Donald Kaul Agrees with Blog for Iowa on Possible Caroline Kennedy Appointment
I have long suspected that former Des Moines Register columnist and RAGBRAI co-founder Donald Kaul is getting inspiration for his column from reading Blog for Iowa. Here is the most recent evidence: Awhile back, I posted an article to the effect that Caroline Kennedy's qualifications for Senator are being overlooked and minimized by the cable news punditocracy who have been lazily relying on GOP Talking Points for their analysis (see “Pundits Use GOP Talking Points to Analyze Possible Caroline Kennedy Appointment,” December 22).Exactly nine days later, in a spectacular coincidence, my all-time favorite columnist, the former OT Coffee, echoed these sentiments (well, sort of…) albeit in a way-funnier, super-articulate fashion as is his way, so I just had to post an excerpt here. I wish I could have made my point one tenth as well. I never would have thought to use the phrase “we have senators with the mental acuity of cabbages.” Oh well, you know what they say, don't try this at home, leave it to a professional. Enjoy. ~
by Donald Kaul
MinutemanMedia.org
Caroline Kennedy – Daughter of John and Jackie, sister of John-John, niece of Teddy and Bobby, cousin of Robert jr. and Maria S., etc., etc. – has announced her willingness to be appointed Senator from New York.
Some have criticized this as presumptuous. They say that one should not expect to be a New York Senator without prior immersion in the hurly-burly of New York politics, serving in menial positions like Congressperson or Governor or Mayor of New York City. They question her qualifications for the office.
To which I say: Qualifications? For the U.S. Senate? Whatever are you talking about?
There are no qualifications for the Senate. We have senators with the mental acuity of cabbages, senators who are senile, who are crooks, lazy or crazy, we have senators who are sexist, homophobic or racist. We have senators whom you would not trust to hold your watch while you dived into a pool to save a drowning child.
Carolyn Kennedy is none of these things. She is smart, hard-working and, from the look of her, a genuinely nice person. These qualities alone would put her, if appointed, in the upper half of the Senate. If she figures out where Utica is and what’s it’s doing there, she could quickly move into the top 20 percent of the class.
I say appoint her.
Rod Blagojevich – The governor of Illinois is the anti-Caroline, her absolute, polar opposite. Far from being appointed to office, he overcame a severe hair disability to win election – twice. He was not a neophyte; he was a battle-hardened veteran of the political wars, having served in the Illinois legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Yet, when last seen he was selling U.S. Senate seats from the back of a truck.
Which proves that in politics, as in most things, experience can be a good thing but it doesn’t have to be. It depends on the experiencer.
(Click here to read the entire column at MinutemanMedia.org)
Don Kaul is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-losing Washington correspondent who, by his own account, is right more than he's wrong. Email Donald Kaul
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