I don’t know if anyone seriously thinks that Andrew Cuomo is a viable Democratic candidate for President, but he’s sure not a viable progressive candidate for President, Governor or, probably, dog catcher. Here’s an example of classic Cuomo stupidity — his role in watering down New York’s medical marijuana law.
Holly Anderson says that while she’s glad that a medical marijuana bill has been approved by the State Legislature, she’s disappointed in the version of the bill that passed.
Anderson, who is executive director of the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester, says that Governor Andrew Cuomo didn’t voice his objections to an earlier version of the bill until it was too late to address them.
“My ire is with the governor,” she says.
And she’s not the only advocate of medical marijuana who says that the bill got watered down in ways that will make cannabis more expensive for patients. And for some, it will be less effective, Anderson says.
Anderson’s biggest objection to the new law is the fact that it doesn’t allow smoking as one of the ways that the plant can be used. Smoking is the most efficient way for the body to absorb all of the plant’s compounds, she says. Some of those compounds could be lost by processing the plant into a commercial form, she says.
As with a lot of New York lawmaking, the medical marijuana law already had its fair share of stupidity before Cuomo swooped in and crapped it up. For example, it authorizes a grand total of 20 dispensaries across the third largest state in the nation, where Manhattan alone could probably use 20. But Cuomo’s decision to remove smoking makes it more expensive (since you have to buy a vaporizer and commercially processed oil instead of just a joint), and probably less effective, since the extracts probably aren’t the same as the whole plant. It’s not based on any scientific evidence (since there’s very little science done on the benefits of marijuana), and it also hobbles research on the difference between whole plant and extracts. And, at least in the case of cancer patients going through chemotheraphy, the amount of smoking that’s happening is remarkably little, and certainly not on the order of a cigarette smoker.
Cuomo is the governor of one of the most liberal states in the nation. His deal with the progressive Working Families Party makes him a lock for re-election. Medical marijuana is fairly popular (here’s a recent poll showing 78% approval). Yet after considering all that, he still didn’t have the guts to let an already hobbled law pass without further restrictions.
Just put that in your grudge carrier and trot it out if in future someone mentions Cuomo as a candidate for a higher office.
rikyrah
Can’t stand him. Period.
rikyrah
In Case You Missed It:
Reverend Dr. William Barber Speaks on America’s TRUE MORAL COMPASS
http://youtu.be/cw-xp39ikC0
Roberta in MN
Cuomo is a Dem in name only. I dislike him with a passion. But we are having the same problem in MN. Dayton is hedging on what to do with the bill going through our congress. It sucks. It suck. My doctr’s told me it would be good for me to smoke it, it puts me to sleep without aides to help.
Schlemizel
Interesting that the moron the primary voters stuck Minnesota with demanded vapor marijuana also. I am not sure if they really believe it is somehow better for the state or are just hoping to have a fig leaf to hide behind.
@Roberta in MN: JINX!!
I have no idea why Dayton is so hepped up on public service. He has no vision, no greater goals, no obvious reason he wants to be first a (useless) US Senator and now a curiously pointless governor.
Iowa Old Lady
The hyping of Cuomo as a viable candidate is, to me, a sign of the media’s focus on people close to them. No one in Iowa thinks about Cuomo for two minutes in any given year.
Schlemizel
@Iowa Old Lady:
That would certainly explain the media like affair. It certainly is true in sports, decent players from the East coast get pushed forward as gods while layer with better numbers that happen to toil away in fly-over land are ignored.
The difference is that in sports the medias damage is insignificant to the nation.
Starfish
Will the laws allow more medical marijuana research?
What is so magic about smoking the plant? Why wouldn’t isolating the relevant compounds be a legitimate way of using it? Are edibles allowed or not under this law?
I don’t think that the smokers have much of a case here because smoking it involves burning it anyway so they are already changing the compounds in the process of burning the leaves.
SuperHrefna
Yes, yes, yes, Cuomo is a problematic guy. BUT you have left out the chief reason so many of us NY Dems want to see him as President: we could have this glory as our First Lady: http://youtu.be/we2iWTJqo98
You have to admit that just from a performance art perspective this is worth a vote or two :-)
Baud
He was talked about for a while, but I have no idea who his constituency would be.
I’m becoming convinced O’Malley is going to run. I think he figures he can either knock off Hillary from the left or, if not, set himself up to be her VP.
MattF
The media has only the horserace narrative, so they’re going to keep dragging in anti-Hillarys– in the hope, I guess, that when Hillary meets anti-Hillary, there will be a big explosion. I suppose that’s a mixed metaphor.
PsiFighter37
Being an NYC resident, I cannot name anyone I’ve come across who loves Andrew Cuomo as governor. His tacit endorsement of the Republican-IDC coalition in the State Senate should be reason enough to kick him out of the party. Frankly, the Democratic Party on a state level suffers from a lack of a viable bench (thanks to people like Eliot Spitzer and Alan Hevesi getting themselves into trouble). The LG candidate (Kathy Hochul) was a less-than-1-term congresswoman from upstate who was quite conservative; nobody outside of liberal circles really knows who Eric Schneiderman is (not to say he’s been doing a bad job – on balance, he’s probably been better than Cuomo was as AG – but he lacks name rec).
The only Democrat with enough heft at this point to run for governor would be either senator (but neither Gillibrand or Schumer are going anywhere, and frankly their politics are probably close to where Cuomo is) or de Blasio, who exposed himself for being a complete tool by backing the IDC candidates in NYC running for reelection. So yeah. We’re kinda shit out of luck here in NYC, stuck with a governor who coasts by on the left with his family name and the goodwill from strong-arming gay marriage through a GOP-controlled State Senate.
That’s when I envy California – you have a number of fantastic choices for state office (with Kamala Harris at the top), and Jerry Brown is running the show far more competently and with less internecine pissing matches in a Democratic-dominated state.
Bob
He’s butt ugly. That counts for something.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Or, at the very least, haul Hillary and the electorate and the public conversation a little bit leftward. I’d be happy with any of those outcomes.
nanute
Cuomo is attempting to play the role of a moderate, centrist, neo-liberal, Bill Clinton type, and hopes no one is noticing amongst the base. Why just yesterday, I had a young man stop and ring my door bell in Tony Avella’s State Senate district. Avella is on of the so called Democrats in the NY Senate that is caucusing with Repbulicans’, thereby eliminating the Democrat majority. I told this poor kid that I would not be voting for Avella in the primary. Not this time. I’ve supported him in the past, he’s done good things for the district, but his latest effort to weaken the party, and more progressive policy initiatives has cost him my support.
Suffern ACE
@MattF: oh those shameless trashy Clintons who’ll do anything for a buck will contrast nicely with lifelong public servant Andrew Cuomo in the narrative they’ll play. Won’t happen because he won’t run against her. What they’re looking for is a non-insurgent based insurgency. A Bill Bradley who they can pretend is somehow different enough to be a radical choice.
PsiFighter37
@Baud: There’s no doubt O’Malley’s going to run. Based on his 2012 prime-time DNC speaking slot, though, he’s not ready for it.
I do wish Deval Patrick was running, but I think he’s done with politics once his current term expires. And, to be honest (unfortunately), I don’t think this country can handle 2 black presidents in a row.
laym
In Cuomo’s first year as governor, he threatened the public sector unions and workers with layoffs.
Say what you will about public sector unions and workers, but for a Dem governor in a Dem state to publicly attack them is pretty telling about his nature, and about the audience he is playing to.
I could go on, but to me this a great example of “Governor Humperdink” going for a Beltway/Wall Street constituency, rather than a constituency of actual people and voters.
MattF
@Suffern ACE: I think, also, some in the commentariat haven’t really gotten over their case of OCD. But feces-flinging just isn’t as much fun as it used to be.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yes. While I’m not going to decide who to support until there is a campaign, I’m of the view that we’d be better off with a contested primary.
@PsiFighter37:
It wasn’t a great speech. O’Malley seems much better in other settings, like debates and talk shows.
ultraviolet thunder
Yeah, sorry Andrew. We can do better, and we should. Has anyone said sellout yet? I will.
Betty Cracker
I thought O’Malley’s 2012 DNC speech was okay. Not great, but certainly not disastrous like Bill Clinton’s catastrophic 1988 DNC speech, which he obviously overcame.
Rob Wolfe
I will believe that he is serious about running for president when I see a wedding announcement in the NY Times. I just can’t picture a major party nominating a candidate that is living with someone rather than actually being married. The attack ads write themselves.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I agree. Not horrible. Just flat.
Betty Cracker
@Suffern ACE: If MoDo’s latest shitty column (pardon the redundancy) is any indication, “trashy money-grubbing Clintons” is the settled media narrative. Serving as a collective hack barometer does seem to be MoDo’s single useful function. Has been thus as long as I can remember.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@PsiFighter37: Bill Clinton was awful at the 1988 Dem Convention.
Davis X. Machina
Why, true progressives, who refuse to support for Mrs. Hilton, because she’s just a dynastic candidate running on her name.
It’s time to have someone else on the ballot. Someone not named “Clinton” or “Bush”.
mike with a mic
So much bullshit in this.
The price of a vaporizer is no more than a good quality bong, and far less than a high quality bong with an ash catcher and ice chambers (these can cost around 3grand for a good name one). If several hundred dollar is too much for you, well they do make vaporizers that are under 100 bucks which will get the job done. Furthermore if the price of a vaporizer makes you cringe you aren’t the sort of person who has cash for high grade weed anyways… go buy a bag of stems and seeds from the dude on the corner.
Next there are vaporizers where you can put the plant in it and it just vaporizes the THC off of it. As for concentrates and oils, they are VASTLY more potent than even the best weed. Plus no smoke.
As for pot smoking itself… it’s like smoking cigs in your apartment or owning a cat… it makes you a giant fucking assholes worthy of contempt and being shoved down the stairs or having your car hit every day… hell it’s worth not calling the cops if someone sees you getting your teeth knocked out. Sure you may not mind, but that gets into the central AC units in apartment buildings. People with allergies and asthma will notice, be made ill, and end up spending thousands just because your greedy ass wanted to have cats and smoke in the building. It makes you true human scum and a vicious individual. Hence why I got people evicted from my building for smoking and cats, they put my sister in the hospital. Kitty is in the great beyond now and the dude who was doing it lost his condo. Fucking asshole.
Vaporization rather than smoking means the smoke does not get sucked into the AC system. And trust me, smokers and cat owners are the worst of the worst. They will always ruin shit for other people and put them in danger just for their hobbies. If you have a house that’s fine, it’s contained to you. But in places like NY where there are a lot of appartment buildings are everywhere you need laws on the book.
feebog
@PsiFighter37:
O’Malley and Patrick have the same depth and breath of experience; two term Governors of small liberal states. Basing a candidates qualifications on one speech seems a tad limited. I saw O’Malley and Bob McDonald (R-SomeFederalPrison) debate and O’Malley trounced him. He is an alternative to Clinton, and while I will happily vote for her, a good primary fight is not a bad thing.
Kay
@Suffern ACE:
Don’t you feel as if that whole thing deflated with Christie, though?
I know they don’t know it yet, and they’ll continue to promote this idea we need Republican-Democrats or Democratic-Republicans, but that was the Christie theme.
It was just complete bullshit. Christie’s whole budget seems to be complete bullshit. The only “bipartisan success” he had was get Democrats to join him in creating this myth things were running great. Democrats had some self-interest there too, he was passing out favors and incumbents of either Party benefit when the government is (supposedly) running well, but that’s a really old political theme, not a new one.
Ruckus
@Rob Wolfe:
And a lot of people couldn’t believe we’d elect a black man either.
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker: That’s been a big part of the media narrative about the Clintons since the early nineties. Only real difference now is that Dowd feels like she can attack the daughter as well as the parents.
Suffern ACE
@Betty Cracker: I find it funny. All those columnists make money giving speeches and being paid to sit on panels at corporate events. Anyone who is into corporate event planning knows this. Yet MoDo isn’t going to write about how that makes David Brooks out of touch with real Americans.
gf120581
Cuomo gets talked about as a Presidential candidate because (a) he’s the governor of New York and that’s a position that’s a major Presidential stepping stone (for crying out loud, even George fucking Pataki was bandied about as a potential candidate on the GOP side for a while) and (b) his family name. Mario never took the Presidential plunge despite ample options (he probably still kicks himself for not going for it in 1992) so people think Andrew’s the one to do it.
But I don’t consider him serious. The base doesn’t like him or outright hates him and Hillary would squish him like a bug.
Betty Cracker
@mike with a mic: You sound like a delightful person who is undoubtedly loved by all his neighbors. I wish I were surrounded by people as calm and rational as you come across in that comment. Oh wait, I am: I live in Florida.
Betty
I would guess that Cuomo is catering to the pharmaceutical industry in limiting marijuana access to this extent. No surprise for him.
Suffern ACE
@dmsilev: even Diane Sawyer, who makes $20m per year, feel that Chelsea makes too much money.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Schlemizel:
Mark Dayton is the best thing that’s happened to the MN governor’s seat in my lifetime, and I’ve seen a LOT of governors here.
ETA: He’s advocated for, and signed a gay marraige bill. We’ve got a budget surplus, and are paying back the weasel borrow from the education system. We are now rated as one of the best business climates in the nation, and job growth is also one of the best in the nation.
You may agree or disagree with the oil only medical cannabis (I agree from a health perspective, both as a nurse, and a former user) but slagging on Dayton without any specific basis is pretty dumb…on your part.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: heh.
Suffern ACE
@Kay: they are out of familiar options for “moderate, but manly man” insurgents. I think they’ll find someone.
gelfling545
Living, as I do, in WNY I will vote for the man for governor again as he has a D after his name, regardless of the fact that he is governor now because he had the luck to run against Carl Godhelpus Paladino and in spite of the fact that I can’t stand him. I will, however, vote for him on the Working Families line as they were able, at least for now, to force a few concessions from him. I want him to know exactly to whom he is beholden for Democratic votes in his next election. I cannot imagine that he could ever get the Democratic party nomination for president. If he should do so by some fluke, I can’t imagine how I would vote in the election because he would be terrible, just terrible.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Clinton’s 1988 speech was “catastrophic” only in that it was LO-O-ONG. He really wasn’t as awful as all that, he just went on and on. The delegates and everyone else in the hall were getting twitchy. I was there, so for once was spared the commentary of news anchors and pundits, but I’m going to assume they were not complimentary.
But you know what? It might have been one of the best things that ever happened to him. The notoriety about his supposedly “catastrophic” speech got him a guest slot on Johnny Carson a few days later. Carson said something like “Governor, that wasn’t exactly your finest hour,” and Clinton shot back “Heck, it wasn’t even my finest two hours!” and plonked down a big hourglass on the desk. Audience lapped it up. That Tonight Show appearance allowed him to be funny and self-deprecating, gave him a national platform just.like.that, and turned him into a rising star with name recognition.
So you’re right, he obviously overcame The Speech. But in the end, I think the “catastrophe” actually served him.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
He was kind of a shitty president, economy aside.
Walker
@PsiFighter37:
He appeals to center-right voters in upstate.
Mike in NC
@Suffern ACE: Ah yes, Diane Sawyer. Nixon confidante and career Republican ratfucker. Enjoy your retirement, bitch.
PsiFighter37
@feebog: Truth, but it was more that if you go for inspiration, Deval Patrick lit the convention hall up in 2012. O’Malley followed right after him, and while it would be a stretch to match Patrick’s energy, it was just flat.
Yes, Clinton stunk in 1988 because he went way too long, but people remembered him. No one will remember O’Malley’s speech from the 2012 DNC.
To be clear, that’s not to say he hasn’t done well overall from a policy standpoint – I sure wish he was running the show in NY instead of Cuomo. But from a charisma standpoint, he doesn’t have ‘it’.
@gf120581: Cuomo’s politics are stuck in the triangulation policies of Bill Clinton post-1994. Someone should tell him that the Democratic base – and the policies that will win you their votes – were quite a bit different than what they were 20 years ago.
SiubhanDuinne
@mike with a mic:
Wow, I’m glad I don’t live in your apartment building. I sure would hate for your second-hand assholishness to get into the A/C and cause me inconvenience.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: I watched it on TV. Didn’t he get booed? I could be misremembering — I was a college student then and frequently drunk or stoned.
OzarkHillbilly
@SiubhanDuinne: If you grow a lemon tree…
Anoniminous
Cuomo is the kind of 1% knobslobbing politician the Village loves to puff. Unfortunately for him Hillary already dominates that section of the Democratic Party plus she has appeal to other sections of the Party. There’s no road for him to win the nomination.
PsiFighter37
@Walker: Yeah, no doubt that one of the lessons he took away from Mario’s surprising defeat in 1994 is to always watch his center-right flank. Again, though, NY is a much different state than it was 20 years ago…I cannot fathom how a Republican is going to ever be governor of this state again, unless the left vote gets split between the Dems and WFP. Cuomo basically pissed off all these same voters with his jamming through the gun control bills after Sandy Hook, but they appear to have long forgotten about that.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
He got cheered.
It was right after he said “And in conclusion…”
shelley
I never understood the debate as it was ongoing. The rationale, “we don’t want it falling into the wrong hands…”
News Flash, morons, the ‘wrong hands’ already know how to get it; the law was supposed to make it easier for sick patients to have safe access.
PsiFighter37
@SiubhanDuinne: While this commenter is not a favorite of mine – I think he’s the douchebag from NoVA who perpetuates that everyone living there is a Democrat only because of social policies and jobs that are driven by government spending – I absolutely hate people who smoke pot in apartment buildings. I used to have multiple people on my floor do it quite often, and while I have no problem with people smoking weed, that place shouldn’t be in an apartment building. It smells awful.
Anoniminous
@SiubhanDuinne:
Wish more politicians would ‘take a lesson’ from the Gettysburg Address: stand up, encapsulate the moment, shut up.
pamelabrown53
@PsiFighter37: I don’t remember O’Malley’s convention speech even though I was pretty glued to the T.V. for the duration. Maybe, I somehow missed him. Anyway, I’ve seen him on cable shows and he seemed sufficiently charismatic (and scrappy!) to me. Not as charismatic as President Obama but then again not many people are.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Schlemizel:
Here’s where MN finances were at when Dayton took office
now
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
National journalism is dominated and shaped by Reagan Democrats who never left the 80s. They know in their hearts that conserve policies are mature and responsible, and these days they have to hunt desperately for figureheads to prove it.
Pithy Pseudonym
On the medical marijuana side of things, Orac at Respectful Insolence notes how medical marijuana laws are driven by politics, not medicine and gives a run down of the current state of research into marijuana’s medical efficacy and the issue of marijuana delivery systems:
Betty Cracker
@pamelabrown53: Yep. I’m afraid we’re going to have to lower our standards after President Obama leaves office. That level of talent is extraordinarily rare.
Betty Cracker
Question for fellow Democratic campaign volunteers / contributors: Has The Great Orange Satan started spamming the crap out of you recently? I almost never read that site and don’t think I’ve ever registered or commented there, which I wouldn’t do using my actual name or primary email address anyway, but suddenly I’m bombarded with Dkospam. I guess my name and email address were on a list that was sold to them? Annoying.
Jay C
@Iowa Old Lady:
.
Believe me, IOL: the people in New York don’t give him all that much more thought, either. And when they do, it’s usually negative….
I think that putative “Cuomo For President” boom exists solely within the confines of Andy Cuomo’s skull: with an occasional appearance in the political media when they (presumably) get so absolutely frickin’ bored they trot out trite “boomlet” stories to use up pixels/column-inches when nothing more-salient is in the news.
It’s weird: I think of Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a sort of mirror-image/blue-state inversion of the What’s The Matter With Kansas? scenario: a more-or-less (small-c) conservative governor, whose major governing priorities are to keep the corporate/wealthy-folks donor-base happy, while whipping up – and suitably publicizing – “social” issues to distract the
rubes marks“base”. Admittedly, Dems like Cuomo are (AFAICT) whipping up the issues on the correct side, but the principle remains the same….SiubhanDuinne
@PsiFighter37:
I agree. Also about cigarette smoke. I hate it.
But the guy could easily have made his point without being such a gigantic asshole. It was the assholity I was responding to, not his views on smoke.
(Cats, now, that’s a whole nother thing.)
JGabriel
I trust Andrew Cuomo about as far as I could throw Mack truck. I will not vote for him again in the next gubernatorial election.
That said, Zephyr Teachout is mounting a bid to primary Cuomo. Assuming Teachout forces a primary – she appears to have enough legitimate petition signatures – I recommend voting for her in the primary.
Cuomo is going to win the primary no matter what, I’m not delusional, but if he’s sees a significantly large number of votes against him in the primary, it should help maintain pressure on him to respond to progressive concerns.
As far as the general election goes, I’ll vote for Teachout if she somehow manages to get on the ballot. If not, then I’ll probably vote for Hawkins, the Green candidate – so far he’s the only candidate to Cuomo’s left guaranteed to be on the ballot. I have no illusions about either of them winning the election. However, Cuomo wants to run up his vote totals to make himself look viable as a candidate for national office. Denying him that kind of vote total is the best way I know of to make him pay for the past four years of his utter fecklessness.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
I’ve given a fair amount of money and volunteer time over the years and right up to now, to all kinds of Democratic and other liberal/progressive candidates and organizations. I have never received so much as an email from the Great Orange Satan.
SiubhanDuinne
@Anoniminous:
Perfect.
Schlemizel
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
I bet I have seen more MN governor’s than you have (I remember Elmer Anderson (the first time and Orval Freeman) and I would strongly disagree that he is the best thing to have happened in my life time. Certainly he is better than the last 3 assclowns who held the position but that is like saying genalt warts is preferable to HIV.
Nothing you mention are things that the DFL nominated candidate would have done. Plus she would not have stumbled so badly with the shut down crap, she would have been a much better advocate for liberal positions and not appeared as a lost soul every time she opened her mouth.
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
Yes, after 20 years of moron led government Dayton looks good. Just not as good as the DFL candidate. You are making a comparison I am not.
PurpleGirl
@Starfish: When you smoke, the components enter the blood stream faster through the respiration system. They’ve tried to isolate certain components for years into a pill. Problem is that for someone with no appetite or who can’t keep even water down, a pill just gets thrown up and gets no to chance to work. Being able to eat or drink and not lose anything by vomiting helps people so much.
gian
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m thinking he’s working through a combination of a hangover and low blood sugar induced rage.
some aspirin, food and such and he may improve the attitude, maybe hair of the dog.
I never knew there was an ice filtered “pipe” that retails for $3,000
JGabriel
@Betty Cracker:
Yes, and yeah it’s a bit annoying. But they do honor their unsubscribe requests. Just follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of the email, and they won’t bother you anymore. It worked for me, anyway.
MomSense
@Baud:
Oh I think he’s been running since 2012 when he began speaking at so many state conventions and helping state parties raise money.
Roberta in MN
@Schlemizel: He has brought us out of debt & fiscally sound again and we as a state are growing again. But this issue is a blind spot for him and a lot of people here. I wished Rybak had run for office. Maybe in the future.
Jay C
@JGabriel:
You sure about Zephyr Teachout and a primary? IIRC, part of the deal Andy Cuomo struck with the Working Families Party (on whose line ZT would have run) was that they would endorse Cuomo (and put his name as the WFP candidate), hence no primary challenge. Unless Teachout is mounting one on her own initiative?
Svensker
@Walker:
Also appeals to the Bloomberg Democrats in Wall Street. I know a couple who think he’s just dreamy, if a leetle too left.
Schlemizel
@Roberta in MN:
You do know that he was not the endorsed DFL candidate right? Why compare him to someone not running when you can compare him to someone who did run?
Yes, he is much better than the moran brigade of Carlson, Ventura and Pawlenty but that is not exactly the yardstick I would choose.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Schlemizel: He won the primary, didn’t he? And then the DFL endorsed him in the general election, right? He wasn’t a write-in or third party guy.
kc
@mike with a mic:
Jesus, what a jerk.
Patrick
@Schlemizel:
What does it tell you when the DFL nominated candidate couldn’t even win the Democratic primary?
KG
The conventional wisdom (which, obviously is the default wrong position) is that governors of New York and California are automatically top contenders for president. The last time one actually won a major party nomination? Reagan in 80, as former governor of California (sitting governors don’t do well ask Jerry Brown and Pete Wilson). For New York, you probably have to go back to FDR.
KG
@mike with a mic: because you couldn’t step outside to smoke?
Baud
Hydrated! Ready to go!
gene108
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
There’s a lot of reflexive Clinton (both Bill and Hillary) hatred on the Left, which I do not think is deserved.
Clinton was more to the left than what Congress was willing to do. Even the Democratically controlled Congress he came to town with was not willing to sign on to his more liberal policy goals.
Gays in the military met stiff opposition, from both the military brass and Congress critters, so a compromise bill was hashed out in DADT.
Universal healthcare suffered from a lot of factors, but one big issue was Congressional Democrats did not go to the mat with President Clinton on it to get it done, the way Speaker Pelosi made sure the votes were their in the House and Reid did in the Senate, before and after Max Baucus* dragged his heels on the getting a bill out of his committee that nearly killed the PPACA before it even had a chance to be voted on.
The only liberal bill Clinton did get passed, in his first term, backfired on Democrats. The gun control bill turned the NRA to solely backing Republicans against Democrats, regardless of the Democrats record on gun issues. It also galvanized the gun nuts into believing Democrats were launching them on the “slippery slope” to total gun confiscation.
Hell, Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocols for curbing green house gasses, but the Senate refused to ratify.
Bill and Hillary Clinton are about as liberal as President Obama on damn near every issue. Hillary was actually to the Left of Obama, on gay marriage, in the 2008 primaries.
*I always wonder how healthcare reform would’ve played out in the Senate, if Ted Kennedy did not get brain cancer and was shepherding the bill through committee, rather than the team of Dodd and Baucus (though Dodd draft a bill with the public option before the Aug 2009 recess, so he was not the problem).
KG
@KG: ok, sorry, Dewey was the last NY gov to win a nomination, in 1948
Mandalay
At least he took a position, if only because he had no choice. How about a candidate who has the moral backbone to completely straddle the fence now, allowing them to jump in whatever direction is politically convenient a year or two from now?…
A jellyfish has more spine.
Davis X. Machina
That was a very different Congress.
The Senate in 1992, e.g., featured a Democratic Richard Shelby.
Both Senators from North Dakota were Democrats.
David Boren, J. Bennett Johnson and other scarcely-creditable-as-Democrats-today graced the Democratic Majority.
It was only ~20 years ago, but it was also a long time ago.
KG
@gene108: I think the left Clinton hate has more to do with opening pandora’s birther box in 2008. Triangulation annoyed people but it was mostly a smart way to govern in the 90s as we were much less liberal as a society then as we are now.
Baud
@gene108:
Clinton also signed a tax increase into law. His biggest departure from traditional Democrats in the first couple of years was NAFTA.
In any event, the biggest thing that separates Clinton and Obama from Democratic presidents past is that American voters gave them a fully Democratic Congress for only the first two years of their presidency.
gene108
@KG:
Dewey, who lost to Truman in 1948, was governor of New York State.
rikyrah
FBI report: Deputy police chief, officer in Florida town were members of the KKK
Fruitland Park Deputy Police Chief resigns after FBI report shows KKK
By Lauren Ritchie and Jayna Omaye, Orlando Sentinel
10:54 p.m. EDT, July 11, 2014
The deputy chief of the Fruitland Park Police Department resigned and another officer was fired after the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement turned over a report to the city describing their link to the Ku Klux Klan, a prosecutor said Friday.
Deputy Chief David Borst, 49, of Wildwood, resigned and the second officer, whose name couldn’t be immediately confirmed, was dismissed, city officials said.
On Friday, police Chief Terry Isaacs said Borst resigned because of “personal family issues.” Asked about the report, Isaacs said he knew of a report but he refused to say what was in it.
Fruitland Park City Manager Gary La Venia said FDLE presented the police chief with information this week that showed two officers were involved in possible improper action and misconduct. La Venia would not comment on specifics.
However, Chief Deputy State Attorney Ric Ridgway said Isaacs contacted his agency Wednesday after the FDLE gave him a report on the pair, looking for advice. The report, which wasn’t available late Friday, contained “a lot of fairly substantial evidence that tends to support” the pair were members of the Klan, Ridgway said.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-fruitland-park-kkk-police-20140711,0,7100873.story
gbear
@Schlemizel: @Roberta in MN:
Two words for both of you: Governor Emmer. I shudder to think of it.
Dayton is a bit flakey, but he’s also the opposite of evil, and he was happy to sign the bill for same-sex marriage in MN.
Patrick
@gene108:
Iraq war (which is a huge issue)…
Furthermore, FoxNews and the right-wing noise machine wasn’t as established as it is today. They had it easy in comparison.
Mandalay
@gene108:
You have to be kidding. Hillary Clinton is far closer to the Republican party wingnuts than Obama when it comes to the Middle East.
gbear
@Schlemizel: Now you’re heading into ‘I know! Let’s give it to Schlemizel! He hates everything!’ territory. Arne wasn’t a horrible governor for a republican. That was the election where I voted in the republican primary to knock the christianist candidate Allen Quist out. At least Carlson wasn’t an ideologue (he realized that people actually exist), and he’s been a huge critic of the GOP for the last decade.
Perpich and Anderson (and losing candidate Paul Marty) were at least as flakey in their own right as Dayton. Anderson wrecked his own career by resigning from office and then having his replacement appoint him to the US Senate after Mondale became VP, and that move pissed everyone off so much that it took the whole DFL down with it in the next election.
El Caganer
@Betty Cracker: I hope that’s in jest about Florida, Betty. I was kinda looking forward to moving to Sarasota in January.
Beatrice
@Patrick: Exactly. Dayton’s first achievement was to win the election, which is more than any DFL candidate had managed to do for 20 years. Even if he is just a Replacement Level Democrat for his whole term, we’re still way ahead.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
There is scientific evidence that smoking weed is bad for you. Amble evidence. It damages the lungs and increases risk of asthma. I remember a guy we had in the office for testing who was in his late 20’s. He smoked weed every day. Lung function tests showed he had the lung capacity of a 70 year old. Really, it doesn’t matter whether it is tobacco, weed, incense, wood smoke, etc. Inhaling smoke is bad for you. I’m not sure why this is so hard for people to understand.
Roger Moore
@KG:
Maybe it’s unfair to be angry at Clinton over triangulation, but that doesn’t stop anyone. There is a lot of tunnel vision on the left that interprets people being slightly to the left on some issues back then as proof that the whole country was much further left on everything, and thus lets them see everything they resented Clinton for doing back then as proof of betrayal. Radicals will never interpret failure to gain their objectives as proof that their ideas are unpopular.
Kay
@rikyrah:
It’s so great to watch him become national. Very exciting. Hey, thanks, NC Republicans! Good of you to inspire him to go nationwide.
I love that sort of thing, when the timing is right and the person is there. Or the other way. However that works :)
Kay
@Roger Moore:
I actually liked him a lot better as obvious political operator than I do as international statesman. The whole “public private partnership” and lecturing tone does nothing for me.
Everything Republicans hated about Clinton I liked.
PurpleGirl
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: If you have a migraine that will last 4 or 5 days (or more) and you can’t move from your bed without having the dry heaves and you can’t eat or drink water… and smoking weed makes you feel human again and let’s you eat and drink.. you’ll smoke the weed. I haven’t experienced this but a friend has had this happen while visiting me.
ETA: The friend had Imitrex with him but you really have to take it before the migraine hits. It’s less effective once the migraine is happening.
Corner Stone
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
I hear it does tend to not make you in a hurry to get anywhere, but that’s just anecdotal.
WereBear
It is a novelistic construct, and a principle of esoteric philosophy, that evil always sows the seeds of its own destruction.
Betty Cracker
@El Caganer: Sarasota is a lovely town, and January is a nice time to arrive in it. I am mostly joking about being surrounded by ill-tempered cranks. We may have more than our share of crackpots (mostly because this is where the drifters run out of road), but I don’t want to live anywhere else. At least it’s not boring.
The Bobs
@mike with a mic: Thanks for that. I was going to say pretty much the same thing.
I’m a stage 4 cancer patient and use my vaporizer every day. This would ruin my lungs if I were to smoke it.
Pot is amazingly effective at countering the side effects of chemotherapy. For me, it’s unendurable without it.
Kay
@WereBear:
I was reading some of the comments on his speech and some people were uncomfortable with the religious nature, but I think it’s a package deal. That’s what informs his whole life and philosophy. To ask him not to say that is really to silence him. I feel the same way about Jimmy Carter, obviously to a lesser degree, but I don’t think Jimmy Carter can do that. It’s probably impossible, even if he wanted to which of course he doesn’t.
Baud
@Kay:
Along with unions, churches traditionally had been the primary organizing force in the Democratic party.
KG
That goes double for reactionaries, thus the tea party
pamelabrown53
@El Caganer: I’m not Betty but Sarasota is beautiful. White sand beaches and support of the arts. Still, it’s a very republican area and inhospitable to those less fortunate.
Wish you the best with your move and hope to follow your transition here on BJ.
Kay
@Baud:
True, but it’s more than that, don’t you think? Reverend Barber derives his philosophy from somewhere. To ask him to divorce himself from the source seems both really unfair and also impossible. You can’t take away someone’s language and whole frame of reference and then ask them to speak. That’s not going to work for either the speaker or the listener. He will instantly be inauthentic.
cmorenc
@Starfish:
What’s so magic about sex that you couldn’t substitute artificial insemination if procreation’s your goal, or self-help with your hand if pleasure’s your goal? In each respective case, you stimulate the relevant nerve endings to achieve orgasm and (if you’re a guy) yield viable sperm which you could use for insemination. Not much difference between that and smoking hot sex (or pot) is there?
Kropadope
@gene108: Hillary Clinton has not encountered a war during her time in public office that she doesn’t want us involved in. Deal-breaker, in fact, the ultimate deal-breaker.
Baud
@Kay:
Agree. I didn’t see the speech, but I don’t see how we’re going to get anywhere if we’re “uncomfortable” around religious people.
raven
@Kropadope: And she’ll light up the first thing that moves if she gets elected just to prove she will.
raven
@Baud: So he shouldn’t change but if I don’t buy it I should?
Baud
@raven:
Like I said, I didn’t see the speech. How did he ask other people to change with regard to religion?
The point I was trying to make I think it will difficult to achieve success if we exclude populist progressives whose efforts are tied to their religious outlook.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I tend to clap my hands over my ears and run whenever a preacher opens his yap, even if I agree with him politically. But I’m glad there are preachers who inspire people on our side, and I certainly recognize their contributions to social justice movements of all types.
Mandalay
“But Cuomo’s decision to remove smoking…”
Cuomo is committed to making New York a (tobacco) smoke free state:
So if Cuomo allowed the smoking of marijuana while he is funding efforts to reduce tobacco smoke he would (rightly) be pounded as a hypocrite with double standards.
raven
@Baud: Beats me, I responded to your statement about being ““uncomfortable” around religious people.
pamelabrown53
@Betty Cracker: I agree with you, Betty. Can you imagine the Civil Rights movement without Martin Luther King? I’m agnostic but I can’t say that, at times, I wish I had some faith to sustain me.
Baud
@raven:
That was the word Kay used in the original comment I was responding to.
raven
@Baud: Well there you have it.
askew
@Schlemizel:
What are you talking about? Dayton has been an incredible governor. He turned the state’s economy around. We now have a budget surplus. He passed a bill that increased education spending and free all-day kindergarten which is a massive progressive achievement. He pushed on getting SSM done. There’s a reason that he is ahead by about 15 points in most polls for re-election. People love him here.
Bobby Thomson
@nanute: that’s the Democratic Party. And anyone who caucuses with Republicans is a Republican. If he has any chance of winning the primary something’s wrong.
Kay
@Baud:
I think they were uncomfortable with the overtly religious language, not being around religious people. They can be uncomfortable with it. I bet he hears it all the time. My point is I don’t think he can divorce his philosophy from where it comes. One came before the other. Labor rights for him come from Christianity and not the other way around. He doesn’t have the “secular Reverend Barber” and then that other guy.
Chavez had this whole Catholic mystic philosophy. He would be a completely different person if he didn’t. I don’t think you can say to someone “can you just be a completely different person?” You can, but it won’t work :)
Kay
@Baud:
And I explained it poorly so I apologize. They loved it generally. They’re passing around the video. Some of them may even be religious people but another religion so that’s an objection.
It’s a gorgeous mosaic, Baud, and also like herding cats and that’s the organic, inherent nature of the thing, too :)
raven
@Kay: I’ll say this, the church may be the only hope in Georgia to get people off their asses and vote in their own interest. You can bet the honky churches get their sheep out.
gbear
@Kay: I don’t consider myself a christian, but I watched and really enjoyed Barber’s speech. He obviously draws a lot of inspiration from his religion and it adds immensely to the motivational power of his message. I also find some pleasure in Barber taking the bible and beating the christian conservatives over the head with it. I can appreciate someone who knows how to fight fire with fire.
@askew: Agree. I don’t really understand the hate coming from Schlemizel.
Ben
@Betty Cracker:
And I know some of the local Ds down there if you want to get involved in politics!
askew
@gene108:
The difference being Obama has governed as much more liberal than Bill did. He repealed DADT, stopped defending DOMA, came out for SSM, passed health care reform, financial industry regulation reform, etc. They supported Iraq War. I don’t care about how liberal the Clintons are in the abstract, in reality they have governed conservatively.
And lets not forget Bill Clinton’s war against big government and the welfare reform bill. Nothing Obama has done as been as bad as that.
Baud
@Kay:
Right. It’d be like asking me to be less handsome. Hard to do.
Kay
@gbear:
I like to listen to Bernie Sanders because he connects one thing to everything else (when they let him on tv) and he has to talk so fast I’m afraid he’ll pass out.
Barber does the same thing. This is him on marriage equality:
Read that paragraph out loud. You’ll be lightheaded! Anyway,. I think it’s all of a piece to him. Not divisible.
http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2011/11/13/nc-naacp-chair-rev-dr-william-barber-electrifies-equality-nc-conference-with-open-letter-opposing-marriage-amendment/
PurpleGirl
@Baud: In the 1970s I took part in a community organizing project from the Industrial Areas Foundation (the people carrying on Saul Alinsky’s work and ideas). The basis for organizing was a church group. An individual couldn’t join, but could work through a church member unit. And the idea was to get a number of churches involved in forming the organization.
c u n d gulag
I’ve lived in NY for all but 10 years of my 556 year-old life.
I HATE THIS CUOMO!
Mario, his father, was great.
I’m looking for the same guy who inseminated Mike Wallace’s kid.
Who ‘boinked’ Mario’s wife?
Milkman?
Postman?
Whatever…
sharl
@El Caganer: OT, but your mention of Sarasota reminded me of this recent story about the “Sarasota Saudis”, whom I don’t recall having heard of (probably just forgot; soooo much happened back then, and since):
I have never been satisfied with the official response (denial) to charges that the US government helped spirit bin Laden family members out of the country immediately after 9/11/2001. This just aggravates that itch.
WereBear
@Kay: This difference is that Rev. Barber uses his power for good.
I think being uncomfortable with religious language is a backlash to the screaming fundamentalists who are determined to make everyone else as miserable as they are.
They’ve poisoned an entire generation.
Betty Cracker
@sharl: I remember hearing about that at the time. The Bushes have always been tight with the Saudi royals — can you imagine the ear-splitting snit today’s wingnuts would pitch if Obama was 1/800th as deferential to the Saudis as Bush the Elder and Lesser were? I suspect there were cover-ups to shield favored Saudis.
J R in WV
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
I’m sorry, this is just wrong. Cannibis smoke has never been shown to have negative health outcomes for healthy people using ordinary amounts of cannibis regularly.
I used to smoke quite a bit, for many years. Allways got good scores on the lung volume thingy at annual physicals. Then I quit, for many years. Just didn’t care to. Last physical they told me I had the lung capacity of a 35 year old, which is pretty good for a body nearly twice that age!
Other parts aren’t nearly 35 ;-) but that’s a different story.
Research shows that cannibis has positive effects for many medical issues, and is as nearly harmless as any psychoactive drug can be when used recreationally. Crime is down in Colorado, and drug usage has gone down in every country that has recriminalized it.
Portugal’s addiction rates went down when they decriminalized many opiate drugs. Citizens of Amsterdam use less cannibis now than they did when it was strictly illegal; no real research on tourists ;-)!
My Mom died from Pall Mall cigs, they caused COPD and she lingered ill for years. I’m as opposed to tobacco use as anyone could be.
Cannibis is NOT the same thing!
sharl
@Betty Cracker: Yep. I guess they’ll always have each other.*
[*Best seen while listening to You and Me Against the World.]
AnonPhenom
I’ll grant you that Gov. Douchenozzle is an obvious faux liberal along the lines of his daddy’s arch rival Ed Koch. But you wanna know something really cool? The Republican in NYS are on the verge of attaining ‘minority party status’, ie: coming in 3rd after the Democrats and the WFP. The top two vote getting parties don’t just get top billing on state ballots for the next four years, but they also control county election boards and perhaps other such boards and commissions as well.
Seriously, how cool ould that be?
And the way the WFP made the Douche scramble to keep them from endorsing Zepher Teachout for govenor is just the cherry on top.
peej
In my mind, Cuomo is disqualified for the mere fact that he allowed Chris Christie to walk all over him on anything concerned with the Port Authority of NY and NJ.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@J R in WV:
And my grandfather smoked a pack a day until the week before he died at the age of 92. He never developed a debilitating lung condition. There are exceptions to everything.
Inhaling smoke is bad for you. Period. There have been numerous studies of this, and the majority of people who smoke weed regularly have lung damage. I do not believe marijuana should be illegal. However, people should be using other delivery methods.
JoyfulA
@Kay: Why I left DKos long ago, never to return. It was full of evangelistic atheists who disrupted every thread to hate, not that any of them ever hosted homeless shelters, set up food banks, or did anything else to advance a leftist agenda.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
And to clarify, before several more people make the same obvious points, I recognize that marijuana has health effects for other parts of the body, NOT the lungs. It is particularly helpful with cancer patients because it reduces nausea and stimulates the appetite. That doesn’t change the fact that smoking it damages the lungs. If you need it or just enjoy it, use another delivery method.
CDW
Cuomo thinks he’s a viable candidate for president, I feel sure. He’ll be lucky if he’s re-elected governor of NY, IMO.
kindness
Full on legalization by Citizen’s Initiative. It’s the only way to nip corrupt powers in the butt.
angler
Blanche Lincoln would have done exactly thus had she been guv of NY. Like her Cuomo is never letting go of the consolation prize: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/16/monsanto-blanche-lincoln-_n_4110750.html
angler
@JoyfulA: you know that is not true. you know it.
chuck
I’m voting for Howie Hawkins. I’m surprised and saddened I haven’t seen his name mentioned once in the comments here.
Phil Perspective
@JGabriel: Re: your last paragraph. Wasn’t that supposed to be the point of the WFP denying Andy their endorsement? Cuomo is a legend in his own mind. And the GOP isn’t going to win. So stick it to him in the only way you can. But alas, the WFP leadership are cowards.
Phil Perspective
@Baud: I don’t think many people have a problem with churches per se. It’s the fact that a lot of them, like the Catholic Church, have bastardized what Jesus taught. Rev. Barber is the real deal. Rick Warren is a hater.
JGabriel
@Jay C:
Teachout is mounting a Democratic primary challenge on her own initiative, and reportedly has about 45,000 petition signatures, 3 times the required amount. Of course, that could change significantly after challenges, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
coin operated
@mike with a mic: You are full of shit. Ask anyone with a nicotine sensitivity if hanging around people who ‘vape’ is any less annoying than people who smoke. There’s a reason most states with indoor smoking bans were quick to include them on the list.
Making THC vapors legal, and not the MJ plant, is just a sloppy wet kiss to Pharma and the few who still need a fig-leaf to cover their approval.
Edited for clarity
Ken T
The only reason Cuomo is a Dem is because of his father. Period. Enough Democratic voters still react favorably to the name that it’s worth his while to (sometimes) pretend to be on the same side. But he isn’t.