MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
I wasn't planning on enthusiastically supporting Cynthia Nixon's bid to become New York's governor, which should lead to a primary challenge against incumbent Andrew Cuomo, absent shenanigans. I was planning, instead, to hear her out, given that I am largely unsatisfied with Andrew, who has proven annoyed me by feuding with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio when he should be doing right by the people who pay most of the taxes around here. which is us New Yorkers.
But I've already been pushed past the "willing to hear her out" stage on Cynthia Nixon purely because of the aghast reaction by New York's entrenched politicians. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, for example, has already publicly endorsed Cuomo. It's unseemly that a sitting Senator would make an endorsement like that before Nixon has even had a chance to debate Cuomo, or to even start her campaign.
This came after former New York City speaker and failed mayoral candidate Christine Quinn went full Trump on Twitter and called Nixon and "unqualified lesbian." There's some history here. Quinn (also an out lesbian) and Nixon worked together on same sex marriage rights leading up to the 2012 mayoral election where Nixon shocked Quinn by endorsing Bill de Blasio. But Quinn is Vice Chair of the State Democratic Party. She could have, at least, kept her mouth shut about this and remained neutral during the primary process. Now New Yorkers have decent reason to believe that the state party favors the incumbent and sees Nixon's bid as something of an affront.
I watched Quinn try to walk her comments back on local news last night (emphasizing that she views Nixon as unqualified and regrets tagging lesbian to it) and her complaint really is that Nixon is running at all. Basically, she believes that government should be left to lifelong government types, despite Nixon's history of successful activism and grass roots actions within her neighborhood and around the public school that her children attend.
The issue of "qualifications" in a democracy is interesting. While I won't say that they don't matter, they really don't matter in the traditional sense of job hunting. People have the right to elect outsiders and to try new things. In practice, voters rarely do this. Incumbents hold great power and sway and voters do seem to be pretty cautious.
But Nixon is no fringe candidate. She's a Zephyr Teachout style progressive with a long history of activism and professional accomplishment. She's by all accounts bright. I have no doubt she can handle the job. Is it a risk? I suppose so, since she's never held elected office before. But it actually seems worth the risk just to show the entrenched Democrats in the state party that they're the party's servants, not the party's owners.
Every time one of these hacks comes out for Andrew, I become that much more likely to vote for Nixon in the primary. If it keeps up like this, she won't even have to try for my vote.
Comments
Kirsten Gillibrand can kiss my ass. She started the piling on against Al Franken, thereby denying him the opportunity to participate in investigation he asked for. She is an opportunist and it will be her undoing.
BTW, I have read many good things about Nixon as well. My daughter lives in NY. Maybe I should send her the “Nixon” button I found in my mother’s jewelry box after she died. I have it on my kitchen bulletin board, lol.
by CVille Dem on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 10:32am
My wife suggested we make and sell "Unqualified Lesbian" t-shirts.
by Michael Maiello on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 12:24pm
"2018 - only unqualified people need apply"
I'd kind of expected we were going to beat up on the GOP for putting all their unqualified crony pieces of shit friends in, but I guess we've just decided to join the meme. It all looks so easy on TV/Twitter. All good fun until someone destroys an economy or goes to war in the wrong place, but I guess being exceptional we don't have to worry about that.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 12:33pm
Plenty of "qualified" elected leaders have led us into wars in the wrong places and have tanked economies. Nixon seems a smart woman with good ideas, good people around her and a history of successful activism for both human rights and education. Since temperament and judgment seem to most define success, we could at least slow down in dismissing Nixon. Cuomo has not exactly done a great job.
by Michael Maiello on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 1:07pm
Or, as Jeet Heer says: https://newrepublic.com/article/147588/democrats-elitist-obsession-quali...
by Michael Maiello on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 1:14pm
Yeah, we're so l33t. Bailing out of this one - trash collector at the door, wants to show me some stock tips.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 2:40pm
I'm with ya. PP. Here's the thing. She's is perfectly qualified to run for State Assembly Rep. of her district, or even Brooklyn Borough President.
Governor or even mayor of a big city: NO WAY. Not major executive positions without executive experience. Without executive experience? At the very least get your fingernails dirty with a couple years lower level political experience seeing the way sausage gets made.
Even in the latter case, let's not start at the top, folks. U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono was stretching it but learned on the job. Sen. Al Franken was an outlier of his kind--I was nervous that would be a disaster too, in that he took to it like a duck to water.
It can work in legislative positions, celebs are people too. Legislatures are supposed to be "the people" representing the people, that's the way they are supposed to work.
Swings who voted for Trump should have been reminded of the lovely Gov. Jesse Ventura experience and just say no thank you. But then they probably fell for it that Trump was a real businessman.
Uh oh, now I am getting into wrestler bashing territory....
P.S. Good at messaging, sound like they know what they are doing, but without experience? Although he began his tenure as governor with record high approval ratings (as high as 89% in December 2003), he left office with a record low 23%,[89] only one percent higher than that of Gray Davis, when he was recalled in October 2003.
by artappraiser on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 4:11pm
Yes, agree w all the legislative v executive caveats/analysis. In a legislature, your voice is balanced by others - much more damage to be had in a serious exec position.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 4:29pm
I'm rather meh from the little I know about her - glad she's a spokesperson for some good issues, but that doesn't make her qualified to run a state as its chief executive. I don't even see her as having any directing experience.
Whatever, little has standards anymore.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/21/2018 - 11:49am
No.
She´s unqualified. Now. End of story. She could start to fix that either by getting elected or selected to a job she could learn to handle.. You learn to be an executive or politician by being one. She hasn´t been.
I´ve known she was a democrat since seeing her in the audience at a couple of conventions. Good . But even if she ´d paid her dues on a City Council or as Commissioner of something or other I wouldn´t support her to replace Cuomo.
I seriously disagree with several of his positions and of his obstruction of DiBlasio . And find him personally unappealing. But I support Democrat incumbents.
¨Always keep a hold of Nurse, for fear of getting someone worse. ¨
edited to add Democrat
by Flavius on Thu, 03/22/2018 - 6:22pm
At this point, my vote in the primary is her's to lose.
by Michael Maiello on Thu, 03/22/2018 - 10:26am
Maiello... humor them...
~OGD~
by oldenGoldenDecoy on Thu, 03/22/2018 - 6:14pm
And once you’ve done the paperwork, you have to lick so many—
by Michael Maiello on Thu, 03/22/2018 - 7:38pm
Btw Molly Roberts in a WaPo column a few days ago had good things to say about Nixon.
edit to add the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/03/22/cynthia...
by AmericanDreamer on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 12:48pm
From The Week online today, Damon Linker, "Cynthia Nixon is the Future of the Democratic Party-for good and ill:
http://theweek.com/articles/763195/cynthia-nixon-future-democratic-party...
by AmericanDreamer on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 12:47pm
After 67 years of life on this planet; I mean to actually hear that a Nixon is the future of the Democratic Party?
THAT'S ALL I GOT.
HAHAHAHAH
by Richard Day on Tue, 03/27/2018 - 7:11pm
I know i am late to this, but I’ve been watching Ms. Nixon, she is very smart and I think she could win if she has a good campaign. The problem for Mr. Cuomo is, he has some real issues with borderline corruption especially when it comes to this subway issue and the weird corruption of the Port Authority. Nixon seemingly knows the issues and has enough money to run a competent campaign.
Elected officials often side with the folks who brung them, so it isn’t shocking that others have come out in support of Cuomo, but if Nixon wins the primary, elected Dem’s will support her, because that is how this game is played, so there is no need to be angry with the other politicians, just make a decision and vote in the primary and see how this plays out. It should be fun to watch!
by tmccarthy0 on Wed, 04/04/2018 - 7:55am
Tmac, how big of a concern to you is Nixon's lack of any experience in elected office, running for governor of a large state right out of the chute? Is it something you think can be largely overcome with especially strong staffing?
by AmericanDreamer on Wed, 04/04/2018 - 10:41am
Yeah, basically that is what I think. She is intellectually curious and smart. I am also not worried if Cuomo wins. I definitely want to see her debate, I’d like to see her policies laid out, etc. If if if she were to win I do believe good solid politicos will want to work for her and that should ease some of her inexperience in terms of managing large entities. But I think actors are very good at reading people and learning, which is a big part of politics.
by tmccarthy0 on Fri, 04/06/2018 - 9:26am
It's just that our legislature in Albany and our state government is a notoriously crooked, complex, and entrenched cesspool of political patronage. It's like many more people like her have to become representatives before a governor that didn't already know his/her way around that mess could accomplish anything except being played. As a citizen, I fear things could get a lot worse with a newbie governor without experience and without patronage backing.
by artappraiser on Fri, 04/06/2018 - 9:58am
P.S. Here's how new lefty governor of next door neighbor New Jersey is doing so far, also a state government with lots of corruption. And he has boots on the ground experience trying to work the political machine there, he knows a lot of the players.
Edit to add: In New York just transportation, for example, requires knowing how to manipulate a huge entrenched bureaucracy like the Metropolitan Transit Authority And that's not all of it, there's the huge bureaucracy of the interstate Port Authority of New York and New Jersey handling not just the ports but the bridges, tunnels, airports, some commuter railways...through which Chris Christie played some infamous political tricks. You don't just tell entities like this what to do by governor fiat, they won't do it, they'll find a way around you if they don't like it, you've got to have "ties", have some knowledge of who's in charge, have some knowledge of whose in charge in prosecutors' offices, who are your friendlies in the judiciary, etc....
by artappraiser on Fri, 04/06/2018 - 10:25am
"Is Cynthia Nixon Ready for the Spotlight?", Joan Walsh, The Nation magazine https://www.thenation.com/article/cynthia-nixon-ready-spotlight/
by AmericanDreamer on Tue, 06/05/2018 - 11:49am