Roger Stone Says "Don't Crown Caroline"
Legendary political operative Roger Stone, who helped bring down the socks of Eliot Spitzer like a ton of bricks, implores New York Gov. David Paterson not to crown "well-meaning socialite" Caroline Kennedy as the next senator from the Empire State. For a Republican loyalist, Stone has got some kind words about other Dems whom he thinks are more legitimate selections:
Governor Paterson has much better choices. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has proven himself a fighter, advocate and problem solver in his environmental non-profit. He would be an excellent choice because he has proven himself and unlike his cousin, has earned it.
Although the Governor would have to convince Mayor Bloomberg to travel to Washington, Bloomberg's business expertise is required in the US Senate in our efforts to rebuild the economy. It would also guarantee the election of a Democratic Mayor in New York City. It is also a terrific platform for Bloomberg to launch a Presidential campaign if Obama crashes.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has shed the immaturity of his Gubernatorial bid and has exhibited more leadership and seasoning as AG after a stint as a Presidential Cabinet member. His appointment would mean paterson could stop looking over his shoulder at the Governor's son who has never hidden his ambition for the Governor's office. Andrew would be a strong pick.
Reason.tv caught up with Roger Stone right before the presidential election when he talked to an Interactive Media Studies class I co-taught at Miami University of Ohio this fall. Watch below (and go here for more details, links, and an audio podcast).
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She is who we thought she is! If you want to crown her, then crown her ass!
My preferred solution? A lottery.
Everybody who wants to be the junior Senator from New York should be allowed to buy one non-transferrable chance; a million bucks for a Senate seat would be a bargain.
Either that, or just auction the damn thing.
Oh, come on! RFK Jr?
This guy is just trying to stir up trouble.
P Brooks-
You want to sell the tickets for $1 million each? Hmm, I suspect that most of the people with the means to buy a ticket would want odds better than 1%, so you'd raise no more than $100 million.
Every good libertarian knows that you get more revenue if you charge less. (LAFFER KURVE!) I'd sell the tickets for $100 each. This could easily raise more than $100 million. Plus, it increases the odds of getting some completely random weirdo.
How to fill a vacant Senate seat:
Let the governor appoint someone to fill the seat for the remainder of the term. During the next regularly-scheduled election for that seat, the appointee is forbidden from running for the seat.
That way, you don't end up with some unelected wifey or something holding the seat for 40 years (because the incumbent always get reelected), and you also don't end up with a mad four-week scramble to decide who's going to hold the seat for 40 years.
You get an appropriate period of time to consider who will be the best Senator.
I know the guy's a concern troll; what I can't figure out is, why is Caroline Kennedy the right choice that he's trying to prevent?
Plus, it increases the odds of getting some completely random weirdo.
Like Arthur Laffer?
DannyK-
Who said that she's a right choice? It could just be that he prefers some other wrong choice.
other Dems whom he thinks are more legitimate selections...
I see. In other words, the Dems have no one.
joe-
Just think about all the easy jokes to be told about somebody named Senator Laffer?
Interestingly, the other people he recommends include two people whose daddies were respectively senator and governor of NYS, and a billionaire who basically bought his current office.
Anyone in America can succeed, don't stop believing!
I suppose you could make the lottery entry fee a hundred bucks, but you still might end up with a fairly small pool of applicants. Unless the Senate seat was the second prize, with a large cash jackpot for the winner.
you'd raise no more than $100 million.
$100 million more, one might note, than the current methodology produces. It might not be much to a guy like Rick Wagoner, but I would stoop down and pick up $100 million off the sidewalk.
So would I, but I think you could raise more with lower entry fees.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Is he the retard with the Katharine Hepburn voice, or is that one of the other Kennedy retards?
And speaking of retards, anyone catch Jr.'s appearance on the Today Show a few months ago, when the boob of a host asked him how his father was doing? Comedy gold.
And speaking of retards, anyone catch Jr.'s appearance on the Today Show a few months ago, when the boob of a host asked him how his father was doing? Comedy gold.
Christ, I almost fell out my chair laughing when I read that. Got a web video link to it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZYtiKeh2CA
RFK Jr.? I'll be damned if that "truther" and global warming alarmist is a US Senator.
I'd prefer to see Bloomberg get the nod. It would prevent him from running for his "I'm doing this for the good of the city" illegal third term. Besides which, having to play nice with 99 other nuts might hold his more authoritarian impulses in check.
thoreau:
"Every good libertarian knows that you get more revenue if you charge less."
...
I don't think that's what the Laffer Curve demonstrates...
I think this has more to do with the demand curve. You would get more buyers by lowering the price, but not necessarily more money. Depends on the shape of the demand curve, elasticity of demand, etc., I believe...
I'd like to see Speed Levitch get the seat, actually.
Warty wins.
What, Margaret Chase Smith wasn't a good Senator.
Sure are a lot of Mainers'll disagree there, joe.
For proper effect that is spoken with my grandfathah's accent.
Let the governor appoint someone to fill the seat for the remainder of the term.
And squander a perfect opportunity for a kick-ass reality show?!
Early odds:
Bill Clinton: 35%
Andrew Cuomo: 15%
Bloomberg: 10%
R Kennedy: 5%
C Kennedy:
Got chopped somehow:
C Kennedy: Under 1%
Rest of the field: 25%
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has shed the immaturity of his Gubernatorial bid and has exhibited more leadership and seasoning as AG after a stint as a Presidential Cabinet member.
Oh, you mean when he was HUD had the single largest individual role in the housing bubble asides from maybe Alan Greenspan?
It seems like the solution would be obvious: appoint your most prominent rival for the governorship from within your party.
paterson could stop looking over his shoulder at the Governor's son who has never hidden his ambition for the Governor's office
anyone think this choice of colloquium is in poor taste, given that the governor of the Great State of New York is legally blind?
I must admit, joe's suggestion for a term-limited temporary appointment is a fine idea.
Isn't RFK, Jr a completely insane nutcase?
I must admit, joe's suggestion for a term-limited temporary appointment is a fine idea.
And yet he is against term limits in general and for controlling political speech.
That one female student goes to Miami University and her sister goes to the University of Miami- that is confusing!
Isn't RFK, Jr a completely insane nutcase?
Yes. Yes he is. But how does that disqualify him for the Senate?
Seen Robert Byrd lately?
Jesus H., that walking corpse makes "decrepitude" seem attractive by comparison.
The difference between MU and UM is MU is getting a deal on their library labels, UM isn't, yet. Nice to see Nick associating himself with such a smart institution.
DEMAND KURV
(Robby - it's a long standing amusement hier at H&R what Doktor Thoreau was saying)
Who the heck is Roger Stone?
jess
http://www.privacy-tools.at.tc
If I were David Patterson, I'd take whatever Roger Stone says and do the opposite.
Why would anyone think Stone has the best interests of Democrats in mind?
Maybe if RFK2 goes to the Senate, he'll draw some of the Truther groupies away from Ron Paul...
there's plenty of trufers to go around...
Why not leave the seat vacant? The state legislature can repeal any authorization it may have given the gov to make temporary Senate appointments (US Constitution, Seventeenth Amendment). Or the gov can simply decline to use the authority given him.
Then the Republic will have to limp along somehow until 2010 with only one Senator from New York. The horror! And the Dems would have one fewer vote to override filibusters against their new legislation.
Moose, I'm reminded of the comedian who said "I don't understand racists - there are plenty of valid reasons to hate people". I don't understand troofers - there are plenty of valid reasons to distrust government for the shit it pulls right out in the open. Why make up wild fantasies about dark cabals of shadowy figures plotting nefarious schemes of Byzantine complexity?
Of course, my long employ with the Illuminatus and the Tri-Lateral Commission may have colored my view somewhat. BTW, the "bailout" will cause the dollar to lose all value in October, 2010. NB: Start buying your Amero futures now!
"Why make up wild fantasies about dark cabals of shadowy figures plotting nefarious schemes of Byzantine complexity?"
that sentence is bacon-wrapped awesome. (to make it absolute perfection, throw in a "womby vaultage")
That way, you don't end up with some unelected wifey or something holding the seat for 40 years (because the incumbent always get reelected), and you also don't end up with a mad four-week scramble to decide who's going to hold the seat for 40 years.
I like the hell out of that. It may not be constitutional, but, I LIKE THE HELL OUT OF THAT IDEA!
Interestingly, the other people he recommends include two people whose daddies were respectively senator and governor of NYS, and a billionaire who basically bought his current office.
Oh? I hadn't noticed.
Why make up wild fantasies about dark cabals of shadowy figures plotting nefarous schems of Byzantine complexity from a womby vaultage?
Yeah, that works.
The problem with appointing somebody who's never won an election is...what if it turns out she's a lousy campaigner, and loses the seat in the next election?
J sub D,
Did you see that Ford isn't going to take the bailout money?
They're in a position, unlike GM and Chrysler, where their corporation doesn't actually need it, although they'd still be dead meat if the suppliers had to shut down because of their competitors' failures.
Think about that. The best-run car company in America is managed by the people who own the Lions.
Tell the poster, Roger Stone, Cuomo, and all the Kennedy scum to go back to MoveOn.com and leave us in peace.
Think about that. The best-run car company in America is managed by the people who own the Lions.
I don't expect anybodfy outside of Detroit to keep up with the auto royalty. Willian Clay Ford, owner of the Lions has been a silent shareholder in the company by all accounts. His kid Bill Ford jr. has taken an active role, but daddy has been quiet. Keep in mind that Ford Motor is still very much a faimily business and much can be accomplished behind the scenes. Class B stock is really something. If I buy any of F, all I can get are common shares. The Ford family owns the good stuff (class B).
This old
NYT article 'splains it pretty well.
And the Lions, in spite of their perennial ineptitude, was a good investment for William Clay Ford.
Hey, you know who's available?
Geraldine Ferarro.
heh
So is Spitzer. He and Vitter can form some sort of whore costco to buy in bulk.
I'm proud of joe for beating J sub to the obvious post, decent carmakers can totally fuck up a football team.
Moose - "Why make up wild fantasies about dark cabals of shadowy figures plotting nefarious schemes of Byzantine complexity rather than happily live in the womby vaultage of objective reality?"
Speaking of womby vaultages, both the carmakers and the Lions could use a little womby vaultage right about now. I have no idea if Caroline Kennedy could.
Why not a Kennedy? Isn't it better than the Chicago way. At least she won't have to bid on the job. Or will she?
Whoever this Roger Stone is, the worth of his opinion dropped to zero almost straight out of the gates.
Christ, if I had to choose a Kennedy, I'd easily take Caroline over RFK Jr. Better yet, I'd take Kennedy the VJ over RFK Jr. Or, you know, one of the drunks and/or felons.
I could so not give a damn what Roger Stone thinks about anything. I wish Reason would stop sucking up to this schmuck. Better you should interview Regis Philbin. Or Mickey Rooney. Mickey you could get, I should think.
Hell, why don't they just appoint Teddy's withered brain? They could put it in a jar next to Robert Byrd. Together they'd amount to almost one whole idiot.
Geraldine Ferraro IS a womby vaultage!
(extra bacon for joe and Baked for those sentences!!)
and her son got busted at Middlebury for blow.
Ed - that's hardcore Futurama, man. hardcore!
(sorry for double)
Alan - just checked out Stone's wiki. man, no kidding!! the guy has "twaddlenock" tatooed through his whole background, upbringing, and current state. mein gott!
Warty-
Taking some shots at Coach Green?
Why don't they just appoint Anthony Kennedy? He already has a lot of legislative experience from his time on the SCOTUS.
libertymike - he was, but he let him off the hook.
Is objective reality really a womby vaultage, BP?
Is it really?
Robert Kennedy? The one who thinks vaccines cause autism? Oh, he's a dandy choice! How about Chelsea? Or Bill?
Warty wins in record time. Well, played.
joe - Point taken, although if you mentally inhabit a universe where OpusDei assassins conspire with the MexicanGovernment to steal your freedom by transmitting SubsonicFrequencies into your ToothFillings, reality could look very womby indeed.
Let the governor appoint someone to fill the seat for the remainder of the term. During the next regularly-scheduled election for that seat, the appointee is forbidden from running for the seat.
Ah, the Delaware method, intended to hold the seat until Biden Jr. is ready to begin his lifetime appointment.
Actually, though, its probably the best approach.
The problem with appointing somebody who's never won an election is...what if it turns out she's a lousy campaigner, and loses the seat in the next election?
Sounds like more of a feature than a bug, to me. Unfortunately, in increasingly deep blue New York, being a Dem Senator is likely a lifetime gig.
cunnivore is on a roll on this thread. Two winnahs!