"Meet the 'Cuomo.' It’s a new printed magazine for your AR-15 rifle..."

"... soon to be available for download, and it holds 30 bullets."

"I think there's a very fascistic thing under The Little Prince, you know.... I think there's a kind of SS totalitarian sentimentality in there somewhere."

"You know, there's something, you know, that... masculine love of a certain kind of oily muscle, you know what I mean? I mean, I can't quite put my finger on it, but I can just imagine some beautiful SS man loving The Little Prince. You know, I don't know why, but there's something wrong with it. It stinks!"

A quote from "My Dinner With Andre" that ties together this morning's 3 posts:

Andrew Cuomo's "muscular brand of politics"  

Politicians, including Hitler, using children 

Hitler's resemblance to Chaplin

Is there a Chaplin/Little Prince connection?



Talk about the sentimentality of fascists.

"Democrats hailed Mr. Cuomo's aggressive gun-control push..."

"... citing it as an example of a muscular brand of politics that the governor has made his signature in two years in office. He has bent a Legislature partially controlled by Republicans to his will on other liberal issues, such as legalizing gay marriage and solidifying higher tax rates for the wealthy."

Hail! Governor Cuomo, O muscular leader, you of the aggressive push! Yea, even as Superman to a bar of steel, you have bent a Legislature!

"This is the governor realizing he’s not getting the job done and finding someone to blame."

"Steve is a qualified, stand-up guy and to let him go over something like this is just outrageous."

Gov. Cuomo wants to permit fracking, but only in a few counties along the Pennsylvania border...

... and only where the local populace supports the activity.

He's trying to balance between the people who worry about contaminating the groundwater (and cutting down trees) and those who fear the state will be left behind as other states tap the Marcellus Shale.

The Marcellus Shale is a rock formation that stretches from the Appalachian Mountains into the central and western parts of New York. State regulators believe that by limiting drilling to areas where the Marcellus Shale is at least 2,000 feet deep, risks of contaminating the water supply with toxic chemicals will be reduced. Regulators would require drillers to maintain a 1,000-foot buffer between water sources and the top of the shale formation.

Gay marriage in New York State is "a BFD because a Republican-led State Senate passed this law."

Writes Andrew Sullivan:

Going outside traditional Democratic party lobbies to appeal to those on the other side who are open to our arguments was essential.... Governor Cuomo, by all accounts was magnificent at the politics and Mayor Bloomberg and critical Republicans and Democrats and all factions and groups in the gay movement - even HRC! - pulled together. That the most passionate opponent was a Democrat and the most powerful were Republicans helps scramble the attempt by the Christianist right to coopt conservatism for their reactionary theology.

It's a BFD because it also insists on maximal religious liberty for those who conscientiously oppose marriage equality. A gay rights movement that seeks to restrict any religious freedom is not worthy of the name. And it makes me glad that we largely avoided anything that looks like that strategy, and that last-minute negotiations were flexible enough to strengthen the protections for religious groups, churches, mosques, synagogues and the like. The gay rights movement is about expanding the boundaries of human freedom - and that must include religious freedom if it is to mean anything....

I don't know the details about the religious freedom protection in the bill, but I agree with Sullivan that's extremely important. I put up a quick post last night when the NY vote came in, and I read the comments this morning and saw a lot of fretting about government interference with religion. (For example, what happened to Catholic Charities in Massachusetts.)

Governor Cuomo: "I wanted to go first because I wanted to make the point that I am not just asking other people to do it."

"We are going to be having conversations with labor unions about just this topic, about wages, etc."

He's taking a 5% cut on his salary (which was $179,000).

Good time to go against unions — after all the bad feeling about the snow plowing.

Carl Paladino's "Cuomo Land" ads.

There's this spoof of the children's game:



What is he accusing Cuomo of there? The Daily News says:

Paladino, who staunchly opposes gay nuptials, accused Cuomo of being a hypocrite for touting his support for same-sex weddings now - but being "all but invisible" when the issue was before the Legislature last year.

"He was asked by those pushing for the measure to call three wavering senators," the Paladino campaign said in the first of what it promises will be daily "Cuomo Land" attacks.

Political pros were puzzled that Paladino would attack Cuomo on gays, given that the Tea Party darling's campaign unraveled this week after he delivered an anti-gay diatribe.

Veteran Democratic operative Hank Sheinkopf called it a "bad choice of a first issue" for the "Cuomo Land" attacks.

Well, look at the illustration. The whole "Cuomo Land" idea seems to be some crazy fantasy about luring children into homosexuality.

"Any father who would take his children to such things is not really thinking of the fatherly perspective and is more interested in politics."

Said Paladino about Cuomo. Cuomo found that "reckless" and "divisive.”

Andrew Cuomo vs. Carl Paladino = Fredo Corleone vs. Fredo Corleone.

... says Nick Gillespie, who's allowed to say things like that because his mother is Italian.

(Sloppily video'd from the Eliot Spitzer CNN show tonight.)

Carl Paladino says "Andrew's prowess is legendary."

Okaaaay.

"If we learned anything tonight it's that New Yorkers are as mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore."

Said Carl Paladino. And if they don't feel quite so mad, they can have good old Andrew Cuomo as their governor.

Regardless of whether Paladino can pull off another upset, his victory Tuesday night served as a wakeup call to the state's Republican establishment.

"The old party leaders can do one of two things," he told reporters after his victory speech. "They can do what the people want - or they can quit."

Meanwhile, in Delaware, Christine O'Donnell is hearing that the National Republican Senatorial Committee isn't going to fund her campaign, because she's not sufficiently competitive with the Democrat, even though she just smashed Republican Party regular Mike Castle.

The story today is the complacency of established Republicans who imagined they could waltz in and take over after people got horrifically sick of Democrats. As if there were nowhere else to go. And maybe there isn't. (Are Paladino and O'Donnell suitable heirs to the immense power Democrats have been abusing?) But that doesn't make the Republicans any more enticing.

When you have to break up with your abusive, hot boyfriend, it's not as if you want to go out with the dweeb you wouldn't be seen with before. Or... no. That's a terrible analogy, because politics should not be that emotional or that big a part of our lives. The Tea Party seems to embody anger at government, but its candidates need to be serious and competent now.

"An investigation of a sitting governor of New York is a complex, weighty matter indeed."

Says NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, appointing, as independent counsel, the estimable Judith Kaye.

The Cuomo connection.

Why Scozzafava endorsed Owens.

"Perv Group Puts 10G 'Hit' on Andy."

A New York Post headline.

Kirsten E. Gillibrand will be the new New York Senator!

The NYT reports.

It had to be a woman. Tough luck, Andy!

ADDED: "Ten Things You Didn't Know About Kirsten Gillibrand." They pretty much all boil down to: She's conservative!

The dynastic struggle.

Ooh, this is just so frustrating for Andrew Cuomo.

From 1990 to 2003, Cuomo the Younger was married, Montague-and-Capulet style, to Robert F. Kennedy's daughter Kerry-and was close friends with Caroline's brother John Jr., from 1988 to his 1999 death. The marriage ended in a bitter divorce after Cuomo reportedly discovered his wife had an affair with a polo player....

"Incestuous, intermarrying with one another to take over the crown and consolidate power," is how one Nassau pol described the Kennedy-Cuomo relationship....

I didn't follow the divorce hijinx, but if it's true that Kerry cheated on Andy, then it's only fair that Andy should be Senator.

Who's the superior dynastic offspring?
	Andy
	Caroline
pollcode.com free polls