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Roll Call's "Heard On The Hill": Ted Kennedy And His Empty Boxes
Roll Call ^ | June 18, 2007 | Emily Heil

Posted on 06/21/2007 11:55:59 AM PDT by lowbridge

Empty Promises. They don't call it political theater for nothing. Staging a good press conference often requires a script and some props.

At a pro-immigration rally Thursday, a group of politicians including Sens. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) addressed reporters while picturesquely standing in front of an impressive tower of boxes they said contained letters from a million supporters of comprehensive immigration reform.

The letters were supposedly generated from a campaign by Univision radio personality Eddie "Piol’n" Sotelo.

As the Members repeatedly referred to the letters and gestured toward the boxes allegedly containing them as evidence of the support for the immigration bill that is struggling in the Senate, a crack Roll Call photographer on hand at the event began to grow suspicious. He could see light shining through the handles of the boxes, indicating that they weren't full.

Sure enough, a quick check revealed that the boxes were, indeed, completely empty.

Carlos Sanchez, spokesman for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which helped coordinate the event, said that actually bringing the 310 boxes full of the real, dead-tree letters that Sotelo collected would have presented a security headache in a box-spooked world. "We didn't want to put Capitol Police through the stress of having hundreds of boxes out there," he said of the event's Russell Park location.

Turns out, figuring out what the heck to do with the boxes is tougher than you'd think. Sotelo traveled with them in an 18-wheeler across the country to deliver them, but they couldn't just be dumped at the Capitol. Now, nonprofit groups are divvying them up and will spend the next weeks sorting them by Congressional district for delivery to the proper Hill offices, Sanchez said.

HOH is shocked - shocked - to learn that in politics, as in theater, all is not as it seems.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; fraud; illegalimmigration; immigrantlist; immigration; kennedy; tedkennedy
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Related thread:

New photo of Ted Kennedy and Mel Martinez laughing

"Boy, we sure pulled one on all of them didn't we?"

1 posted on 06/21/2007 11:56:03 AM PDT by lowbridge
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To: lowbridge

A picture of the enemy.


2 posted on 06/21/2007 11:58:09 AM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: lowbridge

empty boxes, empty suits. Mel is toast when he’s up for re-election.


3 posted on 06/21/2007 11:58:38 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Brian J. Marotta, 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub, (1948-2007) Rest In Peace, our FRiend)
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To: lowbridge

Teddy must be a real funny guy. Either that or Martinez is in love with him.


4 posted on 06/21/2007 11:58:43 AM PDT by stevio ((NRA))
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To: imahawk

Deport Martinez


5 posted on 06/21/2007 11:59:02 AM PDT by UCFRoadWarrior (Illegal Alien Amnesty Is Anti-American)
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To: lowbridge

It turns out most of the letters do not exist. Of the ones that DO exist, they are all written in spanish, mostly by illegals.


6 posted on 06/21/2007 11:59:21 AM PDT by -=SoylentSquirrel=- (Bacon is the only thing that keeps me sane.)
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To: UCFRoadWarrior
Deport Martinez

What country is stupid enough to take him?

7 posted on 06/21/2007 11:59:45 AM PDT by lowbridge ("The mainstream media IS the Democratic Party." - Rush Limbaugh)
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To: lowbridge

I don’t trust the Republican Party anymore.


8 posted on 06/21/2007 12:04:21 PM PDT by claudiustg (I didn't leave the Republican Party. I was purged.)
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To: imahawk

I just sent this article to Martinez’s office with the title “Standing With Eddie Kennedy and My Other Enemies”


9 posted on 06/21/2007 12:11:06 PM PDT by subterfuge (Today, Tolerance =greatest virtue;Hypocrisy=worst character defect; Discrimination =worst atrocity)
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To: claudiustg

“The National Republixico Party”


10 posted on 06/21/2007 12:23:48 PM PDT by stockpirate (Juan` McCain and Jorge` W Bush, two birds of a feather!)
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To: lowbridge

Must’ve learned that one from Danny Rather.


11 posted on 06/21/2007 12:24:56 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
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To: lowbridge

“We didn’t want to put Capitol Police through the stress of having hundreds of boxes out there,” .....Oh sure! OR we wanted to fool the hell out of everone!....Nice try Oldsmobile Ted!


12 posted on 06/21/2007 12:26:14 PM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: lowbridge

What if Kennedy received a million letters from criminals in prison demanding to be freed? Would that make it OK to let them loose?


13 posted on 06/21/2007 12:28:39 PM PDT by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Illegals: representation without taxation--Citizens: taxation without representation)
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To: claudiustg

Ted Kennedy is a democrat.


14 posted on 06/21/2007 12:31:18 PM PDT by beckysueb (Pray for our troops , America, and President Bush)
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To: lowbridge
...standing in front of an impressive tower of boxes they said contained letters from a million supporters of comprehensive immigration reform. ... a quick check revealed that the boxes were, indeed, completely empty.

Couldn't even be bothered to bring a few samples of the 310 boxloads... I'm just surprised ANY member of the Press decided to have a closer look. Kudos to Roll Call for one of their own having the temerity to look for himself.

15 posted on 06/21/2007 12:33:21 PM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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To: lowbridge
I immediately click on 'delete' whenever a Martinez email pops up.

He is one of the enemy.

16 posted on 06/21/2007 12:41:57 PM PDT by GFritsch ('All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved'." -)
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To: lowbridge

Laughing now! But... hopefully, his fling with the swimmer will bring him the same fate as McCain.


17 posted on 06/21/2007 12:48:38 PM PDT by drpix
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To: lowbridge

It just tickles me pink that these pinheads can’t hide any more. Twenty years ago this might have worked. Now they can’t hide from the Internet! I don’t think Kennedy has enough brain cells left to understand this concept however!


18 posted on 06/21/2007 12:50:02 PM PDT by Sunshine Sister
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To: Sunshine Sister

I heard The Swimmer announce on a Boston radio show this morning that the 1986 amnesty was President Regan’s idea and that he didn’t support it!


19 posted on 06/21/2007 12:58:23 PM PDT by Andy'smom
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To: Andy'smom

As usual, his lies can be exposed. To bad that old goat doesn’t understand that there are people that are only to glad to prove him a liar........again!


20 posted on 06/21/2007 1:18:33 PM PDT by Sunshine Sister
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