It's time to embrace American royalty - glenn greenwald

[spanone]

re: jenna bush being hired as a correspondent for the toady show

~snip~

They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager, Luke Russert, Liz Cheney, Megan McCain and Jonah Goldberg, and they should have Chris Wallace moderate it. They can all bash affirmative action and

talk about how vitally important it is that the U.S. remain a Great Meritocracy because it's really unfair for anything other than merit to determine position and employment. They can interview Lisa Murkowski, Evan Bayh, Jeb Bush,

Bob Casey, Mark Pryor, Jay Rockefeller, Dan Lipinksi, and Harold Ford, Jr. about personal responsibility and the virtues of self-sufficiency. Bill Kristol, Tucker Carlson and John Podhoretz can provide moving commentary on how

America is so special because all that matters is merit, not who you know or where you come from. There's a virtually endless list of politically well-placed guests equally qualified to talk on such matters.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/30/royalty/index.html

[scarletwoman]

1. Maybe it's just me, but I sorta get the feeling that Greenwald is a tad annoyed... (nt)

[Captain Hilts]

2. Mention no Kennedys? Linc Chafee, Al Gore, David Paterson, Nancy Pelosi, etc. nt

[spanone]

4. the party is irrelevant imho.....it's a broken machine

UPDATE III: For those complaining that there are many other examples of political nepotism and dynastic succession other than those mentioned here: this was a two-paragraph post in which I stated explicitly that, beyond the identified examples, "there's a virtually endless list of politically well-placed guests equally qualified to talk on such matters." When saying that, I linked to this post of mine from last December, which, unlike today's post, was intended to be a very comprehensive discussion of American political aristocracies and royal families. Anyone who thinks I'm somehow being selective in this critique should read the first paragraph of that post. And yes: this also would absolutely be an example of the same syndrome.
That said, today's post is about a particular strain of royal succession: those who inherit their position and and whose achievement is attributable to their mommies and daddies and yet ludicrously purport to be Stern Advocates for (and Beacons of) Meritocracy and become righteous opponents of "unfair" affirmative action on the ground that only merit should determine advancement. Not everyone who inherits their influence is guilty of that.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/30/royalty/index.html

[babylonsister]

3. YAWN. Jay Rockefeller, if anyone would listen to him, is a big advocate

of a public plan.

And Greenwald annoys often. Period. I know people think he's never wrong, so what? And sometimes I agree with him. :shrug:

[Captain Hilts]

6. Yes, Rocky certainly is! nt

[LostInAnomie]

5. Meritocracy is a fucking myth. Always has been, always will be.

Just take a look at how many Kennedy names are getting thrown around as Teddy's replacement.