Sometimes I get my best ideas from unlikely sources.

In this case, reading through pages of kookie Blagojevich ideas on how to fill that lucrative Senate seat - sell it? make himself Senator? trade it? bargain it for a cush job for his wife? rent it out by month? Put it on eBay, as Ben Smith contends? (Worked for Palin, why not Blago?)

Well, it seems like Obama's seat will sit empty for a while, so here we can have a black man in the Senate as well as the first blind man. (No bad puns, please). Paterson can simply appoint himself.

Of course if Sen. Kennedy has really been lobbying for his niece, as the NYTimes reported yesterday, he might choose to be very careful in implying what he'll give for the favor:

Democratic aides told The Times on Monday that Mr. Kennedy had spoken with the three men and talked up Ms. Kennedy's capacity to mount consecutive costly statewide Senate races in 2010 and 2012 by tapping into her family's extensive fund-raising network.

The clincher in all of this is that Blago isn't going anywhere yet (and could choose to fill the Senate slot immediately, cutting off Illinois' plans for a special election), while Hillary hasn't resigned her seat yet, and until she's confirmed sometime in January, there is no New York seat to offer.

And I'd be remiss not to mention one important thing - as we've learned in the prosecution of Siegelman and investigation of Spitzer, there's frequently a high amount of politics involved, and much as it feels good to hate on Blagojevich, he may be not guilty, Fitzpatrick or no Fitzpatrick. Politics is full of subtle and not-so-subtle quid-pro-quos, and in Siegelman's case the Feds decided to turn a typical political trade into a legal issue. Kennedy's supposed lobbying for his niece in exchange for better support for New York in the Senate (health care, anyone?)  sounds despicable, but this type of pressure and horse trading is part-and-parcel of our system. How else did the Bridge to Nowhere get funded?

From the New York Post, so take it with a grain of salt:

Powerful senator and family patriarch Ted Kennedy has been working back channels to promote niece Caroline as the replacement for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate, family sources told The Post.

The elder Kennedy (D-Mass.), who’s battling brain cancer, has sent word to Gov. Paterson’s office that Caroline Kennedy, 51, has contacts and family connections that would mean legislation affecting New York would receive prompt attention, family sources said.

Let’s see, “Hire my niece and I’ll push laws for New York through like a rabbit at a greyhound track”. Or perhaps implying the contrapositive, “Don’t hire my niece, and New York laws will pass through the Senate slower than whale shit in an ice floe”. I wonder if John “the Honorary Kennedy” Kerry weighed in to double down on the Quid Pro Caroline as well, or whether any bit-players from the Sopranos were hired to threaten the blind Governor. (“Pssst, Guv’nuh, they’re shaking their fists at ya, act scared.”)

Meanwhile, a list of qualified candidates for office appeared from one quarter. I hear the Cuomos are on the outs with the Kennedies after Andrew uttered a complaint in public about his Kennedy wife sleeping around on him with a married man. Silly Andrew, Jackie and Ethel knew to keep mum about such affairs. I shudder to think what effects his indiscreet remarks had on New York legislation in the Senate during those sensitive earyl war/post-9/11 days. Dick gets back at Joe by outing Valerie, Uncle Ted gets back at Andrew for outing Kerry? And Caroline is the price to bring the New York families back together. Well, doesn’t quite hold together, but if I were to write a modern potboiler based on Borgias and De Medicis, the casting’s not bad, a few plot corrections and all is well.

See, I can keep up with the tabloids too.

PS - I don’t feel like writing another post on it, so here’s one of the nicer summaries that goes into details on just why William Ayers was a poor misunderstood guy taken advantage of by an insatiable press and vengeful right nut wingosphere, and why his recent NY Times explanation should be taken at face value. Enjoy, and don’t forget to clice Recommend. It’s been weeks now since I shamelessly self-promoted.