I don't remember this kind of controversy when Jean Carnahan was named to replace her husband. She had never held elected office prior to that.

ceu, you raise a good point. I'm also reminded of Sonny Bono's wife.

I think the broader lesson we're learning is that arbitrarily appointing replacements for Senators is an elitist and outdated practice. Kennedy's Palin-esque interactions with the media are just shining new light on the subject.

The difference there is that Mary Bono, in the House of Representatives, wasn't appointed by the governor. She got the GOP nomination and won the seat in a special election. The principle is the same, though. She got the nod based on her name.

My point is this - I think it's wrong for someone to be disqualified from being appointed based on his/her name and the arguments against Kennedy being appointed ring hollow based on there NOT having been an outcry over past similar appointments.

Ha! Chris Kelly on Kennedy v Palin. :)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/is-caroline-kennedy-our-s_b_152185.html

Caroline Kennedy wants to be the junior Senator from New York State. If we were to chart her place in the line of Presidential succession it would look something like this...
(snip)
I think that puts Caroline less than 280 heartbeats away from the presidency.

And all she has is a lifetime of public service and a background in constitutional law.

Can we afford to take that risk?

I'm on record as in favor of MORE elitism in the Senate, not less. But I want that elitism to be based on education and experience, not cronyism and back-door deals.

BTW - does anyone (especially New Yorkers) get Caroline's strategy of teaming up with Al Sharpton? Every report I've read shows her actively courting Rev. Al - and I have not yet gotten used to thinking of him as any kind of powerbroker...

QT

Anyone notice that Caroline announced her intentions about the NY Senate seat only after Barack passed her by with no pay-back for her endorsement?

What's wrong with Caroline Kennedy running for Hillaru Clinton's vacant seat??

She has all the qualifications and already is not being favored for it??

Come on!

Let's review:

Hillary, who will soon be secretary of state, told the world of her ability to see imaginary snipers trying to get her.

Hillary, has the skill to make her husband, Bill, to favor sexual relations with a woman much younger than her, but only 8 years older than their daughter.

Hillary, who had the ability to not be the influence of Caroline Kennedy's pursuit to the vacant seat, but instead, was able to pass influence to Obama instead to be Caroline's influence.

Hillary, who's talent remarkably, was able to become Obama's "Change we can believe in" by being selected even though she's considered by Obama as "More of the Same" Washington insiders.

And last, but not least, while Caroline does have a rather large seat to fill that was covered by Hillary's pantsuits to cover the bulge, Caroline's command of the english language with "umms" and "you knows", can be of great service for the state of New York.

My votes for Caroline!