The whole thing is a media freak show being served up by members of the Clinton factions in the Democratic party and obliged by a national media (some of them also Clinton noisemakers) in search of a story.He then trumped up John Kerry as the good and obvious pick. FAIL.
He's utterly in love with this fantasy he's dreamt up, whereby Paterson is skillfully "playing" all forces in New York politics by currying favors from Senate "hopefuls" during the interim period, even though he knows that Caroline Kennedy is a brilliant pick -- for President Obama, for the Senate, for Caroline Kennedy, and, especially, for David Paterson. And this is all without being able to see.
He begins:
I mean, what is so friggin' special or meritorious about having spent one's career in elective office? That Caroline Kennedy could have had almost any political job for the asking in recent decades but chose other paths instead makes her, in my view, more qualified, not less. [Emphasis mine]
More qualified? Seriously?
And he continues with one of the WORST arguments ever. Somehow, if you are against the appointment of Kennedy because it is pure dynastic politics, or rank nepotism, that this argument is bad because... David Paterson's own career is the product of nepotism? And so David Paterson will be like "hey, I never would have gotten where I am without my father, so why not continue this trend?" WTF?
My guess is that every time he reads and hears some pundit or blogger or politician railing against an appointment of Caroline Kennedy to the Senate based on her name and family and the suggestion that she's not qualified, calling her a nail-filing princess and comparing her to Sarah Palin and all the other cheap shots taken in the past week, an enormous well of empathy and commonality is stirred.
Yeah dude, this isn't a good point in favor of appointing Kennedy. At all. It's like the youngest of 5 kids stealing his older brother's toys, and then when his brother gets mad at him, the youngest says "hey, well mom knows how hard it is to be the youngest sibling so I won't get in trouble!" By all means, say that, but realize you sound like a Downie when you do.
And as for Caroline Kennedy's progressive qualifications? He cites, from a press release CK's people put out:
"Caroline opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. She supports President-Elect Obama's plan to work with our military leaders to begin a responsible withdrawal."Wow, what a remarkably convenient meshing of views! I have been a Celtics fan since the 1990s. I didn't tell anyone, and I didn't watch any of the games. And I didn't really care about the Celtics. But now they're in first place, and let me tell you -- I've always been a Celtics fan!
He then goes on to spend hours arguing against straw men, or arguments that he found deep in the comments section of some random Kos diaries. Nobody has any shred of doubt how Caroline Kennedy will vote. That's not the issue and those who try to raise hell about small-ball holes in her "progressive record" are just attention-whoring OpenLefters. The issue is how she is strongarming the governor of arguably the most important state in the nation into handing her a seat in the Senate.
Possibly one of the worst tidbits of info he uses in favor of CK is this:
She's not just talking about laboring twice as hard: when it comes to putting forward her case for the US Senate, she's demonstrably doing it at the very hour when everybody else is off duty.LMAO. So because she's whoring herself around to the media during the holiday season -- OMG she is sacrificing that delicious Christmas Eve turkey dinner to spend time with the lowly NY press corps, what a fucking populist! -- not only is she eminently qualified to be the next NY Senator, she will obviously be one of the hardest workers the upper chamber has!
Or you could view it through a different lens. How about: Every other possible appointee is already a public official, and not only has an available record on all the issues, but has spent years consorting with the press, and doesn't need to do eleventh hour interviews to plead his or her case, especially when -- thanks to Caroline Kennedy's perfectly executed media frenzy of attention -- they clearly have no shot at this seat anyway.
He then goes on to argue that David Paterson, despite being blind, is one of the most skillful visionaries in modern politics, as evidenced by his masterfully deliberative approach to this appointment. The brouhaha over the seat has turned into:
a chess match in which Govenor Paterson, being the grand appointer, will naturally come out the victor.And the glorification continues:
The person whom New York law has given the title and deed to wield that weapon (or any other of his choosing, although the secondary pickin's are slim) is Governor David Paterson, who is playing his part rather masterfully in a manner that will maximize his own lasting ability to influence national policy and snare federal funding for his state from Albany.
Part-and-parcel of Paterson's political acumen - like the best New York politicians throughout a long and legendary history, he's unconventional yet with encyclopedic knowledge of the conventions of others
With more than a dozen powerful New Yorkers openly interested in becoming senator, he's the master of all of them until he names one. Kennedy, Attorney General Cuomo, US Reps Nadler, Maloney, Israel, Higgins, Gillibrand - even Hinchey was mentioned yesterday - plus Buffalo Mayor Brown and Suffolk County Executive Suozzi, each have to ask "how high?" every time the Governor or his staff picks up the phone and asks one to jump a favor for him.
To that last one... really? Do any of these people think they have a prayer at being appointed to the Senate? No.
Meanwhile, keen political observers have to hand it to Paterson. He's been playing this like a virtuoso. When he's done making everybody dance to his tune, pwning Bloomberg, and successfully co-branding with Kennedy, he'll emerge with a new respect and gravitas that will help him get elected in 2010 and rise many members of his party up with him.
LOL. I still am at an utter loss to discern what Paterson has done that is so shrewd here. He has gone about the issue better than Blagojevich did. So clearly he is one of history's most formidable political forces. I'll laugh my ass off if he loses in the primary. If the 14% (per intrade) against CK's appointment happens to shake out, you should give up blogging, Al.
