Sound and fury over appointment that lasts four months

Jay Fitzgerald ponders the crowning of a guy most of us have never heard of as our Temporary Senator:

With an unerring instinct for political disaster, Deval Patrick looks like he's going with Paul Kirk -- and Patrick will look like a first-rate incompetent weenie as a result. He'll come across as having caved to the mildest criticism of Dukakis and the slightest hint a Dukakis appointment might be used as a campaign issue. He'll come across as having buckled to the wishes of the out-of-state Kennedy family and D.C. insiders. He should have cut his losses and just gone with the Duke. ...