Meet The New Junior Senator From New York

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand will apparently be getting the appointment after Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg teetered back into her withdrawal.



Not knowing anything about her, my first thought was that it was a savvy move on Governor Paterson's part, to appoint a relative unknown. It's also in line with the Burris appointment of keeping the minority watchers happy, although in this case it is even more untainted.

My second thought was, that woman is way too pretty to be a Democrat. We are talking Bella Abzug country, after all.

And sure enough, I found the Village Voice wringing its hands at the prospect. Here's why.

In the article "Is Gillibrand Too Republican to Replace Clinton?", they mention her ample Republican bonafides.

The irony is that Paterson may be swinging from the nation's most prominent Democratic family to one with strong Republican ties. Gillibrand's father, Doug Rutnik, is an Albany insider and lobbyist whose ties to former GOP powerhouses Joe Bruno, George Pataki and Al D'Amato are legendary.

Palladian, the star Althouse commenter, summed it up for a lot of people when he wrote:

Wow, so the people of New York State will actually get someone from New York State but not from New York City to represent them in the Senate? Cool. And she's not a celebrity or a "princess" and she makes the Village Voice unhappy? Even better.

I am very sorry for Caroline Kennedy, but it seems her camp botched her roll-out, and she did herself no favours by seeming to want the seat, without having the stomach for the fight.

It's one thing to be a Kennedy hungry to serve. It's another to stumble onto the scene, and expect a plum to fall on one's lap after lunching with Al Sharpton.

Running Woman

I'm still backing Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg to be the next Senator from New York, for what little it's worth to her, but I have to confess, I do not know what to make of the rumours she has withdrawn her name from consideration...

...followed closely by denials that she withdrew her name from consideration.

It's not exactly her words, but it is being reported as coming from inside sources, in both cases.

What gives? Is this a Chinese whisper campaign from those opposed to seeing her take over from Hillary Clinton? Is this a Clintonian plot, itself? Or did Governor Paterson call her and tell her straight out that she wouldn't be getting the gig, and to save face, she told associates she is no longer interested?

Then there is that other possibility, which I do not want to think about, because I thought she was her mother's child, the woman who had an indestructible iron core:

That she didn't have the stomach to overcome the criticism that comes with public office, in part, because she didn't expect the Democratic reaction of personal distaste towards her.

We wait, Caroline.

The Schlossbergs And The Kennedys And Obama

What a beautiful family the Schlossbergs are.

Caroline Kennedy didn't intone the best of speeches today, during the slightly down-beat Night 1 of the DNC in Denver, but her sincerity and warmth for her uncle Ted was extremely moving. I can only hope her children were paying attention to their mother, because that's how you represent, in the best sense of the word.

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Caroline For Veep?

I recently blogged about Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg being the first to step up, after the Reverend Wright fiasco, and help Michelle Obama shoulder some press duties that day.

Given the flak, and A-List Obama supporters who kept mum during the whole unsavoury business, I thought that showed a fair amount of courage, and class: par for the course for Mrs. Schlossberg.

Now comes word that President Kennedy's 50-year old daughter is part of the 3 named advisers, to choose his Vice-Presidential running mate.

You know, Harriet Miers had been President Bush's adviser during his search to fill Chief Justice Rehnquist's successor, after his demise. It turned out she got the nod herself (abortively, though).

So what would you say to an Obama-Kennedy '08 ticket?

If only Mrs. Schlossberg had had some genuine political experience, even of the local sort, I think she would've been the best choice for him, by far. The female Boomer vote would've been his instantly (pace Hillary), some wistful Reagan Democrats might've been coerced back to the Party to vote, and those swing States like Pennsylvania, and even the suddenly hesitant Massachussetts would be in the bag.

As it stands, I don't think it will happen. If he gets in, she might get an Ambassadorship, though, as her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith did for the Republic of Ireland from President Clinton.

She is a lawyer, and one who has written several books, one about the intricacies of Constitutional Law. Though without judicial background, technically any lawyer can be nominated to the Supreme Court...

I'm not sure nostalgia should play a consideration in any selection, let alone for the second heartbeat to the Presidency -- but one would have to be inhuman to say it wouldn't be an exciting choice.

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Young Jack

(N.B. MARCH 7: I've been reliably informed by a mutual friend that a cousin of the Schlossberg kids, has linked to this post online. I don't wish to cause any more distress than necessary, so I suggest to any family member reading this to avoid the comments section)

The recent post on Rose Kennedy Schlossberg has consistently received the most amounts of hits of any piece I've written, since starting Sundries.

(In fact, I've even been intrigued to see hits coming from Cambridge, Mass, with the "harvard.edu" address, and wonder if there's a lovely, firm-jawed scion of a famous Irish-Catholic family doing a little egosurfing of her own. Ho-ho, you little scamp, I won't tell!)

Thus was my mindset when I clicked on a link on SiteMetre to see just how people chanced upon my blog.

To my amazement, there was one story not about Rose Kennedy, but about her little bro', John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg.

Now, think of the last time you saw young Jack, as he's known to his near and dear.

Chances are you saw him looking like this, right?





An impeccably, dare I say elegantly, kitted out youngster aged around 6, hanging on to his mother's hand as he came out of his New York apartment building, followed by his teddy bearlike dad just behind.

With great sadness we recall that the occasion was the funeral of his beloved and fond uncle, John F. Kennedy, Jr., killed so tragically off of Martha's Vineyard, as he flew to his cousin Rory Kennedy's wedding.

Whatever are your politics, and whatever is your opinion of the boisterous Kennedy family, this was a tragic story (God, yet ANOTHER one) of a young Kennedy killed much before his time.

A photograph, incidentally, which evoked an iconic image of another little boy hanging onto his bereft mother's hands, so many years ago.

Well, fast forward to December 2006, a few days before Christmas.

Care to guess who this young scamp giving the universal gangsta rapper salute is?





Why, it's (almost) 14-year-old Jack Schlossberg, none other!

There he is, past tweeniehood now, on his way to young manhood in fact, but still showing the baby fat of a kid in physical transition.

Check out those rather feminine hips, which he'll lose in oh, I'd say, about a year. As everyone used to say about young Chelsea Clinton:

"Hang in there, Jack!"

It does get better, trust me. Your bod sheds its weight, and your face fills out. And that's when it hit me.

Wow, this kid looks a lot like his late uncle, already.

I remember a fellow blogger, Ruth Anne Adams, observing at the time, "I think young Miss Schlossberg is quite lovely. Her jawline is Bouvier."

Those are some pretty indestructible Bouvier genes, because young Jack here is well on his way to JFK, Jr. hunkhood.

Just look at this photo.





Not only the same jawline, but indeed, his entire facial structure and lushly thick hair texture is eerily reminiscent of his uncle, even now.

Of course, personality-wise he is at that awkward stage which all teenagers go through -- not quite rebellious, because after all, he IS out taking a stroll with his mother and sister...

...but definitely acting out, by mugging to the camera with generation-specific insouciance, as I like to refer to that tiresome affectation of pretending to be streetwise, and hard.

Just another Park Avenue Fitty Cent. Sigh.

And notice he has defied all common sense, and chosen Christmassy (but expensive) colours for his promenade ensemble: a $72 Lacoste polo shirt, L.L. Bean green windbreaker, and hand-me-down looking blue jeans.

That's his middle sister, Tatiana, next to him, looking charming in that vintage blue coat, not unlike those made famous by her grandma, Jacqueline.

-- By the way, since we're on the general and rather nonsensically gossipy subject, who does Tatiana remind you of, facially? The only person I can come up with, is Christopher Guest repertoire actress, the delightful Canadian-born Catherine O'Hara. It's the set of those Irish eyes, that nails it. --

The look is so popular with the Schlossberg women, that even Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has decided to sling on the Mary Tyler Moore togs, herself.

And for good measure, she doesn't look a day over 35. Hang in there, Caroline!

Yes...

Our rapscallion above may not be quite the catch his uncle was even in his youth, but with such a supportive family, a caring and involved mum, an intellectually-stimulating dad, I think John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg is going to make it, after all.

ADDENDUM: I know who Tatiana reminds me of! Rather silly really.

Her grandfather, the other Jack.



Right, not the colouring, and general puffiness of the face. But you know, the million-dollar, winsome smile. She's her mother's daughter, that's for sure.

As for young Rose Schlossberg, well, she's more her grandmother's granddaughter.

Tsk. Smoking already.





Oh, Rose...stop egosurfing, and start taking care of that ego, you know?


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(Welcome Reader_Iam readers!)

But guess who...





...looks a heckuva lot like her grandma, down to the unfortunate Bouvier perm.





Yes, young Rose Kennedy Schlossberg recently made Wonkette's turgid little gossip column, because she was seen photographed next to a friend, the latter toking on a hookah, up in Harvard where she was enrolled this summer.





But it wasn't some obsessively stalking papparazo, the likes of which used to haunt her grandmother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (most famously, Ron Galella), who it was who took these two photos.

It's actually from her own entry, in Facebook.

Now, I don't know about you, but just thinking of JFK's grandchild having an entry in Facebook, is rather discombobulating.

What next -- Thomas Jefferson's descendants seen hitting on a crackpipe in MySpace?

(By the way, I might be Youtubing these days, but I refuse to Myspace or Facebook, or Friendster myself like an internet party whore. If you want me, you know where you can find me. On Yahoo Games playing Literati)

If young Rose partook of the hookah, it is not known, but you can amply see that the girl has not rid herself of the Irish Curse, since that is, as Wonkette barely contained herself long enough to mention, not a grape juice bottle she's toting.

On the day when Representative Patrick Joseph Kennedy (D-RI), loudly proclaimed that he has a mental illness -- he's a lush -- just further proof that the Kennedys and the bottle are tied together ever since handle-barred moustached PJ Kennedy the Elder, made a killing serving up pints in a tavern in Southie.

We won't even mention the whole Seagrams saga during Prohibition, and that creepy, old Joe Kennedy.

Dirty money always comes back to haunt you. Always.

Of course, stories of Jacqueline Kennedy's smoking 2 packs of Kools per day, were legendary, and she once plaintively asked, just before dying from Non-Hodgins lymphoma, "What was the use of all the jogging and yoga, then?".

Well duh, if you hadn't been such a mega-mundo chainsmoker...like Audrey Hepburn, who was born and died at remarkably similar times (and who also defined brunette elegance for the ages), you just both might be alive today.

...quite possibly listing Ahmadinejad and Monica Lewinsky as your buddies, on an online journal, like Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.

And erm, the Marquis de la Fayette.

(His interests: "dead presidents, france, kicking ass, zombies". Uncanny, me too)

Let me just say that I personally think there's nothing wrong with drinking or smoking, although, I do neither.

Okay, the odd Veuve Cliquot now and then, and though I do have a collection of hookahs I started after my trip to Turkey in the late 90's, this is no way makes me a hypocrite.

Anyway, I didn't inhale or swallow.

I say, if the young girl wants to imbibe during the best years of her life, aged 18, get off her back.

You think the scions of America's political houses should be held to a higher standard than you or I, chugging back Schlitzes at Hooligans?

I find that silly, unreasonable, and quite possibly, unsophisticated.

Besides, how cool is it to see JFK's granddaughter lolling around barefoot, in her Harvard dorm, as an overdressed black girl in pearls takes a toke of some Mexican red nearby?

I'd have paid good money to have seen Robert Lincoln do the same, my friends.

And so would you.

ADDENDUM: See, if Rose Schlossberg had been sent to the Sorbonne, like her grannie had been, she might be freely imbibing her tipple of choice, without one degenerate bicurious blogger batting an eyelash.

Speaking of scions of famous families, here is none other than the lovely granddaughter of Princess Grace of Monaco, Charlotte Casiraghi, doing just that, aged not even 17 in this photo.

I see her as an opium smoker, myself.





Which is surely what Princess Madeleine of Sweden (who completes our trio of well-born lovelies) must've been toking, when she was photographed with neither hookah nor champagne flute.

But rather showing off another kind of wine rack.





Whoa. Marie Antoinette, eat your heart out.

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