Well, it's official. New York City voters are not so stupid that they have given Eliot Spitzer OR Anthony Weiner a chance to advance.* Both lost badly - Weiner lost with only 5% of the vote and Spitzer running for City Comptroller squeaked by with 48% leaving his opponent Scott Stringer with 52% (thank God!). The votes are still not confirmed, but it looks like there won't be any run-off elections in October for Mayor. Bill de Blasio has been nominated to run on the Democrat line with 40% for Mayor. In the next week or so, the recounts will determine whether de Blasio and Bill Thompson who lost to Mayor Mike in 2008 will have a run-off.
Joe Lhota on the Republican line breezed through with 52% of the vote against his nearest opponent grocery-store billionaire John Catsimatidis. Now that the lines are drawn, let me explain who these two candidates are.
Bill de Blasio - Democrat - spent most of his primary assets pretty much promising any available issue he could pander to. Oh, did I tell you his wife is an African-American former lesbian? [Oh, yeah, no identity politics there.] And his 15-year-old son has a really, really big 'fro. de Blasio is against "stop & frisk" and will fire Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, the best thing ever to happen to NYC since Thomas Edison wired us for electricity. He wants to "tax the rich" for give-aways to the "poor" for stuff like "pre-kindergarten" and pretty much anything else he can think of. His main campaign strategy is to pander as much as he can to anyone he can to get vote.
Joe Lhota -Republican - has experience in City Hall. He spent the '90's as Deputy Mayor to Mayor Guiliani. After his tenure ended as Deputy Mayor, he was appointed as the head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). He is pro-security and fiscal responsibility. Just for the record, because the primary was mostly focused on Democrat candidates, Lhota did not need to spend much financial capitol on pandering...yet.
Surprising losers - Christine Quinn - Speaker of City Counsel, lesbian and main reason Bloomberg got his third term. I am really surprised that she did so poorly (15%) considering that she could have been the first woman AND first lesbian to be Mayor of New York AND did considerably more pandering than any other candidate. As for the Democrats running, it really came down to "identity" politics. de Blasio mainly used his big-fro'ed and very astute 15-year-old African-American son in some very effective television ads to hawk for votes.
Now the real games begin. The big question is will we slide back into the pre-Guiliani oblivion of crime or will we continue to move forward in safety and security? Let the pandering begin! Can you tell who I am leaning toward? Please pray for us and I will keep you posted.
As always...any questions, comment, or topics are open for discussion...
*Because a quirk in the NY primary voting laws, I was not allow to vote in the primary because I refuse to register in a party. Full disclosure - I would have registered as a Democrat if Anthony Weiner had not flamed out early on just for the possibility of four years of salacious headlines.
Joe Lhota on the Republican line breezed through with 52% of the vote against his nearest opponent grocery-store billionaire John Catsimatidis. Now that the lines are drawn, let me explain who these two candidates are.
Joe Lhota -Republican - has experience in City Hall. He spent the '90's as Deputy Mayor to Mayor Guiliani. After his tenure ended as Deputy Mayor, he was appointed as the head of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). He is pro-security and fiscal responsibility. Just for the record, because the primary was mostly focused on Democrat candidates, Lhota did not need to spend much financial capitol on pandering...yet.
Surprising losers - Christine Quinn - Speaker of City Counsel, lesbian and main reason Bloomberg got his third term. I am really surprised that she did so poorly (15%) considering that she could have been the first woman AND first lesbian to be Mayor of New York AND did considerably more pandering than any other candidate. As for the Democrats running, it really came down to "identity" politics. de Blasio mainly used his big-fro'ed and very astute 15-year-old African-American son in some very effective television ads to hawk for votes.
Now the real games begin. The big question is will we slide back into the pre-Guiliani oblivion of crime or will we continue to move forward in safety and security? Let the pandering begin! Can you tell who I am leaning toward? Please pray for us and I will keep you posted.
As always...any questions, comment, or topics are open for discussion...
*Because a quirk in the NY primary voting laws, I was not allow to vote in the primary because I refuse to register in a party. Full disclosure - I would have registered as a Democrat if Anthony Weiner had not flamed out early on just for the possibility of four years of salacious headlines.
36 comments:
So the zoo continues. LOL!
I saw that Weiner flipped everyone the bird on his way out. Classy to the end! And I understand there was no sign of his nominal wife Humma.
So with the new guy, New York might be headed for a massive crime spree, huh? Could be interesting.
Oy! Yes, Weiner flipped the bird, Quinn cried, and the others just whined a lot. Spitzer won't be able to grasp what went wrong for him for a while.
On a lighter note, though Huma didn't show up, Sydney Leathers did! Awkward!!
We also had to revert back to the old flip switch voting booth, because the fancy electronic kind that we paid a gazillion dollars for didn't work. actually, it's because the vote counters could figure out why the computers should be allowed to count the votes more accurately than their fingers...
Bev, That's hilarious. Somehow it wouldn't feel right if Sydney hadn't been there. LOL!
Nice waste of a gazillion dollars! Think of how many transfat cops that could have paid for! ;P
Did de Blasio say "If Obama had a son he would look like my son"?
I'm a little surprised, but in a good way. I never would have thought that neither Weiner nor Spitzer would have been rejected so soundly. I gain a modicum of respect for New York voters. I should go on record stating I could easily support a lesbian female who supports the rights of the individual not to be assimilated into the borg.
Bev.....What chance does Ray Liotta (sorry.....Joe Lhota) have in the general election? Or is NYC so far gone that only liberals can win? (And please don't say that nanny Bloomberg was a Republican, so that shows an R can win in NYC?)
I walked my eight year old to the bus stop and learned we had just missed an attempted stabbing. A 12 year old (still in elementary school because he'd been held back, but who had no business at that particular bus stop) showed up, pulled out a knife and tried to stab another boy.
Happily, the other boy's mother was in a car and she came out charging at the little thug, who tried to hide the knife before surrendering it to her.
I was shocked to see that the thug was the twin brother of my oldest daughter's best friend.
They have a very troubled home life. Neither parent is in the picture, they are living with an uncle who kind of inherited them after their grandmother (don't ask me how she got custody) died.
This kid has been to my house (he travels with his twin sister to keep an eye on her) many, many times. He always seemed normal, even unusually respectful for a kid his age. Clearly that was a façade.
To make things even better, the kid claimed that an adult told him he had Perhaps he is lying, perhaps he was getting advice on how to be a man from one of his older brothers (three adults, one teen, at least two of the adults have done time).
Practically speaking, the boy is a write-off. I worry about what is going to happen with his sister down the road. She's done a lot better in school than he has, but she's growing up in the same environment.
I just saw the Bachmann, King and Gohmert press conference in Egypt. That was just plain insane. Fortunately Obama's bumblings are the focus of the world at the moment but I hope they don't make it a habit.
I'm almost bummed that there will be no more clips of Weiner shouting at voters in delis.
At least the lad will now have more time for sexting.
ds Blasio's wife is an ex-lesbian? I know nothing about his politics, but I tip my hat to the man.
What chance does Ray Liotta (sorry.....Joe Lhota) have in the general election?
Patriot - Personally I would LOVE it to be Ray Liota. He's got those crazy eyes. But anyway, actually Lhota has a very good chance of winning. So far de Blasio has only had to sell his story/pandering to the hard core Democrats. Only 1 out of 6 registered Democrats even bothered to vote. And he cannot stake his entire platform on "taxing the rich". There are a lot of rich people in NYC who are not thrilled with that line.
Yes, Bloomberg was never ever a Republican, but he could be a "Conservative-ish" Democrat. Rudy Guiliani was most definitely a Republican. And I think Lhota can pull it off. So far he hasn't had to spend much.
Anthony - That is so sad. All the kid needs (more than likely) is an adult he can trust who is not a criminal (former or otherwise). As for his sister, it is always amazing how people can rise above their circumstances with the right influences.
Anthony (and everyone else) - Did you read Putin's Op/Ed piece in the NY Times this morning?
Here's the LINK
He sounds so "presidential"...
Writer X! I am sad that Weiner (AND Spitzer) won't be around for awhile. I say "awhile" because both of them are political animals and will run for something, ANYTHING as soon as their divorces are finalized. I would imagine that the papers have been drawn up and are ready to serve, but that is just pure speculation.
But I believe it's the Post and Daily News headline writer who are suffering the most. This was the golden age of Post headlines and it may never come again.
That's a hilariously BS editorial (I'm sure whoever wrote it was laughing as they wrote it) and it shouldn't fool anyone but Americans know little and care less about Syria so Putin doesn't need to worry about his client.
Yeah, it violates an international treaty, but ordinary people don't get worked up about international treaties ('He killed them with poison and not bullets!').
I'm sure this is all very encouraging for Iran. Nobody with two brain cells to rub together thought we'd do what it would take to wipe out their nuke program. Its scattered and buried, so boots would need to go on the ground, at least for a while and Iran has a very strong tradition of suicide bombings using kids so it would make Iraq and Afghanistan look like Panama.
Putin op/ed: One dictatorial cult of personalty figure ragging on another dictatorial cult of personality figure.
= International clown show.
At least it distracts from the political clown show at home.
To clarify my last post, whatever small fear Iran might have had of a US strike on their nuke program is probably now gone.
Anthony, That's both scary and sad. Unfortunately, there are kids who have been so messed up by their upbringing that they probably are a write-off by now.
Bev, It's always the headline writers who suffer. LOL!
Anthony, I can't imagine that a press conference by Bachmann, King and Gohmert would be at all sane. Let me guess as to the takeaways:
1. Obama is a weak coward for not destroying Syria, which he has no business and no right to attack. And we should impeach him if he does or doesn't do something about Syria.
2. King swears he has proof that Hispanic kids really do have calves the size of watermelons from smuggling gayness-causing vaccines across the border... vaccines that Common Core allows schools to give to kids, but only if the parents object.
3. Russia is the real enemy, the Soviets just went into hiding, and Obama is a coward for not nuking Putin right now.
Did I miss anything?
Bev,
Who are you predicting will win the Mayor's race?
Kit, This is NY, so if you want to guess right, you need to think BIG and CRAZY! I'm predicting that Weiner and Spitzer will be merged into one person by a freak nuclear explosion, and will run and win on a write-in ticket.
Apparently Bachmann stated the US (a.k.a.. she) supports the Egyptian military.
All three did. They compared the military coup to the American Revolution, compared the current dictator (whose name escapes me at the moment) to George Washington and promised the coup leaders our unlimited support in their war with the Muslim Brotherhood to preserve the democracy and rule of law Egypt currently enjoys. So much fail. Like I said, I hope they don't make this a habit.
Can someone tell me why Bachmann et al. were IN Egypt? Is this like when Pelosi went to dine with Assad a few years back. Don't they realize it never turns out well?
Anthony, Strange, I don't recall George Washington's military friends running the country for the past 60+ years before he took over. Nor do I recall the US being a police state with prisons packed with political prisoners. I guess I should read up on my history.
At least they are talking about Egypt, so no one will pay attention... as the whole world is focused on Syria, the NFL and Smiley Virus.
Kit - I am kind of with Andrew on this one! Weiner and Spitzer will crawl back into that primordial slime and blend together to emerge as Spitzweiner or WeinSpritzer.
In all seriousness, it is really hard to tell right now. There is a possibility that de Blasio and Bill Thompson will have a runoff in Oct. The board of elections can't start recounting votes until they've lined up enough fingers and toes to do it. But I think Lhota has a 50-50% chance right now.
Anthony, At first, this sounded just like more retardery from our leading retard choir. But honestly, the more I think about this, the more it angers me. I don't give a crap about Egypt... they could all kill each other off for all I care. What I do care about is the legacy of people like George Washington and I really don't like these morons equating him to the thugs currently running Egypt. That really ticks me off.
re Egypt. That country is actually rather important due to the Suez Canal. If movement through it becomes seriously impeded then you could see foreign involvement.
"The narrow waterway that links the Mediterranean and Red Seas could also become a target for terrorists specifically seeking to disrupt energy supplies since some 800,000 barrels of northbound crude oil from the Persian Gulf and 1.4 million barrels of refined petroleum products pass through the canal daily, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration."
"The canal is also vital to the U.S. military for the transit of the navy's aircraft carriers and other warships deploying in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea for operations against Afghanistan and to counter Iran in the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Some 35-45 ships of the 5th Fleet pass through the canal annually."
LINK
As for Gohmert calling him a "George Washington". Thats as stupid as Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson calling Fidel Castro an "Abraham Lincoln". what made Washington so great was that he did NOT go on a brutal crackdown. It made him unique in WORLD history and that he did not claim power for himself.
Kit, Agreed on Washington.
On Egypt, consider this... Egypt is under the control of the military. Why speak up about anything now? Let it ride. Even under the MB, the canal was safe because they need the revenue. But they aren't even in charge now. Again, why speak up now?
This is a provocative comment about something not relevant to the world at the moment in an effort to make themselves sound relevant. And it was a stupid, pointless, irrelevant thing to say.
You know, I kinda have to give Weiner some respect for flipping off the reporters as he left. It would be nice if a few of our guys did that once in a while.
Anyone want odds on whether Putin was personally executing some dissidents while dictating that editorial?
"This is a provocative comment about something not relevant to the world at the moment in an effort to make themselves sound relevant. And it was a stupid, pointless, irrelevant thing to say."
Oh, I agree. One can argue that the coup aided US interests in the long-run but comparing the general to "George Washington" is downright silly and preposterous. I prefer the term "Our son of a bitch".
Kit said, "I prefer the term 'Our son of a bitch'."
Kit, that reminds me of how some of my rightie history professors talked in college. One of them, in describing South Vietnamese dictator Ngo Dinh Diem, said, "Was he a good guy? No. Was he a bad guy? Yeah. But he was OUR bad guy!"
Diplomacy is definitely grey at times.
BTW - What is up with Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un? Are they dating now? Rodman keeps going to North Korea for a visit. Btw, Mr. Un just had his ex-girlfriend executed, so Dennis better watch out.
Bev, They're the perfect couple. They're like Boris and Natasha, only more evil.
Moose and Sqvirrel!
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