Caroline Kennedy is catching a lot of flak lately, all because she thought would offer herself as a candidate to fill a Senate seat once held by her late uncle, Robert F. Kennedy.

To read and listen to some pols and pundits, how dare she!

There are those who claim she's only there because of her political family name. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) went so far as to claim Mrs. Edwin Schlossberg (her married name) has no relevant experience, that she has never held a job let alone elective office. New York papers are beating their chests that she had the nerve to not vote in several mayoral and primary elections. Heaven forbid a Kennedy exercise her Constitutional right to not vote just like several million Americans do each and every election cycle.

Susan Molinari, also a New York Republican and former member of, and daughter of, and wife of former members of  Congress weighed to say all these questions about her perceived lack of experience and political dynastic politics are "fair game." Tough scrutiny, they call it. Hey Susan, meet kettle. 

That got me thinking. (And Lord knows, that is a dangerous thing for anyone to make me do!)

John Adams, John Quincy Adams.

Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Joseph P. Kennedy, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Robert Francis Kennedy, Edward Moore Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy, Sargent Shriver, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Arnold Schwarzenegger (Mr. Maria Shriver).

Andrew Cuomo (with a Kennedy cousin as an ex-wife, no less), Mario Cuomo.

Prescott Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, George Walker Bush, Jeb Bush.

Guy Molinari, Susan Molinari, L. William Paxson.

Richard Daley, William Daley, Richard Daley, Sr.

Albert Gore, Sr. Albert Gore, Jr.

William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Jerry Brown.

Ronald Wilson Reagan, Maureen Reagan.

James Wolcott Wadsworth, John Hay, Stuart Symington, J. Fife Symington, John Hay Whitney, James W. Symington, Fife Symington III

Stewart Udall, Mo Udall, Tom Udall, Mark Udall, Gordon Smith, John Hunt Udall, Nick Udall, Rex E. Lee.

George Romney, Mitt Romney.

John Sununu, Sr. John Sununu, Jr.

Basil Paterson, David Paterson.

Thomas D'Alessandro, Jr. Nancy Pelosi, Thomas D'Alessandro, III.

"Moon" Landrieu, Mary Landrieu, Mitch Landrieu, 

(For more poltical families, see this spot at Wikipedia, for this list is by no means definitive.)

For all the big talk about how the United States is not about political dynasties, and all the talk about how "democratic" the process should be to allow the "qualified, but unconnected" people access, it is amazing how all this talk comes from folks who are pretty well-connected themselves.

Even Peter King has some good New York connections: seems Mr. King's father, Peter, Sr., was a New York City policeman. In NYC, having family as part of New York's Finest or Bravest is the ultimate connection to one of those good paying jobs whose nexus is a stone's throw from Battery Park.

The truth is, we like dynastic politics even though we say we don't. We like the idea of fathers and daughters, Guy and Susan or Jack and Caroline, or mothers and sons, like Carrie P. and Kendrick Meeks serving in our government. We feel comfortable with families who've made politics and public service part of the family business.  

Attempting to disqualify Caroline Kennedy on the basis of her family heritage is as petty as it gets. 

In case you hadn't heard, the continuing Blago scandal is "really bad" for President-Elect Barack Obama.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Here are a few more things that are bad news for Obama:

I mentioned "icebergs," and they indeed are bad for Obama. What with all the ships they sink, and the things they hide. Just the tips of icebergs show, so you never know what is lurking underneath.

Fridays are bad for Obama. They are traditionally slow news days. That means the media has to make something last through the weekend. On Fridays, people go to happy hour. That is bad, because they drink, presumably to get happy. Happiness is another bad thing for Obama because happy people are not complaining as much as they are required to. Complaining is also bad for Obama because people complain about things over which he has no direct control, but what the hey, he's "Super President-Elect-in-Chief" so he should be able to fix everything, after all, that's why we voted for him.

And the fact that he hasn't fixed anything yet, is also bad news for Obama. What's he waiting on? What's all this talk about "only one President at a time?" Can't we have more than one President?

Joe Biden got a puppy before Obama. That is seriously bad news. Not only did Biden have the nerve to get a purebred German Shepard, he had to go and get it from a licensed, reputable dog breeder. What, no puppy mill? No rescue dog? He had to go the "elitist" route and get a purebred. Obviously, Biden was trying to make the point that the next President is a "mutt." That is bad news. The only thing worse than that is if Biden named the puppy "Shepard Smith." 

Obama got named TIME's Person of the Year. Great. That is really, really bad news. Everyone knows you only get named Person of the Year if you "pay for play" on the cover of the magazine. What's next? The cover of Rolling Stone? (Oh, yeah... he's done that too.)

An Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President Bush. That is bad news for Obama because now everyone will be throwing basketball shoes at him. Reeboks, Nikes, Converse Chuck Taylors. (Good thing he doesn't like grunge that much or there'd be flying Doc Martens.) Of course, they won't be throwing shoes because they don't like him. Just because they want him to autograph them and throw them back.

Obama's had news briefings just about everyday for the last two weeks. That is bad news for Obama because he's supposed to be "transparent" because that's what "the American people want" according to a CBS news correspondent. Standing in front of the TV cameras everyday, having a pack of press hounds called "pool reporters" (even though they never go anywhere near a pool) and answering inane questions like "Even though the US Attorney asked you to hold off until next week telling us what you know about how Blago grooms his hair, why are you refusing to tell us now? Aren't you being non-transparent?" is bad news for Obama because he is just not being transparent enough to satisfy these reporters.

President Bush can't make up his mind about bailing out auto industry. That is bad news for Obama. Very bad. Just because it is one more thing he'll have to do later instead of now because he won't contravert the Constitution and just overthrow Bush now instead of this "waiting to be sworn in" thing.

There's more... the whole "competent Cabinet officers" thing. Whatever happened to the "heckuva job, Brownie" mentality. What? Obama just has to show off and choose people who really know how to do the jobs he picks them for. Geez Louise!

Rick Warren is bad for Obama. Sure, (stealing someone else's line) Rick Warren is Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt. But asking the guy to give a prayer at Inauguration is horrifically bad news. Because Rick Warren has issues with gay people. So, if Obama asked Archbishop Wuerl -- who would also have a problem with gays, women in the priesthood, abortion and that little Catholic church sex abuse thing -- that would be better news? What if he asked a Muslim Imam or a Rabbi -- who would have diametrically opposed views on the Middle East one would suppose -- is that better?  Hmmm... wanting us to all "just get along" for at least a few days is really, very, really, very bad news for Obama.

And finally, I'm out of Grey Goose. That is extremely bad news for Obama. But not nearly as bad as the fact that I haven't gotten my personally delivered invitation to the most exclusive Inaugural Ball he and Michelle will be attending, along with my luxury suite at Blair House and one-of-a-kind Badgley-Mischka gown from the transition team yet.

That's so bad I could throw my shoes...

Friday Morning Update: As I predicted, Fridays are defintely bad for Obama. Just this morning, President Bush makes the eleventh hour decision to bailout the auto industry. Bad news for Obama. By now, you don't even need me to tell this is bad news. Actually, you don't even need a reason. If it happened, it's bad for Obama.

Caroline Kennedy didn't vote in 1989!!!! Horrible news for Obama. Why didn't he tell her back then he was running for President in 2008 and she needed to vote because she would decide to allow herself to be considered for the Senate seat once held by her uncle Bobby? Didn't she realize that not working a 9 to 5 job would be bad for Obama?

And just who told Al Franken to run for Senate, while we're speaking of the Senate. Sure he had a 9 to 5 (or longer) job as a comedy writer on Saturday Night Live, but didn't he realize these are serious times? He should have had a serious job like, I dunno Governor of Wasilla or Mayor of Alaska or something. Bad, bad news for Obama.

And Blago speaks! Oh no!!! Whatever he says will be bad for Obama. If he claims he's innocent, that's bad news. If he says he never talked about nothing to nobody, especially a nobody named Emanuel, well, that could be the end of the world as we know it.

Brace yourselves.... 

Josh and a number of other bloggingheads are ecstatic with the choice of Chuck Todd as the new NBC Chief White House correspondent... or as Huffingtonpost had it for a few hours earlier, in a headline far too reminiscent of the Daily Show, the "Chief White Correspondent." (Larry Wilmore retains the job as "Chief Black Correspondent," and Aasif Mandvi stays on as "Chief Brown Correspondent." The other colors have not been announced yet.)

I'm not so impressed. In a cynic's take, some of the last moves NBC News has made seem to be trying to "woo the gods."

Luke Russert is a lovable lump like his dad, the late Tim Russert, but network news material? Not really. David Gregory's a 6'5" long drink of water, who's got some decent (if "White Boy") dance moves, but not really the best choice for Meet the Press. (If he "grows" into the job, he'll be darn near 7 feet tall.)

And Chuck Todd? Chief White House correspondent? Nope. Not my pick.  Here's a guy who spent the majority of this election simply repeating whatever was the day's conventional wisdom and, er, "talking points." Nothing original there. Todd spent day after day repeating and repeating meaningless poll results ("Newsflash: white people who don't like black people will probably not vote for the black guy"), giving us the top ten ways John McCain or Hillary Clinton "can still win!!!!" and his latest, greatest hit, "how Blago and not talking about Blago and being in Chicago where Blago is and knowing someone who knows Blago is BAD NEWS FOR OBAMA!!!!"

If you want to "groom" Chuck Todd, give him a comb and brush set for the holidays. But don't put him in the White House press pool.