1. She asked to be appointed Senator. She wasn't nominated by someone else. She's lobbying for it. For herself. If I were Gov. Paterson, the first qualification for filling Sen. Hillary Clinton's senate seat would be that you would have to be reluctant to take it.
2. According to the government and Fourth Estate, it is no longer a legitimate criticism of a famous person that they are not qualified for office by virtue of having no experience or accomplishments. Rather, they are presumed qualified, and can only be damaged by scandal or bad character issues.
3. There's a name for a state in which being a socialite is a qualification for public office: it's called an aristocracy.
4. The NY Times seems to think that Kennedy should be considered because (1) she's vocal and (2) she's around very rich and powerful people all the time. I guess this makes sense, since this is essentially how Hillary Clinton got her spot. But at least she got elected.