After backtracking on a comparison between Caroline Kennedy and Sarah Palin last week, the Times aired such a juxtaposition today. But its headline spun her aloofness positive.

For Kennedy, Self-Promotion Is Unfamiliar, A21

This story on the prospective senator's struggle to sell herself showed her as kind of a cold fish. Which is interesting! She's had "a lifetime of being wooed by others" and now is "courteous but... not exactly passionate." Or qualified, but, hey, that's not NEWS, really.

One Democratic organizer cattily told the Times, "She's raised flags... the recent flubs have been damaging." Ouch. And then there's this:

Byron W. Brown, the mayor of Buffalo, said that when they met recently in his city hall office, he asked if it was O.K. if he called her Caroline. Her response, Mr. Brown said, made for a kind of “Sarah Palin-Joe Biden moment.” “Is it O.K. if I call you Byron?” Ms. Kennedy responded, recalling the vice presidential debate earlier this year.

Probably one of the least provocative (or interesting) Palin comparisons possible. We liked last week's much better. Since it, you know, spoke to her political experience rather than her verbal tics.

But: The headline was "For Kennedy, Self-Promotion Is Unfamiliar." That's a friendly way of putting it.

The Mayor, You Know, Says He Can Relate, A23

Ho ho ho, ha ha ha, the mayor can't talk either, just like ummmmm, you know, Caroline Kennedy. Let's minimize the importance of Kennedy's frightening inability to explain why she'd be a good senator, a handicap even more severe than herUncle Teddy's inability to explain why he'd be a good president. This story existed strictly to quote Kennedy's staunch defender Michael Bloomberg, who said this at a press conference:

“If there is anyone who understands the pain and suffering from having the press criticize how you speak, it is me,” the mayor said during a news conference at City Hall on Tuesday afternoon. “But as I told my oldest daughter when she said, ‘They are laughing at you,’ the only ways I know how to make it better is to go out there and do it every day.” (Yes, you read that correctly: ways.)... He also echoed Ms. Kennedy’s own comments that she would always be held to a higher standard because of her boldface name.

Does Bloomberg even need his own wire service?