Paterson has appointed Kirsten Gillibrand, a second-term congresswoman from Hudson, near Albany. "Paterson has no comprehension of upstate New York, absolutely none, and has chosen someone better at representing cows than people," Lawrence O'Donnell says. "What you have is the daughter of a lobbyist, instead of the daughter of a former President or the son of a former governor. This is the hack world producing the hack result that the hacks are happy with."
Much of what's wrong with American politics is reflected in that last sentence -- the arrogance, the entitlement, the adulation of pedigree. I don't throw this word around, ever, but a world where "hack" is an antonym of "blue-blood" can only be described as un-American. And it runs through both parties, as you can still find Republicans who think it's a shame that W ruined Jeb and George P's chances.
Though I disagreed with her politics and thought it ludicrous that she was even being considered, Caroline Kennedy seemed a nice enough person and wouldn't have been the worst Senate Democrat. But it's probably best for both parties and the entire country that she fade back into her life of quiet privilege and let her family's political dynasty come to a quiet end.
I will admit, however, my disappointment that we won't have a Democratic Senate majority bolstered by the illegitimate trifecta of Burris, Franken and Kennedy to laugh at for a few years.
