Dodd...Rockefeller...

good to make a list.

I'm not fully against political dynasties by the way -- but prefer it when people run for seats.

Caroline Kennedy may be a superstar -- and may be a great Senator eventually. . .but we are being asked to consider her mostly by what we know of her last name and her iconic parents.

I hope she shows us more.

And what do you think of Obama fronting Rick Warren at the inaugural?

And don't forget Lincoln Chafee. What was he before he was appointed to fill his father's seat? If my recollection is correct, he was on the City Council of Warwick Rhode Island (population 86,000). But of course that is far more experience than Caroline has.

For what it's worth, WigWag, that's almost a tenth of Rhode Island's entire population. And in general, RI politicians could give those guys in Chicago a run for their money. Remember Buddy Cianci? But Linc Chafee was never had to be involved in RI corruption...probably because he's so rich.

Steve, I wish I had seen your post earlier. I've been wondering how " the little people out here in tv land", like me, could get a message to Rachel Maddow. It's difficult to contact her show. She " touches" touchy and difficult material but if people can't get stories to her, she doesn't know about " things". Same problem with the Keith Olberman Show.
Perhaps if you ever get the opportunity again, could you please give these talented people this simple message.
They don't hear We the People either.....

Matt, from what I've read, Cianci was an incredibly popular and successful Mayor of Providence, RI. I've heard that he is eligible to run again in 2012 (after his parole is over)and that the next election in Providence after that is 2014 (Cianci will be 63).

I'd take Buddy Cianci over Caroline Kennedy or even Lincoln Chafee any day. Is Cianci's corruption really worse than the corruption that brought Caroline Kennedy her great wealth (her grandfather's crooked business dealings)? Is it really that much worse than a high political office (like a United States Senate seat)being passed from father to son like it was from John Chafee to Lincoln Chafee?

From what I can tell, the only two professions where nepotism is as rampant as it is in politics is Hollywood and the Mafia.

Has everyone forgotten that this Senate seat will be filled by
appointment of the N.Y. governor? What you think doesn't matter,
what he thinks is all that matters. How much good (fund-raising)
can she do him? In two years she will be able to pull off a
reelection or she won't based on her she performs.
I find her no less qualified to be a Senator than Sarah Palin was to
be a vice presidental candidate on a ticket with a 72 year old man.
A whole lot less scary, in fact.

The New Yorker had some great suggestions for senators from
NYC...since it has such a wealth of extraordinary people.
Kareem Abdul jabar was one. Paul Krugman another. Why not have
someone who has been involved and/or is an intellectual.
How about Our Rachel ?
(as she's referred to by Monteith & Rand)

I think that Steve was right to argue against a Kennedy pick on Maddow's show. For any politician to be successful, it's important for him or her to be skilled in what's known as "retail politics." Unfortunately, Ms. Kennedy did not show that sort of talent today, when she left a press conference and entered her limo after answering only two questions from reporters. In fact, Ms. Kennedy, by her actions, not her words, has shown herself to be quite disinterested in appealing to to the public in her bid for a Senate seat. Instead, she has chosen to lobby the Governor and other NY state politicians. It is difficult for one to argue that such tactics do not represent a certain level of aristocratic arrogance.

The real irony of the whole Caroline Kennedy thing is that the person who will make the decision about whether to appoint her, Governor David Paterson, is himself a nepotism case.

Governor Paterson's father, Basil Paterson, is (along with David Dinkins, Percy Sutton and Charlie Rangel), a long time leader of the Harlem Clubhouse, which has dominated Harlem politics since the 1960s. Basil Paterson is a former New York Secretary of State, a former New York State Senator and a former New York City Deputy Mayor.

The Governor (David Paterson) was elected in 1985 to the State Senate seat once held by his father (Basil Paterson). In 2003 he rose to the position of State Senate minority leader and in 2006, partially on the recommendation of Basil Paterson, Eliot Spitzer selected David Paterson as his Lieutenant Governor. Spitzer got caught with a prostitute and the rest is history.

So if Kennedy is anointed by Paterson, we will have one nepotism case selecting another.

America's political dynasties look more and more like mafia families every day.

Since I'm not a resident of New York, it's really none of my business whom New Yorkers prefer to send to the Senate.

I do think the "dynasties" problem is quite overrated, however. We really don't have a lot of political dynasties in this country. The US Congress is populated with 535 people, the vast majority of whom are not the heirs to any kind of political dynasty. Why the sudden terror of dynasties?

There are of course some political dynasties, just as their are beer brewing dynasties and publishing dynasties. Politics is a business, and the skills and assets picked up in the business can be passed on through families from one generation to the next. That's no different than any other line of work. What's so bad about it.

Of course, if a dynasty is to be perpetuated it is good for the new kids to prove they have the right stuff by actually winning elections and working their way up through the legislative ranks. C. Kennedy seems to be a good and talented something or other. But she never struck me as a politician. Is she really cut out for Senate work?

TO: Steve Clemons, Publisher, Washington Note

IN RE: Caroline Kennedy

Your appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show to put your shoulder into the potential appointment of Caroline Kennedy into the Senate seat recently vacated by Hillary was drivel, high-toned drivel, but drivel, nevertheless.

Caroline Kennedy isn't Sarah Palin, a mere 4-6 percentage point swing in votes from being that murmury heartbeat away from the WH and who doesn't seem to have enough brains for a decent pap smear. And you're worried about how Caroline will play in that notoriously tough town, the District of Columbia. She isn't an evangelical ideologue, willing to send the entire planet down the crapper to insist on the God planks, her version anyway, in the platform; that alone catapults her way ahead of not only the Alaskan airhead, but every other Republican pol duly elected to the Senate; see, e.g., the Southern States Senators who've made transplanted car manufacturers their tin gods and have insisted that the Big 3 are worthy of ex-communication, if only because they've cast the UAW in the role of the devil.

Neither is JFK's daughter anywhere close to being like the scheming banshee that she should replace, the one who, but for the disgrace of God, Rick Davis, would have been the Democratic nominee and who has been taken out of the mix for the foreseeable future, kept closer than she would have been as Senator Clinton. Caroline has as much to recommend her as Hillary when Hillary was a carpetbagger and former First Lady. In fact, as President of the JFK Memorial Library, can there be any doubt she's studied her father and how he ran the country and how he intended to run it had he lived? She's lost far more than Hillary has taken, stuffing both pockets with both hands, but Caroline's loss has prepared her to handle anything that notoriously tough town can throw at her. And, I'm certain she'll never have to play dodgeshoe because no one is going to hate her so much for promoting destructive policies on a global scale.

The following is the verbiage in a letter I just sent to Caroline.

Caroline Kennedy, President
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Columbia Point
Boston, MA 02125

IN RE: The call of your father, Rev. King, your uncle and your brother

When I read your letter in the NY Times about how much Barack Obama reminded you of your father, I wept. My sentiments, confirmed. When your uncle, following closely Rev. King, was murdered, I was just 20, not old enough to vote, then. I turned my back on the election process. When your brother lost his life so tragically, what I had referred to as "Watershed for a generation of tears", a cable show that I wrote on the occasion of Oliver Stone's movie "JFK", smacked me around, again.

This last Nov. 4, I registered and voted for the 1st time, ever ... the first time in 40 years that I felt someone who could make so many, in a number sufficient to matter, both hope and move to the sound of his hopeful message ... so reminiscent of your father, Rev. King, your uncle and your brother. That empty Senate seat aches for you to be occupying it. I applaud your stated desire for that to take place; for me, it will be the just and proper conclusion for you to take the place of your brother, who should have been in that seat. If you're chosen, you will honor the legacy of your father, Rev. King and your uncle, as only you are now capable of, at least in part, fulfilling that legacy.

Your experience matters ... absolutely not at all, not any more than the barbed tongues that carped about Barack Obama, living proof that hope can drive the best political instincts, that moaned that he hadn't the gravitas, granted supposedly by being hardened by life, required to sit in the Oval Office. Even now, the pundits who may have even supported the Pres.-elect have made your prior decision to serve quietly and without fanfare something of a disqualifier. I don't care if you drool, make rude sounds in public, have hairy underarms, or can't remember the name of every single member of the Kennedy clan. None of that, or any other frivolous that, kicks your life's work to the curb.

What does matter is that we need as many true givers of hope in highly visible political offices as possible. Your other uncle, lion that he is, also could use some of that Kennedy juice, fresher and younger, to help keep him going as well. No last hurrah just yet.

You've heeded the call. Plug your ears to the noise.

Mark Sato

If I were a Democratic governor of New York, I wouldn't worry too much about an appointed Senator being able to hold the seat. The Republican Party in that state will be down for a while. I'd be more concerned that a potential nominee who has -- as the term of art has it -- guarded her privacy thoughout her adult life might quickly tire of the spotlight, let alone the requirement to mingle regularly with people of less exalted social status.

Against that one must set the adulation of the entertainment-oriented political media, and whatever value comes with that. But dynastic questions aside -- and honestly, do we really need to be reminded that Roosevelts and Adamses who carried on political dynasties actually tried to accomplish something as opposed to just filling an office? -- I wanted to raise another question.

In the last Congress, there was one African American Senator. At this point, the next Congress is projected to have zero. Now, I have no brief for any particular African American as far as being appointed to fill out Sen. Clinton's term is concerned; I don't live in New York, and I'm not even a Democrat. But zero is an unfortunate number in this context. Gov. Paterson and whoever ends up picking the replacement for President-elect Obama in Illinois might do a healthy thing for American (and African-American) politics in this country by elevating an African American with talent and integrity to a position of prominence. Rich beautiful people in New York City high society have enough honors thrown their way as it is.

What experience Hillary Clinton had before becoming Senator? Will
anyone argue that she didn't do a fine job as Senator? Caroline is
smart and dedicated to making a difference. She must feel at this
point in her life she is ready to step into the political arena. I
totally support her!

Mark Sato and thomas -- glad you can record your views here. My concerns about Caroline Kennedy being appointed a New York US Senate seat are a sound critique of a tendency to tilt toward political dynasties. This is not in line with the democratic spirit I believe we should be exemplifying as a nation. If you read what I have written and actually listened to what I said on Maddow, I made clear that I thought Kennedy may be a great Senator and that she is probably a great person. Nonetheless, we are gambling on a name and her desire for the seat -- that's it. For you, that may be enough. For me and many Americans, I am "uncomfortable."

Best, Steve Clemons

Gads,we've become a nation of utter jackasses led by a bunch of foppish elitist Little Lord Fauntreloys that haven't got a fuckin' idea of the realities most Americans wake up to every day.

Reading Sato's post, I am struck by the fact that he assigns skills to Caroline that she in fact has never had the need to learn or utilize. What life experiences has Caroline Kennedy walked through that would bestow her with the kind of empathy that is required to address the needs and the wants of the general community?

My personal opinion is that people like Sato are starstruck by celebrity, and ANY Kennedy would be recieving his fawning adoration, deserved or otherwise.

This nation is at the edge of an abyss, and is in dire need of leaders that have climbed the essential ladder of accomplishment that the rest of us have had to climb to become leaders in our field. Thats how skill and competence is instilled. Decades of decline at the hands of elitist and privileged leaders has brought us to this unprecedented national low, yet there are still these jackasses among us who continue to cling to this insane idea that sooner or later what ISN'T working will suddenly become constructive and successful. Horseshit. Being named "Bush", or "Clinton", or "Kennedy" is not a qualification. And if we were sane, assessing the state of the union, it would be a disqualification. How have these dynasties served us thus far?

WigWag, Cianci WAS basically a mobster and now he's pandering heavily to the folks on conservative talk radio. People like him because he's a wise guy. Did you know that he was forced to resign the first time (1984) after "pleading no contest to assaulting a man with a lit cigarette, an ashtray and a fireplace log"? And then the Feds put him in prison in 2001 using the RICO Act...which was originally intended to prosecute the Mafia? It doesn't get much uglier, and I bet even Blagojevich will come up with some sob story to make folks in Chicago think he's not a crook. Chafee is not a crook, and it wasn't crooked for him to replace his father. In fact, he was the single Republican Senator with a conscience when it came to the Iraq War. Rhode Island is a small place and his family has built up a great deal of respect there on both sides of the aisle. I don't know a whole lot about Caroline Kennedy, but it seems to me that she's from the caste of people that would be calling the shots anyway, so why not cut to the chase?

I don't get it... Have Ted Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy taken significantly different stands on ANYTHING at all? Caroline Kennedy is just going to hold the family line. If the Kennedy family's politics make you nervous, then she'll make you nervous. If they don't then her presence may be somewhat comforting. Also, what role does Ted Kennedy's perilous condition play in this kind of machination?

"Reading Sato's post, I am struck by the fact that he assigns skills
to Caroline that she in fact has never had the need to learn or
utilize. What life experiences has Caroline Kennedy walked through
that would bestow her with the kind of empathy that is required to
address the needs and the wants of the general community?"

Problem is, many of our politicians, if not most, have come from
wealth. FDR comes to mind, and he had uncanny empathy with the
common man and woman. Wealth is not the deciding factor here.
Being rich or poor is just a matter of how much money you have; it
doesn't determine who you are.

Except for her so called ability to raise money I see no reason to put her in the seat. Upstate NY is being dissed as are several others whom had to kiss Hilliary's whorish ass a couple of years ago.

As I was watching your show, after Keith, where it sounds like Obama wants the financial incentive money to be spent rather than pay off credit cards, put in savings, etc. I had a thought. All the people who have a job, but it doesn't pay enough for simple things needed, like food, heat, gasoline, all kinds of things that will help make life less stressful.
I heard somewhere that the request for food stamps has risen to an all time high. Personally I'm grateful for the small food stamp allowance I get. But my car is in serious trouble, So as a result I'm unable to get to my doctor (the buses don't run this way), so all of us have something we 'desperately' need. I can't afford to get it fixed as I live in government housing on very limited Social Security, and feel blessed to have a warm apartment with heat and air conditioning.

I realize the complexity of determining who needs what, but I believe it could be done. I have a couple thoughts about how, but I'll save that in case this 'spending' idea might catch on. It would be putting money directly into the economy, rather than primarily the banks. People would get some basic needs met, such as heat in the winter, food, gasoline or dependable transportation to go look for the very few jobs available, or pay them to work on the infrastructure, things we need to allow us to feel some degree of hope, less helplessness, less alcoholism leading to abuse in the family, and I could go on and on.

I spent some time on the Lakota Sioux Reservation, and I saw for myself what loss of hope can do to a family. So much alcoholism, abuse of the women and especially the spirit of helplessness and hopelessness. I would feel sick in my soul if that were to be the prevailing sense for the middle-class. Of course, it's already started.

Just thoughts, but it feels like you would read these words, and take them seriously, or at least put some thought into the idea. Not many other announcers would, I suspect,

Rachel, I love your show ~ ~ have from the first broadcast. I told a couple of my friends: they had the same reaction: told their friends, and now you have a huge following in Overland Park, KS,

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

Minta Kenney

Overland Park, KS

Why is it so difficult to find an easy path to place an opinion or comment to Rachel's statements on msnbc???????
I'll try here:
regarding the Maine Murder:
Why, Rachel, did you spend so much of your valuable ( and fabulous air time) on the fact that the murdered man was a bomb maker, white Nazi..and not spend EQUAL time in discussing his sexual, physical and emotional abuse of his wife and partner?
Deta Reid
2 Reservoir Street
New Haven, CT 06511

regarding the Maine Murder:
Why, Rachel, did you spend so much of your valuable ( and fabulous air time) on the fact that the murdered man was a bomb maker, white Nazi..and not spend EQUAL time in discussing his sexual, physical and emotional abuse of his wife and partner?
Deta Reid

Maine Murder:
Why did you spend your valuable and fabulous air time on the fact that the murdered man was a bomb maker, white Nazi..and not spend EQUAL time in discussing his sexual, physical and emotional abuse of his wife ?

dear Rachel , Iwish I could take my thoughts to all those that are so against President Obamas wants for insurance is it simply because he isnt republican and they dont get to do it all by theirselves they were against medicare and it passed without them years ago the people of America need something to be able to be cared for medically ! why dont they all just give up their insurance that Americans pay for their health care ? take the money it cost all taxpayers . if they would give up what Americans pay for them and pay out of pocket for their own that would give enough revenue to more than pay for public option insurance for the American people ! ask them to give it up after all its government paid insurance ! how much would you say we pay just half a year for them to be covered for medical ?

dear Rachel , Iwish I could take my thoughts to all those that are so against President Obamas wants for insurance is it simply because he isnt republican and they dont get to do it all by theirselves they were against medicare and it passed without them years ago the people of America need something to be able to be cared for medically ! why dont they all just give up their insurance that Americans pay for their health care ? take the money it cost all taxpayers . if they would give up what Americans pay for them and pay out of pocket for their own that would give enough revenue to more than pay for public option insurance for the American people ! ask them to give it up after all its government paid insurance ! how much would you say we pay just half a year for them to be covered for medical ?