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Selling Influence or Perceived Entitlement: Which is More Shoddy?

By Pat Racimora on December 19, 2008 at 7:00 AM in Caroline Kennedy, Current Affairs, Rod Blagojevich

Governor Rod Blagojevich apparently has been trying to sell Obama’s Senate vacated seat. Shameful!

Then along comes Caroline Kennedy (Schlossberg) who appears to believe that genealogy is sufficient to take over Hillary’s Senate seat.

This all stinks. I see them in my mind’s eye as little children who both belong somewhere other than in leadership positions.

But which one is the lesser of two wrongs?

I come down on the side of Governor Rod Blagojevich. At least with “pay to play,” more than one person gets a shot at the prize. A tiny sniff of the American way is built in there. With Caroline, it’s all about perceived entitlement as part of a dynasty. Didn’t our forefathers and foremothers risk all to escape that?

  • obsp

    I live in the land of the Daley’s, Strogerr, Hynes, etc. This is a no brainer, the next Junior Senator of the state of NY in Caorline Kennedy.

    • Andrew P

      Why is no one pointing out that David Paterson himself has depended on his father’s name for his career in politics? Basil Paterson is a former NY state senator, NYC deputy mayor, and NY secretary of state. He ran for lieutenant governor in 1970. Above all, he is one of the leading members of the “Harlem Clubhouse” that has dominated black politics in NYC for the past 50 years.

      In other words, Paterson is the scion of a machine politician. Funny how the MSM never mentions this, what with machine politics so much in the news. Funny how the MSM never mentions that David and Caroline actually have so much in common.

      What won’t be funny for New Yorkers is having both a governor AND a senator we didn’t elect, who just happened to have the right parents.

      • barry bums a ciggie

        funny, Dick Morris (ick) mentioned this very thing yesterday in an interview.

  • HARP

    And people wonder why the senate, collectively, has the IQ of dirt.

  • Texas Playwright

    That this is even a question disgusts me.

    • Texas Playwright

      No offense to the questioner, of course, just a horrifying thought that we got to this point in the USA.

      • Lorraine

        Amen….simply Amen

  • yttik

    Gov Blago may be America’s most honest politician. Apparently a bit too honest. You’re supposed to keep this veneer of respectability over your backroom deals and power plays. Of course political appointments are for sale, but you aren’t supposed to actually put them up on the public auction block. That messes with people’s illusions.

  • HARP

    A politician should have three hats. One for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected.

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  • jvsp

    Whether you are a NYer or not, please call or email Gov. Paterson to make known your thoughts on Caroline Kennedy being installed as a Senator.

    http://www.state.ny.us/governor//contact/index.html

    Personally, I made it known that if she is, Gov. Paterson can count on my not only voting for his opponent, but also actively working to see him defeated.

    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhXA3fXpCFk Woman Voter

      That is what is needed, people like you willing to tell the NO! Work for it, if you want it, because it will be that much better if you earn it.

  • hootnannie

    Hopefully, there’s enough negative pressure on the governor to stop Caroline’s appointment. The press is pushing it so hard that I personally have little way in which to gauge how many New Yorkers actually approve. (Why would most folks in that state follow Sharpton’s lead?)

  • BernieO

    Meanwhile, the media is obsessing over the evil Bill Clinton’s list of donors to his library and anti-aids campaign. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton earned the right to represent this country through study, hard work, effective policies, getting elected, etc. (Hillary successfully led the Arkansas education reform when she was First Lady there, proving she could bring diverse interests together.)

    Compare this to the media’s lack of interest in the list of donors of George HW Bush when his son ran for president. Somehow they didn’t worry about conflict of interest for this family of blue bloods who have traded on their family name and connections at least since grandpa Prescott was an influential banker (who helped finance Hitler) and Senator. Heck, Bush I even went so far as to give a speech in Buenos Aires for the crackpot Rev. Moon which helped legitimize Moon when he moved his headquarters to South America. In return, Moon’s Washington Times supported sonny’s bid for president. Ever hear a journalist complain about that bizarre connection?

    http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon1.html

    Face it, our journalists are a bunch of snobs who can’t stand it when people from uncool places like Arkansas or Alaska outshine them. They are perfectly willing to overlook flaws of people from the in crowd. This, not ideology or principle, is the source of their bias. Just like high school except it ruins our democracy.

    • Helen

      Amen.

    • Newly Independent

      Face it, our journalists are a bunch of snobs who can’t stand it when people from uncool places like Arkansas or Alaska outshine them. They are perfectly willing to overlook flaws of people from the in crowd. This, not ideology or principle, is the source of their bias. Just like high school except it ruins our democracy.

      Absolutely!

      The Clintons of the political world make the Obamas, Kerrys and other politicians and journalists with “pedigrees” look like the incompetent, talentless losers they are. They know it. And it makes them sick.

  • Lizzy

    I think Obama should talk to his friend “Hot Rod”; who could apoint the litle princes CK to the vacant seat in Il. Keep the slime and corruption out of New York. Obama and Blago are so adept at the hog wallow.

  • Silence DoGood

    It would be one thing if she decided to run for the Senate seat.(You know, actually work for it) But no! She just wants it handed to her. That is what I resent the most. If she ran, then at least the people would have a say in whether they wanted her or not. She won’t even talk to the press. I hope she comes to her senses and realizes how unfair this is to the people who have devoted their lives to public service. If she really wants this job, she needs to back off for now and start working hard over the next two years to prove that she can be taken seriously. Then she could run for the office and would have to compete just like everybody else. Even then, she would still have the Kennedy name advantage. I fear that we are about to watch another undeserved coronation though.

    • jbjd

      Caroline Kennedy could back off now from her quest for Governor Patterson to appoint her to fill Senator Clinton’s soon-to-be vacant seat, in the best interest of the people of NY, frustrating the master plan of her uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, and Barack Obama, the man who would be President. After that, she can award herself the Profiles in Courage Award, named after her father’s Pulitzer Prize winning book.

  • http://spiral-gate.blogspot.com Janis

    Since women make up the majority of our population, but only 16% of our government, I want to see more women, not less, in the Senate and Congress. I find the attacks on Caroline Kennedy to be sadly reminiscent of those on Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin.

    • HARP

      Not even close.

    • Pat Racimora

      Janis, I think we have to be careful about lumping everyone of the same color or with the same plumbing into a single category, and then crying foul when someone criticizes one of them. That way we will never be able to separate out excellence from the undeserving.

      That has already gotten us into truoble…

    • Sonic Ninja Kitty

      I would love to see Governor Paterson give the seat to a woman, too, but how about one from the New York state senate who has been working her heart out for years, slogging through it all on behalf of the people of the state? Someone who has earned it?

    • http://www.hillaryorbust.com Hillary or Bust

      Nope, sorry, I disagree. Kennedy removed herself from the “let’s support women” banner when she backed Obama over Hillary.

      Furthermore, I want REAL women represented, like Sarah Palin, not silver spoon women like Kennedy.

      Next we’ll see Pamela Anderson demanding the job, just because she’s famous. No, this is not how we should be achieving “parity” in government for women.

    • Ferd Berfle

      Not so. I was a supporter of HRC and then Palin but not because they were women but because they were more qualified than their counterparts. They also more closely reflected my own views. I have maintained from the beginning that Oblockhead was unqualified, unfit, and dangerous. I also am of the opinion that Caroline Kennedy is unqualified for the seat being vacated by HRC. It has nothing at all to do with her sex.

    • Newly Independent

      I don’t believe in supporting a woman just because she’s a woman.

      Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are supported because they’ve EARNED support. They’ve worked, sweated and suffered for respect and success. They didn’t rely on name recognition or “pedigree” to get where they are.

      Caroline Kennedy CAN’T say the same. And until she can, she gets NO respect nor support from me.

  • Susan1968

    Caroline IS PAYING TO PLAY — she’s getting the seat with the promise of how much money she can raise from her socialite friends. She’s a DNC fund-raising machine and they know it.

    Let Patterson give it to her.

    Two years from now they’ll both be voted out of office.

  • Susan1968

    First of all — if anyone looked at the REAL HISTORY of the Kennedy family you’ll see they were the kings of PAY TO PLAY when poppa Joe ran the roost.

    Poppa Joe Kennedy made all his money rum-running during prohibition. I know this as a fact because my grandfather was one of his rum-runners.

    That’s where the Kennedy money came from – breaking the law.

    JFK got elected thanks to the union goons and mafia in Chicago doing a deal with Joe Sr. to stuff ballot boxes.

    Look at JFK’s track record as Prez — Bay of Pigs? Cuban Missle crisis thanks to his bungling?

    He was transported to greatness after being shot — but his true presidential record is UNIMPRESSIVE.

    JFK gets credit for integrating schools when he was RESISTANT to the idea because he didn’t want to lose the southern vote.

    Bobby Kennedy forced his hand on integration.

    In fact, Bobby Kennedy was the only real HERO in that family in my opinion.

    And if you noticed BOBBY KENNEDY’S KIDS supported HILLARY in the primary!

    Ted Kennedy lets a young girl drown and saves his own life, drugged out Kennedy kids get arrested, sexual harrassment cases and possibly rape.

    I’m tired of this Kennedy fairy tale.

    It’s B.S.

    • Pat Racimora

      Good points Susan 1968. I just didn’t see Caroline herself doing that so much.

      I agree–I never saw JFK as a truly great President. Mostly appealed to the royalty crowd.

      OTOH, Bobby WAS great and so is Bobby Jr.

      • standard

        Caroline has no chemistry with the public. She has a cold, schoolmarm air about her. She is intelligent, but dull.
        All the years she spent avoiding her inferiors are all over her face. She would not have a prayer as a presidential candidate.

        Remember how she treated the Bessettes? The family of John’s wife, after their daughter was killed with him in the plane crash?

        • dee4hill

          standard, you’re 100% right. The woman is dull as dishwater and has SNOB written all over her face. She “has” to be annointed, because with her “charisma” she couldn’t win Dog Catcher.

          Caroline Kennedy has shunned the public (or rather ordinary folks and the press) for years and now she wants Hillary’s Senate seat handed to her on a silver platter? Because she’s a Kennedy and a lame one at that, even by their standards. RFK, Jr. is so much more qualified than that tea-party diva. But his downside with the powers that be is, he endorsed Hillary. Well, welcome to American Politics 101. The old-style, Clinton, work-your-heart-out politics is sooo passè. The only requirements for acceptance into the club now are:

          1) Family name
          2) Who you know (Dean, Pelosi, Reid, Barky)
          3) MONEY

          Pre-ordained politicians is the new “hopey-changey.” Earning and working your way up is out. I firmly believe that this is all in the master plan. The Kennedy’s helped Barky so the Senate seat is Caroline’s. Then in a few months, Barky will ask Hillary to resign and the Washington elite (aka Kennedy’s) will have achieved what they set out to do years ago. Eliminate the Clintons. And run Caroline against Palin in 2012 or ’16.

          Just got my new voter’s registration card in and the word “Democrat” isn’t on it. I will only vote Democrat if the “D” is preceeded by CLINTON. The rest of them can kiss my a&&.

    • Faith

      Too true, Susan. Bobby was the true hero.

      • HARP

        Right on! JFK was nothing without the brains of Bobby.

    • Peggy Sue

      I agree with your post, Susan 1968. For my grandmother, JFK was a saint. But that did not make it true. Even as historians started doing real evaluations of JFK’s presidency, my grandmother refused to listen–they were liars and gossip-mongers trying to destroy a “great man.” The myth of Kennedy was born out of tragedy–a young leader with a beautiful wife and two handsome children–a man shot down like a dog. Worse yet, we have the film.

      My father despised Kennedy [for the very reasons you mentioned], but even he cried during the national funeral. It was all so shocking for everyone. I was a kid but I remember the reaction of the adults around me. It was a scary, confusing time.

      And then, you have the investigation, the guilt, the doubt, and even more confusion. It’s what great myths are created from.

      I also agree that it was Bobby Kennedy who had the promise of true greatness. He never got a chance to fully prove it. Another tragedy.

      But tragic, historical circumstances is not a good enough reason to assume that any member of the Kennedy clan is ready to lead, or more importantly deserves an appointment of national significance. Senator of NY is no small thing.

      Caroline Kennedy is not proving herself impressive in making her case to the public. If she gets the appointment anyway, most people will know why: political payback. It reeks!

      I liked the cartoon, Pat. Your graphics are always appealing. As for coming down on either side: Hot-Rod Blago or CK, I’m at a loss. Neither choice is acceptable.

  • mdmdstork

    Our elected officials are mostly jokes. While I think Caroline should run for Senate if she wants the seat, she would probably be a better representative for the people of this country than the majority of those already serving. Now we all understand the SOS job offer.

    I do think a better legacy appointment would be to Teddy’s seat. Give the New York seat to one of the deserving women in Congress.

  • Sonic Ninja Kitty

    Pat, I agree, Blago is the lesser evil. At least he gives some indication he knows what he did was illegal (despite his brash challenge to ‘try and get something on him’, he did not do all this out in the open).

    Caroline Kennedy seems oblivious to her wrongdoing. It is not illegal to want the seat, but it is wrong. It’s wrong to assume you can take and eat that scrumptious pie cooling on the windowsill and that the people who made it won’t mind! It’s like she doesn’t even consider anyone else’s situation. She’s a bully.

  • Faith

    Caroline will be the next jr. senator from New York. She will take Biden’s place on the ticket during Obama’s run for re-election. After Obama’s 2nd term, Caroline will be in the prime position to become the first woman POTUS. The MSM has decreed that Princess Caroline should be Hillary’s replacement, the rest will be easy to sell to the ignorant voters.
    Bernie O, I agree with you about those blue bloods. Both parties have them and the Kennedy’s were having fits that those Arkansas yokels were taking their rightful place. Now they can relax, everything is being resotred to the rightful order.

    • candymarl

      I agree. And I’ll guarantee there will no cries from libs about dynasties or entitlement.

      • Rich

        Why should there be. At least they are getting a new face since Obama, having good sense, for the post part is picking well established experienced Clinton type people.

        Rich

  • Ex-Democrat

    I never had respect for Obama and now I’m losing respect for the Kennedys.

    CKs actions are those of a spoiled brat – she doesn’t have to EARN it, it should be GIVEN to her.

  • DawnelleHeartsComet

    Pat! Your drawings are just SO CUTE!!! I LOVE THEM!

    really!

    Not that you are wasting your talents here or anything (hehe) but you really should submit your drawings to SOMEONE!

    jmo (and you may be way ahead of me) ;-)

    • Pat Racimora

      Thank you Dawnelle. Sigh–drawing for NQ is my hobby, and my favorite one for sure. The real job isn’t anywhere near as much fun!

  • standard

    Caroline creeped me out when CNN aired footage of her snubbing the press.
    When they asked her why, she told them that Governor Patterson told her not to say anything.
    Patterson called her on her lie.

    This woman is not pretty at all. She has the shriveled Eunice Shriver kind of face when you see her in sunlilght without a lot of beauty filters.

    • Faith

      Your right,Standard. Bet she will have a professional stylist and make-up artist in tow from now on.

    • Helen

      I don’t think she should get the seat only because I think she’s getting bad advice from her uncle and the Obama sleazes. She’s a neophyte in this business and should not be taken Teddy’s advice. But what she looks like is irrelevant. I am angry with her because she helped do in Hillary, but I don’t agree with sexist comments about her. Keep it to the issues please.

  • Rich

    Nice cartoon.

    If qualification have anything to do with experience, then she qualifies just as much as Obama qualifies for being President.

    Rich

  • thetownecrier

    Yes, why that grand sense of entitlement takes over all rationale thinking about following traditional channels into politics. Blago plays hardball Chi-way and makes no bones about it. Kennedy wants to crash the party just because of “birthright.”

    At least Blago has paid his dues by actually running for office, and then running the office (in quite a questionable way albeit). Kennedy has been keeping a low profile by “working” the private boards scene. Uncle Ted should have inspired the public office route long ago if he wanted more legacies.

  • Sassy

    It is almost a certainty that Caroline will take this seat until 2010.
    I can’t see anyone bucking Uncle Ted!
    As surely as I’m breathing today, the Kennedy clan tag-teamed the Clintons to put BO in the White House!
    The days of a humble person, struggling through law school and government classes, to emerge with real leadership skills, are long gone I fear.
    And this country will pay dearly!

    • DAB

      What a horrible message to send to our children. Oh wait, our children were for Obama, so they probably think this is ok too.

  • Kal

    Not all of our children –

    There are lots lots lots of young women in their teens twenties thirties forties all totally committed to pro-feminist democracy. The concept is not dead among younger voters, its just that we have, for the moment, apparently run out of anything but stock dynasty actors.

  • Silence DoGood

    Maybe I am just being paranoid, but ever since Caroline announced that she was interested in the Senate seat, I have had a gut feeling that something else is going on behind the scenes in the Obama camp.

    Consider this:

    Did Obama name Hillary for the Sec of State position first and then Caroline decided to go into politics because she realized that there was going to be a vacant seat in the Senate.

    OR

    Did Caroline tell her good friend, Obama, that she was interested in getting into politics and then he decided to help her by creating an opening for her in her home state.

    Caroline was on the team that helped him pick his VP and they got quite chummy during his campaign. Obama owes her big time for throwing the Kennedy name behind his candidacy.

    When Obama first named Hillary for the Sec of State position, I thought to myself…. why??? If she is good enough for Sec of State, then why wasn’t she good enough for VP? I was perplexed until I realized that the difference was that Obama can’t fire the VP.
    He can certainly fire the Sec of State though.

    The contempt that was shown to Hillary during(and after)the primaries was blatantly obvious. Did Obama just get over it? Is it possible that this is his way of getting rid of Hillary once and for all??

    Please, someone tell me that I am wrong.

    • Faith

      Silence, you are beginning to see the whole picture. The Kennedy’s did not like having their political kingdom usurped by the upstarts from Arkansas. The only thing that made the Clinton’s palatable to the “intellectual elite” snobs was that they both went to ivy league schools. Obama is their Manchurian candidate. Princess Caroline will become the jr.senator from NY. She will replace Biden on the ticket for re-election and after Obama’s second term Caroline will be in a prime position to become the first woman POTUS. The Kennedy’s will have their kingdom and dynasty back.
      I believe that this plan has been in the making for quiet some time.
      Of course I may be wrong but these puzzle pieces fit together too easily for some or most of it not to be true.

    • Helen

      I think Caroline should pull out of this Teddy and Obama inspired fiasco, and Hillary should bail out of SOS. Maybe Bill’s foundation donors and the MSM obsession with his foreign money (but not Barack’s) will give her cover to back out.

      • Faith

        If Hillary bailed on SOS and kept her senate seat, this would put a big wrench into the plan.
        I would much rather see Hillary stay in the senate and give grief to those who trashed her in the primaries. Revenge is better served cold and with a sweet southern smile, y’all.

    • A Citizen
  • HC

    I predict Kennedy won’t get the nod, and if she does I bet she loses her seat in her first actual election.

    In America only unqualified males get to serve in high political office.

    Females need to be perfect or they are out.

    • Ferd Berfle

      This has all been rather strange. My candidate, HRC didn’t have enough experience according to the supporters of That One; Sarah Palin also lacked experience, according to same. But Caroline Kennedy should be the choice to fill a Senate seat? Such glaring inconsistency on the part of the looney left and an unmitigated crock of malodorous manure.

      • Pat Racimora

        Amazing, isn’t it???

  • Sarracuda

    Will the media say that Caroline is not qualified because she is a mother, should be home with her kids?
    Will the media demand that Caroline give interviews asking her what she reads and what the Bush Doctrine is?
    Will the media send 25 lawyers to New York to investigate Caroline Kennedy’s past to try to find dirt on her?
    Will Saturday Night Live have some actress portray Caroline as some hick who doesn’t deserve to be in public office? Will they make jokes about her family, saying her husband got her daughter pregnant?
    Nah, I highly doubt it, because she is a Kennedy, and a Democrat, therefore she is the anointed one, just like Obama, they will kiss her ass just like they did Obama’s

    • Pat Racimora

      No, of course not. They will treat Caroline much better. A “within-women-double-standard” I didn’t agree with Sarah Palin on much of anything, but I was mighty impressed with her spunk and her experience coming up the ladder. The lady paid her dues!

  • Rich

    One additional thing this cartoon brought to my mind is my concern that age and experience is not valued by the young and middle class, and instead new or young is the value of this generation. We value our children to the point we plan our lives around them rather then they fitting into the adult needs. New home are valued regardless of cost over well built old homes. There is a belief that only young people can have new ideas. And that experience is of little value. This used to be the way young children and teenagers saw the world, but now college students and people up the 40 are joining the group think. If we do not value experience and the knowledge of experienced people then we are doomed to create a sallow society, with instant gratification and/or solution needs, where we keep repeating the mistakes of the past over and over again.

    Rich

    • Faith

      I agree with you on your comments Rich. I personally think that much of the root cause comes from T.V. Everyone in the household has one. Not every household has ONE.Now the computers are taking the place of the T.V.’s. Everyone off in their own little world. Very little communication within the families, within the communities. The older people in my community lament about the old days when families would get together at the drop of a hat and have a BBQ, or dance or card party.
      People got together much more often back then because that was the main entertainment- getting together with friends.

  • DonX

    I have been trying to find some reason why Caroline Kennedy deserves to be appointed to Hillary’s seat, and am coming up empty.

    To quote Roy Edroso in Village Voice piece (12/19),

    “If Kennedy is pushed through, and we increasingly expect she will be, she will ascend unclothed with qualifications, with only the support of the powerful and a relative lack of ill-will from the inattentive local electorate to recommend her.”

    (Source: New York – Caroline Kennedy FTW? Complaints Grow, But CK Stays On Track – Runnin’ Scared – Village Voice)

    Her main work qualification, if this is indeed a qualification, seems to be having worked 3 days a week as director of strategic partnerships for the New York City schools for less than two years. She also worked on boards for various non-profit organizations, raising millions of dollars for some causes. Given this background and being part of the Kennedy clan, it seems these are hardly the necessary and sufficient qualifications for a senate seat. Clearly, if appointed to the senate seat, it will be because of her political connections.
    It might be noted that Fran Drescher, a likeable movie star, also wants the senate seat. She is attractive and has an appealing personality. Like Caroline, she has a nice smile and seems congenial. She feels she is as qualified as Caroline. And perhaps she is. But why not find a person for the seat who has more to offer than an appealing personality and political connections, someone who has at least held a public office and earned broad recognition as a good hard working public servant?
    As for the governor allegedly trying to auction off Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder, this is blatant unlawful behavior. Backroom political dealing gone wild. We all know backroom deals go on all the time, but usually the quid pro quo is a little more subtle and private. This gives rise to the old saying, “It’s not what you do, it’s what you get caught doing.” The arrogant governor has really cooked his goose, and it seems unlikely that in the future he could be elected to become the local dog catcher. You can’t just keep runnng cavalierly through stop signs and expect not to get caught. But, as they say, legally, he is innocent until proven guilty. In the public’s mind as depicted on talk shows and scandal sheets, and comedy shows, he seems to have already been convicted beyond a reasonable doubt. Will he be impeached, is he holding off resigning because he is trying to force a deal to escape incarceration? Well, we’ll keep tuned in to see.

    We will also probably be suspicious of what are the quid pro quos underlying whoever is appointed to both senate seats. After the Illinois Governor fiasco, the backroom deals will probably be a bit more opaque.

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