Caroline Scrutinized: The More 'You Know,' The Worse?
No one is exactly racing to put the stamp on Caroline Kennedy as our next senator following her recent series of interviews with local media. Veteran New York politics journalist Andrew Kirtzman says thinks her roll-out has been disastrous, telling Politicker NY, "The interviews were catastrophic to her cause. They totally undermined one's faith in her. It's becoming clear why the roll-out has been so tentative and low-key: Her communications skills could take months to improve, and she doesn't have that kind of time." Ouch.
Those communication skills have been coming under the microscope, specifically with her frequent usage of the phrase "you know," wherein many media outlets have jumped on the bandwagon started by Gawker over the weekend, calling out Caroline for dropping 12 "you knows" in a minute, 138 times total during her NY Times interview. The LA Times calls her the new Sarah Palin "by golly." And FishbowlNY almost suggests we could have a "you know" gate on our hands in noting that as opposed to the other new outlets who published interviews with her, the AP chose to edit out the phrase.
A nationwide CNN poll showed that over 40% of Americans thought that Kennedy was unqualified for the senate before her media blitz. But maybe that's fitting considering the lack of experience in office by those who have held the seat she's vying for.
To add to her woes, Sheldon Silver sure still sounds less than convinced that he can count Kennedy as an ally of local Democrats despite meeting with her for 45 minutes Friday. He told the Post that he still has all the same concerns, specifically, "it's clear to me that she is sponsored by the mayor or by [Deputy Mayor] Kevin Sheekey."
That certainly seems to be the stance taken in the cartoon above by artist Zina Saunders, which we believe is an imagining. While we think the mayor certainly looks adorable taking care of the new queen of Camelot, Kirtzman's advice is "I'd get her working the phones, and have the mayor's people get off of them."
No comments:
Post a Comment