Andrew Cuomo might face a primary challenge from Cynthia Nixon, the actress best know for her role as Miranda in Sex in the City. Nixon is also married to a woman and has done some advocacy for breast cancer research and LGBTQ rights.
A good politician would welcome her to the scene and say a few words about wanting a spirited debate in the primary, while all along knowing he’ll win easily. An Andrew Cuomo did this:
“Imagine what will happen if @CynthiaNixon actually declares her candidacy…” @JimmyVielkind/@nahmias on @NYGovCuomo “tizzy” after word of possible primary challenge… pic.twitter.com/87S428UhRP
— Jesse McKinley (@jessemckinley) March 8, 2018
(I embedded that because Politico NY is subscription only.)
This fool still thinks he has a chance at being President.
Immanentize
Man, your post is messed up. I assume it all leads us once again to the conclusion that Cuomo is a dick?
foucault swing voter mistermix
@Immanentize: Sorry, I fixed it.
smintheus
@Immanentize: I think the point is that Cuomo is running scared of Nixon even though she hasn’t even jumped into the race.
Immanentize
And why are you advertising for the Jehovah’s Witnesses in your post? Is this an unrevealed side of you IRL?
Dave
@Immanentize: Cuomo is enough of a dick he’s the one protest voter I tend to cast as long as a total nutjob like Paladino doesn’t have a chance. I voted for Teachout last time.
brettvk
Cuomo is the portrait of an unhappy grifter. All the power and wealth he’s accumulated from the unearned benefit of having the right last name, and he seems so pissed and miserable all the time. I wonder what he really wanted to be instead?
But her emails!!!
Sounds like not only is Cuomo a dick, he’s also a moron.
On one hand, I prefer my politicians to actually have governing experience, on the other hand Cuomo is a huge asshole who has actively worked to fuck over Democrats in his state. Not a New York voter, but if Nixon were to enter the race with a strong set of policies, manage her campaign effectively and perform well during the debates, I would probably vote for her over the fecalweasel in the primary.
Immanentize
@smintheus: I couldn’t read it at first. That’s why I sent the alert. But I think my take is just a translation of what you said anyway.
As someone else pointed out — how crazy is it for a politician whose only real claim is being the child of a popular governor to be complaining about celebrity politicians?
And then there is his deals with the Republicans in the legislature to prevent real Democrats from passing progressive policy. Ugh.
geg6
While I have no desire to be electing more celebrities, Nixon is not a reality star, at least. And she is quite progressive and has worked on some really good advocacy issues. Andrew is an asshole of the first order, so…go Cynthia! Miranda rocks!
Davis X. Machina
All that hard work over the years aimed at winning progressives with his brave stand on same-sex marriage legalization, and his bold stand on the fracking ban…. now at risk.
Who knew?
Director comes down to footlights:
“In tonight’s performance, the role of Zephyr Teachout will be played by Cynthia Nixon….”
germy
Not for nothing is he called The Prince of Darkness.
smintheus
@Immanentize: Just wait until Andy breaks open his war chest to slag off his liberal critics.
LAO
I have mixed feelings about Cuomo. On one hand he is a major asshole and no progressive/liberal beacon. On the other hand, I interned for his organization HELP (Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged) a hundred years ago one summer during college, and he was a dick but did good work for the homeless families.
I swore I won’t vote for him after he pocket veto a bill that would have funded legal aid and legal services for Family Court. But I won’t cast a vote against him for fear that a republican could win.
germy
Cuomo has said he believes marijuana is a “gateway drug” (a belief he shares with Jefferson Sessions’ experts) but he has appointed a commission to investigate legalizing it. He’s already grudgingly allowed medicinal, but I think you have to be a late-stage cancer patient to qualify.
EDIT: I think, after protests, he’s allowing veterans with PTSD to qualify.
NorthLeft12
In Mr. Cuomo’s defence his high opinion of himself is reinforced by the voters of the great state of New York who have elected him as Governor, not once, but twice.
LAO
@germy: I qualify for medical marijuana in NYS (Crohns Disease) but it’s a tremendous pain in the ass to get a prescription filled.
germy
@Immanentize:
Yes, that’s one of the main reasons I despise him. But the thought of a repug ny governor is appalling to me. And republicans are drooling at the thought, aided by local media.
But her emails!!!
Out of curiosity, how is it given the ratio of D to R voters in New York, that Democrats don’t dominate the state legislature?
germy
@NorthLeft12:
I would vote for a naked mole rat if Carl Palladino was on the ballot against the rat.
oldster
As a New Yorker, I gotta say that Cuomo is horrible. The fact that Republicans are as strong as they are in the NYS legislature is largely his fault.
His governing philosophy seems to be derived from a misunderstanding of early-90s Bill Clinton triangulation: if I want to be the next Democratic president, then I need to suck up to right-wing causes, screw the minorities, and be horribly right-wing in every way that I can short of changing my party affiliation.
If he ever tries a national run, it is not going to last past the first time that a genuine New Yorker gets interviewed on live TV. We hate him.
But her emails!!!
@germy:
Is there some sort of rule in New York, that if the Democratic nominee for governor isn’t a Cuomo that the Republican nominee runs unopposed in the general?
LAO
@But her emails!!!: Downstate is democratic. The remainder of the state is republican. Upstate New York is super red. We don’t call Nassau/Suffolk Counties the Alabama of NY for nothing.
Immanentize
@LAO:
Hi LAO
I see what you did there….
(Crohn’s is the worst, so sorry)
NorthLeft12
@But her emails!!!:
Personally, I make an exception to that guideline if the governing experience the candidate touts shows what a dick and/or incompetent buffoon he/she is.
? Martin
I have a few liberal relatives in NY that are going to choke for a bit over putting those ‘Nixon for Governor’ signs in their yard.
germy
@LAO: I didn’t know Crohn’s was on the list.
Andy doesn’t like pot. But he wants to be seen as part of the resistance, so he’s allowing all sorts of stuff lately. He wants to be president, I suspect. Then he’ll finally beat his dad.
Roger Moore
@geg6:
I don’t mind electing more celebrities as long as they’re willing to start with something modest and prove their political chops by working their way up. They could start with issue advocacy rather than a low-level political office, but they need to get a bottom-up understanding of the system and prove they know how to make it work for them. I’m mostly tired of people thinking they can jump in as a candidate for senator, governor, or president without serious experience at the lower levels. It never works out well.
LAO
@Immanentize: >eye winking emoji<
@germy: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (of which Crohns is one)
Libraryguy
@Davis X. Machina: Sometimes feels like the big tent lets a lot of assholes keep out of the rain. Cuomo really needs to learn how to piss out more often, though.
No Drought No More
When the Reagan administration and its infant Wurlitzer attacked the movie Missing (in the name of right wing political correctness), Jack Lemon was asked about the dust-up by Johnny Carson. Lemon looked upward, and placing his hands together as if praying to God, mouthed the words, “thank you”. The free publicity, of course, insured the movie’s success vis a vis the people it stood to inform, as well as the cash it put in the investor’s wallets. And if Hollywood re-makes the film anytime soon, they should cast Stormy Daniels in the Sissy Spacek role.
But her emails!!!
@LAO:
OK, but most of the population would still be in downstate and in the other urban enclaves, right? Are the Republican controlled legislative districts significantly less populous than those controlled by the Democrats?
Libraryguy
@But her emails!!!: A big part is some D state senators have created the Independent Democratic Conference, which caucuses with Republicans. They’re scum. The kind of politicians that make people spit on the ground as they pass.
germy
@Roger Moore: That’s exactly what Nixon has been doing. She’s an activist and has apparently done her homework. She’s being asked to run, it wasn’t her idea. She’s considering it.
NYT:
Immanentize
@LAO:
I grew up near Binghamton and I think that area’s GOP Rep., Claudia Tenney, is vulnerable due to her “mass shooters are Democrats” crap. Even Republicans up there are blasting her. Let’s hope the Democratic contender from Utica can prevail.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
one of my crackpot, tin-foil theories of politics, which is my theory, is that the reason Chris Christie seems so delusionally confident in having a future in politics* is that nobody can take him down on the Port Authority stuff without taking down Cuomo and a bunch of other NY and NJ Dems.
* as a sort of Leon Panetta of the right, un-elected elder statesmen who collects appointments and titles and goes on TeeVee a lot.
Bobby Thomson
Not really seeing much steak in the excerpt from Politico. However, it is known that Cuomo is a dick.
Gin & Tonic
Andrew learned dickishness from his Dad, Mario “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo.” Never understood why he’s considered such a saint.
jonas
The reason Cuomo’s a huge dick is that everything he does is calculated to look good/not appear negative when he realizes his Great Big Dream of finally running for president as the Perfect Centrist Democrat someday. So he promotes this system, for example, where a group of conservative Democrats caucus with the minority Republicans to essentially make the state senate Republican, which he can then play off against the heavily Dem assembly.
Bobby Thomson
@oldster: it is literally his fault. Cuomo brokered the deal that put Republicans in the majority because he didn’t want Democrats running the legislature. He is a first class piece of shit and the main reason I was an early jumper onto the 2016 Clinton bandwagon.
Nicole
Ugh. I hate Cuomo, but I also hate the rise in celebrity candidacies. Due to my work, I read a lot of textbooks, and the current chapter I’m reading, about politics, talks about the rise in populism and personality candidates- Trump is the symptom, not the cause; this has been coming for awhile.
It’s a bad thing when the most experienced folk working in gov’t are the lobbyists.
Peale
@germy: Yep. Look at uberly Democratic Forever Massachusetts as a warning…New York will have a Republican governor again long before Texas has a Democrat.
EricNNY
@Dave: Me too, just to send a message.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Peale: It’s no longer true, but IIRC in 2010, the reliably blue states of NY, CA, IL and MA had had more R than D governors over the previous 25 years– might be true again in MA and IL, now that I think of it. Again IIRC, from 1992 to 2012 Dems had won Maine in presidential races by ever-increasing margins, while their govs and senators had all been R or Indy (Angus King, you crazy bastard)
randy khan
@But her emails!!!:
A more complicated answer, which I hope will be clear.
There are two factors. The first is that the Senate is massively gerrymandered to keep it as Republican as possible. This is a legacy of a time when it didn’t need to be gerrymandered and also of periods when New York had Republican governors, most recently Pataki. Some governors have found it convenient to have a split Legislature (the current incumbent among them).
However, the state is so blue now that the gerrymander no longer is effective. You’d think that would lead to Dem control of the State Senate. Instead, what’s happened is that Democratic backbenchers (most of them more conservative than the rest of the caucus) have cut a power-sharing deal with the Republicans to keep the Republicans plus the rump Dems in charge, not incidentally giving those Dems more power than they’d have if their own party were running the State Senate. Again, Cuomo has no particular interest in changing this dynamic because it gives him more power. But it’s really, really strange.
tobie
@Libraryguy: Do the members of the Independent Democratic Conference have challengers? They should. They’ve allowed Republicans to control the state legislature for far too long.
EricNNY
Some good news, liberals in Vermont are investing money and volunteers for the NY-21 race. The seat is currently held by Paul Ryan’s stooge Elise Stefanik. The Vermonters feel their seat is safe so they want to make a difference elsewhere.
No Drought No More
@oldster: That’s essentially been my take of Cuomo from a continent away from day 1 of his political career. His old man should have spent more time with him as a kid, I suppose.
Chip Daniels
There was a time when we had such a paucity of progressives, people like Cuomo could lead the pack.
Those days are gone.
germy
@EricNNY: Elise is also a protegé of Karl Rove.
msdc
@Davis X. Machina: I don’t think Cuomo takes brave stands, only calculated ones, and he’s certainly done enough to piss off New Yorkers over the years.
But yeah, the idea that progressives should respond to a politician’s tack to the left by mocking and abandoning them is classic progressive strategery.
billcoop4
I live in NY-21, and I suspect the area will not want too visible a presence from outsiders. Not that the help won’t be welcomed, but active and low-key is better than outloud (especially Vermonters) and off-putting.
BC
Wild Cat
So I have to re-live his father’s gubernatorial run against Ed Koch with primary slogans like, “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo!”?
And Spitzer’s hubris really fucked everything up. Cuomo sucks dog ass, but it’s better than enduring a 21st-c. version of a Pataki.
Libraryguy
@tobie: As a matter of fact, challengers are lining up: Over 60 New York Grassroots Groups Form Coalition, Endorse Challengers to Independent Democratic Conference
Stan
That’s pretty much the consensus view here in Albany (the State capital). I know quite a few people who went to law school with him. Every single one of them said he was an idiot who had to be carried through school. Like trump, he had too much privilege too young, so he never matured. I have never understood why he thinks he can be president but then, I am still in denial about trump…..
Libraryguy
@billcoop4: We’re NY-19 with Faso, and it’s amazing what the Right can do to make candidates like Teachout seem alien to the district. Keeping it more locally driven seems to be helping with all the D challengers to Faso.
Amir Khalid
@Nicole:
Celebrities are citizens like anyone else. They get to speak their minds and run for elected office like anyone else; celebrity doesn’t disqualify them. For what it’s worth, Cynthia Nixon’s not acting like her celebrity per se is a qualification for elected office, unlike a certain POTUS we could name. Should she decide to run against Andrew Cuomo, she’ll get a chance to present herself, and voters in New York can then decide if she has a policy agenda they like and the executive/political skills to do the Governor’s job.
Stan
Whoa there my friend, that’s nonsense. We’re not quite Pennsylvania. Albany county went strong for Bernie Sanders as a left-ish protest against our own former Senator. Syracuse has a true progressive mayor, Stephanie Miner, who I would love to see run for governor. It ain’t all red update; it’s like every other state – blue in the cities and red in the rural areas. Long Island, which is definitely not “upstate” is the heart of red republican goons in New York.
Stan
Right. I mean, we have the examples of FDR and Lincoln right there….
Stan
Not crackpot at all. You are absolutely right. Dig into the Fort Lee stuff and Cuomo is there. It’s a joint (multi-State) agency.
Libraryguy
@Stan: And the People’s Republic of Ithaca would also like to put in a good word for blue politics….
tobie
@Libraryguy: Cool! Glad to hear this.
@Stan:
How did that protest vote work out for them? And have they learned that voting is not a symbolic activity?
TenguPhule
@NorthLeft12:
New York also supports the Yankees, so we know they’re nuts.
TenguPhule
@tobie:
No. SATSQ.
Nicole
@Amir Khalid: Right, I get that, but the problem is that the celebrity winds up being preferable, in the minds of voters, to that of experience, due to a declining faith in the government, which may or may not be warranted (I’m talking over the past few decades, not just the past year, although look where all of the Right’s drum beating of “government is the problem” led us to!). The end result is a lot of charismatic personalities running, and likely winning, which is not likely the best thing for the nation as a whole. Actors have natural charisma and know how to present a public persona. It’s great that anyone (over 35 and a natural born citizen) can be President, but unfortunately, that starts to run together with “anyone can do the job of President” (or governor, or mayor). And so celebrities leapfrog over politicians who have been slogging their way up the ladder, using their celebrity as their excuse for why they don’t need to spend any time at the local level, learning the ropes. And the result is we get quite possibly very good, very well intentioned and very bright people in offices, but they aren’t experienced enough to handle the job.
But like I said, I hate Cuomo. He’s the other side of the coin, the hereditary politician. Mind you, that’s a common thing, regardless of career- kids very often pursue the same field of work their parents did- but we see the damage it does more often in politics than in other fields. Well, I guess maybe medicine, too, where you see incompetent kids get into med school because their parents are MDs. A bad doctor can do a lot of damage, too.
Cacti
If the goal is to replace a sitting Dem governor of one of the most important States in the country, maybe we could find a better replacement than a bored celebrity looking for a new hobby.
Just a thought.
Gin & Tonic
@TenguPhule: My son can tell you where the Red Sox bars are in Manhattan (admittedly, there are not many,)
kindness
Cuomo sucks. He’s the reason that offshoot group of 6 or 7 ‘Democrats’ have allowed Republicans to run the Senate. Because Cuomo does not want to sign Democratically good legislation. Asshole should rot in Queens for all his days.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@kindness: Queens is too good for him. Staten Island.
Mike J
NY Robbin
@But her emails!!!: I am a New Yorker, and I agree.
SFAW
Right, because who in their right mind would elect a dickish moron with delusions of grandeur, and who would fuck over supporters and enemies alike?
mistermix, I love ya (in a manly way, of course, as General J.C. Christian might say), but JFC, didn’t 2016 teach you anything?
EricNNY
@billcoop4: Very true, but the case can be made that the majority of Elise’s money comes from outside the district as well.
Schlemazel
@Mike J:
There are still too many nice things close by. Groton, NY would be better
TenguPhule
@Cacti:
But all of the people who could do a good job of it are the very people who don’t want to run for it.
Schlemazel
@SFAW:
Gawd I miss Mon General
Stan
OMG yeah, I don’t know how I forgot that. I lived there for a while.
Barbara
@oldster: It’s not his fault it’s exactly what he intended and he works hard to keep it that way because that maximizes his power. But these corruption scandals are getting closer and closer to him so his presidential ambitions are questionable.
schrodingers_cat
What about Preet Bharara? Does he have any political aspirations?
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: Preet repeatedly says on his podcast that he has no interest in politics.
I suspect he is hoping to be a US attorney again at some point in the future, or attorney general. He has more or less stated the first part (US attorney) the second is pure speculation on my part.
edited
NorthLeft12
@Cacti: How did you determine that Ms. Nixon is a bored celebrity?
I can’t say that I am an expert regarding NY politics, but from ongoing comments on here and other left leaning blogs, Cuomo has been operating as pretty much a Republican and his actions have helped the Repubs to control the state Senate. Whether NY is important or not, yeah it is BTW, why shouldn’t progressives work to get real progressive politicians and policies advanced in New York?
Stan
If it was not obvious, I meant in the dem primary. Albany is a uniquely shitty place to be a dem because we have a 100-year-old machine still running things. There’sa n 11:1 enrollment advantage dem:republican. So, while there are are plenty of real progressives, the local party is firmly run by people who’d be perfectly at home in the other party. They went strongly for Hillary in the primary, which is why a primary vote for Sanders became a local protest vote. Hardly merely symbolic….it was designed to embarrass the local dem leadership and it had some of that effect. Not that they are easily embarrassed; the corruption is legendary.
burnspbesq
@But her emails!!!:
Upstate.
schrodingers_cat
Out of curiosity, is Cynthia Nixon a Bernie sis, I mean a “true progressive”.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: Personally I would love him as an AG in a future Democratic administration. Or maybe a federal judgeship if he wants it.
@schrodingers_cat: Haven’t heard one way or the other. Which might actually be a positive for her.
tobie
@Stan: I understood you meant in the primary. I was responding to your framing of the vote as as a protest against “our own former Senator,” which I assumed meant former US Senator Clinton. Were you referring to your senator in the state legislature? If so, that wasn’t clear and I apologize for jumping. I still think there lots of ways to approach the ballot–a strategic vote, a vote out of conviction, a lesser-of-two-evils vote, etc. But I don’t think “protest votes” do much of anything but tear things down without building things up. It’s a luxury we can’t afford at this point.
tobie
@schrodingers_cat: You forgot the trademark sign after “true progressive.”
Mike J
@schrodingers_cat: Cynthia Nixon: I’m Definitely a Hillary Person
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: I did remember but was too lazy to figure out how to render it in the comment.
schrodingers_cat
@Mike J: Good to know. Thanks.
Aleta
He can’t even pretend to do this for two days before attacking her? He needs better health care imo.
VeniceRiley
@tobie:
fwiw saw at kos
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/3/8/1744992/-Fake-Democrats-are-keeping-the-New-York-GOP-in-power-These-progressives-can-help-end-their-reign
TenguPhule
Has anyone mentioned the DOI in the dark of night lifting of the elephant trophy ban?
debbie
@But her emails!!!:
Most of the state is conservative, some parts extremely conservative.
Amir Khalid
@schrodingers_cat:
If she’s actually studying the issues as The Fucking New York Times reports, rather than merely signing on to the Bernista conventions on agenda and tactics, then Nixon may be a pragmatist, which is of course preferable. But that, like her candidacy itself, remains to be seen.
Aleta
@LAO: Well said.
(Won’t vote for someone) sometimes = (won’t vote against him)
Because (Koch) money changes everything.
debbie
@debbie:
Though, on the other hand, I would think losing the state and city tax deduction might liberal up more than a few conservatives.
Bruuuuce
@Libraryguy: I know that Democrats are organized to primary the RINOS of the IDC out of office ASAP. Certainly we have a very active group in my neighborhood (Jackson Heights, Queens) with a viable liberal candidate and a GOTV effort to kick out that asshole Jose Peralta.
Cacti
@NorthLeft12:
What “real progressive policies” has Cynthia Nixon brought about in her entire adult life?
Anyone can talk a good game.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@tobie: Hold on, I assume we’re talking about the Democratic Primary, not the General here… Primaries are where we want “protest votes” to be cast, as long as we can come together for the General Election.
Vheidi
@Libraryguy: thanks so much for that link! Just signed up to Jesse Hamilton’s opponent’s campaign list.
Just One More Canuck
@germy: Baud/Naked Mole Rat 2020!
Cacti
Was Susan Sarandon not available?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
If Mueller is fired, a GOP NY governor will simply pardon every Trump that Scneiderman convicts, and I’m sorry, but a hyper progressive niche celebrity activist without any discernible governing or policymaking experience gets New York a GOP governor.
Further, progressive slagging of Cuomo does damage, too.
This is why I kick hippies on the face every time I see them, repeatedly.
Yutsano
@Just One More Canuck:
I found the perfect candidate!
Cacti
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Mistermix was one of the leaders of the BJ “Edward Snowden is a whistleblowing, patriot hero” club. His political judgment is…questionable.
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: Yes, the lifting on the elephant ban has been mentioned/discussed several times here. I think it’s fair to summarize that we are all disgusted and aghast at the depravity.
schrodingers_cat
@Cacti: So was Cole. I remember the Snowden, GG and Manning fan club.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@NorthLeft12:
New York is quite a bit more conservative than a lot of people care to admit, particularly on money. I’m guessing that if you subtract Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn from statewide vote totals, New York would probably always have a GOP governor and GOP senators the majority of the time.
Corner Stone
Why in the world would a video game executive ever meet with Trump? That is all downside, all the way around.
Amir Khalid
@Cacti:
Nixon shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand just for being famous. If she decides to run, she deserves an evaluation on the merits, same as any candidate.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: Me, too!
Just One More Canuck
@Yutsano: Rufus! That’s brilliant! Loved Kim Possible – one of the great shows from the 00’s – watched it with my daughter a lot (along with Daria reruns – she didn’t like the shows aimed at her age (Barney, etc)
And it ties in with one of BJ’s favourite tweeters, Bob Schooley, who created Kim Possible
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
They can run ads proclaiming how anti-establishment their new line up of games are that sticks it to the man by ignoring Trump’s demands for less fun in games.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: I miss about half the threads here so I can never be sure sometimes.
ruemara
Multiple, multiple progressive stars spend time learning and working on policy issues. It is a mistake to dismiss them just because their main job was in front of a camera. Multiple have degrees with impressive minors. They’re not ignorant. As someone who has seen local politicians who were pool men, housewives, biologists, lawyers and, yes, lobbyists – it’s be kinda great if the fact that a day job involved acting wasn’t cause for dismissal because Republicans picked possibly the worst human available for the presidency. He was the worst human available long before he was a reality tv “star”. Just pointing that out. Because you’re fucking annoying with that.
@schrodingers_cat: No. Not saying she wasn’t pro-Bernie, but she’s not wearing a Bernie suit while she dry humps a free college poster to his speeches.
schrodingers_cat
@Amir Khalid: She has zero political experience, if she was not an actor no one would have even known about her.
Sab
@Amir Khalid: I thought Al Franken was a pretty good candidate. So did his constituents.
Barbara
@burnspbesq: It’s more than upstate. It’s a dedicated effort by which some Dems become power brokers by peeling off from their own caucus to deprive Dems overall from having as much legislative power as their numbers should give them. That basically makes Cuomo the king.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
This still shouldn’t be a disqualifier at the state level.
Corner Stone
@Mike J:
Yoog, if true. There are other things I would enjoy more than seeing Paul Ryan tossed out of office, but the list has dramatically shortened over the last few years.
schrodingers_cat
These purity exercises against incumbent Ds are going to be distracting against our main goal, which is to counter the Orange Man and his R minions. By winning the House and the Senate and as many state houses as possible. I cast a wary eye towards these purity purges.
Amir Khalid
@schrodingers_cat:
Ruemara has already addressed this point #115.
ruemara
@randy khan: There’s really nothing strange about people in power betraying others to have more power. See, also, the way Lieberman & Sanders swanned about when their votes needed to be courted.
? Martin
@Corner Stone: Yeah, I don’t get that either.
eric
@schrodingers_cat: so, if she were the only one in the race advocating for gun control because the Constitution allows reasonable restraints on the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, what difference does it make that she voted yes or no on gun control. I think every regular on this board is “qualified” to serve, though some of us may lack the desire for such a role. Why would me being a lawyer be better? I never deal with labor, or fiscal policy, or monetary policy. I vote for a person’s values and what I perceive is his or her commitment to those values. She or he will have a staff to help with the sausage making.
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: It has come up in a handful of threads, gets a few comments and drops. It’s hard to sustain a lively debate with something so clearly evil and petty. Easy to miss but has been bandied about.
Mike J
@Corner Stone: Note that they say it moved towards Democrats. It moved from Safe Republican to Likely Republican. Which is good news, but still a long way to go.
Since Ryan might not even run it’s worth putting resources in.
schrodingers_cat
@eric: Her being an actor is not disqualifying. I just don’t want happened in 2016 to be repeated at the state level. If Nixon loses the primary and her supporters go, we wuz robbed and sit at home, thus paving the way for an R governor. NY has had those in the past.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: If that’s how they act, they were always the kind who’d do that.
trollhattan
@Just One More Canuck:
Cool, did not know this. I think my kid watched Kim Possible, they’re all a blur at this point–every show is either Powerpuff Girls or iCarly. She also still mourns the passing of Gravity Falls.
tobie
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: Was it wise to register a protest vote in the primaries in Oregon and California in 2016 after Trump had already sealed the Republican nomination? As far as I can tell the continuation of a nasty primary fight on the Dem side in April, May and June really cost the party heavily in the general. Bernie had already revealed himself at that point for the crank he was–so much so that he was pleading for the super delegates he previously lambasted to vote for him over Clinton. As for the broader question: no, I think protest votes are “symbolic” votes or “vanity” votes and don’t recognize politics for what it is. Politics is about finding the best way to enact policies with which you more or less agree. It can be passionate but it should also be strategic. That we live in an age where politics has become all about branding (e.g., MAGA hats, “Bernie” bumper stickers–was that the campaign slogan?) is a sad statement about the state of American democracy.
eric
@schrodingers_cat: at some point, we get to primary bad dems? there are ways to do it, that you dont cripple the party. That means Cuomo has the job for life. Cuomo is a bad dem, and likely corrupt dem. I would run on the former, not the latter.
Feathers
As to lack of political experience, I remember Barney Frank saying how impressed he was with Sony Bono (as a congressman and politician, not as an ally), and that show business was actually a very good background for being a politician. You have to be confident, able to speak in public, work hard and get things done, even if the other people involved are egotistical assholes. Cynthia Nixon is a working actress and has been for going on forty years. That is testament to a great deal of being able to do the work and work well with others. Her stardom is from one “lucky” role on Sex and the City.
Don’t know enough to say I support her, but I don’t think her current career is anything that should hold her back. That said, Governor of New York seems to be a dealing with a nest of vipers kind of job. But Hollywood probably counts as experience. Looking at her Wikipedia page, she doesn’t have production experience, which would count in her favor, but I am certainly willing to see what she has to offer.
Barbara
No profession is disqualifying but some are more associated with navigating disputes and achieving consensus. Lawyers, obviously, but anyone who has to be persuasive in their professional life. Extremists and technocratic prifessions, including doctors, are less effective. Draw your own conclusions regarding our current predicament.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan:
Ooooh, me too. I watch the reruns sometimes when I catch them. Although I am glad the creator decided its fate, I wish another season or a final trilogy to cap off the last three episodes at least.
divF
@Nicole:
Jerry Brown would like a word…
Seriously, love him or hate him, Jerry Brown has spent most of the last 50 years in public service (he turns 80 next month). That deserves some recognition.
TenguPhule
@tobie: To be fair, we do have corruption problems within the party and some of our Democrats are hold your nose at the ballot because they delight in being assholes just slightly better then Republicans and realize how much power they have because the situation has just gotten so bad.
Being six political voices nominally allied under one party for what is supposed to be mutual benefit is messy.
TenguPhule
@Barbara:
Registering as a Republican should be an automatic disqualifier for running for any office.
Corner Stone
@Barbara:
I think any profession where you have personal money or can arrange your schedule to suit a campaign calendar make the difference in a lot of cases. Most bartenders or people below the C-level execs are not* able to compete, for obvious reasons.
*ETA
debbie
Apparently, we have 64 minutes to go until Trump announces his tariffs.
TenguPhule
@eric:
First whiff of immigration restrictions and SC will be the first calling for them to be tarred, feathered and run out on a rail.
Yutsano
@debbie: Thought I read in WaPo that the signing is off for right now. Could be wrong there.
Gin & Tonic
@debbie: Markets seem to be saying “ho hum.”
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@trollhattan: @Just One More Canuck: I loved that show!
NorthLeft12
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Sorry, that kind of logic is pretty weak. It sounds like people who live in Ontario not in or close to Toronto, who complain if it weren’t for Toronto we [meaning non-Torontonians] would have a government that really represents us.
Oh my, the perils of living in a country that has a Parliamentary democracy that [surprise!] elects governments based almost solely on the choice of the largest number of voters.
But her emails!!!
@schrodingers_cat:
Cuomo is actually an obstacle to Democrats controlling the New York state houses, as are the Democrats who caucus with Republicans in the state.
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: Anyone who is not pro-immigration deserves all the scorn and passion that we can throw at them. IMO, it’s obviously ok to go through immigration policies but if their platform is easy to characterize as “immigration restrictions” then they have no business having a D by their name.
debbie
@Yutsano:
I was clearing out all my junk email boxes, and this popped up on AOL.
@Gin & Tonic:
They may have gotten tired of all the drama. I went to Marketwatch to see the numbers and saw this. I need a hidey-hole.
schrodingers_cat
@But her emails!!!: I will defer to your superior knowledge of NY state politics. I have no special love for Cuomo. I am wary of Tea party style primaries by our cray cray wing. I have no information to judge whether Nixon’s bid falls into that category.
James E. Powell
@Gin & Tonic:
It really comes down to one speech.
But her emails!!!
Texas isn’t really that conservative. If you remove these areas containing 5.75 million people, the Governor and other statewide races would probably be consistently won by Democrats.
Stan
Cuomo is actually THE MAJOR obstacle to Democrats controlling the New York state senate.
But her emails!!!
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s not my knowledge. I’m just deferring to what the New Yorkers in the thread have told me.
Corner Stone
@But her emails!!!:
You know, when you put it like that it all makes a kind of sense. Newsletter one may subscribe to?
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: I just find it rather ironic that it depends on who’s ox is being gored that dictates the “put up with them because we have to” and “they don’t belong here”. Consorting with the Republicans in local gerrymandering seems a bigger sin to me then having to address complicated concerns from actual voters about actual problems that have multiple stakeholders.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@But her emails!!!:
So you’re advocating eliminationist tactics?//
MomSense
Here’s the thing we have to win. At this point, I defer to the locals who have been doing the actual work of electing democrats for more than a minute.
Win first. Pressure them once they are in office. A Democrat is always better than any Republican.
TenguPhule
@MomSense:
Now there’s the rub.
Cheryl Rofer
OT, but thought you’d all enjoy this.
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: Not what I was addressing.
geg6
@schrodingers_cat:
I believe she was a Hillbot.
Schlemazel
@But her emails!!!:
If I could remove the right 18% of any state I probably could flip it
geg6
@schrodingers_cat:
She seems a pretty standard issue Democrat, not some sort of Wilmer-type ego-driven asshole. She did a lot of campaigning for Hillary and I know she’s been involved in LGBTQ and breast cancer issues. A whole hell of a lot more experience there than the Dolt.
Edited to add: My original comment said I was not eager for another celebrity to run for much of anything. However, I feel she is being maligned here for no other reason than she’s an actor. She’s actually a pretty serious actor, not a “celebrity,” in the vacuous sense, so I feel we should be fair to her.
pablo
GO NIXON! (I was around during Watergate, and I thought I would ever say that!)
Steve in the SFO
@eric:
The direct benefit to being a lawyer before becoming a lawmaker is the education, training, and experience in reading and understanding laws. Lawyers are generally better able to understand how to draft laws because they understand the significance of each element in the proposed legislation and the best way to phrase to achieve both clarity and the desired outcome.
That said, some lawyers are horrible lawmakers and many non-lawyers are great, but there is a reason why so many lawmakers are lawyers. Also, I am a huge fan of diversity so I like to see a political body made up of people with many different backgrounds and experiences.
Ruckus
@Steve in the SFO:
Let me say two words, Orly Taz. A lawyer admitted to the CA bar. She’s insane but she passed the exam.
Corner Stone
@Ruckus: One of the stone dumbest people I have ever personally met failed the Texas bar too many times to take it again so she went to Louisiana and passed. To this day I don’t know how she found her shoes in the morning.
Steve in the SFO
@Corner Stone: so she could handle napoleanic code but not common law? Bizarre.
@Ruckus: insane doesn’t mean stupid. I learned that at an early age as I interacted with my relatives.
Yutsano
@Corner Stone: @Steve in the SFO: You wonder how these people even manage to pass law school.
Fair Economist
Normally I’d be skeptical of a person like Nixon with no administrative experience running for Governor (legislative office is fine). But Cuomo is so bad on policy and corruption I’ll make an exception if Nixon seems to know what’s going on with the issues.
Fair Economist
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
And if you ignore almost 6 million people in rural areas the Republicans would never control anything in New York ever again. Those three boroughs are about 30% of NY State’s entire population.
AnonPhenom
@eric:
Exactly.
The individual who isn’t personally troubled by the status quo can readily find reason to counsel patients and stress the importance of civility to the person who is troubled by it.
Van Buren
@Stan: between Nassau and Suffolk, Trump got 643 thousand votes to Hillary’s 636 thousand. Not exactly bright red. I
stan
Thanks, that’s slightly encouraging….but it remains a fact that the center of republican power in NY State government is long island. E.g., John Flanagan
SFAW
@Schlemazel:
Did he just decide to quit blogging, or did unfortunate circumstances befall him? I recall going over there about a year or two ago, and it was apparent he was no longer keeping the blog active, but I never really tried to figure out what happened.
But, yes, I too miss him.
Bobby Thomson
@debbie:
‘
Only if you look at acreage. That’s the same argument that Republicans use when claiming most of America supports them.