• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / New Job

New Job

by Kay|  July 15, 20138:56 am| 22 Comments

This post is in: Meth Laboratories of Democracy

FacebookTweetEmail

A great little piece that is more about canvassing than Spitzer:

The text message forwarded from a friend of a friend had all the classic signs of a scam; ALL CAPS, asterisks, and a fantastical promise: $800 a day to gather signatures for Eliot Spitzer’s nascent campaign for Comptroller.
The day before, I had been let go from my job as an unpaid intern for a Queens councilmember. The truth is, I respected Spitzer. I had read Peter Elkind’s book about him and the powerful Wall Street cabal that brought him down. Alex Gibney’s documentary, Client Nine, was marvelous. Spitzer was someone who pissed off the wrong people and paid the price for going after unethical behavior.
Also, he was going to pay me $800 a day. I would have done it for a lot less. I hopped on the train and headed for the address given in the text message, a five-story pre-war residential building on West 12th Street.
Due to the high pay, I felt obligated to get at many signatures as I could. The West Village has many aging Jewish women and gay couples. These are my people. I realized the trick was to start with the most potent part to draw people in. “Hi, I’m with Eliot Spitzer for Comptroller of the City of New York. Would you like to sign our petition to put him on the ballot?” has a LOT of syllables. So I tried innumerable permutations of my pitch.
“Sign for Spitzer?”
“I’m with Eliot Spitzer. Sign our petition please?”
“Eliot Spitzer for office. Sign please?”
Then I started barking, “SPITZER! SIGN FOR SPITZER!” It worked. Many people stopped and signed. Others told me I was crazy.
“NO”
“Heaven’s no.”
“Heck no.”
“You must be kidding.”
“You’re joking right?”
“You must be joking.”
“That schmuck!”
“What nerve!”
“I’d never vote for a hellion!”
I was also insulted with what seemed like 30 different Yiddish words. Who knew Yiddish could be so versatile?

It has a happy ending.

Via: election law blog

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Monday Morning Open Thread: No Place At the Table
Next Post: No, Teabillies, You Can’t Secede. P.S. STFU »

Reader Interactions

22Comments

  1. 1.

    me

    July 15, 2013 at 9:11 am

    It has a happy ending.

    Hiyoooo!

  2. 2.

    tybee

    July 15, 2013 at 9:12 am

    perhaps the canvasser has now been screwed by spitzer…

  3. 3.

    AxelFoley

    July 15, 2013 at 9:13 am

    Heh, using “happy ending” in reference to Spitzer.

    Was that intentional, Kay? LOL

  4. 4.

    TD

    July 15, 2013 at 9:29 am

    Whoa, whoa. 800 dollars a day? WTF. I’d totally have taken a couple days off for that.

  5. 5.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 15, 2013 at 9:35 am

    In California, it is one dollar per signature, and I have no idea what the typical number of signatures one can get in a day is.

  6. 6.

    Tone in DC

    July 15, 2013 at 9:39 am

    A loooong time ago I worked for a Maryland pol in a similar capacity (also for much less $$$, back in the days of Raygun).

    That pol was Robin Ficker. Calling him a character is an understatement.

  7. 7.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    July 15, 2013 at 10:29 am

    It’s quite the humorous telling.

  8. 8.

    catclub

    July 15, 2013 at 10:29 am

    I thought there were at least 30 Yiddish words for malformed putz. Or portions that are both small and not very good. Or half-done dill pickles. Of course its versatile.

  9. 9.

    Kay

    July 15, 2013 at 10:40 am

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    I love how he realizes “I’m good at this!”

  10. 10.

    Ron

    July 15, 2013 at 10:52 am

    I’m really curious to see if he actually gets his $1600. I wouldn’t hold my breath.

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    July 15, 2013 at 10:58 am

    I’m snickering at the goy who didn’t realize that 90 percent* of Yiddish is made up of insults.

    (Percentage may be slightly exaggerated, but not by much.)

    ETA: I am myself a goy (or, technically, a shiksa) but, still, this I knew about Yiddish.

  12. 12.

    beltane

    July 15, 2013 at 11:01 am

    It was always my impression that Yiddish is the best language in the world for cursing and swearing.

  13. 13.

    EconWatcher

    July 15, 2013 at 11:03 am

    For what it’s worth:

    Early in the 2004 campaign, long before John Kerry got the presidential nomination, I happened to get to meet Kerry and Spitzer briefly on separate occasions, a few weeks apart, both in informal, small-group settings (due to the connections of a boss at the time).

    The contrast was really stark: Kerry spoke in platitudes and came across as a complete empty suit; absolutely nothing interesting about him. Spitzer came across, at least in a fairly brief encounter, as one of the most witty and engaging people I’ve met, and the things he said seemed to have multiple layers, so that I was left thinking about what he said for weeks afterward.

    I think Spitzer’s conduct was disgraceful and he had to resign as Governor, not because I really care much about whether he’s faithful to his wife, but because he put himself in a position of massive conflict of interest and potential blackmail while he was attorney general, with jurisdction over the illegal business he was frequenting.

    That said, I hope his current effort at rehabilitation works out, because I think he is a huge potential talent for our side, and I’d hate for that to go to waste. Dude has a big brain.

  14. 14.

    Ted & Hellen

    July 15, 2013 at 11:08 am

    Bluenoses gotta bluenose.

  15. 15.

    Jay C

    July 15, 2013 at 11:09 am

    Who knew Yiddish could be so versatile?

    Basically, anyone who speaks it?

    Or has ever had contact with it: Unfortunately, familiarity with Yiddish is one segment of my Jewish heritage that I’ve missed out on: my parents spoke it: but of course, only when they wanted to say something they didn’t want me to understand. PS: It worked….

  16. 16.

    Ted & Hellen

    July 15, 2013 at 11:12 am

    @EconWatcher:

    Totally agree except for the part about resignation.

    He should have ridden it out.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    July 15, 2013 at 11:12 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think he’s Jewish:

    The West Village has many aging Jewish women and gay couples. These are my people.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    July 15, 2013 at 11:24 am

    @Kay:

    Or he’s gay, which is the other half of the “my people” construction.

    It just cracks me up when I know more Yiddish than actual Jewish people. It’s an artifact of growing up in a neighborhood where we were the only Gentiles living on our block.

  19. 19.

    BruinKid

    July 15, 2013 at 11:37 am

    OK, this is a great line, especially when used in contrast to Sen. David Vitter (R-LA).

    A woman with a stroller countered my arguments with the fact that Spitzer cheated on his wife with a prostitute. Mothers are tough to convince. I cannot deny his mistakes, nor are apologies effective. So I say, “All politicians screw you. At least Spitzer paid for it.” She signed.

  20. 20.

    Rex Everything

    July 15, 2013 at 12:17 pm

    “I’d never vote for a hellion.” That’s HILARIOUS!

    I’m psyched Spitzer’s running. We need more like him.

  21. 21.

    RobNYNY1957

    July 15, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    I once challenged a Yiddish speaker to come up with a word for a person that wasn’t pejorative. The only one she could think of was “bubule,” grandmother.

  22. 22.

    Ridnik Chrome

    July 15, 2013 at 12:49 pm

    Elliot Spitzer, that old kibitzer…

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Image by MomSense (5/10.25)

Recent Comments

  • sab on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 1:14am)
  • prostratedragon on Open Thread: Creativity Is inherently Non-Conservative (May 21, 2025 @ 1:07am)
  • cain on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 1:06am)
  • cain on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 1:05am)
  • cain on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 1:03am)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!