Caroline's End

According to one report, the health of the family patriarch Teddy disables her from serving. According to another, it was a face-saving maneuver because Gov. Paterson wasn't planning on choosing her. Whatever the reason, the press won't have Caroline Kennedy to kick around anymore.

Kennedy's decision removes the highest-profile name in the ring to step into Clinton's now-vacant seat, as she departs after getting confirmed today as President Obama's Secretary of State.

Sources said the reason Paterson had decided not to tap the daughter of John F. Kennedy was her poor performances in media interviews and in in private sessions with various officials.

Aides to Kennedy couldn't be reached for comment.

Maybe the press can get "I Killed the Appointment" T-shirts now.

To be clear, I didn't really support her bid, but not because she hadn't "earned" it. It was because I don't support a process where one man or woman makes decisions affecting millions of constituents instead of the more American scenario of the people choosing their own representatives. The process was wrong, not Kennedy's inclusion in it per se. And, furthermore, it's still wrong.

...or not. Honestly, I don't really care. But it's appalling to be that the neanderthal Johnny Isakson (R-GA) just made perfect sense on Hardball saying that, in light of the Senate appointments this year, the country would be better off having special elections, and Debbie Stabenow, maybe because she felt she had to defend Democratic governors, took up the opposite side, saying that appointing Senators and making them run within two years was a "good combination." Which is saying nothing at all, and not responding to the problem of a Governor touched by scandal making an appointment, for example.