This may go down as an all time silly idea. To avoid insulting Caroline Kennedy, David Paterson should appoint a "placeholder" senator?
Sen. Bill Clinton? Sen. Mario Cuomo? Don’t completely rule it out. The former president and the former New York governor are among several boldface names being touted as possible "caretakers" for New York’s Senate seat — people who would serve until the 2010 elections but wouldn’t be interested in running to keep the job.
"You could find a very senior person who could serve New York well" on an interim basis, said Gerald Benjamin, a political scientist and dean at the State University of New York at New Paltz. "Then you can say to Caroline Kennedy, `You know, you’d make a good senator. Run for it.’ And you can tell everyone else that it’s a level playing field."
-snip-
Oh, that’s just brilliant [she says, sarcasm dripping from every syllable].
First of all, that Senator would be a lame duck from day one, so I don’t care how famous the name, that person would not "serve New York well" during the interregnum. Further, participating in such silliness would erode that person’s credibility and star power, which hurts the post office earning power. Oh, and Mario Cuomo’s going to shaft his own son’s chances? Give me a break!
Plus, NYS loses seniority, again.
Plus, it causes division within the party to fester until the special election in 2010, if not all the way to 2012.
Plus, this sucks money out of local Dem races while the Senate primary contenders amass crazy big war chests and cannibalize the gains Dems have painstakingly made in this state over the last 10 years.
Gains that David Paterson played a large role in building. You want him to destroy his own hard work? And screw over his own state in the process? Silly, naive, impractical, self destructive idea.
It’s a stupid idea in Delaware too. Screw over the state to make Biden happy. It’s selfish of him to demand it from his party.
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What? A pol should do something that’s in the interest of the voters and the state? What a radical idea. /s
Loosehead – thanks for this!
Digg is open
P.S. I already emailed Paterson with my creds: 2 residences in the state, grew up in Buffalo, loads of relatives in Rochester, and dissing the idea of a Kennedy pick. I’ll email again & call when the decision is approaching. LHP, let me know when you think the timing would be good.
LHP for U.S. Senate. Now!
Spitz!
Hmmm, I was thinking Paterson was floating it as a way to get off the Caroline Kennedy hook.
I think Bill Clinton will be appointed when pigs fly, because that would be a huge slap, but it’s becoming evident that Kennedy just doesn’t have the stomach for this and I imagine Patterson is looking for a graceful exit.
BTW, I figured all that “Caroline is inevitable” stuff this morning was floated today by her handlers to compensate for how doomed her whole campaign is starting to feel, and to push back against the “placeholder” pieces yesterday.
Ditto, LHP for Senate.
She would want to know if you can run for U.S. Senate & still maintain anonymity. *g*
If he lived in New York, the appointment wouldn’t sidetrack a notable career and he wanted to voluntarily waste his talent in the septic tank formerly known as the Senate, I’d nominate Cornell West. Just to watch all those old white guys have a stroke.
Who was that masked woman?
Wouldn’t that be great! He could certainly deliver some wonderful speeches.
I should have added at the end “…, particularly the Plantation Caucus.”
With silver bullets for all that ails us!
One way out would be for Barack Obama to find a suitably high-profile position within his administration for Caroline Kennedy. I’ve seen Ambassador to Great Britain proposed, since this is also a family tradition. Do we have a Secretary of Education yet?
Who in African-American Studies at Columbia?
They work pretty good on vampires, too. Guess that covers K St.
I’m taking the relative quiet about Mayor of Buffalo Byron Brown as a good thing.
EdSec is Chicago Sup of Ed.
Yeah! Ambassador to the Court of St. James. Great solution. Or to France if she can speak French like her mother. (France would be my choice. *g*)
Yeah, some guy from Chicago. Imagine that. Well, if Grandpa Joe the Bootlegger could find his way to the court of St James,…
Learn something new every day. I knew that garlic & crosses worked against vampires but never heard the silver bullet thing before. Will keep it in mind for my next encounter, though I think I have easier access to garlic.
What do you know about him? Is he a solid citizen?
I owes ya a drinkee poo.
LHP and Cornell West … these are excellent choices.
Such a difference from the same old, same old …
Both represent ‘change’ that would really make a difference.
;~D
I think it may have been an invention of the 1930’s vampire flicks.
Cocktail hour is at hand. What are you waiting for? *g*
What’s yer pleasure. If it’s single malt, coffee, tea or spring water I got ya covered.
Either one would have the little grey cells of the Plantation Caucus imploding en masse.
;~)
Yum, scotch. Neat please.
Meanwhile, Gov Ritter, quietly minding Colorados business, names replacement for Sen. Salazar. http://www.rockymountainnews.c…..-saturday/
425 hrs & 46 min
Here ya go. Glenlivet 12 year.
Upstairs: New post
So the headline over a Huffpo where it states “Officials: It’s Caroline” is more BS?
The shock in England wasn’t so much that Joe was a speculator and a bootlegger — it was that FDR was sending an Irishman to represent America to the King!
Born in Queens, too! Read more here.
Yes.
To paraphrase Hannibal Lecter, “what is it that all politicians seek”? Campaign funds. And who of the short list could do better than Caroline at that function? No one. I give you Senator Caroline Kennedy.
Supposedly she originally wanted to be UN ambassador. Which would have been great for her. She would have an easy commute. Wouldn’t have to move.
generally great. When that didn’t pan out, somebody (I’m guessing Bloomie and the NYC Schools Chancellor) got the “great” idea to have her assume the mantle and join the Senate.
Only the idea is going over like a lead balloon. To my mind, the most likely picks are those names that are listed at the bottom of most articles, but about whom there seems to be little or no controversy.