Sorry, Gillibrand is a f-ing awful choice for NY senator....

[Hawaii Hiker]

A blue dog Democrat from New York....Is that the best Patterson can do?.....She might be ok if this was filling a senate seat for Montana, Missouri, West Virgina, etc., but this pick downright sucks for NY...

Why must we cater to the center?...Look at the Republican seantors, MANY are so far right, just a few: Brownback, DeMint, Imhoffe, Coburn, Chambliss, Croyn (that guy from TX.), Hatch, etc....There is no shame in having a FEW senators that are LEFT leaning....Everybody doesn't have to be a gun-loving blue dog...

Gov. Patterson, you earn the orange bang-head man for today: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[TheWraith]

1. Actually she's a pro-gun liberal.

Read up on her record.

http://www.ontheissues.org/NY/Kirsten_Gillibrand.htm

[mucifer]

2. I'm impressed with her voting record. Have you seen it? It's not perfect. But, it's not

bad.


I did a little internet research because I was curious. She votes with the dems 93% of the time. Yeah I sure don't agree with her on every issue, but she doesn't seem too bad:

Abortion:
* Voted YES on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Jan 2007)
* Ensure access to and funding for contraception. (Feb 2007)

Budget and Economy
* Voted YES on defining "energy emergency" on federal gas prices. (Jun 2008)
* Voted YES on revitalizing severely distressed public housing. (Jan 2008)
* Voted YES on regulating the subprime mortgage industry. (Nov 2007)
* Retire half the public debt by 2006. (May 2001) (ok that one's funny)

Civil Rights:
* Voted YES on prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Nov 2007)
* Re-introduce the Equal Rights Amendment. (Mar 2007)

Corporations:
* Voted YES on allowing stockholder voting on executive compensation. (Apr 2007)
* Screen imports & ban lead in children's products. (Feb 2008)

Crime:
* Voted YES on expanding services for offendors' re-entry into society. (Nov 2007)
* Increase funding for "COPS ON THE BEAT" program. (Jan 2007)

Education:
* More funds for NCLB and early education. (Nov 2006)
* Voted YES on additional $10.2B for federal education & HHS projects. (Nov 2007)

Energy and oil:
* Raise CAFE; plus alternative energy R&D. (Nov 2006)
* Voted YES on tax incentives for renewable energy. (Feb 2008)
* Voted YES on investing in homegrown biofuel. (Aug 2007)
* Voted YES on criminalizing oil cartels like OPEC. (May 2007)
* Voted YES on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jan 2007)
* Balance fossil fuels and viable renewable energy. (Jul 2001)

Foreign policy:
* Acknowledge the Armenian Genocide of the early 1900s. (Mar 2007)

Free Trade:
* Protect American jobs from going overseas. (Nov 2006)
* Voted YES on promoting free trade with Peru. (Nov 2007)
* Voted YES on assisting workers who lose jobs due to globalization. (Oct 2007)
* Block NAFTA Superhighway & North American Union. (Jan 2007)

Gov reform:
* No lobbyist gifts. (Nov 2006)
* Voted YES on requiring lobbyist disclosure of bundled donations. (May 2007)
* Voted YES on granting Washington DC an Electoral vote & vote in Congress. (Apr 2007)
* Voted YES on protecting whistleblowers from employer recrimination. (Mar 2007)
* Supports Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform. (Jul 2001)

Health care:
* Medicare for all; allow drug reimoprtation. (Nov 2006)
* Voted YES on giving mental health full equity with physical health. (Mar 2008)
* Voted YES on Veto override: Extend SCHIP to cover 6M more kids. (Jan 2008)
* Voted YES on adding 2 to 4 million children to SCHIP eligibility. (Oct 2007)
* Voted YES on requiring negotiated Rx prices for Medicare part D. (Jan 2007)
* Better and immediate funding for Medicare & Medicaid. (Dec 2000)
* Prescription drug benefit within Medicare. (Jun 2000)
* Improve services for people with autism & their families. (Apr 2007)
* Establish a national childhood cancer database. (Mar 2007)


http://www.ontheissues.org/NY/Kirsten_Gillibrand.htm

[Hawaii Hiker]

5. Yeah, I know, but were talking New York here

& I was hoping for someone a little more left of center....

I'd love to know what she thinks of Supreme Court justices Roberts & Ailito...If she strongly opposes them, then I'd feel better....But if she supports justices like them, well, then she is worst of the worst blue dogs, a la Heath Schuler type..

[stillcool]

9. There are red parts of New York..

and she represents a red part. I would certainly have to do some homework before I made a judgment of where she might fit in the label category.

[David Dunham]

3. She's intelligent, goodlooking and a great fundraiser. A 4 or 5 termer.

[LSdemocrat]

4. There's a chance she might become more liberal as a Senator

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/22/192955/106/715/687804
"This will undoubtedly disappoint many progressives, but there is certainly a bright side as well.

First, Gillibrand's district leans Republican, and gave Bush 54% of the vote in 2004. It's quite likely she'll be a bit more liberal representing the entire state - a similar thing happened to Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, a moderate Democrat in the House who became significantly more liberal in the Senate.

Second, it's very likely Gillibrand will run the risk of a serious, well-funded primary challenge if she doesn't position herself with the mainstream of the New York Democratic Party."

[stillcool]

7. yeah..I read that she's from upstate..

which I think is one of the reddest parts of New York.

[saltpoint]

6. Respectfully disagree.

Paterson's choice, if she is his choice (we don't know officially yet), aims to keep that seat blue, and I think progressives have plenty of reason to support her, whether they live in New York or New Mexico or Montana.

[DinahMoeHum]

8. Upstate NY is NOT like the NYC metro area, people. It's a whole different world.

Parts of upstate NY are a lot like rural Pennsylvania and Ohio, which are generally more conservative and Republican than their city cousins.

Until recently, most districts in upstate NY were predominantly red-state Republican. Thanks to GOP stupidity over the past couple of decades, these areas are slowly turning Democrat:
ie.
John Hall (NY-19) represents an area that had a GOoper rep for over 12 years.(Sue Kelly) and had a liberal Republican for several DECADES before that (Hamilton Fish, Jr).
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20) got in by ousting a long-time GOoper (John Sweeney), who had replaced another long-time 'Puke (Gerald Solomon) some years before.
Eric Massa (NY-29) just got elected and ousted an actual gun-toting GOP asshole named Randy Kuhl. He's a former Navy commander (US Naval Academy 1983) who once worked under Gen. Wesley Clark at NATO.
Etc.

AFAIC, the NYC metro area has their representative US Senator in Chuck Schumer. It's time upstate NY had similar representation.

And BTW, Hillary Clinton won the Senate seat twice by doing the hard work of actually going upstate and listening to the folks' concerns out there. She garnered their respect by not dissing and dismissing them as rednecks and country bumpkins (as too many folks here are wont to do).

So what if Gillibrand is an NRA supporter? Many of her constituents are the same thing, and if they supported her over the Republikkkans, then nothing else matters.

If Gillibrand is selected, please give her a chance, people. She may surprise us for the better.

:kick::kick: