedy’s passing of the J.F.K. torch and felt their spines tingle. A lot of women saw him dumping his old ally, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, for the newer, shinier, male model of a presidential candidate and felt their spines stiffen.

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Meanwhile, the Republican far right has fallen into a remarkable snit over John McCain’s march to the nomination. Rush Limbaugh is virtually gnawing his own ankle in rage. By co-authoring legislation with Democrats, Limbaugh ranted, McCain was working with “threats to the American way of life as we’ve always known it.” James Dobson says he won’t vote if McCain is the nominee because of infractions ranging from failure to back a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to “foul and obscene language.” Ann Coulter claims she’d support Clinton “because she’s more conservative than he is.”

Once again, the reason for everything terrible about American politics for the last 20 years becomes clear. These people are nuts.

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