With the tragic death of Sen. Ted Kennedy at the age of however-old-he-was, it appeared that Massachusetts would be left underrepresented in the Senate, right in the middle of the health care debate, a debate that — like booze –was very dear to Kennedy's heart.

This was due to the fact that four years ago — back when Massachusetts senator John Kerry was running for president — the state amended its constitution so that interim senators could not be appointed without a special election.

But, hey, that was four years ago. The world was a very, very different place back then. I mean, there was a Republican governor!  Can you even imagine? Anyway, that craziness has all changed, so guess what happened.

And then guess what's happening now…

Governor Deval Patrick will announce on Thursday that Paul G. Kirk, Jr. will be named as the temporary replacement to fill Ted Kennedy's vacant senate seat, WBZ has learned.

Hmmm… Who is Paul G. Kirk, Jr.? Why does his name sound familiar? Well, I don't know the answer to that, but you're probably just confused.

Although, I suppose it's possible that you remember him as a pharmaceutical lobbyist for Aventis ten years ago. No? How about as the chairman of Democratic National Committee from 1985 to 1989. Not that either, huh? How about his stint as treasurer of the Democratic Party in 1983? Special assistant to Sen. Ted Kennedy from 1969 to 1977, which included the fallout from the senator's notorious incident on Chappaquiddick island in '69?

Do you maybe remember him having a fight to the death with a Vulcan caught deep in the throes of Pon farr? That's what I thought. You're confused.

Huh?

Do these jeans make my public option look bloated?

It's a sad day for Massachusettsians who've been hoping Ted Kennedy's vacant Senate seat would be filled by someone with all the charisma of an ATM: Mitt Romney says he's busy, thanks…

"Governor Romney's focus right now is on helping other Republicans run for office, and that is how he will be spending his time," Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom said in an e-mail to CNN.

How noble of the Romneybot, to spend his time helping other Republicans run for office! Gee, I wonder how long he'll keep that up… until 2010? 2011? 2013? Who can hazard even the tiniest, wildest guess?

Oh, and one other thing. Despite not wanting Kennedy's seat out of the goodness of his own heart, Romney is attending the funeral, where he will pay tribute to the man he challenged for a Senate seat in '94, back when he wasn't so generous. And — funny coincidence — just like President Obama, Romney is leaving his vacation early to join the mourners.

But UNLIKE Barack Obama, who is insulting taxpayers with his high-falutin' Martha's Vineyard vacation, Mitt Romney is…

…cutting short his vacation in Italy to attend Kennedy’s funeral.

Man, the conservative talk show hosts are gonna destroy this guy in 2012.

* Somebody at the White House is obviously less than a million years old.

* John Oliver is the Usain Bolt of making fun of Glenn Beck.

* Remembering the Kennedy boys: Who was the most do-able?

* Behind every great Massachusetts politician is about 800 or 900 women.

* Keith Olbermann's quest to become the liberal Bill O'Reilly is going exactly according to plan.

* But do these conservative politicians really love Chuck Norris for Chuck Norris?

Here's an interesting point about Ted Kennedy, his long life and his long career from his New York Times' obit….

"He was a quintessential Kennedy, in the sense that he had all the warts as well as all the charisma and a lot of the strengths," said Norman J. Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute.

"If his father, Joe, had surveyed, from an early age up to the time of his death, all of his children, his sons in particular, and asked to rank them on talents, effectiveness, likelihood to have an impact on the world, Ted would have been a very poor fourth. Joe, John, Bobby… Ted.

"He was the survivor," Mr. Ornstein continued. "He was not a shining star that burned brightly and faded away. He had a long, steady glow."

So, Ted Kennedy's greatest strength was his ability to not get himself killed in war or assassinated at an early age? Am I wrong, or is that the takeaway message from that quote?

Now, I'm not a fancy New York Times obituary writer, but — to my crude non-obituary-writing ears — that seems like kind of shitty thing to say about a person who just died.

But I guess that's why the New York Times never did hire me to write obituaries for them. (Though, I'm still holding out hope that my resume slipped between the desk and the wall.)

Joe Biden, it appears, can be rather eloquent if he really, really, really sets his mind to it…