From Helms v. Kennedy to McConnell v. Warren: Massachusetts senators STILL won’t follow the rules
There’s been a lot of hubbub about the US Senate Republican takedown of Elizabeth Warren the other night for her smear of Jeff Sessions. A friend and fellow Jesse Helms alumnus sent me the following — reminding us of Massachusetts’s long and proud tradition of sending screaming maniacal leftist blowhards, who refuse to learn or follow the rules, to the US Senate:
U.S. Senate Debate, M.L. King Holiday, Oct. 18, 1983, p. 28071,
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I
yield myself such time as I may use. Mr. President, I will respond to the
points made by the Senator from
North Carolina. First of all, the suggestion
by the Senator from North
Carolina that there have been no hearings on this issue is completely inaccurate
and false.
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, a point
of order.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will
the Senator yield for a point of order?
Mr. KENNEDY. I do not yield the
floor.
Mr. President, I have in my hand
the sets of hearings held jointly by the
Senate Judiciary Committee and the
House Post Office and Civil Service
Committee on March 27, 1979, on June
21, 1979. These joint hearings were held on the issue of establishing a national holiday to honor Martin Luther
King.
Mr. HELMS. Point of order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Point
of order is called for. Under rule XIX no Senator during debate shall directly
or indirectly by any form of words
impute to another Senator or to other
Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the
statement of the Senator from North
Carolina is inaccurate. I do not impute
any motive to the Senator. I simply
say that his statement is inaccurate
and false. If the Chair wants to make a ruling, I have the hearings right
here in my hand.
If the Chair would like to examine
the hearings, the Chair is prepared to
do so.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under
rule XIX when a Senator is called to
order he shall take a seat and may not
proceed without leave of the Senate
which if granted shall be upon motion
that he be allowed to proceed in order,
which motion shall be determined
without debate.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, may
I continue?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is
there a motion to that effect?
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President,
these hearings were held with–
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, regular
order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
Senator will withhold.
Mr. HELMS. The Senator needs to
learn the rules.
*mic drop*
(If ONLY our current Senate delegation had even half of the cojones present THAT day …)
I can hardly read that without his smarmy voice going through my head and making me sick.