Caroline Kennedy’s Moment—A Sad Reflection of Our Times
The probable appointment of Caroline Kennedy, the 51-year-old daughter of former President John Kennedy, to fill Secretary-of-State nominee Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate seat is both laughable and yet a parable for our bankrupt times.
Consider aristocratic entitlement. Ms. Kennedy apparently spends a great deal of her time divided between her Park Avenue Upper-East-Side Manhattan townhouse and her hereditary estate on Martha’s Vineyard. She has had no real experience with the ordinary lives of New Yorkers, either a few dozen blocks away in Harlem (despite a sudden ad hoc lunch last week with the Rev. Sharpton at a soul food diner) or the state’s rural towns to the north.
Ms. Kennedy is about as undiverse as one could imagine. She was educated at exclusively private schools among those of her like race and class. Her financial security is due to either inheritance or marriage; there is no evidence of a self-employed stellar legal or business career. But there is plenty of evidence that Ms. Kennedy reflects the current Democratic Party’s obsession with celebrity and Hollywood-like imagery—as we see from the recent politicking of everyone from Oprah to Sean Penn, the Senate run of comedian Al Franken, and the messianic cult that surrounds Barack Obama, from his vero possumus Latin seal to his mass rallies with Greek temple backdrops.
Press reports suggest that the current political junkie Ms. Kennedy was an erratic voter in the past. In any case, her positions on both state and national issues are perhaps doctrinaire liberal in the Kenndyesque sense. But we can only assume, rather than know, that, since she has not in the past voiced any strong views about anything in any detail. Unlike dozens of veteran, hard-working and savvy New York state and federal office-holders in the Democratic Party, who would be both qualified and happy to serve out Sen. Clinton’s term, Ms. Kennedy has never run for, or held, public office. Her only prerequisites for Senator are her pedigree from her father and her purported celebrity mystique passed on from her mother Jackie. She certainly has shown none of Hillary Clinton’s grittiness, traipsing over the rural haunts of America in a bright blue pantsuit, quaffing boilermakers at biker bars and reinventing herself as a sort of Annie Oakley everywoman, clinging to guns and religion.
In 2007 Ms. Kennedy was, in fact, a strong Hillary Clinton donor and supporter, but jumped ship and joined Obama once he surged in the polls at the beginning of the year, when the national media and the fossilized icons of the Democratic Party underwent some sort of ecstatic catharsis and mass hysteria akin to what Euripides’s Bacchants experienced on Mt. Kithairon.
That savvy metamorphosis into an Obamiac explains Ms. Kennedy’s sudden me-too piggy-backing into national politics. Indeed, her current newfound political zeal seems predicated on the larger Obamania craze, a sort of brand name groupthink in which romantic liberals imagine a return of JFK’s lost Camelot.
Double standards are double the pleasure and double the fun for the left.
I’m sick of them, personally.
“We know in our hearts that Charles Gibson and Katie Couric, who mercilessly grilled pro-life, Christian Sarah Palin with the poor white twang, would pull in their talons—if given the chance to dialogue with Caroline.”
We can most assuredly take that for granted. Katie Couric would not dare treat Caroline Kennedy with anything other than kid gloves. She knows darn well which side her bread is buttered. One does not severely damage the politically career of a Kennedy without paying a severe price. Remember what happened to Roger Mudd? He gutted Ted Kennedy’s presidential aspirations—and has essentially disappeared off the face the Earth.
The irony is just about all of today’s Kennedy clan is living off the memory of John F. Kennedy—someone who they would presently perceive as some sort of right-wing nut! Everybody should read James Piereson’s brilliant work, Camelot and the Cultural Revolution (How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism). He was a cold warrior and a center-rightest. JFK would have little in common with his own daughter Caroline.
As usual, Dr. Hanson is right on the money. I only wish he would remember better the ascension of Madame Hillary.
She has a lot more in common with Princess Caroline than Sarah Palin, in that the “grittiness” was a desperation move after her procession to the coronation hit a slight bump. Princess Caroline’s listening tour of upstate reminds one of another about eight years ago, with a similar sense of entitlement.
She couldn’t have possibly gotten the “jumping on the bandwagon”gene from her mother- who could never have been accused of being a gold digger by hitching her wagon to the richest man on the planet. You remember-what’s his name?-the Greek shipping guy.
Quasar…it was Aristotle Onassis. Some women will do anything for money.
We can all take heart, I suppose, in the fact that the Democrats have very quickly shown us they are as politically bankrupt as they have portrayed the Republicans as being these past eight years. (That’s assuming we, and the MSM, hold them to the same standards). Nepotism. Cronyism. Corruption. Buying votes and Senate seats. What’s next? Colluding with our adversaries? The Chicago Way and the Kennedy mystique. A match made in heaven. Watching the Dems on crusade to the White House and now Caroline schmoozing her way to a Senate seat, Grandpa Joe K must be smiling.
We don’t need to just reform our political system. We need a political Protestant Reformation, where citizens denounce and reject the new priestly caste — our hereditary political aristocracy — that holds us enthralled, worshipping their celebrity status while taxing us to death. Cast out these hypocritical Pharisees. Burn their icons, and their hagiographers, the MSM. Reject the teachings of their Ivy League seminaries. Preach self reliance, literacy, and personal responsibility. Maybe then we can start over with new blood in our political leadership.
It’s ironic that Hillary Clinton came out of the election looking not-too-bad to the right wing even with the goofy cork screw Bosnia story while being held in less esteem by the democrats.
Sara Palin still can’t get a break. There’s a real woman for you.
With the $375/month raise senators just gave themselves, it’s hard to have respect for that institution anymore anyway. Maybe it’s not too strange that Ms Schlossberg may belong in the nut house with the other nuts.
My senator Claire McCaskill did something disgusting to a microphone before she handed it to Mitt Romney not too long ago. It was reported on public record that she accepted money from Norman Hsu. She said she sent the money back but who knows?
Caroline? I don’t care. I’m disgusted about Minnesota. Norm Coleman was one of the very finest. I remember when Al Franken boiled live cockroaches to death on Saturday Night Live. I’d rather vote for Bill Murray.
Just joking.
VDH is spot on, once again.
Princess Caroline inheriting an unearned senate seat is an insult to our Constitution and a national disgrace.
Leaving the House of Lords Obama and Hillary
leave a void to be filled by corruption and
a royal blood line . Illinois is pay to play
while in New York name is the game .
_____________________________________________
Caroline Kennedy is : PRO ABORTION , PRO GAY
MARRIAGE , ANTI GUN , ANTI 1st AMENDMENT ,
and ANTI 2nd AMENDMENT .
Imagine George Washington, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, or Alexander Hamilton learning that future generations of Americans preferring style over substance where politics (and so much else) is concerned. Something is terribly wrong with our education system, our moral values, and our political system when people of character and accomplishment are ignored in favor of birthright or celebrity or inherited wealth.
Every time I hear Caroline’s name associated with the senate seat, it reminds me of that old Father Phleger video where he mocked Hillary Clinton and said “But, I’m white. I’m entitled!” Change that to, “But, I’m a Kennedy. I’m entitled!” At least Hillary ran for office, though, and let the voters decide.
But, another thing that bugs me about Caroline is her whole demeanor. Quiet, kind of timid; a thin, emotionless voice. She looks frightened around crowds. Yawn. Can you imagine her on the campaign trail? Someone needs to inject her with the spunk/energy of her cousin, Maria, pronto. Even if she does make to the Senate this time, I doubt New Yorkers would vote her back in two years from now.
Paterson should just appoint himself to the Senate, if that’s possible. With Obama gone, there’s no other black male there. The Senate needs some racial diversity.
She’s very uninspiring and underwhelming so far.
Quasar: After Onassis, she latched on to a married millionaire for a sugar daddy.
Was there really a Camelot, or was this another MSM invention?
The letters to the editor following her recent visit to Syracuse were uniformly unfavorable. Had she a different last name, this would be treated as the bad joke that it is.
I loathe Andrew Cuomo’s politics and personality, but would greatly prefer that he get the appointment. At least he has done something.
Is it really news to anyone here that – at the core – the Left believes in an aristocratic system of govt, whereby the blood lines of old have been replaced by a different pedigree – namely, the prerequisite “enlightened” views that are preferably coupled with an Ivy League education to provide the appearance of intellectual heft?
Leftist thought – in all it’s myriad forms – has always professed the desire only to “help” the “common man”; however, in reality, the ideology is simply another manifestation of the all-too-human drive to dominate…it’s just that the Religious justification of the past (“It’s God will!”) has been replaced with the justification of Reason (“For the betterment of humanity!”).
But whether the “rulers” are the Moralists of the Right or the Idealists of the Left, evenutally the end result is always the same when you’re talking about ideological movements – an “enlightened” elite who are obligated by their superior station/morality/intellect to serve as the oh-so benevolent guardians of the rest of humanity. The problems arise when things don’t turn out as planned…the fault never lies with the ideology…it’s always the fault of villanous human beings who work to undermine and destroy the Utopia the ideologues are trying to bring about. In past power structures, it was “witches” and “traitors”…now, it’s “conservatives” and “Christians”.
Formwiz,
There is a difference between Hillary and Caroline. Hillary at least had an ordinary childhood and in college was one of many. Until her husband became president, she was fairly anonymous.
Caroline has been insulated and isolated her entire life. It was impossible for her ever to have a relationship (I don’t mean romantic) without the other person being aware of her pedigree. She was always Camelot’s princess. As a senator, she will have to be one of a hundred. It is not likely that long term pols with roots in wards and precincts are likely to defer to her, especially when they have to answer to an electorate or at least the party machine back home. She has grown up and lived in a world of noblesse oblige, but there are a lot of Americans who don’t recognize the nobilty nor do they want to be beholden to them. It’s one thing to have such people as ornaments on the mantel; it’s quite another to have to do business with them.
“In short, appointing Caroline Kennedy to the Senate from New York tells us a lot more about ourselves than it does even her.”
Summed up in 1 word, ‘stupid’.
My guess is the democrats needed to fill in their empty suit spot, and for that she is extremely qualified.
Maybe ‘morons’ is a better summation.
8. Ron Kean:
Caroline? I don’t care. I’m disgusted about Minnesota. Norm Coleman was one of the very finest. I remember when Al Franken boiled live cockroaches to death on Saturday Night Live. I’d rather vote for Bill Murray.
Just joking.
Dec 22, 2008 – 6:46 am
When it was pointed out that Sweet Caroline was written for her, I immediately thought of Will Ferrell’s Neal Diamond Storyteller’s skit.
“This next song, I wrote after I killed a drifter to get an erection.”
Redheadedtexan:I asked the question in jest. I knew it was Ari.As tragic as it was to lose her first husband the way she did, the Ari thing totally turned me off to the whole “Camelot” thing. BTW, maybe we can add to our lexicon another Kenned-esque term- chickaquitit or something along those lines.
Gov Paterson is like a legal Rod Blago – his only concern about who gets appointed to the Senate seat is who can raise the most money for his re-election. Hence Caroline Kennedy.
Nobody pretends that Caroline Kennedy is actually the best person to represent the interests of the people of New York – just the best person to help Gov. Paterson get re-elected. Caroline Kennedy’s only real qualification, by everyone’s agreement, is her fund-raising.
Watching this Kennedy lady trot out for the Senate seat is like watching an over the hill baseball player getting to play because of his past achievements. Its just sad. Go away with your head held high and dont try to hold on to what is not there any longer.
If you look deeper though, her appointment is the perfect fit. Get a job with no acheivement based on your name or race. JFK, whose own dishonesty and corruption was washed away when he died, has to see his memory hold up the entire failings of a family built on a name that really is no different then the modern day Clintons and Obamas. Corruption and favor without achievement leads to power. If you feel your legacy slipping, use your name to get donations or marry into money.
Welcome aboard Caroline. You carry your family legacy perfectly. We should not expect any different.
Sad, and perhaps bittersweet to those of us who remember JFK, RFK and MLK. Men who were bigger than life, who left their marks on history. Caroline is like an echo from the past, who if she is appointed to the Senate, would fill the seat likely destined for her ill-fated brother. Ultimately, it will be for the people of New York to decide her worthiness for office when she finally stands for election. If she is a good senator, then the people will be rewarded. If not, then they will have gotten the government they deserve.
Ginnie Fizzie:
“This next song, I wrote after I killed a drifter to get an erection.”
That statement is almost certainly a play on a Jim Morrison myth, the “story” behind “Riders on the Storm”. Like that other mythic figure from the 60′s, JFK, Morrison certainly knew how to con an audience, for ever it seems. Celebrities play by different rules, which is why celebrity status should not be accorded to politicians, and should never be accepted as a rationale for gaining political office.
New Yorkers deserve better than a debutant socialite! While well eductated, she does not have the political savvy or knowledge of the issues facing New York to assume the role of US Senator. We need someone that is politically strong – Ms. Kennedy is not entitled because of her name/legacy. Her appointment would fly in the face of every New Yorker and be a travesty!
DT #2 – thanks for the book recommendation.
John Kennedy had his flaws–personal life womanizing covered up by the media. However, when it came to defending the country he wore the uniform and knew which end of the gun the bullet leaves from.
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He was seen as weak by Kruschev–but did the best he could with the situation he found himself in.
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Most of the other Kennedy family members are weak and confused in their thinking.
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Camelot never existed–it was like the O’Bummer adulation by the MSM. And Caroline Kennedy is another inexperienced liberal hack looking for her place in the sun–at our expense.
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Appoint Condi Rice instead–a “twofer”–a person with a real track record of accomplishments and a good heart. Also–did I mention that she is Black? This will never happen–the skilled need not apply.
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Rocketman
Sad to say, but I think that there’s no indication the Republican party would do much differently. While they might nominate someone with whom more of us could relate, the end results would be the same – financial profligacy and a complete abdication of personal responsibility. Elections and nominations like these do indeed tell us a lot about ourselves, as do charts of our household and corporate debt growth and the demographics of our prison population. We don’t want to earn what we get, whether that’s government services, a new car or sex and children.
When the Republicans base their platforms on St. Thomas Aquinas and Dave Ramsey, let me know.
Isn’t this all about dynasties, the War of the Roses, aka War of the Kennedys vs the Clintons? As in, can Kennedys move into striking distance of White House after Obama (for Hillary or for Chelsea at some stage). Remember Kennedys have kept seats in Congress warm for themselves previously.And lots more Kennedys available in the future than Clintons, and maybe even Bushes.
Its New York, what do you expect? They elected as their Senator a woman from Chicago, who lived most of her adult life in Arkansaa and in Washington DC, and had no connections to their state. They even re-elected her after she “promised” not to run for the Presidency.
At least you say Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg is “from” New York.
Just wanted to give kudos to rvastar for making the points about the elitist – and often aristocratic – Left. I too have been tired of the whole “common man” thing, which is as phony as it gets. No one annoyed me more than John Edwards with his “two Americas” baloney (and this was long before we heard about his other problem). These people live in a bubble, and they know the MSM will fawn all over them if they talk about standing up for the “little guy” (hence, Joe Biden’s appeal to Obama and the MSM). As everyone knows, none of the Democrat elite send their own kids to public schools – ever. Yet they love to pretend they’re interested in the “education” of our poor inner cities (and the inner-city people buy it of course). The Democrat political class doesn’t have to actually demonstrate their loyalty and commitment (as involved parents) in the public school system, they merely have to rant about how much they “care” about it. And the people and the MSM give them a pass, election after election. An interesting point that probably not a lot of people are aware of, but back in 2000 when Bush was running against Gore, it came out that Bush’s daughters went to public schools, whereas Gore’s kids (of course) went to private schools. The same is true of Obama’s kids, naturally. I mean, these caring, liberal parents just want the best education for their children, right? Who wouldn’t? So instead, just play the elitist, liberal game, send your kids to all the fancy private schools (even religious schools), but in public, always be sure to repeat common liberal mantras like “we need to treat teachers like the professionals they really are” (and other such blather). I guess these teachers are “professional” as long they’re teaching someone else’s kids, not their own. But no surprise there. Another pet peeve I have with Democrats is their phony “party of race” dogma. The Democrats are not the party of race, they were the party of Southern slavery, the party of Jim Crow and segregation, the party of Dixiecrats, and once the Democrats gradually lost political control of the South, the Northern Democrats became the party of White liberal guilt. Not guilt over their party’s shameful past (which they should be), but instead guilt for just being White and American. Anyway, I just needed to get that off my chest.
Caroline Kennedy’s attempt to be appointed to Hillary’s Senate seat is nothing but a crass power grab. If it has to be a celebrity with little or no experience, I’d prefer Fran Drescher; at least Ms. Drescher has some real-life experiences (violent crime victim & cancer survivor) on which she could formulate policy.
I absolutely cannot understand the country’s fascination (although I do understand the media’s) with the Kennedy family as Joe Kennedy made much of his money in gambling, prohibition liquor, prostitution, and association(s) with organized crime. Most of the Kennedy family are flat-out crooks. The Mary Jo Kepechne incident, William Kennedy’s rape incident at the Florida compound and the DWI arrest of Patrick Kennedy should have tipped off the good people of this country that the Kennedys are sleazebags & do nothing but attempt to enrich themselves at the taxpayer trough. Teddy Kennedy is living proof that one can go through life fat, drunk & stupid, PROVIDED you con America and you’ve got a brand name on which you can capitalize.
Dan from St. Charles: great comments, dead on. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I recall how long ago armies of the poor and ignorant would faithfully follow into battle the finger bone or somesuch relic of a dead saint….believing it to have protective power and assurance of God’s approval. Perhaps that is Caroline’s role? Being a revered finger bone. Not even the Dem hardcore can seriously believe this aging deb and do-gooder socialite is worthy of representing millions of struggling people.
She is a relic and standard bearer for glories that, Tolkien-like, will rise up from the past and help carry us to….well, all that Hope&Change perfection stuff.
Makes me want to puke.
Desperately seeking Caroline? Only a geneticist, with an interest in the virulent effects of inbreeding and liberalism, could give a damn about that coddled,unqualified,upper class twit!
Sure this appointment is corrupt. You know it. Our aristocratic masters know it. They know you know they know it. And they don’t care.
Congressional districts are gerrymandered, election law is rigged, criticizing your congressman before an election is a crime. Federal office amounts to a lifetime appointment to the aristocracy. Government works for those who govern. Go ahead and gripe. No one cares.
The only saving grace we might enjoy if Princess Caroline is appointed to the House Of Lords is that she has yet to be found wanting in integrity or common sense. (Resembling the legendary pure lotus that somehow grew in the Chicago political cesspool untainted, aka our Dear Leader.) I’ll give her a pass for being enthralled by The One, she has plenty of company with people who should know better. So, when the inevitable stench of corruption begins to flow from the White House (he can’t help it, look at his political roots and mentors), will Caroline be one who speaks truth to power? Let me be generous and say the odds are 50/50. Likely better odds than anyone else in the NY Democratic swamp, I mean, pool of favored candidates.
Oh absolutely they should “give” the senate seat to Caroline Kennedy. The utter hypocrisy and shamelessness of doing so is just too good to pass up. I like knowing what all the Kennedys are up too—-let’s see their hands at all times. After all, as a senator, there are rules she has to follow …
Yes, the country is in the throes of bacchic excess, and the sober and restrained are about to suffer the fate of Pentheus. Oimoi, that it has come to this.
If you harpies will remember correctly, Jackie O married Onassis after both her husband and her brother-in-law had had their brains blasted out, one literally in her lap. (Not to mention MLK, too.) She had every reason to believe at that point in time that she and her children might be next on the hit parade.
Onassis was one of the very few people on the planet who could buy her her own island *and* the security to make sure the Lee Harvey Oswald’s of the world couldn’t get at her and her children.
Given the state of paranoia, terror, and shock she must have still been in when she married Onassis, I have always felt she should be given the benefit of the doubt for having hooked up with such a scaley lizardoid.
Sara Palin still can’t get a break. There’s a real woman for you.
There is more alike in the Goddess Palin worship and the Princess Caroline worship than the Right currently cares to admit. Both Madonna Icons – as Madonna is seen not by Catholics, but by Right Wing Fundies and by Atheist-Jew-lapsed Catholic Lefties.
The instant emotional bond, the adulation of the crowds as they both recite like trained parrots their talking points, and supporters not caring how little they know…because the supporters ferverently believe they are “right in their heart”.
One’s a Wasilla hillbilly with a journalism degree cobbled up from 5 diferrent schools. With 1 1/2 years in high office but with several minor elections and a decade of having to answer to voters..The other is old money, with scholastic accomplishment in Ivy undergrad and law degrees but not much else except 45 years connubulating in the homes, boards, and parties of the Ruling Elite.
Two female Madonnas, two media-made Goddesses with devoted worshippers and devoted detractors to their Cults.
John Bibb – Appoint Condi Rice instead–a “twofer”–a person with a real track record of accomplishments and a good heart. Also–did I mention that she is Black? This will never happen–the skilled need not apply.
Aside from the small matters of Condi Rice making bad decisions and existing for 8 years with her head planted right up George Bush’s butt – making her politically radioactive the rest of her life.. There is the additional small matter of no Governor ever appointing a rival from the opposite Party to a Senate seat.
Fret not, fans of the Virginal Condi Goddess/Madonna….she will have a lucrative career track just like Madilyn Albright. Senior statesman wonk, prestigious think tank gigs, a book or two…50-100K speaker fees from wealthy backers to address groups from young Jewish or black female professionals. And the big money is for “senior statesmen” to whore themselves out to corporate sorts needing to hire “DC inside clout” for their overseas ventures. Or whore to wealthy Jews, Saudis, Indians, Chinese, Mexican billionaires…to represent their interests in steering US policy. Kissinger wrote the book on it…and all who pass through State follow…
My senator Claire McCaskill did something disgusting to a microphone before she handed it to Mitt Romney not too long ago.
No, that was a joke, based on greenroom banter prior to both going on camera on great ways to sabotage a rival. Romney played along, saying afterwards – “The microphone? You should see what Claire did to the seat!”
The appointment of Caroline Kennedy to the Senate (or to any position of government for that matter) might be the first step towards duplication of events in France in 1789. And, frankly, I find those prospects increasingly attractive. The arrogance and self service (to say nothing of the basic criminality) of our own ruling class has reached sufficient heights to justify such events. We need only our own Jacobins and a Robespierre. They say more than 16,500 perished under the guillotine from 1789-1799. 535 + 100 in Washington DC would be a good start; and I am sure we could find an additional 15,900 on Wall Street, in State government, and within the bureaucracy. Let me know when enough of you are fed up; I’ll join with alacrity.
Well, that’s fine, Nahncee, I don’t care about that.
I think that Caroline thinks that that senate seat will be a really easy job. All you have to do is occasionally show up at the office, and just vote the straight party line. What could be easier?
We upstaters will put her through the mill.
Both parties, but mostly Democrats, need to remember that in-breeding makes for birth defects, and that’s where we are now with our political class. Re-introducing the same stinking people into these positions has left us with a two-headed, three-eyed troll for government. We need to flush the toilet and bring in a fresh bowl in Washington.
God have mercy on us…
“Caroline is about as undiverse as you can get.” Boy, you said it. I guess she figures if someone as inexperienced and unaccomplished as Obama can become President, then she has every right to be Senator. The lowering of our standards is the most disturbing trend to appear in the modern era. People don’t even know what it takes to govern effectively. It truly has become pay-to-play throughout our entire political system. Can we start over?
The problem with pointing out that libs are shameless in their machinations and self-promotion is that, since they are shameless, bringing that into full sunlight accomplishes precisely nothing. Unbelievable.
Agree with other posters above–there WAS no “Camelot” w/re to the Kennedys. The ONLY time that phrase EVER was used (at the time things were happening) was AFTER JFK was killed. “Camelot” was never “now”. It was a dream that never happened that apparently the dems are never going to shut up about.
Actually, I see very little similarity.
The average, work-a-day Democrat could care less about Caroline Kennedy. The people tying themselves into knots trying to pontificate her into office are the usual Leftists suspects – political elites and the “intellectual” class…the exact opposite of the people with whom Sarah Palin connects. People connect with Palin for two simple reasons: identification and authenticity. And neither, IMO, is due to some cult-of-personality over her. I believe the reaction amongst conservatives would be the same for any charismatic, common sense American that speaks – authentically – to those who value true personal freedom and personal responsibility.
An example: while I liked the cut of Palin’s jib from the start, she really sold herself to me in the debate with Biden on the topic of the economic collapse. She opened with the boilerplate, McCain/Republican babble about “Wall St.” but then she said something that just about knocked me out of my seat:
Isn’t a shame that we live in times where a politician having the guts to say something like that seems shocking?
That is what so many people love about Sarah Palin. And those same people would gladly extend that love to any Republican politician who articulates – and truly believes – the same common sense wisdom.
Saying that those who “love” Palin are no different from those who “love” the Kennedys is insulting to say the least. Because it stipulates that there is no difference in intellectual heft between those who are moved by words such as those that I quote above and those who voted for “Hope” and “Change”.
When did she become Caroline Kennedy again? Last I knew, she was a Schlossberg. Suddenly, she’s just Caroline Kennedy. Invoking the name when it’s convenient, ditching it when it’s not – yeah, I can understand how she would fit into Hillary’s shoes – she did the same thing with the Rodham name. I’m from upstate NY and thoroughly disgusted. NYC runs this state.
One gets the sense that Caroline Kennedy has the desire of those born to the manor to serve as an expression of nobility.The problem here is that this Country is premised on the principle that leadership is elected and not appointed or anointed.That being said,I believe that she will be handed the seat and that when she does run she will win her own term.New Yorkers are highly uncritical of the famous and trendy and I say that as a NY native.
Now I understand why the Arkansas Republican primary held the Senate nomination available for Gov. Huckabee only to have him say essentially, “Senator Prior can keep his seat.” Fact is, the Senate is fast becoming the House of Lords, and it’s full of idiots. Regular folks would go nuts trying to work there.
NY will not be out Tammanied by Peoria. They just appoint the one that can afford to pay for it. No bad press.
Why is it so shocking she might have an interest in politics? I mean we think it perfectly normal for a father to want his son to follow his sports team without any regard for whether the child shares that goal etc. Whereas if the daughter of a politician grows up and wants to follow a political line we mock her and how does anyone know what her political involvement behind the scenes has been. For all we know she might be that person who cuts the deal on all sorts of issues but stays out of the limelight. There are thousands of people in political parties the world over who are the ones who do the real politics but for whatever reason don’t seek to claim the credit. Well maybe now she feels she has been given an opportunity to move it up a gear.
Anyhow, given how most politicians turn out the same no matter what party they are in does it realy make any difference if the new Senator is a Kennedy – who some feel hasn’t earned the break – or someone else like a Sarah Palin type or whoever they think has – will either actually be any different to all the others who went before them.
They’ll do the job as it suits the interests of those who bankroll them.
Until campaign finance is completely and utterly transformed – even to the point of the state paying for politics and removing the need to raise funds and sell your soul to some lobby group then whether it is Caroline Kennedy or Joe the Plumber as NY Senator doesn’t matter a jot.
What everyone’s sensing is that this situation is symptomatic of so many problems. It surfaced for me earlier with the, of course, much lower profile nomination of Arne Duncan for Sec. of Education. I had to laugh at the media’s wording: “no formal teaching experience.” What that means basically is that hardly anyone who pronounces on public education –from top of the federal bureaucracy, through the most liberal faculty (e.g., Harvard),to the most conservative think tank (e.g., Manhattan)– has ever stood in front of a public school classroom. Does that mean they aren’t entitled to an opinion? Of course not. Doesn’t it mean though that a whole realm of subtle but important information is denied to them? And doesn’t this same lack of hard and real experience infect so much of our leadership? And isn’t that why we can ill afford much more of it… at any level?
Some guys are empty suits; she’s an empty Oscar de la Renta. But, what the hell, New York deserves her.
rvastar – That is what so many people love about Sarah Palin. And those same people would gladly extend that love to any Republican politician who articulates – and truly believes – the same common sense wisdom.
Saying that those who “love” Palin are no different from those who “love” the Kennedys is insulting to say the least. Because it stipulates that there is no difference in intellectual heft between those who are moved by words such as those that I quote above and those who voted for “Hope” and “Change”.
Hah!
Of course it it the same stuff.
People defending the Goddess Caroline lead with the first step of Goddesshood. She is such a Good Mother and has done such a wonderful job raising them.
And follow that right on with how authentic Princess Caroline is – as just another average workin’ mom with the same concerns and same basic wisdom that everyday folks who need a wise Mummy cherish so. Caroline’s “Common sense wisdom” came from her Goddess Mom, who Caroline actually wrote a book about – extolling Jackie’s common sense wisdom and Jackie’s urge for America to get back to basic values. (hint for future revenue for Goddess Palin children. Write the book).
With the Goddess basics dispensed with – fertility, good Mom, down home folksy wisdom…Godesses Palin and Caroline can get down to their real purpose in Western Mythos.
Dispensing Goddess absolution.
Rvastar is thrilled that the Goddess Palin has declared that America’s economic collapse is not the American public’s fault…as they all steered clear of ChinaMart and movin’ out of the Alaskan single-wide to triplewide with no money down.. No sirsee! Cause hockey Moms and Manhattan Moms know best, and they forgive us all. Caroline forgave America’s assassination sins…Cherished absolution. Goddess Sarah forgave Republican free markets greed…Whatta Goddess!
As for “intellectual heft” – Goddesses have little. Their Cults love them not for their medium-level brains but because they live the Mommy Madonna role and “they are right in their heart”.
Sorry about that, cedar. I see now that your interest is in being “clever”.
My apologies. Please continue.
Looks like Cedarford forgot to connect everything with the Jews and/or the ZOG. I think he’s slipping…
Oh, my mistake. Plenty of Jew-mentions in #42. Ah stand corrected!
Des Fitz: haven’t you read Wilfred Desan’s The Planetary Man? Never follow in the profession of one’s father!
Yeah post #55 New York definitely deserves her just like they deserved Hillary. Her father, JFK, ruled over camelot back in the early 60′s but did you know a king now sits on the throne in New York? No it’s not Mayor Bloomberg but Sheldon Silver. He has more power than the mayor and governor put together and like true royalty he’s guaranteed a seat until he dies because he’ll never lose an election.
Quantum physics and government are alike. The deeper one looks the more one finds there’s nothing really there.
OK, NahnCee, explain away her almost 20 years of banging Maurice Tempelsman, who who left his wife, Lilly (who he has never divorced), for the Widow Onasis.
Silly person, of course there was a Camelot, even a stage play about it and of course, later the Monty Python movie too. BTW: I then thought JFK was a terrible president but then one day in late November, all that was washed away in the terror of that day in Dallas.
Still, Caroline is just a princess looking for her civic duty and looking less than royal in her search and more like a miserable Scrooge wasting a fortune on taxis!
I’m listening to the news and I hear “She’s got the name but does she …” which really pissed me off. I actually think that being from a political family is a disqualifying attribute. Shows that you have a history of living off the government.
… and yes they do gain benefits from being politicians. Helps them maintain their wealth, or gain it. Where exactly did Clinton and Obama get their millions? Public service?
caroline’s a classic liberal- she thinks she’s entitled to the senate seat because, well, she WANTS it and she’s a superior person, so it’s the correct choice, and anyone who can’t SEE that is just an uneducated rube…
Will no one rid us of these meddlesome Kennedys? And to be fair, the Bushes and Clintons as well.
Dr. Hanson —
You don’t get it. You don’t understand today’s America, or Charles Gibson, or Katie Couric, and why Caroline Kennedy will be appointed.
You are with all due respect, too old, and a man.
Women, and in particular younger, and single women, LOVE THIS STUFF. Status, power, birthrights, aristocracy, bloodlines, and all that are catnip for women. It’s one giant “Da Vinci Code” and the dream of every woman to be a Disney Princess, through Caroline Kennedy.
Women would react in HORROR to the idea of being Sarah Palin, working class, and sounding like it, with five difficult kids, including a pregnant teen ager and a Down’s syndrome baby. Even worse is her husband, blue collar and not ashamed of it, far too masculine and not at all a dominating, rich prince providing a palace.
We are a nation profoundly oriented towards the social, political, cultural, and economic concerns of single women. “Fabulous” shoes, “Sex and the City” (beloved btw of Junior High girls in the reruns on TBS) and … Caroline Kennedy.
Gibson and Couric cater to a female audience. When they eviscerate Palin, they fulfill their female audience’s wildest dreams, just as Tina Fey does. When they kowtow to “America’s Fairy Princess” they are only doing what the star-struck female audience wants.
Women LOVE aristocracies, glittering gowns, fairy tale princes and princesses, and a hereditary, hierarchical system. No one loves it more than Single women. One need only be pretty, after all, to enter into THAT world. This is something few men can get, and almost no older man really understands it.
Dr. Hanson, you are as Dalyrmple said, from a foreign country … the past. They did things differently there. The young women you knew in your youth are vastly different from the young women of today. Much less the cultural attitudes you picked up from your parents and grandparents (of which you’ve written movingly). You might as well be from Burkino Faso, or Chad, in your ability to understand how radically different women are today, and how much they drive American commerce, social discourse, politics, culture, entertainment, and media.
Yes Caroline is an entitled Princess. That’s THE WHOLE POINT. She’s every girl’s Disney Dream come to life. [The way Arnold Schwarzenneger was an 80's Action movie come to life.] She does not have to actually do anything, other than be a Princess.
Women just LOVE that stuff.
But when it comes to Ms. Kennedy, her liberal lineage and assumed charisma weirdly nullified the same tired media charges of entitlement that have been customarily leveled against almost every affluent, well-connected Republican politician from Mitt Romney to George Bush.
Quiz (without looking): what was the verb?
My answer: knee deep in modifiers.
Caroline in the Senate will no doubt lead Uncle Ted to make one of his stirring speeches about how “the dream will never die”.
What dream, you ask? The dream of government of the Kennedys, by the Kennedys, and for the Kennedys.
“He was seen as weak by Kruschev–but did the best he could with the situation he found himself in.”
Sorry John Bibb, but he didn’t find himself in that situation, he put himself in it…along with the rest of us.
From the Belmont Club –
“Many Americans think the Kennedys deserve more because of their service.” You mean besides immunity from prosecution?
‘America’s royalty’ has been given preferential treatment since the Kennedy clan nurtured (and bought) JFK’s rise to power. No matter how corrupt they are, some people just can’t seem to get past the family history of charisma. The pedastal needs to be kicked out from under the remaining members. They’ve been conning the gullible long enough.
Chris G. Kennedy works at Ariel Investments in Chicago. He is on the short list to take Obama’s senate seat in Illinois. Two down and 48 states to go. What goes around comes around.
I’d rather have another Kennedy in the Senate instead of another Bush in the White House.
Smee started off the comments with: “Double standards are double the pleasure and double the fun for the left. I’m sick of them, personally.”
Doublethink and Double Standards are Doubleplusgood!
Ever notice that it’s the liberals who whine, rant, and constantly stoke the fires of wealth envy who are also the ones who seem to want desperately to create a hereditary monarchy in this country of rich, entitled elitists? Seems to me we fought a war to rid ourselves of things like the House of Lords.
My budgie is better qualified to be a senator than she is. I fail to understand the fascination and deification of the Kennedy clan. I’d still rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than driving with Ted Kennedy.
rvastar: your analysis is spot on in post #48, but cedarford cannot admit that. But that’s okay, no worries. Regardless of the size of the crowds and the adulation that Palin received during the campaign, the mere fact that she’s a self-made woman, with no patrician family upbringing, no ivy league elitism, a working class background, no political connections to achieve her high office, just hard work and guts, should be enough to disqualify ANY comparison whatsoever between Palin and Caroline Kennedy. Seems like common sense to me, but common sense is not always as common as we assume it to be.
“” …. the Senate run of comedian Al Franken …. “”
Shouldn’t that, at least until he is convicted, read “alleged ‘comedian,’” Al(Fredo) Franken?(Stein)
Except for a bit of a twist to the lip aroused by his twenty years ago infantile reciting on SNL of the asinine line, “‘The crows are calling my name,’ said Caw,” I’ve never been any more amused by the man than I’ve been by such of his psychopathologically ideological idiot savant cookie cutter cloned cohorts as Bill Maher, Chris Mathews, Chevvy chase, John Lieberwitz, Keith Olbermann and Sandra Bernhard. And know no-one who ever has.
As for Missus Schlossberg, now that The Swimmer is about to swap the drunk tank for the septic tank, who else among them can stay sober for enough hours in any given month to take care of that obscenely war-profiteering organized crime family’s interests as the largest single shareholder in the military-industrial complex about which (with that gang in mind) then president, Mr Eisenhower, so long ago, warned us all?
Brian Richard Allen
Los Angeles – CalifUBAMAcated 90028 — & the Far Abroad
Oh, Goody, Goody!
Little Caroline is going to be a Senator! Now, is that a step up or down from being a Princess?
John-John wasn’t available because he broke his foot or something.
Also not available is Caroline’s late pony, Macaroni. That wouldn’t have worked out either, because it would have meant appointing the whole horse, rather than just the back end of one.
I believe that Paris Hilton would be a better choice overall, – certainly better connected with the little people, – and not at all unfamiliar with community service.
I thought you fought a war with us over this kind of thing?…we have the wonderful Queen Elizabeth II…you get a kennedy…I guess we won afterall.
I am no Democrat but aside from appointing geraldine ferrao, it might make sense to appoint someone who seems decent and isn’t a hardened pol.
I mean I’d like to see someone with experience etc too, but NY might be betetr off with some decent person that hasn’t absorbed all that D.C has to offer.
The neo-entitlement-regime awaits her…
FYI
Camelot was John F. Kennedy’s favorite Broadway musical written by Lerner and Loewe. The lyrics to the song, ‘Camelot’ is as follows:
KING ARTHUR SINGS
It’s true! It’s true! The crown has made it clear.
The climate must be perfect all the year.
A law was made a distant moon ago here:
July and August cannot be too hot.
And there’s a legal limit to the snow here
In Camelot.
The winter is forbidden till December
And exits March the second on the dot.
By order, summer lingers through September
In Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
I know it sounds a bit bizarre,
But in Camelot, Camelot
That’s how conditions are.
The rain may never fall till after sundown.
By eight, the morning fog must disappear.
In short, there’s simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
I know it gives a person pause,
But in Camelot, Camelot
Those are the legal laws.
The snow may never slush upon the hillside.
By nine p.m. the moonlight must appear.
In short, there’s simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot.
The USA just elected as president someone with probably less qualifications if you scale them upwards than her, based mostly on charisma and ideology. This surprises you?
VDH, the whole thing is rigged. When was the last time you saw a construction worker or a former postman run for senator? It’s all about the moneyed class, or the political class. This is just the ultimate extension of it.
66: Not all women by a long shot. Knock off the generalizations. Maybe the women you know. But not me. Not my sister. Not my friends. Not my granddaughters.
I DO NOT know a single woman who is impressed with (or interested in) this crap. Every sentence in your post that begins with the subject of “women” is inherently UNTRUE.
thud: I like Queen Elizabeth II – but her son is rather an idiot, isn’t he? Any way you people can skip a generation, pass on Charles and go straight to King William?
President Caroline Kennedy. Don’t those words roll tripingly off of the tongue? In 2012 she could have almost as much experience as Barack Obama does now. In 2016 she would have as much as Hillary Clinton does now. Shouldn’t the first affirmative action President be followed by the first princess President?
America, turn out the lights, the party’s over.
Witnessing Caroline Kennedy kowtowing to media-savvy hate criminal Al Sharpton was a disturbing indication of things to come. No Bayard Rustin moment there.
thud
Only if you consider the twit-brained heir apparent and his dog-faced second wife to be worthy successors to Elizabeth II. Queen Camilla is going to be a hoot!
“”"”"”Any way you people can skip a generation, pass on Charles and go straight to King William?”"”"”"”
Yes, Chuck could abdicate the way his great uncle Edward the Duke of Windsor did.
I’m looking at the declining standards for being named a Senator, too. I’m also looking at how the time actually served is shrinking: Obama served just half a term, Clinton will apparently not serve out her term, and so forth.
Which leads to the obvious conclusion:
In the future, everyone will be a Senator for fifteen minutes.
Please don’t forget that Andrew Cuomo is an ex-Kennedy-in-law. He was married for 13 years to Kerry Kennedy, RFK’s daughter, and they have three children. What we have here is a dynastic struggle over which branch of the family succeeds Uncle Ted as the leader of the Kennedy clan. Its the children of John and Ted and their sisters (Shrivers, Smiths, and Lawfords) versus those of Robert. Very much like the 14th century struggle over the French throne.
400 million smackers!! My lost-his-job neighbor was in tears a few nights ago because he and his wife couldn’t do much for their kids at Christmas.
What indescribable noblesse oblige of The Princess to engage these Hard Times by playing at senator! Hopefully, our little rich girl won’t soon grow weary of it all and decide to save the mollusks, or work amongst the lost newsboys, or something or other.
Sarah Palin is an idiot.
If CKS doesn’t make it in New York soon will she have time to carpetbag it to Massachusetts and try for Uncle TFK’s seat once he’s gone?
Respectful Correction: Disney princesses know how to dress.
>^,,^<
yo, Whiskey, while you do make a valid point about women being a demographic prized by pols, pollsters and business, your needless overkill in hammering VDH amounts to near-hysteria.
take a pill and chill, dude. VDH does represent the old-school, and thank god for that.
but by your reasoning, he shouldn’t even be voicing his (highly valued and valid) opinion.
Your rant was boring, sexist and insipid.
Get over yourself—sooner rather than later, please.
VDH has correctly, I think, identified the dynamics at play here. As usual. Again.
And thank God for him.
I recall a sketch on Saturday Night Live, in which the Earl of Sandwich and the Earl of Douchebag met at a party. The Earl of Sandwich said that he had made an invention and that he was going to name it after himself. The Earl of Douchebag remarked on the coincidence, as he was working on invention as well. I forget the rest of the hilarious dialogue, but I do remember the curtain line. The Earl of Sandwich said to his friend, “There will always be a Douchebag in Parliament!”
As there will always be a Douchebag in Parliament, there will always be a Kennedy in the Senate.
As usual Whiskey’s wrong, Paterson’s getting all sorts of grief for even suggesting Caroline. Hanson, a classicist and a farmer, really sees the big picture here. To revert to the “Divine right of Kings” which is what the Caroline appointment would be, is backtracking to what America escaped from.
That doesn’t mean if she actually ran in a open primary special election, she shouldn’t win. Mind you the difference between the President elect and Caroline is just a matter of degrees; so by that standard. Since she’s got the protocol down, and her grandfather already had the post; a posting
to the Court of St. James might be more up her ally. This what sadly happens inrepublics
in late ennui; They become dominated not by Pericles or Solon, but Cleon and Alcibiades they become the oligarchic council of 400 that sentenced Socrates to death, or the warlords that composed the triumvirates and juntas of the post Jugurthan War period. One hopes there is more vitality in the system for self made reformers and crusaders like dare I say it, Governor Sarah Palin, not legacies or machine politicians.
Essential vdh
While we all like to think for ourselves and think that we do think for ourselves. For the left wing “victims” the media does most of the thinking by “warping” the “story” so that it points in a desired direction.
Facts are no longer facts but echoes of some need for the justification of an entitlement. Of course from the sweat of someone Else’s brow.
With journalists of the MSM that correspond to the left wing elements in the US, it is not so much thinking but constructing a play that interprets the facts to achieve the outcome.
A Camelot/Kennedy story simply picks up a track to run on that has already proved a success in the US. No risk here just a proven template of a story covering up the key facts that would allow the correct decision on representation of citizens in a democratic republic.
Now most journalism as practiced in the US is story telling of one sort or another.
A Left wing journalist is not content to state facts. They must parade their ignorance with analysis or interpretations that support their own views.
Left wing journalists have a sense of elitism that can’t let them simply state the facts in order and context.
They want to “lead” you with a story that only “they” can do–no matter how the material needs to be twisted and turned and edited.
All left wing journalists “know” where they want to go with a set of facts set into a story before they even start writing.
Most journalists on the left are incompetent story tellers but forever want to tell a story that shows their “value” to mankind.
Left wing journalists are “city folk” wanting to lead through a “swamp” trying to convince everyone they know the way and have no understanding of the swamp.
However as a conservative, It takes a strong and probing intellect to be a true conservative and know with certainty that your values are the only means and methods that will work in the end.
Conservative thinking is not an easy road for the justification of individual responsibility and it will not be easily reduced to simplistic reductions. In comparison it is relatively easy to have a knee jerk left wing “attitude”. To create envy, greed and hate among groups. To create a sense of victims.
Over a thousand five hundred years of western culture and its writings provide the foundation needed to support a western conservative approach to government. Govt. underwritten by individual responsibility of the citizen. A limited government.
With in the Ivy Halls of “elite” education institutions they are no longer concerned with building or maintaining a country–but with “leading” it.
There is a problem with the above idea. For the most part no such leadership exists in most Ivy League institutions.
Leadership as a responsibility, is in reality not well understood nor is it now a requirement in a society defined as “belonging to groups–essentially allowing the individual to disappear” along with his individual responsibility.
Leadership and individual responsibility has been marginalized and manifests itself now especially within the “elite institutions, as a sense of entitlement. A sense of position. A mantle or cloak providing an obligation of telling other lesser people what they should think about these things called facts. Of telling other people what they need to give to be good citizens.
The left wing journalists invent even if the story no longer follows the actual facts. If you will they want to make it rhyme with the “music” they hear bouncing around in rather hollow little minds.
Left wingers insert words and meaning that rhymes with the template story they want to tell. They get noticed that way. It could be called the chaos factor or index.
As a result journalists of little or mean intellect think they are leading the parade of “ideas” that are meaningful to mankind.
They don’t seem to realize that the ability to change their mind day to day is not smart as they would deem it but equals chaos in the real world.
The chaos in the stock market is now a good example of the impact the remarks of Obama are having.
They in fact have trivialized real journalism by substituting their ignorant interpretations and in most cases do so by extracting only the facts that support their interpretations.
In lieu of being able to write a good novel they substitute stories for the plain old facts. And get noticed by “others” and the supporting chorus “echoes” and “enhances”.–And then goes one better, after all they cannot be outdone in supporting the cause of mankind.
Even when rationalized under the heading of “we care” they are acting only in their own self interests.
They are not leading with a sense of responsibility but simply providing rationalization for entitlements that are not deserved and are the beginning of the end of the high water mark in the world for humankind.
A dismayed Lady Caroline: “Oh, dear me, have I really not voted in the New York senatorial race? Does one really ‘vote’ for such things? Why, what a charming thing to do! Next time I shall send Roderigo, the third gardener’s boy, to vote for me. Now, do have another ladyfinger.
The way things are going, pundits like VDH and commentators like those on this site will not lack for material over the next four years:
The Democrats are squandering whatever sense of superiority they garnered after the Nov 4 elections, before they even take office. The Rahm/Blago coverup, jokester Franken stealing an election, and dipsy oversedated Ms Caroline claiming a family heirloom/Senate seat back from the Clintons. Never underestimate the Dems ability to self-destruct.
The MSM continues to drool over Obama, just like their celebrity worshipping paparazzi colleagues. Someone please tell them the election’s over, he won, and they can get off their knees, mop the floor and go back to their daytime job, whatever that is now. Comparing their respective treatment of Presidents Bush and Obama will convince everyone our language needs a stronger pejorative term to convey the meaning of ultimate hypocrisy.
Europe (and the world) — keep bashing us and we won’t buy your trash, I mean products, anymore. Good luck funding your economic recovery if Americans decide to be a little more frugal, and a little less wasteful. BTW, thanks for the advice on that score.
Global warming is a fraud. Get used to it. And, what was the name of that clown who kept promoting it? You know, the one who received a Nobel Prize for his efforts. He ought to give the damn thing back.
Let the games begin.
Hi guys
I buy almost all of VDH’s comments and probably agree with most of you out there.
But regards Global Warming being a fraud I think it is wise to AVOID thinking it is so only because temperatures are cool/old and rain/snow is abundant. I do have an instinctive aversion (bias) for militant ecologists but I think it is wise to keep an open mind with regards to Global Warming and resist being blinded by preconceptions, ideology or superficiality. I am not an expert but I think everyone will agree that the correct language to describe and reason about these planetary problems is that of statistics, e.g. long term drifts in average temperatures. But the concept of “average” does not suffice. A key concept in statistics is that of “distribution”; the values of an observable fluctuate and distribute themselves. The average is just one parameter that can be used to describe the shape of the distribution. One must avoid infantile states of stupor and expect, measure and try to account for fluctations. But there then there is the profound and very serious methodological problem of evaluating systematic uncertainties (biases) that plague ALL raw data. How the data is collected and then processed might hide biases and it is the duty of every mature scientist to show he has eliminated known biases, quantified plausible ones and did his best to look for unknown ones. Last and not least one needs wisdom to acknowledge that there is the problem of harnessing preconceptions and political agendas that may more or less unconsciously lead to logical errors (circular and ideological reasoning). The immediate fact that this winter has been exceptionally wet and cold is not a good argument against Global Warming.
excellent article…thank you. Cedarford, you’ve missed the point. And the other sexist writer as well…and what the heck for 103?
I’m sure that Princess Caroline is familiar with the lives of her neighbors in the upper east side of Manhattan, and with her neighbors on Martha’s Vineyard. Heck she might even have an acquaintance out in the Hamptons and maybe a passing familiarity with some Washington DC bigwigs. But if you were to ask the Princess where Rochester is, or Syracuse, or Buffalo, Albany or Saratoga she would give you a blank stare. Princess Caroline lives and has led a pampered and sheltered life and is in no way ready or prepared to take on the responsibility of becoming a member of the Senate. Giving her a seat because she has a famous name is an insult to any other potential candidate who has actually worked with the people of New York and know what their needs, desires, thoughts and complaints might be. Give her, ya know, a gold star for effort and send her packing.
“In short, appointing Caroline Kennedy to the Senate from New York tells us a lot more about ourselves than it does even her”. It tells a lot more about our so call “betters” who are much more wise than we rubes who have respect and praise for those like Mrs. Palin.
So, despite her poor performance in the media, Patterson is still going to appoint her. Franken, Carter, the Clintons, the Kennedys. Obama’s Hope and Change is a lie. And still his deluded “post-partisan” friends defend him.
This post is, of course, dead on. I am a NYC resident myself and I am pretty glad to say that she has been getting considerable bad press around here. To be sure, she will be picked by Patterson because of the many reasons enumerated by VDH, but those New Yorkers still moored to reason and reality realize the farcical nature of this appointment. One can make the argument that she is in fact perfect for the Senate – she has no discernible talents, she has never seen a business plan, she is good at spending other people’s money, and so on. Maybe for another post