Did anyone expect that, with nothing left to hold over his head, Joe’d get any less annoying? Lieberman Irks Democrats Before Race for His Senate Seat www.nytimes.com
I'm reminded of Mae West, who used to say she was the girl who works at Paramount all day and Fox all night.
While some, like Anthony Weiner, trawled the nether regions of the Information Superhighway, Governor Sanford preferred the simple manly pleasures found hiking the Appalachian Trail and watching the "Yes Minister" rerun about the "shady lady from Argentine.
With Sanford now Rupert's new Buenos Aires correspondent, can a Weiner slot (perhaps not the best choice of words) on MSNBC be far behind (perhaps not the best choice of words either)? Mark Sanford To Fox News: Ex-South Carolina Governor Joins Network www.huffingtonpost.com
The somewhat cynical calculations afoot in Jim Alessi's initial vote against Same Sex Marriage largely comport with what I said before and after that vote about people's motives:
Alessi: BEFORE we went in to vote on that night, we knew that bill had no chance of passage. And in fact there were eight Democrats at that time that were going to vote against that bill…
…knowing that the bill wasn’t going to pass because the other side didn’t have enough votes meant that you don’t put yourself out there politically for a bill that is going to fail, when your conservatives and your right-wings will work against you in the next election.
What was at stake there….was that the Republican conference was trying to do everything it could to get back in the majority…there were then six of us, without naming names, that wanted to vote yes on that bill, but we knew that it would be used against us in the next election, and again you don’t take a bad vote on a bill that’s not going to pass, I hate to say that, I really hate to say that, but that is the truth, whether it’s marriage equality or it’s a budget bill…
Gatemouth (compiled from all three links): There are several legislators who understand that voting for same-sex marriage may be the political equivalent of painting a target on their shirts. Nonetheless, they are willing to vote for it in service of the greater good and suffer the risk their courage will entail, if the risk they entail results in the change they desire…
Three Republicans were said to be ready to play the…role, if indeed that was the role they would be playing. But they were apparently unwilling to do so until there were 29 Democrats in place to allow them to play that role. There were only 24.
So…we were greeted with the image of Jim Alessi trembling in cowardice.
That there were only three Republicans even willing to consider taking the plunge is testament to the growing power of the party’s far right wing….
I was told that Mike Long had told Dean Skelos that any Republican who supported same-sex marriage would be denied the Conservative line, and that if the bill managed to pass because of Republican votes, all the Senate Republicans would be denied the line. Why State Senator James Alesi, Supporter of Gay Marriage, Voted ‘No’ in ’09 www.nytimes.com
Poor Sandy Frankel: A decade and a half ago, she reached the apex of her career by spending 15 minutes as a statewide sacrificial lamb. Now she's been reduced to being a local hopeless cause. Maggie Brooks, Bill Taylor lead as Nov. 8 nears www.democratandchronicle.com The Tappan Zee as High Line?
Coming soon: the Gowanus Expressway. Feiner's idea for Tappan Zee walkway gathers steam www.LoHud.com
With the WFP involved, it will only be a matter of time before the entire crew and it's half a million in contributions all find their way into some suburban race for County Legislature.
Actually, in some ways that might be an improvement Building blocs: Labor, Occupy Wall Street team up www.crainsnewyork.com
Direct democracy (and connoisseurs of obscure 60 folkies gotta love a guy named Dylan Spoelstra) Occupy Wall Street protester scales sculpture demanding Mayor Bloomberg's resignation www.dailymail.co.uk
Civil disobedience + inertia= productive outcome:
Some activists, like those in Pulse, the committee that represents Zuccotti Park drummers, are a bit worn out by all the collective activity.
Last week, on a rainy night, someone stabbed holes in many of the protesters’ drums with a knife, said Elijah Moses, 19, of Queens, a founder of the Pulse Working Group. Moses asked the General Assembly — the nightly meeting where protesters collectively vote on OWS decisions — for $8,000 to replace the drums, and build a small shed to lock them up.
“They said no — they turned us down. I’m really frustrated,” said Moses. They want $lice of the occu-pie www.nypost.com
OWS may arguably manifest several types of delusionary behavior, but I think Abe Foxman has just said Kaddish and sat Shiva over the idea that one of these delusions is anti-Semitism:
"The movement is not about Jews; it’s not about Israel. It’s about ‘the economy, stupid. ” Occupy Wall Street Criticized for Flashes of Anti-Semitism www.nytimes.com
8 year old Dybbuk was singing "Bohemian Rhapsody." I asked where he learned it. "Wayne's World," he replied. Puzzled by my incredulous look, he explained, "It's iCarly for boys."