For example this Obama guy, maybe? What political dynasty did he come from exactly?

Mahtesian's uncomfortable truth has clearly struck a nerve with Steve Benen.

Indeed, we are, in fact, talking about the party of George W. Bush. Do Republicans really want to talk about the perils of dynasty politics?

Well, to be fair, they have recently become experts on just how bad political dynasties can be. Both for the country and for the political party that embraces them. It doesn't seem like they've actually learned anything from their recent experiences, but others should really look at their failures and realize that a political family is no substitute for competence.

There are way too many of these dynastic elements - Casey (PA) and Murkowski (AK) are two more that come to mind.

But the argument that it is a Dem issue exclusively is bizarre. That said, Republicans are even more guilty is tying Hollywood and celebrity to Dems. Reagan, Schwartzeneger, Sonny Bono, Thompson (though he went from politics to Hollywood and then back again), plus Bunning, Largent, and Lynn Swann. On the Dem side, at least Bill Bradley and John Glenn were more widely accomplished.

Not to mention the salt of the earth common man Mitt Romney.

And not to mention John McCain, who launched his presidential campaign on a base named for his grandfather, but has spent his entire political career manufacturing the myth that he's just a regular guy.

Surely, we've all realized by now that the loudmouths are always accusing somebody else of what they themselves are actually doing.

I am not a fan of dynasties. My view soured me on the Hillary phenomenon very early on. Although discounted by many, this was a factor in Obama getting the nomination.

But, if you consider politics as just another profession, then making a distinction between politics and other professions like the military where many sons and daughters follow in their parents' footstep should lessen this concern about the role of dynasties in politics. Just look at the career of John McCain. I mean his rise in the Navy was strictly by merit, no? Oops. Bad example.

I agree that the Politico piece is off-base. However, wouldn't the whole issue be off the table if senators were not appointed and given an incumbency advantage in advance of an actual election?

In Canada, as I expect is the case in most parliamentary systems, the Prime Minister is obliged to call a byelection to replace a resigning Member of Parliament within 6 months of resignation. This seems to limit the ability to influence-peddle, and still allows parties to appoint or nominate their chosen candidate in the special election. I know Canadian constituencies are much easier to hold an election for then large American states, but it should be incumbent upon states to ensure they have an efficienct election infrastructure anyways.

The article is entitled "Nepotism Nation." Doesn't that have negative connotations beyond it seeming a little unfair that people from the same family keep ending up in politiccs?

Nepotism is when a person gives a job or sweetheart deal to someone in their family. If Patterson gave his wife the seat that would be nepotism. That is not really what is happening here.

"Democrats seem to lack a common man who can just win a good, old-fashioned election..."
So, Barack Obama, who started with no inherited wealth, a single mother, and black isn't a common man who can win a good old fashioned election? At first I thought the quoted statement was more Republican denial but then I realized that it's the beginning of building buzz for a Palin/Joe the Plumber ticket in 2012.

God Bush America.

And they did.

The Bush Dynasty, emphasis on nasty, ruled the USA for generations.

Many think Jeb was the best son for the job of POTUS, instead we got W, who followed his dad, George.

The Bushes.

By far the most dynastic morons ever to be POTUS.

I think we need to hold off (or at least more closely examine) on throwing around the term "dynasty". A Clinton "dynasty"? Based on the wife of the only Clinton to achieve national office? A Jackson "dynasty", based on the FIRST person to achieve just a US Representative position? (Granted, the elder Jackson has much influence; but "power"?) A Biden "dynasty"? Please. Even the Kennedy family has had a member in national office for only the past 50 years.

On the other hand, on the Republican side, you DO have the Bush family (3 generations), the Taft family, the Mack family, etc. etc...

Oops! Remind self to close tags.

For the record, John Sidney McCain's dad was an Admiral, and John floated aimlessly and brashly through school and the military on his father's laurels.

Wait. We voted for the grandson of a goatherder from Kenya, and we're the ones beholden to dynastic politics? What?

New coinage: Hockey dad

While we are on the subject of families and generations...

Bristol Palin is due on 12/20.

What happened to her marriage with Levi?
Do you remember McCain greeting the young couple at the airport? Do you remember McCain putting his hands on them like a minister? That had to be one of the top-10 worst McCain moments of 2008.

So what happened to the shotgun wedding that would bring joy to the redneck world?
And is it okay if I call Levi a Hockey dad?
Or do I have to wait until 12/21?

The diffence is that Democrats are supposed to be the party of Elitists who care about the common man while Republicans are the party of common men who worry about the Rich being taxed too much.

Ryenold's is a turd. I live in his old district. His successor was handpicked by Reynold's mob of corrupt cronies. Reynolds did nothing for the district except loot the federal treasury, take it in the ass for his mobbed up colleagues, and protect pedophiles.

You misunderstood the Republicans, which is often their sad fate. When they said, " a common man who can just win a good, old-fashioned election", they meant the kind in which you are judged by how much fun you would be to have a beer with. Never mind your ability to solve an economic crisis or keep the country out of messy wars that are none of its business - do you like nuts with your brew, or are you a pickled-egg man? Never mind if you've run every business venture to which you've been entrusted straight into the side of Failure Mountain - do you lay down the bucks for a new jug when it's your round, or do you make an excuse to go to the bathroom?

By the way, the Denver Post this morning lists three front-runners for Ken Salazar's senate seat, and none of them is his brother.

It makes a good story, though.

So what happened to the shotgun wedding that would bring joy to the redneck world?

They called it off when they realized it would be bigamy. The baby's father is already married to Sarah Palin.

"He picked Hillary Clinton, who's married to a former president, but who's clearly qualified in her own right."

I respectfully disagree.

I don't think the foreign policy experience of first lady for eight years and junior senator from NY for eight years measures up to the foreign policy experience of people like Richard Holbrook, Madeline Albright, Colin Powell, Susan Rice and many others.

I never bought Hillary's experience by osmosis argument, and I wish it wasn't part of the conventional wisdom.

When it comes to my vote for president, I'll take judgment over experience every time. However, the president can and should surround himself or herself with all the experience he needs. In that regard, I think Obama screwed the pooch with his appointment of Hillary to Secretary of State. In addition to her lack of experience in this area, her health care initiative in the 90s and her presidential campaign demonstrated to me that she's incapable of managing an organization, such as our State Department, in anything other than a dysfunctional manner.

I hope she proves me wrong.

"The U.S. Senate could end up looking like an American version of the House of Lords."

Even if the maximum number of blood relations in Congress posited by Mahtesian turns out to be a reality (which is doubtful), that would amount to 12% in the Senate and a little less than 5% in the House. This hardly constitutes a hereditary nobility.

How did we reach the point where so many of the putatively smart people writing about politics today come out with such stupid nonsense? I swear, these guys are in love with the sound of their own voice. And this is a life's work?

I seem to recall a point -- I believe it was a month ago -- when Democrats had all kinds of folks winning quite a few good, old-fashioned elections.

2008 was a new-fangled election, not old-fashioned. Old-fashioned elections are won by white Republicans, hence Reynold's comment. Remember, elections won by Democrats don't count.

The republicans are notorious for projecting their own faults, foibles, and sins onto their opponents. The question is do they know what they're doing or is it unconscious? Do they believe it absolves them of wrong doing or are they just being defensive? Who knows, but it does make them look stupid, which appeals to their base, I guess.

Steve,

You have just scratched the surface of Republican dynasties. In November, Duncan D. Hunter was elected to replace his father Duncan C. in California. Gus Bilirakis succeed his father in Florida. Mary Bono (CA) and Joanne Emerson (MO) were first elected after the deaths of their spouses.

Robert Bennett (UT) is the son of former Senator Wallace Bennett. Frank Murkowski (AL) appointed his daughter Lisa to succeed him. Also in Alaska, Ben Stevens, son of Ted, was a State Senator. Lincoln Chafee (RI) was appointed after the death of his father John. In Wyoming, we have another father-son duo, Milward and Alan Simpson. In addition, when Craig Thomas died, Alan's son Colin was one of the names under consideration as a possible successor.

For more than a hundred years, a Congressman named Hamilton Fish represented the lower Hudson Valley in New York. In New Jersey, we have Rod Frelinghuysen, who is the sixth generation of his family to serve in Congress. In 1793, a Senator named Frelinghuysen was representing New Jersey.

The children of cops are more likely to become cops than the children of other professions. Plumbers' kids are more likely to become plumbers, actors' kids to become actors, doctors' kids to become doctors. There's lots of reasons for this - seeking parental approval, having existing contacts, etc, but the most obvious (and probably underestimated) reason is - the job has already been on their radar all their life.

It never occurs to a doctor's kid that they might not be able to become a doctor, a plumber's kid is probably 'playing plumber' with dad's tools in early childhood. They are less likely to have unrealistic ideas and expectations of their parents' profession, and have a pretty good idea how to get started.

Only when it's politics do we have a tendency to dislike this human propensity for familiarity, and perhaps with good reason - if ruling positions were the exclusive domain of a ruling caste, you obviously have a problem. But short of erecting barriers to make entry into public service MORE difficult for the children of public servants - sort of a reverse affirmative action - it's not clear to me that anything can (or should) be done about it.

Okay now kids
For all you "Palin Detractors", fill in the blank:

Caroline Kennedy is QUALIFIED to hold the New York Senate seat because ______________.

(We all know of course that Sarah Palin was NOT from one of the American Political Dynastic Families-Dodd, Gore, Kerry, Romney, Bush, Kennedy..... it's All In The Family really, no really, they have to protect their generational wealth somehow..... Where have I seen this before and what could we compare this to...? Oh, an ogliarchy)Thank God for that CHANGE you can believe in because YES WE CAN-and they will......

Of course, you don't have to come from a political dynasty to be an inbred moron. Happens to the good, common, men (and women) too -- vide Inhofe and Palin.

Hey, A. American - by the way, is that your real name? - that was a fairly incoherent post. I got that you were trying to say something, and I picked up a faint Palin-was-good-Obama-is-bad vibe, but if there was an actual point in there, it was well hidden.

Never mind; you can hold out hope that Palin will be the Republican candidate in 2012. In that, you will have strong bipartisan support.