DATELINE: Lewes, Delaware.
The sleepy seaside town of Lewes Delaware has little to recommend itself but quiet and beaches (schnauzers permitted before 8:00 AM and after 6:30 PM), with girl watching restricted to those whose preference is ladies with hair of blue, the same one of which seems to be behind the counter of all downtown’s quaint little shops.
Domestic Partner likes the proximity to the Outlet Store Wonderland on the local highway, but since she doesn’t drive and public transit barely exists, this is just one more reason to wish I were back in the City of Homes and Churches.
Yesterday, we broke the slumber by going to Rehoboth, where Dybbuk spent the day’s meal money in an effort to win a new DSI at a game arcade.
We came home with a new Pez dispenser.
While in town, we visited an actual bookstore (prohibited in Lewes by local ordinance, unless they sale only rare editions) and saw a copy of Christine O’Donnell’s new autobiography (I think it was called “The Audacity of Dope”). I have to give her her props though; Chris Koons might have kicked her butt in the Senate race, but if he writes a book, it would not likely outsell hers, even in Delaware.
Today, we will be riding a pirate ship at $25 a head (not counting the tips for the performers, who are otherwise unpaid).
If I wanted to see buccaneers, I’d be back in the City, where I’d doubtless be writing several detailed columns about the events commented upon within.
I’d also manage an appropriate salute to the late great producer/song writer Jerry Leiber, one of the heroes of Rhythm & Jews (I will note however, that several of the pols and pundits named within this column do call to mind the title character of “Hound Dog.”)
But, given my current leisurely pace, this will have to suffice for all purposes.
Bob Turner may be the real Obama, because as a candidate, no one exceeds the audacity of his hopes.
To review: this is the man who just weeks ago made public statements made public statements like:
“There are people in Washington, and I can mention Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, who know what to do.”
“My desire to go to Congress was to fix what’s broken and go home. End subsidies. End government dependencies. Dramatically cut the budget by 30 or 35 percent.”
“Social Security and Medicare need to return to their original purpose all extremities need be eliminated and place in non-guaranteed social programs.”
If that were not enough to make clear where Turner stood (Red State Watch called him “The quintessential Tea Party candidate”), we also know that Turner spoke at a Tea Party rally in September 2010.
As The Brooklyn paper noted in covering that event:
“Former Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey, Blue Collar Corner blogger Andrew Sullivan, Republican congressional candidate Bob Turner and Republican Assembly candidate Nicole Malliotakis all addressed the crowd, although Malliotakis did not take the Brooklyn Tea Party pledge to freeze the budget and reduce capital spending by 15 percent, to fight the so-called Ground Zero mosque and support a divisive Arizona immigration law that allows police to demand immigration papers from anyone they suspect of being in this country illegally.”
One can come to no other conclusion that, the others, Turner included, agreed to fully embrace the Tea Party agenda he now denies supporting. In fact, as noted above, Turner did not think it cut deep enough.
How deep?
Try this pie chart linked here.
But, as documented here and here, faced with the enticing offer of an endorsement by Ed Koch for the small price of denying he favored everything he ever stood for, Bob Tuner turned into Molly Bloom and could not stop saying “Yes.”
If Bob Turner were female and under fifty, he would be pregnant with Ed Koch’s love child.
In one of its rare instances of the press actually noticing the truth during the course of this race, a reporter asked Turner about his prior statements, and he admitted they were 'blatant pandering.'
Yes, he’s admitted to pandering to National Review in June. With any luck at all, he will admit to pandering to Ed Koch after this election is over.
Since Turner got religion, the race’s pattern had gone something like this.
Koch swears Turner is committed to preserving Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Turner, forgetting that he’s promised Koch he no longer supports the Ryan plan, makes clear his commitment to Social Security does not encompass most of those not already receiving it, since he’s only committed to preserving Social Security for those 55 and over.
Plus, he tries to scare old people by portraying the Democrats as the ones who want to cut Medicare.
Weprin naturally feel compelled to alert voters to Turner’s past statements, and accurately states that the policies Turner embraces would inevitably lead to cuts in Social Security and Medicare.
Koch then records a robo-call, saying that David Weprin should be ashamed himself for questioning Ed Koch’s infallibility.
After all, who are you going to believe about where Bob Turner stands, Bob Turner, or Ed Koch?
Koch may have a point. Turner clearly knows he is lying, while Koch may just be suffering from dementia.
Weprin’s campaign then calls the robo-call misleading, which would seem to be an understatement.
Turner then says that Weprin owes Ed Koch an apology for having the temerity to point out that Ed Koch has said something not in accord with the facts.
At least this time, Turner is being consistent. Turner’s entire ideology seems to be based upon substituting faith for reason. In the new version of Bob Turner’s theology, Ed Koch has now moved to Rome and acquired a red yarmulke, and David Weprin must be excommunicated for questioning some Papal bull.
Actually, there is an alternative theory of Turner, which is that he does not even realize that his statements often contradict himself before he finishes a sentence.
I especially enjoy this one from the Post.
Reiterating his position that the most important issue in this race is stopping the construction of an Islamic facility which will likely never be built, and making sure it never gets government funds it can’t possibly receive, Turner says:
“I’m not suggesting we suspend the First Amendment. We all know about rights [but] “there are things we can do on the funding, the zoning, to see that it is put somewhere else.”
Now I know Bob Turner is not a lawyer, but does he really believe that somehow the government can just specifically use spot zoning to stop an “as of right” facility solely because of the religious beliefs of the facility’s sponsors, and not be in violation of the First Amendment?
I actually received some flak for saying that Bob Turner opposes a mosque proposed for Sheepshead Bay, even though I documented that Turner spoke at a Tea Party Rally in that area held to oppose that Mosque.
Through several layers of intermediaries, some apparently worried that this contradicts Turner’s statement re “Ground Zero” that “If they want to build a mosque, they can build it somewhere else—anywhere but Ground Zero," thus making Turner look like the bigot he undoubtedly is, I was told that Turner only appeared at the rally to speak about “Ground Zero.”
There is no such evidence in the press coverage, which documents deviations from Tea Party dogma by others, but not Turner.
I’m sorry, but if Tuner appeared at a rally called to oppose Same Sex Marriage and institute the mandatory castration of LGTB men, I would have to say he supported both positions, unless he specifically repudiated one of them.
Out of fairness, if Turner wants to go on record saying he does not oppose the Sheepshead Bay Mosque, I will gladly run a piece publicizing this position.
I would not recommend that one hold one’s breathe wailing for such a clarification.
Before I go on another tirade against ”progressive nihilism” as manifested in the 9th CD race, fairness dictates that I acknowledge the honorable exceptions of the Daily Gotham’s Mole333 and Michael Bouldin.
However, the problem mostly persists; after all, there are more important things to worry about, like District Leader races in Manhattan.
But, Phil Anderson at the Albany Project ups the ante on brain dead "progressive nihilism" in the 9th CD.
He doesn't care who wins. In fact, one gets the feeling that, if not for Turner’s falafel bashing, Anderson would endorse Big Bad Bob.
Instead, Phis is neutral.
After all, both candidates reflect their district's position on Israel and we can't have that.
And defeating Weprin might make the local party leaders look bad, and that's good, so fuck the national impact.
And anyway, who gives a damn about RINO Obama? This will send him a good message
Of course, contrary to Phil, that message will be "go even further right."
Phil takes no notice of things like the GOP’s distribution of anti-gay hate literature showing Weprin marching with a Rainbow flag. That might muddle the moral clarity of his principled neutrality.
Anderson is undeniably a real “progressive, but one does not need to be the genuine article to take a morally repugnant stance in this race.
As Bob Turner run for 'Congress on a platform of xenophobia, homophobia, and hiding his Tea Party credentials in a closet, phony "progressive hero" Gary Tilzer tries to market Turner's race a crusade for "reform."
Sadly, schmucks like Phil Anderson appear to have swallowed Tilzer’s Kool-Aid.
Special Added Bonus (Other Races):
I've been delaying doing a piece on the 54th AD race for months now, but Colby Hamilton almost eliminates the need.
A little softer on Towns and Gonzalez than I'd be (Hamilton seems to think the race involves two sock puppets; I count three), and a little light on the ethnic element, but this is pretty close to just right Thoughts on last night’s 54th Assembly debate in Brooklyn | The Empire empire.wnyc.org
The perfect slogan for the Wills/Jennings Council Race: "Bring Back Ada Smith!" Queens City Council Candidate Allan Jennings Spends Big, But Not to Repay Taxpayers www.cityhallnews.com
Given the amount of news, and the time elapsed since my last column, there really should be more, but to answer the question once posed by Jerry Leiber. “That is really all there is.”