Hopefully the last thing I'll write about Swimmer

Boston was boiling, and it was Ted Kennedy who had turned up the heat. It was Kennedyism writ large (the plan was the sort of hamfisted -- and, naturally, doomed -- federal interference in local problems that Kennedy had made his life's work) and small: The judge in question, Arthur Garrity, who effectively took over Boston schools for 11 years, was a Kennedy family retainer who had worked on John Kennedy's Senate and presidential campaigns.
...
The protesters were not just Kennedy's constituency; they were the dead center of it, working-class Irish Catholics who "helped build the Kennedy dynasty . . . Many continued to hang Jack's picture in their living rooms," wrote Peter Canellos in his bio, "Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy." The crowd jeered Kennedy for about five minutes, then many turned their backs and began singing, "God Bless America." That was too much for Ted. Without speaking, he walked away.

His decision to flee infuriated the crowd further. He was pelted with tomatoes as "he took refuge in the federal building named after his brother," Micklethwait and Woolridge dryly note.

The symbolism was perfect. Here was a man who said he spoke for the people proving himself literally unable to speak to the people. Here was a man who argued that government was the citizens' shelter, using a government building as a fortress against the hoi polloi. That he literally took cover under his brother's name was the topper.

Pointed to by Five Feet of Fury

And, just to remind us while MA politicians are playing Swimmer's game of changing the rules to suit them,
...Before he died last week, Kennedy had asked Massachusetts lawmakers to change state law to let the governor name an interim appointee to serve until voters can choose a permanent replacement. Current Massachusetts law does not allow an interim appointee…
..."This is the only way to ensure that Massachusetts is fully represented,"…
...Patrick said he agreed with Kennedy that the state needs two voices in the Senate during the intervening five months....

Edward Kennedy has missed 261 votes (96.7%) during the current Congress.