Important reporting from Dana Rubinstein on major issues for the 2013 race!
Mayor Michael Bloomberg this morning angrily denied a report in New York magazine that he said, at an Upper East Side Christmas Party, “Look at the ass on her.”
The quote was included in a profile of Christine Quinn.
“Oh, I never said it, and I don’t know where it came from,” the mayor said.
For Garden State Democrats, the reversal of fortune these past few years has been startling. For the decade and a half before Christie’s 2009 election, Democrats were practically unbeatable in the state. There were two main ingredients to this success: Demographic changes that made the state more diverse and Democrat-friendly, and the post-1994 redefinition of the national Republican Party as Southern-dominated, Christian-infused and ideologically far to the right; the culturally liberal suburbanites who’d happily voted for Kean, Clifford Case and even Ronald Reagan began fleeing the G.O.P. label in droves. Even when it seemed like they were doing everything they could to lose elections, Democrats would still come out on top.
But now they’re fighting for their lives, facing not only the prospect of four more years without the governorship, but also the potential unraveling of a down-ballot empire on which the jobs and contracts that give the party its organizational and financial muscle depend. It’s a turnaround that can be attributed to a host of culprits, but one towers over the others: The New Jersey Democratic Party itself.
"We have a bunch of reporters in Washington dutifully transcribing the crazy ravings of various Republicans… and not coming out and saying these people are completely insane. And that is a problem, because if they did, maybe we could actually present the truth to the public."
— Felix Salmon at our panel about the global economy and the American financial press.
The case of St. Dorothy says more about the sad state of political discourse than it does about Catholic ‘strategy’ by Terry Golway.
Governor Cuomo Meets with Federal Officials by governorandrewcuomo on Flickr.
Cuomo and Pelosi
Cuomo asks Washington for a quick and uncomplicated supplemental: “New York needs help. New York has been there for other parts of the country, we’re going to need help and we’re asking for the same today. And so far I’m optimistic.”
"I’m not dropping down. I’m stepping up."
— Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, on his decision to leave the 2013 mayoral race and run for comptroller.
Mitt Romney has nothing really coherent or substantive to say about domestic policy, but at least he can sound energetic and confident about it. On foreign policy, the subject of Monday night’s final presidential debate, he had little coherent to say and often sounded completely lost. That’s because he has no original ideas of substance on most world issues, including Syria, Iran and Afghanistan.
During the debate, on issue after issue, Mr. Romney sounded as if he had read the boldfaced headings in a briefing book — or a freshman global history textbook — and had not gone much further than that. Twice during the first half-hour, he mentioned that Al Qaeda-affiliated groups were active in northern Mali. Was that in the morning’s briefing book?
At other times, he announced that he had a “strategy” for the Middle East, particularly Iran and Syria, and really for the whole world, but gave no clue what it would be — much like his claim that he has a plan to create 12 million jobs and balance the budget while also cutting taxes, but will not say what it is. At his worst, Mr. Romney sounded like a beauty pageant contestant groping for an answer to the final question. “We want a peaceful planet,” he said. “We want people to be able to enjoy their lives and know they’re going to have a bright and prosperous future and not be at war.”
Capital New York’s Blake Zeff was less scathing, but had a similar conclusion, as far as performance goes.
(via ro-s-aspa-rks)
Here are the books, stories, and plays presidential actors read at Michelle Obama event’s last night:
James Earl Jones: “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman.
Chris Rock: Take Me Out, a 2002 play by Richard Greenberg.
Blair Underwood: “In the Wine Time” by Ed Bullins.
Sigourney Weaver: “Stove Top Stuffing” by Margalit Fox.
Cynthia Nixon: “The Matchmaker” by Thorton Wilder.
Geena Davis: “69 Cents,” a Gary Shteyngart remembrance published in the New Yorker in 2007
Sam Waterston: “Life on the Mississippi” by Eugene O’Neil.
Jeffrey Wright: “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” by by Eugene O’Neil.
Cherry Jones: Beloved by Toni Morrison.
After the performance, all the actors watched the first lady from an upstairs balcony.
“I miss all the fun stuff,” Michelle Obama lamented to a couple hundred people who had packed into the low-lit sanctuary of 538 Park last night. “They just pull me in.”
(via Bloomberg wants to shape national politics, whoever’s president in 2013 | Capital New York)
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney’s answers to a gun control question at their most recent debate appears to have been the last straw in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s frustration with partisan politics, sort of.
After calling Obama and Romney’s remarks on the topic “gibberish,” he announced he would spend between $10 to $15 million helping elect moderate candidates from both parties.
