“Take away the part about her father the president and her uncles the senators, ignore for the moment her Park Avenue address, peel away the talk of the dangers of dynasty and the power of privilege, don’t even touch the question of whether anyone would be picking apart her credentials if it were a male Kennedy who was under consideration – and what is at the core of all this shouting is what, nowadays, counts as experience.” Exactly. Take away all that, and what have you got? Someone as fit to be in the Senate as me…

OK, forget me, but if the governor is going to appoint a private citizen of the female gender – and I hope he will, because it is just ridiculous that only 16 senators are women – it is hard to believe Caroline Kennedy is the most gifted, energetic, focused, can-do woman around. New York is full of brilliant, accomplished women – Judith Kaye! Gail Collins! Rachel Maddow!