In which the most private of persons decides to go public, only to learn that mother always knows best.
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Who all of you have underestimated is Hillary Clinton. She never forgets an enemy and always gets her revenge. I'm a peon and don't know any of these people personally, but I DO know their backgrounds and this was inevitable. Caroline would never get that seat and that fact has been proven. Hillary wins again.
Spot on, ebanks! I wonder how many early Obama supporters will get a slot of Hillary's staff?
Patterson is toast. Schumer will not be enough to save him.
Patterson just lost his re-election-
If everyone would part company with their respective ideological filters for a moment, they would see:
1) CKS made a circus out of this non-elective process by assuming she could - and would- get picked on the basis of last name and $ only. She may be as "qualified" as anyone under the letter of the law, but was woefully inadequate under the spirit of the law which, in America , is defined by principles of hard work and fairness.
2) Having done # 1, she created for herself a public forum to prove the value proposition of "wanting" to say/do something, along with more creditable proposition that she actually had something to say. She failed miserably on both counts..
3) Having done #2, she started trailing in the polls to Cuomo (who made NO case for himself), continuing blithely on with her delusional sense of entitlement.
4) When "something" surfaced - we know not what - she decided to pull the plug now - before an explanation would be mandatory (as it would be following an appointment)..
Patterson was a pawn in the Kennedy game.. Did he have a choice? Probably not, because of Obama's behind the scenes known preference for CKS.
She has no one to blame for this fiasco but herself. Shameless -and graceless - behavior from the getgo.
I don't get all this talk about how much grace Kennedy has. If anything, I'd call this whole roll out clumsy. If she was a real progressive, she'd have backed a progressive, worked on her public speaking skills, and taken a lower office to demonstrate her legislative prowess and commitment to meritocracy. Instead she went for the top right out of the gate and got burned.
Politics is a tough game. She wasn't ready.
January 25, 2009 - Politico
Categories: Clintons
"The Clintons don't forget"
Did Hillary make Cornyn an offer he couldn't refuse?
Foreign Policy's really, really fun new Madame Secretary blog is reporting that one of its moles overheard the incoming SoS getting a little Lucca Brazzi with the Texan in the Rotunda last Tuesday.
Megan Carpentier:
Well, one of our eagle-eyed sources... was able to get within earshot just in time to hear Clinton warn Cornyn, "The Clintons don't forget." One day later, Cornyn's objections to Clinton's confirmation magically disappeared and the man who had set the roll call vote in motion voted in favor of confirming Clinton. Now let's see how she handles Hamid Karzai.
If Cornyn's constituents think he "caved in," they shouldn't reelect him.
One of the things that I admire about Paterson is that he DIDN'T cave in -- despite considerable pressure from many high places -- and a few low places as well.
They don't forget and the Clintons also keep a "black list" of those who they feel "dogged" them out during the campaign by supporting President Obama.
i would love it if the page would load for nymag...
it has been swamped since the wee hours.
You're not missing much by not reading itr.
The bottom line is Paterson was trying to milk it to make himself look great in bring aboard Kennedy and the thing blew up in his face. He tried covering it up. Another politician getting too greedy and te mustard falling off the hotdog.
Ah- ha! So this is what people were talking about here:
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Our lead story tonight is the mystery surrounding Caroline Kennedy dropping out of Senate contention.
"The Factor" has learned that New York Governor David Patterson was told by unidentified sources that Caroline Kennedy was having an affair with New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger. Upon hearing that information, Governor Patterson got a bit nervous, as you would imagine, because both Mrs. Kennedy and Mr. Sulzberger are married, although Sulzberger is apparently separated from his wife. And around midnight last night, Caroline Kennedy pulled out of the race for "personal reasons."
Now, a spokesperson for The New York Times says Sulzberger does not, I repeat, does not have a relationship with Mrs. Kennedy. But this is one huge mess.
__
Does anyone else know anything else about this here ?
Sulzberger is supposedly newly divorced -- that's the story that's on Gawker.com, anyway.
I don't think it matters why Caroline dropped out, and it also doesn't matter whether she is in a relationship.
Those rumors have been out there -- and on an internet webpage that many, many New Yorkers in that milieu read -- for a long time.
Therefore, the people involved should not be surprised that those rumors eventually reached the MSM -- whether they are accurate or not.
The people who underestimated Paterson throughout his life were apparently correct. Caroline Kennedy would have enriched American politics.
No, they were incorrect. Go take a gander at the 400 or so responses to Maureen Dowd's column on Kennedy and Gillibrand. They roundly criticized her for promoting Kennedy, saying she wasn't qualified.
You will be astonished at how the tide has turned.
I think it's a great credit to New Yorkers -- and perhaps to the public in general -- that they did not buy into the celebrity, "Princess Caroline" thing. It seemed like a good idea to many at first, but enough people were willing to take a good long look -- and changed their minds.
Is she a Kennedy? Yes
Is she qualified ? No
Are politics in N.Y. a big messy joke? Yes
Have we heard enough about all this? yes
A State that gets $1 trillion of YOUR tax dollars, without any strings to dole out bonuses and do M&A deals - thanks to Chuck Schumer's scheming - is worthy of national attention.
Recruiting a former Wall Street lobbyist from a cartel/family of lobbyist, by an appointed Governor from the same -- might be worthy of national concern.
Appointees are running New York, and Schumer and Clinton (who still is acting more like CEO of Clinton Inc. w/Bill Clinton than Secretary of State of the US - w/two wars on deck) -- and making decisions (vote for Iraq War against the security interests of NYS, which also affects YOUR pocketbook) New Yorkers did not vote for and making selections for our representation we would not have chosen.
New York is not a Conservative State - and if we wanted Al D'Amato back in the saddle and all he represents from Albany, we would have voted for him. Kirsten Gillebrand is worse than Joe Lieberman, with a smiley face.
Gillibrand is also NOT Al D'Amato. Just because he was standing next to her doesn't mean they are political twins. As far as I know, being a Republican is not a communicable disease.
Perhaps some of us knew Caroline Kennedy would at least DO NO HARM...and has a track record of SERVING NYC and the new President of the United States.
Kirsten Gillebrand, former tobacco and Wall Street (don't let the balanced budged hokus pokus fool you) LOBBYIST doesn't.
Al D'Amato and Joe (under indictment and in her photo op upstate) are dancing in the streets in that cesspool upstate.
How exactly has Kennedy served the people of New York ? Last time I checked, she's never been elected by them. Has she hundreds of town meetings with farmers and workers and teachers and local citizens around the state, as Gillibrand has ?
Has she done pro bono work for abused women with that law degree of hers, as Gililbrand has ?
You keep touting the same nonsense, and I will keep refuting it, fact for fact.
Gillibrand is not a lobbyist. As a member of a big law firm, she is assigned the cases she works on. I hope you're not saying that lawyers who defend causes you don't agree with are forever enjoined from entering politics.
Gillibrand is also not her father. They are two entirely separate people. Most of us wouldn't want to be judged or pigeonholed by who our parents were or what they did.
this man's behavior is as blind as his vision.
ever since he was "given" office, he's been kind of a tacky loose cannon.
no finesse, no diplomacy - just uncontrollable flapping of his pie-hole.
his treatment of caroline is another perfect example of this inadequate
politician's shameless flaunting of his own inadequacies.
better straighten up or learn how to class it up a bit , gov...
or you'll be OUT in the blink of an eye.
There are many ways to do Public Service and I hope everyone finds a way to do so that suits them best. Gov. Paterson, stop mudslinging. You are not without bad behavior.
Word is that the real reason she dropped out was because Paterson got wind that she was having an affair with the publisher of the New York Times. The blogosphere is abuzz about this:
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Our lead story tonight is the mystery surrounding Caroline Kennedy dropping out of Senate contention.
"The Factor" has learned that New York Governor David Patterson was told by unidentified sources that Caroline Kennedy was having an affair with New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger. Upon hearing that information, Governor Patterson got a bit nervous, as you would imagine, because both Mrs. Kennedy and Mr. Sulzberger are married, although Sulzberger is apparently separated from his wife. And around midnight last night, Caroline Kennedy pulled out of the race for "personal reasons."
Now, a spokesperson for The New York Times says Sulzberger does not, I repeat, does not have a relationship with Mrs. Kennedy. But this is one huge mess.
I guess Bill O'Reilly thinks people have forgotten about the settlement he paid to a young woman and the Governor used to have affairs.
I feel sorry for Caroline. Now she has to go back to her very difficult life of playing croquet in the Hamptons.
And raising another $100 million for our broken down NYC public school system with Joel Klein, for a $1 a year.
Wonder if Kirsten Gillebrand's lobbying work for tobacco and Wall Street netted $1 a year for the last ten years? Wonder what she has done for NYS/NYC -- gratis? She is also a very wealthy woman from a family of lobbyists, which has been the family business for two generations.
Are you aware that Gillibrand did tons of pro bono work for battered women ? Didn't think so? That 100 million by the way, is an inflated figure... You are never ever going to win the battle of the facts with me.
In Paterson's attempt to show that Kennedy wasn't qualified for the Senate, he proved that he isn't fit to serve as governor.
Correct. He is a small man surrounded by the same since Charlie O'Byrne had to resign. New York State can tolerate crooks, demons, thugs (we just got $1 trillion of YOUR money in the biggest heist of our Nation's history, w/no strings attached).
We cannot tolerate SMALL MEN.
Even our thugs are gentlemen. This was crass.
Patterson came off as clumsy, selfish and un-gallant. I doubt we'll see him after 2010.
I think Caroline Kennedy would have been a great pick.
Perhaps Ted Kennedy will hire Caroline Kennedy as an aid and get her involved in the senate.
not.
We haven't heard the last of this...from the President and Teddy Kennedy.
The Clinton/Schumer/Paterson/lobbyist cabal will not have the final say.
And, downstate will not be spun that this Junior Senator - who Chuck Schumer said yesterday came from an area more like MONTANA than NYC, on Fox News Sunday - and Conservative, is the right representatives for OUR interests. That is, after all, what Democracy is supposed to be.
Instead we were baited and switched and given a Conservative, gun toting, lobbyist for big tobacco and Wall Street from a family of the same.
Blowback anyone?
The high priced PR hacks have their work cut out for them, when even the NYC PRESS realizes they were duped by the formal Press Offices of the Governor, Senators (Clinton and Schumer) and AG - to believe leaks and lies -- while they lazily did no real investigation and Caroline Kennedy was singularly prevented as a condition of consideration NOT to speak a word, by our Governor.
Nice SETUP, David Paterson. You did the old neighborhood proud. My parents and grandparents left Harlem because of this kind of conduct from the Harlem Clubhouse.
A person who works for a big law firm that assigns her to cases involving tobacco companies is NOT a lobbyist. Your posts are misrepresentations of both Senator Gillibrand's career and her opinions.
Loading comments…
New York Magazine | Chris Smith | January 24, 2009 07:25 PM