Patterico's Pontifications

12/16/2008

An Idea

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:29 am

Why is Caroline Kennedy going after Hillary’s seat? She should take the Illinois seat.

She has money, Blago has a seat. Let’s make a deal!

44 Comments

  1. Why is Caroline Kennedy going after Hillary’s seat?

    Because it’s a big target.

    Comment by Official Internet Data Office — 12/16/2008 @ 8:32 am

  2. I think they’re saving that one for Chelsea Clinton.

    Comment by Old Coot — 12/16/2008 @ 8:58 am

  3. Why not a horse?

    Comment by Kevin Murphy — 12/16/2008 @ 9:03 am

  4. What, have her take Oprah’s seat?

    Comment by JVW — 12/16/2008 @ 9:44 am

  5. It’s a nice match for both of them:

    –the Kennedys could certainly arrange a discreet payoff for the seat, considering the, um, “family” related gentlemen that JFK worked with in Illinois to win the Presidency, and;

    –Harry Reid doesn’t have the stones to call for the expulsion or exclusion of a Kennedy from the Senate.

    The Democrats in Illinois might want to hurry and remove Blago before the Senate seat in NY is filled, or this scenario will suddenly become far more plausible.

    Comment by M. Scott Eiland — 12/16/2008 @ 9:49 am

  6. Illinois is broke and needs the money.

    Comment by PCD — 12/16/2008 @ 9:54 am

  7. Caroline Kennedy is more qualified to be Senator than Chelsea Clinton. There is an age requirement of 30.

    Amy Carter is over 30, so she is qualified, but rudely overlooked. Actually, Patti Reagan, Patricia Nixon and Julia Nixon are also all over 30, so they are eligible too.

    President Lyndon B. Johnson has two daughters: Lynda Bird Johnson and Luci Baines Johnson. They are equally qualified as Caroline Kennedy as well.

    Comment by Wesson — 12/16/2008 @ 9:56 am

  8. Would residency be an issue for Caroline in Illinois? Minnesota wouldn’t be a problem for any Kennedy. They’ve got that Kennedy wing at Hazelden.

    Comment by daleyrocks — 12/16/2008 @ 10:03 am

  9. I think it’s 30 days in IL. I forget…

    The US Constitution merely states that you have to be a resident, so I guess maybe she could just buy a house somewhere, and be good to go.

    Comment by Scott Jacobs — 12/16/2008 @ 10:25 am

  10. She better buy a Cubs AND White Sox cap just to be safe before she hits realtor.com to look for her new digs.

    Comment by Jack Klompus — 12/16/2008 @ 10:27 am

  11. Chicago is where the Kennedys make their money. (They own the Merchandise Mart.) New York is where they spend it.

    Comment by nk — 12/16/2008 @ 10:32 am

  12. “She better buy a Cubs AND White Sox cap just to be safe before she hits realtor.com to look for her new digs.”

    Jack – She could buy her pad from Patty Blago. Nice fat commission right there. Patty’s new firm raked in $700,000 from politically connected commissions after Hot Rod became governor. Pure coincidence I’m sure.

    Comment by daleyrocks — 12/16/2008 @ 10:34 am

  13. And, seriously, were she to run for re-election, could you see her expression while shaking the hands and kissing the babies of Obama’s constituency on Chicago’s South Side?

    Comment by nk — 12/16/2008 @ 10:34 am

  14. nk – Good point, but didn’t they sell the Mart to Vornado a few years back?

    Comment by daleyrocks — 12/16/2008 @ 10:35 am

  15. “could you see her expression while shaking the hands and kissing the babies of Obama’s constituency on Chicago’s South Side?”

    nk – I’d like to see her trying to fake chowing down at a chicken and rib joynt.

    Comment by daleyrocks — 12/16/2008 @ 10:38 am

  16. All Kennedy has to do is buy a shack somewhere for the address. That is all Sen. Tom Harkin does. He lives mainly in DC and the Bahamas.

    Comment by PCD — 12/16/2008 @ 10:41 am

  17. A whole Santa Claus sack full of denouncements for racist Christmas! Ho ho hos and 40’s!

    Comment by Jack Klompus — 12/16/2008 @ 10:47 am

  18. daleyrocks #14,

    Well … you know …it could depend on what the meaning of “sell” is.

    Comment by nk — 12/16/2008 @ 11:03 am

  19. For eight long years, New Yorkers have sent some chick from Illinois to the Senate. Time for Illinois to return the favor.

    Comment by Xrlq — 12/16/2008 @ 11:24 am

  20. Alright, I’ve had it. This just goes to show that it’s high time we had a change of terminology around here.

    Since we’ve already got a Drug Czar and a Homeland Security Czar and an Energy Czar, and now they’re talking about a “Car Czar” who would have the power to force a major manufacturer into bankruptcy, I believe it’s time that we revisited other terms and titles as well.

    Instead of the outmoded “Senator,” isn’t it time we just confessed that this is the “House of Lords” and called them Lords and Ladies? If these things are hereditary, shouldn’t they also come with grander hereditary titles?

    And while we’re at it, a lot of people can’t even spell bureaucrat. I say we change that to apparatchik. It works better phonetically and it sounds more like what it is.

    Comment by Gesundheit — 12/16/2008 @ 11:46 am

  21. For eight long years, New Yorkers have sent some chick from Illinois to the Senate. Time for Illinois to return the favor.

    Why don’t we just force the two states to merge? Think of it: machine Democrat politics, big cities dominating the upstate suburban and rural areas, baseball teams that have been choking this decade (exception: 2005 White Sox). We can placate the Dems by then allowing DC to be a full-fledged state with two senators.

    On second thought, forget it.

    Comment by JVW — 12/16/2008 @ 11:51 am

  22. Well, at least Mrs Schlossberg is an actual resident of New York, rather than the carpetbaggers they have elected for that seat previously, Robert Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Governor Paterson surprised us, and picked someone other than a wealthy white woman.

    Comment by The Dana who doesn't live in New York — 12/16/2008 @ 12:25 pm

  23. Gesundheit wrote:

    Instead of the outmoded “Senator,” isn’t it time we just confessed that this is the “House of Lords” and called them Lords and Ladies? If these things are hereditary, shouldn’t they also come with grander hereditary titles?

    Because while “lord” doesn’t really imply being classy, “lady” certainly does, and many of the senatrices could not really be called ladies.

    Comment by The Dana whose mother tried to teach him manners — 12/16/2008 @ 12:30 pm

  24. Geez, the Dems. Never afraid to blast their own hypocrisy – - –

    1) Caroline has kids!!! She’s gotta stay at home.

    2) Based on the shoddy treatment HRC and Palin got, don’t the elites like to shred women and keep ‘em barefoot in the kitchen?

    3) Kiss up to a Kennedy. Hmm… tough call. Damn straight they will!! OBumbles and anything Kennedy will make the hypocrites wet their pants. Screw the NY pols who actually deserve a chance.

    In their defense, she does have a lifetime of knowledge, insider’s experience and a golden rolodex. They need her. And God knows she can divert the spotlight away from Thuggy and his crimes. It’s just that their hoisting of class and entitlement is so obvious and self-serving. Before Paterson appoints her, they should beg America’s forgiveness for how they treated Palin and Hillary. (On second thought, both women have more experience than Caroline. They could help her navigate the public side of public service.)

    Comment by Vermont Neighbor — 12/16/2008 @ 12:33 pm

  25. Gesundheit: Perhaps номенклатура (nomenklatura) would work better.

    Comment by The Dana who speaks very little Russian — 12/16/2008 @ 12:34 pm

  26. Are their enough Kennedys so fill all 100 Senate seats?

    Comment by Perfect Sense — 12/16/2008 @ 1:13 pm

  27. #22:

    I don’t believe Robert K never held the Senate seat – he was a Congressman. Unless you’re speaking of the elder?

    Comment by Dr. K — 12/16/2008 @ 1:17 pm

  28. #13 Comment by nk — 12/16/2008 @ 10:34 am

    And, seriously, were she to run for re-election, could you see her expression while shaking the hands and kissing the babies of Obama’s constituency on Chicago’s South Side?

    This assumes she would actually have to run for the seat. I think as long as The Honorable Richard M. Daley Jr. is running the city, she would “win” the election even should she stay in Martha’s Vinyard the whole time. You know, voting machines, cemeteries, 110% turnout and all that.

    Comment by Actual — 12/16/2008 @ 3:07 pm

  29. If Caroline went to Illinois, then Barack would lose an important opportunity to seat two Senators. You think he doesn’t know a Senate seat is a f***ing valuable thing? He’s not giving one up for nothing!!

    Comment by MayBee — 12/16/2008 @ 3:18 pm

  30. Vermont Neighbor wrote at 12:33 pm:

    Screw the NY pols who actually deserve a chance.

    That is, of course, the most delightful accidental byproduct of a Caroline Kennedy appointment. Think of “poor” Nita Lowey, the Bronx ward-heeler who “stepped aside” (with a strong push in the back) so that Hillary Rodham Clinton could claim the Dems nomination for the Senate seat back in 2000. According to Wikipedia, she’ll turn 72 this coming year and perhaps she thought she would get the appointment this time around as a lifetime service award, and then she could retire in time for the 2010 election so some other New York Dem could take a crack at it. Now those plans get tossed aside in order to have another celebrity put in there. Priceless. Surely there will be some very hard feelings among some very ambitious Dem politicians over that one. If the New York Republican Party has half a brain (debatable), they can just stand aside and watch the Dems infighting wreck the party.

    Comment by JVW — 12/16/2008 @ 3:28 pm

  31. Why is Caroline Kennedy going after Hillary’s seat?

    – Because Bill doesn’t even look at it anymore.
    – Because NY is more high-profile & less notorious than IL.
    – Because, why dive into the cesspool that is IL politics if you don’t have to?
    – Because the debt to the Chicago machine that got her father elected has been paid.
    – Because no matter how laudatory the attributes paid to her and her accomplishments, she still feels a basic sense of entitlement to the seat based on her name alone.

    Comment by Icy Texan — 12/16/2008 @ 3:54 pm

  32. Dr K: Yes, it was the elder Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy’s brother, who resigned as Attorney General in 1964, and ran for the Senate representing the Empire State; he held the seat from January 3, 1965, until his assassination in 1968.

    Comment by The Dana who used to live in Delaware — 12/16/2008 @ 4:53 pm

  33. God, she is less qualified than Palin or Obama.

    Comment by Da'Shiznit — 12/16/2008 @ 5:40 pm

  34. God, she is less qualified than Palin or Obama.

    Let’s not forget that she led up Obama’s VP search committee and there was some speculation that she might take the job herself. If the best she could do is suggest Joe Biden, I don’t think that speaks well of her ability as a potential Senator.

    Comment by JVW — 12/16/2008 @ 5:55 pm

  35. Caroline can’t have Obama’s Illinois seat because that’s a seat reserved for blacks.

    Comment by dchamil — 12/16/2008 @ 5:59 pm

  36. This post is yet one more example why Patterico isn’t taken seriously……except when he whines about it not happening, because that’s authentic.

    Comment by Larry Reilly — 12/16/2008 @ 6:14 pm

  37. I had forgotten that Andrew Cuomo had what the NY Times is calling a “messy” divorce from Caroline Kennedy’s cousin. Maybe she is seeking the seat as payback in order to spite him, since he is apparently also interested in it. If so, you go girl!

    Comment by JVW — 12/16/2008 @ 6:16 pm

  38. Mr Reilly: You’ve never heard of humor or sarcasm?

    Comment by The Dana with a sense of humor — 12/16/2008 @ 6:41 pm

  39. Back to the PC after a late evening meeting. Thanks to one of the numerous Dana’s who posts here for the suggestion of “nomenklatura” but 4 syllables might be a lot to ask of a declining mass media.

    I’m still very fond of apparatchik (oops, which I just noticed is also 4 syllables), but there may be a problem. Is it too gender specific? It sounds feminine to me.

    Comment by Gesundheit — 12/16/2008 @ 6:48 pm

  40. A day without one of Larry’s completely meaningless ad hominem attacks is like a day w/o sunshine.

    Comment by Icy Texan — 12/16/2008 @ 7:01 pm

  41. Comment by Gesundheit — 12/16/2008 @ 6:48 pm
    Well, these’s always the term “cadre”.
    But, if we are talking about ACORN, wouldn’t “thug” be as descriptive as any.

    Comment by Another Drew — 12/16/2008 @ 7:05 pm

  42. Comment by Larry Reilly — 12/16/2008 @ 6:14 pm

    I would love to read your blog, Larry Reilly, and give your posts serious consideration…maybe even get a chuckle out of the humorous ones like this post of Patterico’s. Have you a link?

    Comment by Dana — 12/16/2008 @ 7:07 pm

  43. Doesn’t Larry write at “myhumorsucks.com”?

    Comment by Another Drew — 12/16/2008 @ 7:14 pm

  44. Why not appoint Michelle Obama to the seat. That way she can run in 2016 with solid credentials, and not have to sit out a turn like Hillary had to.

    Comment by Kevin Murphy — 12/16/2008 @ 10:57 pm

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