Reply #13: Sorry if New Yorkers are not joining the Kennedy coronation. [View All]

[JackRiddler]

This is still supposed to be a constitutional republic. Under the NY Constitution the governor appoints, not the television. The corporate media is driving an unprecedented attempt to usurp that.

If the NYT is making up now in some small way for uncritically headlining the pro-Kennedy PR campaign all the way in the first days of what is a media hijack of a governor's decision, so be it. (And the seat is undeniably Hillary Clinton's, she's still sitting in it.)

Are you saying that resistance to a Kennedy selection isn't growing among Democratic leaders? Or that the NYT shouldn't report on this? (That is, after having reported the Kennedy product launch in the first place.)

As for the fake letter, you're confusing different things:

1) If the mayor of Paris wrote about this issue, that is both news and worthy of publication. (Part of the news is that it would be pretty cheeky of a foreign mayor to get involved in this issue.)

2) The NYT editors were completely suckered and it's entirely their fault. Stupidity level: High.

3) No way was this an editorial decision to print an obvious fake. Embarrassment level: Too high. (As to who may have been involved in fooling the editors, that's another matter.)

4) As a rule, the NYT given its particular (if unofficial) role as "paper of record" should never take down pages once published; that way lies Winston Smith.

5) The correction is self-serving and inadequate. It should be at the top of the page and headline the fact that the NYT mistakenly printed a fake letter.

On #5, you have an excellent complaint!

I like Kennedy's politics (insofar as they are known) better than Clinton's. If she had run in the real election, she might have had my vote. The attempted seizure of the appointment by an obvious PR campaign negates that wholly. In this case, good politics cannot make up for usurpation of the established process. (Which is flawed, to be sure: a special election should be held within a couple of months, rather than years down the line.)