I know this is a not a big issue, but if you do vote this year in NY state (and you should) please consider that Cuomo will be re-elected. I am not telling you how to vote, but if you do plan on voting for him, vote for him on the Working Families Party ticket, not the Democratic one. It would be a reminder to him and his team that he has to take his progressive supporters into account. If you don’t want to vote for him, and I wouldn’t blame you one bit, then may I suggest a vote for the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins.
Cuomo is hoping for a big blowout victory for one reason and one reason only – to line up financial backers for a run at the Presidency either in 2016 and/or 2020. Despite his support for a few social issues (Same sex marriage equality and reasonable regulations on guns) he is for the most part a corporate hack, heavily indebted to Wall Street, and also just looking for an excuse to open up New York to hydrofracking operations.
So far we’ve been able to hold him at bay on allowing hydrofracking in NY, but a big Cuomo victory would likely enable him to push fracking through, which as anyone from Pennsylvania can tell you, would be an unmitigated environmental disaster, that would provide little if any real economic return for the state, but huge deferred costs and liabilities after the oil and gas drillers are long gone.
As for the other votes you cast, please vote for the Democrats and not the Republicans, no matter how nice they try to portray themselves. The Tea Pary extremists have made serious inroads in the NYGOP, with a boatload of out of state Super PAC (i.e., ALEC) funding for their chosen candidates. Cuomo doesn’t seem to care much if the GOP regains control of the NY Legislature, since in many cases his interests are aligned with theirs in terms of favoring business interests above the health and economic well being of most New Yorkers. Yes, we have our share of bad Dems here, but I’d rather the devil I know than the Tea Party crazies I don’t.
Regardless of where you live, make sure you vote. The GOP is relying on big money attack ads, voter suppression efforts and stirring up their rabid base by using the animus they’ve ginned up against President Obama over the last six years to get out their vote. But even more than that, they are relying on voter apathy among Democratic, liberal and progressive voters. Votes matter, even in states without high profile Senate or Gubernatorial races. Just ask the folks in Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania what allowing the GOP to takeover state and local governments has done for them. If you live in a state that allows early or mail-in voting and have already voted, thank you. If like me, you have fewer voting options, find a way to get yourself to the polls on Tuesday, and bring someone else with you.
Thanks,
Steven D
Is he going to run for President as a Republican? He and his two good buddies are almost there as it is.
Good advice on how to ticket-split. If I had this choice, knowing that he aims to roll up the score, I would likely vote Green just to keep their ability to be on the ballot. Downticket I would likely keep the bad Dems rather than the GOP loons. But I’ve already done my part in NC to try to toss out a loony legislature. You folks look like you are headed to a loony legislature in spite of winning with a “Dem”.
If you don’t want to vote for him, and I wouldn’t blame you one bit, then may I suggest a vote for the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins.
If I were a NYer, I’d would under no circumstances vote for Cuomo. He’s going to win anyway, so best he win with the smallest possible margin. Besides all that you mentioned, he wants to expand charter schools big time and bust unions. So I’d suggest any NYers here vote for Howie Hawkins and his running mate.
In retrospect, his position on marriage equality and firearms regulation seems a little…. calculated.
One eye on the DKos primary? (Tho’ I don’t think those people will fall for it today, however likely this kind of gambit was to have succeeded in, say, 2008, or in a hypothetical 2012 open-seat race.)
They’re the progressive issues hedge-fund liberals like, because they don’t take any tax money. And the anti-gay pro-gun vote upstate isn’t anything like as powerful as it used to be. Some legislators took a hit voting on the good side, but Andrew didn’t lose a thing.
If anybody wants a look, my piece leans a little bit less toward the Greens and a little bit more toward the WFP, not for the sake of the unspeakable Cuomo but for the sake of the gutsy little party, which has done wonderful effective work in the past, recognizes that it has made a terrible mistake with the Cuomo endorsement, and could get hurt in tomorrow’s vote in a way that the Greens would not.
I still haven’t totally made up my own mind, but note that a vote for Cuomo will not help him become president, because he will never, never, never get the Democratic nomination.
Never say never. If something happens to Hillary he is the logical corporate candidatem (al5though I think Rahm emanuel still has his egotistical eyes on it).
Not because of how I feel about him, which the masses are probably not interested in knowing. The thing is he’s like the Christie of the Democrats, people totally unlike us, from the rest of the country, won’t be able to tolerate him either, because he’s just not “likable”.
That would prevent him from being elected but won’t prevent him from being nominated.
Unfortunately, he benefits GREATLY from the name Cuomo. My mother (85 yo, lives in Kansas) absolutely LOVES him … once removed. Hell, my stupid brother thinks he must be ok … and Wally voted to keep the slavery amendment ON the Mo. constitution in ’76.
Nope, if Hillary falls on her sword, Cuomo could easily get a lot of action outside the NE.
Suck on THAT, Hillary haters.
Good heavens, that’s frightening.
Why is a pro-goo-go citizen that is informed enough to know that Hillary doesn’t qualify called a “Hillary hater?” That’s the level of argument used by the RWNJ, Rush, and neoliberalcons that pretend to be Democrats.
See my post below. I thought the same thing. After up close and personal observation of his political skills, I’m not so sure about that anymore.
AG
I played for Cuomo (W/the truly great Mambo Legends Orchestra) at a Bronx rally this Saturday and let me warn you right now…this man is a pro. A talented pro. He improvised a jacket switch with the governor of Puerto Rico…from Cuomo’s regular $1000 sports coat w/out a tie to a leather jacket that was much more Bronx/Nuyorican…and won the crowd on the spot. Of course, they were almost all Bronx street organizers so they were dedicated DemRats out front; that’s pretty much forgivable considering the viciously racist upstate RatPublican scene…but I am attuned enough to the whole Bronx thing that I could see the reserve with which they initially greeted him. But by the end? After the coat switch (pre-planned or not, it was a political masterstroke) and a rousing if pre-written stump speech, he had that crowd.
i used to think he was just too damned ugly and mean-spirited looking to make it big time, but seeing him play the house live, up close and personal? Nope. he’s got real talent.
Watch.
He’s a comer.
AG
What tunes did you play?
Nothing you would probably recognize, Booman, unless you are a real fan of the Tito Puente//Machito/Tito Rodriguez NYC mambo tradition. It was right up the audience’s alley, though…leftiness NYC/Bronx Puerto Ricans from the same culture that produced Sonia Sotomayor. A real ethnic political rally. The governor of Puerto Rico, the current Bronx borough president, the previous Bronx borough president…I think, because i also think one of the recent ones is already in jail…whatever. The usual suspects. But the people in the audience were believers. There may be a general rightward lean in the rest of the country, but not in the Hispanic Bronx. No way, no how. Bet on it.
Later…
S.
To all Democrats in New York who might not consider fracking a big deal. Let me say I am not a scientist, but I have a son with a Phd in Geology from the University of Texas, and who presently is a research professor at a major university. His areas of expertise are hydrology,geomorphology, and sedimentology. We have family in the Hudson River family whom we recently visited. During our visit the issue of fracking was discussed at great length. My son stated that almost without exception there is no location on the east coast where fracking should take place. He said that as rule the groundwater is close to the surface and the sub strata of rock is such that the risks are not outweighed by the benefits. He said that fracking can utilized in areas west of the Mississippi, but on a case by case basis. I hope that everyone who reads Booman’s word will heed his advice.
I vote because my father would have been 42 years old, if he had stayed in the state of his birth before he would have had the chance to vote. I vote because my grandmother, who had her Masters Degree before she married in 1905, couldn’t pass the ‘ Literacy Test’ in the Police State known as Jim Crow Mississippi, in order to register to vote. I vote because I know my history. I vote because there is always a choice, no matter how slight. I vote because perfect candidates don’t just happen….and waiting for unicorns and ponies is a waste of my time. I vote because I know the influence of government over my life, no matter the level. I vote because it is my responsibility as a citizen.
Voted on Friday here in Atlanta, and took my previously-Republican gf with me, who I’ve convinced to vote for Dems because of the lunacy of the Republican party.
I hope Nunn and Carter can win, but I don’t really believe they will. At this point, maybe a runoff, but thats about as close as Nunn will get.
#NorthernerBehindEnemyLines
Who is liked better down there, Jimmy or Sam? I hope Carter pulls it out, at least.
It’s hard to tell, to be honest. Atlanta is basically an enclave in the middle of Mississippi. Which is something I point out to the fascist-enablers in the newspaper comment section every time they go full wingnut bigot mode.