Maureen Dowd: "Which Governor is Wackiest?" - Remarks on Gillibrand

[K Gardner]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/opinion/25dowd.html?_r=1

(snip)

I love the hurly-burly way the Illinois governor rammed through his choice for the Senate, compared with the namby-pamby way the New York governor strangled his best choice for the Senate.

So now we have an N.R.A. handmaiden in Bobby Kennedy’s old seat? Kirsten Gillibrand, a k a Tracy Flick, accepting the honor with her Republican pal Al D’Amato beside her on stage? Gross.

(snip)

Paterson could have acted a month ago, or even a week ago. There was no reason not to, certainly not his claim that he had to wait for Hillary, ad nauseam, to exit to State. Colorado’s governor named Michael Bennet senator two and a half weeks before Ken Salazar resigned his seat for the Interior Department.

Then the Democrats would have had another Kennedy in the Senate representing New York — Bobby’s niece and a smart, policy-oriented, civic-minded woman to whom the president feels deeply indebted in an era when every state has its hand out.

Instead they have Gillibrand, who voted against the Wall Street — as in New York — bailout bill. And who introduced a bill to balance the federal budget annually, which suggests she would oppose the $825 billion in deficit spending that President Obama proposes to rescue the country, not least New York.

[KittyWampus]

1. Dowd, you insipid, uniformed gossiping hag- shut the fuck up. If you don't like Gillibrand

that is just one more reason for good Democrats everywhere to applaud her as Paterson's pick.

[wyldwolf]

11. seconded!

[depakid]

13. For once, I think she's absolutely right

Paterson acted unprofessionally.

And that's true whether you like the pick or not.

[w4rma]

20. Dowd exactly correct this time. She's insightful when she wants to be. (nt)

[paulk]

21. third!

that Dowd would use her column in this way should sound an alarm as to her credibility on all matters political

ps - Mo, some of us still remember what you did to Al Gore...

[LBJDemocrat]

22. I don't bother to read her stuff

Her commentary tells me nothing I don't know. It's simply a bunch of jokes that she finds clever. I don't understand how most of these columnists have their jobs. Their opinions are rarely grounded on any historical research or background knowledge that the readership isn't privy to.

[K Gardner]

2. LOL ! I don't have an opinion one way or the other yet, just that it seems clear that

Patterson seems to have really mucked this up in the way he handled it. Don't know enough about Gillebrand to voice an opinion right now.

[SoCalDem]

33. The accidental governor makes a mess..whodathunkit

Ah wwll.. NYers have a chance to change it all in a couple of years.. There won't be a shortage of candidates for gov..sen or the house

pass the popcorn & dramamine:)

[liskddksil]

3. On this I agree

Caroline Kennedy would have been a fabulous, progressive senator and a reliable vote. Instead we have to worry about whether the Senator from New York will vote with the Democrats when it counts.

[Raineyb]

6. And considering how blue a state NY is that is something that never should

have been allowed to happen.

:thumbsdown: Paterson fucked up big time.

Regards

[KittyWampus]

12. Considering Gillibrand has PROVEN she can get elected and has a solid Democratic voting record

your post doesn't mean much. Caroline Kennedy has done remarkably little for you to say she'd have made a fabulous senator.

[bottomtheweaver]

18. You left out "hard working."

:nopity:

[liskddksil]

25. A lifetime supporter of the Arts is all I need to know

to prove that Caroline would have been fantastic.

[Raineyb]

4. "Paterson wasn’t thinking of New York,

only of how an upstate ally who was a woman would bolster his own chances for re-election."

Truest line ever written. It's so painfully obvious at that.

Regards

[geek tragedy]

7. Dowd thinks the Harlem river is the northern boundary

of New York.

[Raineyb]

8. I don't care. When Dowd occasionally says something that's true

I'll say so.

Regards

[NashVegas]

10. If She Retains the Seat in 2010

And her old congressional seat remains safe, Paterson will do okay.

If not, all three chairs are jeopardized.

[geek tragedy]

5. The Upper East Side Gossip Girl doen't like the upstate

NY'er.

I'm stunned.

[chelsea0011]

9. politicians refer to her as Tracy Flick. LOL

[wyldwolf]

14. yeah, she hated Al Gore, too.

[NashVegas]

15. Even a Busted Clock ...

Although I still don't buy the polite fiction of 'family reasons' for a moment, Dowd is correct on most premises here.

1. Blago : Paterson = gunslinger : passive-aggressive bureaucrat

2. Kennedy would have been a reliable vote for whatever legislation Obama wanted passed AND she would probably have been very good at bringing some bacon home for the state.

[ClarkUSA]

16. I wonder how long it'll take for Gillibrand to pull a Mitt Romney on her many DINO positions?

Is she still for extending the Bush tax cuts? And will Al D'Amato be her political godfather?

Gov. Patterson is a total fuck up. And NY Democrats will have a very tough year in 2010 trying to hold Gillibrand's House seat,
dealing with a downstate primary challenge by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy to Gillibrand, and a tough primary battle for the governor's
seat by Andrew Cuomo.

[bottomtheweaver]

17. Better late than never, but this would have been more helpful before

Paterson pulled trigger on Caroline. I didn't see it coming until last week, after Hillary had been confirmed and he was still dancing around, but Dowd is in the eye of the storm and could have sounded the alarm before Christmas.

Oh well, she works for the CIA I mean NYT, so I guess I should be thankful she's at least speaking out now instead of piling into Paterson's merry swiftboat.

[camera obscura]

19. Dowd wrote a pro-Caroline column a while back - "Sweet on Caroline"

I know Caroline Kennedy. She’s smart, cultivated, serious and unpretentious. The Senate, shamefully sparse on profiles in courage during Dick Cheney’s reign of terror, would be lucky to get her.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/opinion/07dowd.html

[bottomtheweaver]

23. That's a good column, thanks.

I hadn't seen it. Still I wonder why she doesn't at least kid about Paterson taking forever to make the pick? Even I knew that the longer he waited the greater the chance of some made-to-order swiftboat story taking Caroline out of consideration, and as it turns out that's pretty much what he WAS waiting for.

[Cha]

26. That's the way some of us felt on DU..

New York DUers, too. Caroline's going to be okay...it was just a little surreal how much savageness was pouring out against her on DU and I went into automatic protective mode.

We'll see what happens next. Modo..I don't always agree with but her column on Caroline was right on.

[PBS Poll-435]

24. Maureen Dowd - have another drink, please

Or get a clue you Moran.

[Number23]

27. I know very little about Gillibrand, but her voting against the bailout strikes me as a good thing.

"Instead they have Gillibrand, who voted against the Wall Street — as in New York — bailout bill."

[dkf]

29. New York was the biggest beneficiary of the bailout bill.

If you want New York's economy to collapse voting down the bailout would do it.

[PBS Poll-435]

32. It wasn't the "right" bill

And you know it.

[book_worm]

28. Dowd was bound to hate anybody who wasn't Caroline Kennedy, she was hard on HRC too.

[Jakes Progress]

30. Yep.

Mo heard that Gillibrand once sat in a room that was painted the same color as a room that Hillary once walked through. That was enough to convince the Dowdy that she was a nasty old poo poo. Our Sunday's with the Times would have been so much better if Bill had just winked at or patted the Mo back in the day. We would have been saved all this woman scorned crap.

[girl_interrupted]

31. Blago compares himself to Mandela, Dr. King, Gandhi and

compares his "situtation" to Pearl Harbor...and Dowd wants to know who's the "wackiest" governor? She is a truly a twit. Blago may have a likeable personality, but the man seems mentally ill. I know some think he's funny, but I feel sorry for him. His own lawyer quit. Paterson may have made the wrong pick, we will see about that in time, but if he did, it will be rectified in the 2010 election. Blago, well I don't know what's going to happen there, he'll be all over TV on Monday,giving interviews, so stay tuned. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28843378/

And if Dowd is so worried about governors, maybe she should start a recall of Arnold Schwarzenegger, talk about "wacky". I have friends & family in California, who would just love that.