You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Home Front: Culture Wars
"Sweet Caroline" no match for Sarahcuda
2008-12-19
Jonah Goldberg

For people who think thereÂ’s no cultural divide in this country, consider the treatment of two women much in the news in 2008.

The first is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. A woman from very humble roots and with a very blue-collar life story, she worked with her steelworker and professional-fisherman husband to provide a life for their large family. She got involved in the PTA. She became mayor of her small town, then rose, by dint of her dedication and almost naive fearlessness, to the job of governor. In a mainstream, almost romantic sense, itÂ’s almost like she was designed by God for a Hallmark movie of the week.

But, when John McCain picked her to be his running mate, the full fury of the liberal establishment — and sizable swaths of the conservative establishment, some of whom dubbed her a “cancer” on the GOP — came down on her with a vengeance usually reserved for Klansmen and pedophiles. . . .

Then thereÂ’s Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy, brother of John Jr., niece of Senators Ted and Robert Kennedy, granddaughter of Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, and the cousin of myriad other Kennedys and Shrivers whoÂ’ve burrowed deep into the timber of the house of liberalism. A multimillionaire from birth, Ms. Kennedy has spent most of her life on the charity-benefit and cotillion circuit. A product of the Brearley School in New York and the Concord Academy in Massachusetts before she attended Harvard and Columbia, Kennedy has made the importance of public education her signature cause. Sweet Caroline (she was the inspiration for the Neil Diamond song) recently made it known that she would like to be appointed to Hillary ClintonÂ’s vacant Senate seat.

One could say without fear of overstating things that the liberal reaction to the inexperienced Caroline has been somewhat more gracious than the reaction to the “inexperienced” Palin. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post has devoted two columns in as many weeks to this “fairy tale” scenario in which Kennedy, our “tragic national princess,” is finally rewarded — for her years of quiet dignity, selflessly avoiding scandal and the paparazzi — with the Senate seat that once belonged to her uncle Bobby. . . . The editors of the New York Times, in a more skeptical editorial, summarized her qualifications thusly: “Ms. Kennedy has much going for her. As a public figure, she carries the glamour and poignancy of her family ...” The editors then went on to describe what great liberals her dad and uncles were. That’s it.

This a perfect example of the bowel-stewing self-indulgence of elite liberalism.

Here’s a news flash: Not everyone truckles with doe-eyed awe at “America’s royal family.” Some of us don’t even like the idea of American royal families. JFK and RFK had their good points, but they don’t deserve the beatification they receive on a daily basis. As a man, Teddy Kennedy is hardly a role model, and as a public servant he’s not much better. I, for one, don’t think denying poor black kids private-school scholarships (aka vouchers) is heroic. Nor do I think his support for alternative energy, except when it might obstruct his Hyannis Port estate’s views with windmills, is admirable. Simply, the Kennedy clan is no priestly caste, serving as the conscience of the nation, and its progeny do not deserve eternal deference. . . .

. . . Palin’s selection triggered troughs of bile, vomited up from nearly every respectable liberal quarter. A Florida congressman, and Obama surrogate, insinuated that Palin was a “Nazi sympathizer” and anti-Semite (she’s not, but Caroline Kennedy’s grandfather was). Her by-the-bootstraps story was ridiculed by nearly every ex-debutante newsreader and avowed “feminist” in America. Meanwhile, Caroline, with a resume perfectly suited to being a Kennedy and little else, is a Cinderella who deserves a Senate seat because, well, she just does.

Whatever PalinÂ’s faults, Sarah BarracudaÂ’s America has a lot more going for it than Sweet CarolineÂ’s.
Posted by:Mike

#15  Ima thinkrn Poignancy is like Pregnancy, only with Poigs? Ship could correct me
Posted by: Frank G   2008-12-19 21:03  

#14  "Ms. Kennedy has much going for her. As a public figure, she carries the glamour and poignancy of her family..."

Poignancy is a kind of liqueur, I think. I guess they are talking about Papa Joe being a bootlegger.
Posted by: SteveS   2008-12-19 20:58  

#13  Forgive, MADONNA, forgive - I HAVE KNOWINGLY SINNED IN YOUR EYES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-12-19 19:15  

#12  "Sweet Caroline" > Whoa - now I've got the tune humming in my head.

All together men, wid feeling,"WINTERHAWK......"!
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-12-19 19:12  

#11  I think the name of Jello Biafra's lefty loony band describes the best type of Kennedy.
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-12-19 16:48  

#10  Local Seattle fluff piece described Caroline's dad as "..the martyred President..."
don't think so.
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2008-12-19 16:03  

#9  I was in high school when JFK was killed. In 4 hours he was transformed from a fairly unpopular President to a Saintly transformational being. That was when I first began to distrust the media.
Posted by: tipover   2008-12-19 15:21  

#8  
Full court press to annoint her to the seat, but ex-Gov Mario Cuomo's son wants it too and is highly regarded in NY.  He even knows where upstate NY is and what they do there.


We'll see .....
Posted by: lotp   2008-12-19 14:22  

#7  "Sweet Caroline", eh?

I wonder if this one guy in the Phoenix area (can't remember his name, sorry), still has that song as part of his audience participation segment. It went something like this:

Performer, singing the chorus: "Sweet Caroline"
Audience: "KISS MY ASS!"

(Something I don't think Ms Kennedy would want to hear on her "listening tour", I think.)
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie   2008-12-19 13:39  

#6  "Ms. Kennedy has much going for her. As a public figure, she carries the glamour and poignancy of her familyÂ…"

Is this eulogy, “Poignancy of her family”, reference to the narrative of one family’s life long commitment to public service? Perhaps it’s the obligatory accolade bestowed upon the elite caste that sprung from Papa Joe’s loins? Nawww… It’s code for…she ain’t just rich folks…the lady is wealthy. And it’s the kind of liberal wealth that gave Harry Reid a boner when he recently proclaimed his endorsement. Not to be confused with the self-made wealth of someone like Mitt Romney that, as Harry told us, automatically qualifies him as “out of touch” with hard working Americans.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2008-12-19 12:57  

#5  Looking forward to the SNL skit.
Posted by: DoDo   2008-12-19 12:46  

#4  
Sarah Palin and Caroline Kennedy both suck.
Posted by: Penguin   2008-12-19 12:42  

#3  Another Note to Donks:
If the states not bordering the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (and that's a lot of them) finally got their fill of you, you'd be toast. I'd like to see enough of a kerfuffle happen to drive that thought home.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2008-12-19 11:29  

#2  Caroline..... recently made it known that she would like to be appointed to Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat.

New slippers and a pony as well? No prooooblem.
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-12-19 10:20  

#1  Note to Donks, 1965 was at least two generations ago. History is not kind to those who seek to turn back the clock to 'golden' times. Retro is for music and interior decorating, not building a vibrant culture and society.
Posted by: P2k on holiday   2008-12-19 09:30  

00:00