Claudia Rosett on the succession of power in a banana republic:
Eight years ago, a Senate seat from the Banana State was won by the wife of a sitting president of the republic. That wife had never before resided in Banana State, but she bought a house there, campaigned with the aura and entourage accorded to a presidential spouse, and with one leap, winning her first elected office ever, she became a senator.
Riding a national political machine to re-election for a second term, that former first lady swiftly turned her Senate seat into a springboard for her own campaign for the presidency. She lost, but took a job in the new administration, leaving the governor of Banana State to appoint a replacement senator.
That governor was himself a replacement, due to the resignation of the elected governor, a crusading moralist caught in a prostitution scandal. As the replacement governor prepared to name a replacement senator, a former president’s daughter declared her interest in the Senate seat — which one of her uncles had won some 44 years earlier, and was using as a springboard for his own presidential run, after serving as attorney-general in his brother’s presidential administration. This former first daughter had recently worked on the campaign of the President-elect — an experience that awakened in her an appetite for politics – but she had reached the age of 51 with no direct experience of her own in public office. Nonetheless, another of her uncles, also a senator, was ready to endorse her for this leap to the Senate. So was the mayor of Big Plum (the biggest city in Banana State), who on his own turf had just succeeded in scrapping a two-term limit so he could run for a third term — which he justified as a way of offering people a broader choice (namely, himself).
That’s how it works in Banana Republics. Whatever Caroline Kennedy’s native abilities, celebrity mantle and political connections, if she thinks this is a good way for things to work in New York State, that alone is reason to worry about her qualifications for the job.
Viva Nuevo Yuerco!
Good thing we have those blue staters to teach us about democracy.
Funny how you kooks in the flyover states get all bent out of shape over a politician’s residency. If you’re a star, you come to New York or California. Nobody cares that Ahnold wasn’t born in Fresno. Nobody cares that Senator Clinton had dick-all to do with New York before moving here. They were stars. You want they should run for the Nebraska legislature first? Please!
Of course I’m not sure Caroline Kennedy has much to recommend her other than her name and a bloodline known for a physical recklessness bordering on the suicidal.
Kennedy’s, Schumer’s, Clinton’s – our job as conservatives is to see that none of them mate within the boundaries of marriage.
If you’re a star you go to Hawaii. NY is for climbers. Hawaii is for those who have arrived.
The scary thing is she may be one of the MORE qualified people Gov. “Hookers and Blow” Patterson has on his list.
“Funny how you kooks in the flyover states get all bent out of shape over a politician’s residency.” Pretty sure that stuff is written down somewhere.
“Funny how you kooks in the flyover states get all bent out of shape over a politician’s residency.”
Yeah, that’s funny. Funny since certain Tics were
spluttering and foaming with hatea bit annoyed over Dick Cheney’s state of residence, but not “Madam Mao”.Yeah, that’s funny. Funny since certain Tics were
spluttering and foaming with hatea bit annoyed over Dick Cheney’s state of residence, but not “Madam Mao”C’mon Badda, get with it! Situational ethics are da bomb!
Don’t say “bomb”, D.
It reminds Penigma about the state of his blog.