The New York Times has endorsed Cory Booker over Rush Holt, Frank Pallone, and Sheila Oliver in the Democratic primary to replace Frank Lautenberg in the Senate. I’m kind of glad I don’t live in New Jersey anymore because I can’t decide who I want to win this race. My first instinct is to support Rush Holt because he comes closest to my worldview. But Pallone isn’t too far off and probably has a better chance to win. And Booker brings a much-needed perspective, as the Times points out. I don’t know much about Ms. Oliver, but I’ve heard positive things. I wish we could bring this level of talent to all our campaigns. I mean, Terry McAuliffe? Seriously?
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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If I lived there, I’d be in the Anyone But Booker camp.
I don’t trust that guy.
Yeah, he’s a little too joined at the hip with the banksters and thugs on Wall Street.
And no one will be like Lautenberg!
sob
Yep. I’d sure like those choices instead of the ones that I’ll be having.
I think it’s an easy choice. Rush Holt all the way. I don’t think he’d have a hard time winning.
And yeah, I had no choice for governor, no one challenge the drunken hack. However, we did have good choices for AG and Lt. Governor. The Lt. Governor primary winner was a staunch Planned Parenthood advocate in the VA Senate.
And Booker brings a much-needed perspective, as the Times points out.
Much-needed prospective? Which prospective is that? Of the Wall Street elite? We already have enough of those in the Senate.
If you want to reduce Cory Booker to a caricature, then fine.
The New York Times endorsement isn’t particularly enlightening for someone like me who isn’t that familiar with Booker. There’s a lot of gloss, but not much substance. Before reading it, I knew:
After reading the article, I discovered that he had got a bunch of money from Mark Zuckerberg for Newark’s schools. That sounds great, and the New York Times sure thinks it’s swell, but how has the money been spent? The fact that Booker and Christie agree, according to the Times, on education policy, was a big red flag for me. According to Mother Jones’, the money has been mostly flushed down the toilet on consultants, new charter schools (leaving the existing schools to rot as usual, I guess), and giving the Newark School Board more leverage in pushing DC-style right-wing “reform” onto the teacher’s union during contract negotiations (http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/03/zuckerberg-advocacy-group-100-million-donation-newark-school
s). And Booker’s the only one from Newark on the board governing how the money is spent. I’m sure that Newark schools have really turned around after all of this.
My Senators are Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. Booker would almost certainly be better than them on many issues, particularly gun reform. But we’re not talking about replacing them with Booker. We’re talking about choosing between him and three other people with proven chops at developing progressive legislation, and with much less of a track record shilling for people who don’t need it. Since he seems to be a political rock star, it probably doesn’t matter, but I personally think that his three Democratic opponents would all be clearly better choices. The fact that he has lived in rough neighborhoods isn’t really all that valuable when he’s willing to sell out his constituents to squander money on right-wing “reform” of public schools and protect the robber barons of Wall Street.
I guess I’m missing what it is that is so great about this guy.
I’m in NJ. Your comments, esp. 5 and the following are dead on. I think he’s a bit of an opportunist. Rush Holt all the way.
Cosmic justice would be for a Buono win to show all up the cowards who wouldn’t run against the sitting coward in office.
So make the case. All I know is pretty much word-for-word what sdhays wrote, above. I’d definitely vote for Booker if I wanted a guy who’d run into burning building to save kids.
He’s done it to himself. He defense of Bain didn’t bother you? His flip-flopping on Social Security doesn’t bother you? Or the fact that his position(s) on the Middle East are horrible(not to mention his relationship with two ultra-Zionist nutjobs)? Or his views on school “choice”? It just goes to show that supposed Democrats can be snowed just as much as the GOP can by the cult of personality(and little substance).
His performance on that Meet the Press did bother me because it was off-message and unhelpful to the president, and his job was to help the campaign.
But, I am from North Jersey and grew up with the sons and daughters of Wall Street and Madison Avenue (as well as the Princeton University faculty). If you were familiar with the history of politics in Newark, you’d see Cory Booker as a major breath of fresh air.
That he didn’t want to piss off the private equity folks is a no-brainer. He has to raise $100 million in matching funds for the schools, and his city is in desperate need of all kinds of capital investment. I don’t hold it against him.
I don’t like how he’s going about education reform but he has $200 million than the previous mayor had to run them.
As for your comments about Israel, I am not familiar with any of those details, but I’ve never seen a NYC-area politician who wasn’t incredibly pro-Israel. I don’t even think Pallone and Holt would be any different, although Holt represents Princeton, not the northern suburbs.
It bothers me that Tim Scott is the only black member of the Senate, and that counts for a lot with me. I’d probably vote for Holt, but not without regret that I couldn’t support them both.
re: Israel .. Booker is BFF’s with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Look him up. Boteach makes Chuck Schumer look like Arafat.
We’re in a win-win situation here. Not sure who I’ll vote for, they’re all good (for whom I’ll vote). re: Cory Booker and the banks: when 9/11 happened there already was construction underway in Jersey City for overflow office space from Lower Manhattan. then Lower Manhattan was inaccessible and non functional for months – lots of office space in Jersey City built up, it’s sort of an extension of Lower Manhattan now. Also, trying to put resources into Newark to give NJ a major city.
Finally, what’s wrong with a US Senator who will dig your car out personally when it gets snowed in?
Here’s website of the doc on his first mayoral campaign
http://streetfightfilm.com/
I’ll second the notion regarding McAuliffe. When I saw the article on TPM regarding the investigations into his financing of his car company this morning, I could only sigh in disgust.
What kind of moron puts his new factory in Mississippi when he wants to run for governor of Virginia in a few short years? And if we have to wake up to Governor Cuccinelli in November because of his shenanigans with financing-by-green-card….sigh.
If McAuliffe hadn’t indicated his decision to run again, I wonder if Tom Perriello would have decided to run. Maybe he just didn’t want to be governor, but maybe he didn’t want to have to run two grueling campaigns against a much better funded opponent.
It’s Booker or Holt. Mr. Wall Street Mancrush or Big Pharma’s whitewash. North Jersey or Central Jersey. Given those choices, I’ll take Wall Street with enough conscience to run into a burning building and enough spine to turn a shit-hole like Newark around. So will the state. I bet he even takes Princeton from Holt. He’s what Capitalist America is all about, no? At least he has a history of re-connecting Capital with their Conscience.
Christie agrees in that he was so afraid of Booker’s coattails, he wasted like umpteen million dollars to hold a separate election just to avoid it.
I agree with the sentiment that Booker’d be best as a Governor. All in good time.
Pick the one who can win.
The assumption is that the dem nominee will win.