;)
The Commentariat -- January 2, 2015
Internal links, photo & graph removed.
** New York Times: "Mario M. Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who commanded the attention of the country with a compelling public presence, a forceful defense of liberalism and his exhaustive ruminations about whether to run for president, died at home in Manhattan on Thursday, according to a family friend. He was 82."
... "A Tale of Two Cities." Here's a portion of Gov. Cuomo's 1984 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention:
... Video of the full speech is here. ...
... Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker, who covered Gov. Cuomo for the New York Times, reflects on his career. ...
... Ken Auletta of the New Yorker: "Mario Cuomo had a combination of skills rarely seen in public life. Unlike most pols, he had an active interior life.... He had the rare ability to listen, and he could see four sides of an issue.... In the four decades I knew him, I tried to keep him at arm's length. Journalists are not supposed to say this, but I loved the guy." ...
... Stephen Schlesinger, Gov. Cuomo's speechwriter, remembers him in a New York Observer essay. ...
... Todd Purdum in Politico: "He was, in his day, the poet laureate of American liberalism, the Democratic Party's most passionate defender of the underdog and its most articulate critic of the trickle-down gospel of Reaganomics." ...
... Josh Lederman of the AP: "President Barack Obama is praising former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo as an unflinching voice for tolerance, fairness and opportunity." ...
... Cassie Carothers of Yahoo! News: Other political figures pay tribute to Cuomo. ...
... Chris Smith of New York rounds up some of the magazine's old stories about Mario Cuomo & his family.
We're missing one family member. My father is not with us today. We had hoped that he was going to be able to come; he is at home and he is not well enough to come. We spent last night with him, changed the tradition a little bit. We weren't in Albany last night; we stayed at my father's house to ring in the New Year with him. I went through the speech with him. He said it was good, especially for a second-termer. See, my father is a third-termer. But he sends his regards to all of you. He couldn't be here physically today, my father. But my father is in this room. He is in the heart and mind of every person who is here. He is here and he is here, and his inspiration and his legacy and his experience is what has brought this state to this point. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in his 2nd inaugural speech, Jan. 1
... Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was inaugurated for a second term on Thursday and vowed to confront a raft of complex, often intractable problems afflicting New York and the nation alike in the areas of criminal justice, economic mobility and public education. Speaking in front of throngs of well-wishers and from the symbolic heights of 1 World Trade Center, Mr. Cuomo laid out an aspirational vision for New York in broad and occasionally soaring terms."
Dionne Searcey of the New York Times: "For the first time since 2011, local, state and federal governments are providing a small but significant increase to prosperity.... Across the nation, state and local governments, Democratic and Republican alike, are spending on projects that were stalled. Teachers, who were laid off in droves in recent years, are being hired again. Even federal spending in some sectors is on the rise." CW: Lovely to see the New York Times implicitly endorsing Krug-o-nomics. At last. ...
... Paul Krugman: "The problem with these conventional [left-of-center] leaders [including President Obama], I'd argue, is that they're afraid to challenge elite priorities, in particular the obsession with budget deficits, for fear of being considered irresponsible. And that leaves the field open for unconventional leaders -- some of them seriously scary -- who are willing to address the anger and despair of ordinary citizens.... Political and opinion leaders need to face up to the reality that our current global setup isn't working for everyone." ...
... Jordan Weismann: "We're all speaking [Thomas] Piketty's language now." ...
... Aurelia End & Julie Chabanas of AFP: "France's influential economist Thomas Piketty, author of the bestseller 'Capital in the 21st Century', on Thursday refused to accept the country's highest award, the Legion d'honneur, to criticise the Socialist government in power."
Today in Responsible Gun Ownership. NBC Channel 11 Atlanta: "The wife of Peachtree City Police Chief William E. McCollom [of Peachtree City, Georgia,] is in critical condition after being shot by her husband Thursday morning.... The GBI [Georgia Bureau of Investigation] will handle the shooting investigation. GBI spokeswoman Sherry Lang originally said Chief McCollom called 911 to say he accidentally shot his wife twice with his service weapon. After further investigation, Lang said it was determined that only one bullet had been discharged."
Gene Robinson: "The GOP has a bad habit of appealing to avowed racists.... The addiction goes back to 1968, when Richard Nixon's 'Southern strategy' leveraged white racial resentment over federally mandated integration into an electoral majority." ...
... Ha Ha. Matt Bai of Yahoo! News offers five tips to help Steve Scalise figure out when he's speaking to white supremacists: "1. The group was founded by David Duke.... 2. Banners that say things like 'White Power' hang from the ceiling.... 3. The name of the group is the European-American Unity and Rights Organization.... 4. The hotel hosting the event is ashamed.... 5. No one actually cares about your tax stand.... One last bit of guidance: If you do end up accidentally speaking to a roomful of white supremacists, try to make a note of it somewhere, because eventually someone who doesn't like you is going to figure it out, and the last thing you want is to be caught unaware and have to say you really have no idea." ...
... Rebecca Catalanello of the Times-Picayune: Steve Scalise defender "Kenny Knight told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune on Wednesday that he was not a member of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, but documents filed with the Louisiana secretary of state's office list him as treasurer of its predecessor, the National Organization for European American Rights, in 2000. Further, a May 16, 2002, news release on an an archived version of EURO's former website, www.whitecivilrights.com, lists Knight as 'EURO Louisiana State Representative Kenny Knight.' The release says Knight was expected to address the group's May 17-18, 2002, conference.... When asked by telephone Thursday about the records listing him as EURO's treasurer, Knight twice hung up on a reporter." CW: This certainly calls into question Knight's claims that Scalise addressed a neighborhood civic group & not the David Duke-sponsored conference. Shocking, isn't it, that your friendly neighborhood racist is also a liar. ...
... Jonathan Kaminsky of Reuters: "The campaign manager [and son] of a Democrat who challenged U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana tipped off a blogger that the Republican lawmaker had spoken to a white supremacist group in 2002.However, Democrat Gilda Reed did not expose the meeting during the 2008 special election for the House seat because she believed it would not sway the district's conservative electorate. 'I felt strongly that it would not have walked,' Reed told Reuters on Wednesday. 'I was running in a district with a lot of bigots.' She lost to Scalise by more than 50 points."
Dan Sweeney of the Orlando Sun Sentinel: "On Thursday, federal judge Robert Hinkle, who earlier had overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriages, ordered all county clerks to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses beginning Tuesday. Prior to his order, there was confusion over which clerks were allowed to issue the licenses. But on Thursday, Hinkle clarified the broad scope of his ruling." ...
... Tia Mitchell of the Florida Times-Union: "Couples who wanted to ... get married at the Duval, Clay or Baker county courthouses will no longer have that option in the new year. These counties' decision to end the long-standing tradition of courthouse wedding ceremonies is due, at least in part, to the continued debate over same-sex marriage in Florida against the backdrop of conservative Christianity." (Mitchell wrote this report before Hinkle ordered all county clerks to issue same-sex marriage licenses.) CW: Ah, finally some hard evidence that same-sex marriage is a threat to heterosexual marriage. (Seriously, I won't be surprised if some anti-gay-marriage lawyers make this argument in court. With any luck, they'll make it before judges like Richard Posner who will laugh them out of court.)
Cartography for Bigots. Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post: "Since January [CW: of 2014, I presume], publishing giant HarperCollins has been selling an atlas it says was 'developed specifically for schools in the Middle East.'... Israel is missing.... On Wednesday, HarperCollins was backtracking fast."
Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Nearly a year ago, tea party agitators in Arizona managed to get John McCain censured by his own state party. Now, he's getting his revenge. As the longtime Republican senator lays the groundwork for a likely 2016 reelection bid, his political team is engaging in an aggressive and systematic campaign to reshape the state GOP apparatus by ridding it of conservative firebrands and replacing them with steadfast allies." CW: Naturally, one Tea party McCain foe called the party purge "the equivalent of 'ethnic cleansing.'" Because losing your little party job is just like the Holocaust. Or, as a normal person might say, politics as usual.
Pete Donohue, et al., of the New York Daily News: "An NYPD cop has surrendered in an attack on an MTA worker, officials said Thursday. Police Officer Mirjan Lolja, 37, was suspended after the assault in which the Metropolitan Transportation Authority worker -- who was on-duty and in her uniform -- was allegedly put into a bear hug, thrown to the floor and choked, cops said." CW: The photos accompanying the report show Lolja in street clothes. The article doesn't indicate whether or not he was on duty at the time of the alleged attack. I guess roughing up New Yorkers is a 24/7 job.
Presidential Election
Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Likely 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush has declined an invitation to speak at a conservative summit in Iowa hosted by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa.).... The summit ... will feature a host of other potential GOP presidential contenders, including Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.), Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Gov. Rick Perry (Texas), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Dr. Ben Carson." ...
... Counting Chickens Before They Hatch. Steve M.: "Jeb is apparently counting on big donors and the folks running the GOP nominating process to undermine all of his competitors so he can win the nomination without kissing up to the wingnuts -- either that or he thinks that all the candidates trying to out-wingnut one another with divide up the purist vote, leaving him to scoop the rest, and thus the nomination.... To me he looks as if he's writing his convention acceptance speech way too early. And he looks as if he thinks he can erase the public record of his life if he wins the nomination. I think he's going to be disappointed."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Federal prosecutors said they will not charge John W. Hinckley Jr. with murder in the shooting of President Ronald Reagan's press secretary in a 1981 assassination attempt, even though a medical examiner concluded his August death was caused by the old wounds. The decision, announced Friday by the U.S. Attorney for the District, comes four months after the coroner decided that James S. Brady’s death at the age of 73 was caused by bullets fired 34 years ago outside the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue Northwest."
Los Angeles Times: "Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man charged in the 2013 attack that killed a TSA officer at Los Angeles International Airport, according to a document filed in federal court Friday. Paul Anthony Ciancia, 24, was charged with 11 federal counts in connection with the Nov. 1, 2013, attack, in which authorities allege he opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle in the airport's busy Terminal 3. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges."
New York Daily News: "Funeral services for former Gov. Mario Cuomo are being planned for Tuesday at the Saint Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in Manhattan, a church official told the Daily News."
New York Times: "Senator Harry Reid had a painful New Year's Day, breaking ribs and bones in his face after falling while exercising at his home in Nevada. The injury was sustained when Mr. Reid, 75, was using a rubber exercise band that snapped, hitting him hard and causing him to fall, a spokesman said. Mr. Reid was taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, according to a statement from his office." ...
... Politico UPDATE: "Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid was released from a Nevada hospital on Friday afternoon after he broke a number of ribs as well as bones in his face during a Thursday workout accident, his office said. The Nevada Democrat is expected to be back at the office on Tuesday, when the 114th Congress begins."
AP: "After nearly a week of searching for the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, rescue teams battling monsoon rains had their most successful day yet on Friday, more than tripling the number of bodies pulled from the Java Sea, some still strapped to their seats. Of the 30 corpses recovered so far, 21 were found on Friday, many of them by a U.S. Navy ship, according to officials."
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Reader Comments (22)
So very sorry to hear about the passing of Mario Cuomo. I didn't even know he was on the verge. Perhaps that's the way he wanted it.
Despite his maddening Hamlet on the Hudson phase, I've always liked the guy. He was someone I could easily see myself having a long conversation with on diverse subjects: history, baseball, science, politics, economics, urban planning, sociology, philosophy, pop culture, or pop-corn. I can't say the same about the current NY guv. Mario might have been a Bolingbroke, but Andrew is no Prince Hal.
I also recall, with loathing, the snide, slimy, smirking way Poppy Bush referred to him, as MAAA-rio Cuomo, rather than the correct pronunciation of his name. It wasn't, after all, as if he was some Texas yahoo. Privileged fucking Yankee prick. I think even Bill Clinton once snubbed Cuomo with an insulting insinuation that his name sounded vaguely like some mafioso. Very nice, Bubba. Your intern is waiting for you, dickhead.
Anyway, there aren't many pols around today I would want to sit down and have a long talk with, not even many Dems and not a single winger. Can you imagine Paul Ryan, who is considered an "astute intellectual" by the wingnuts, holding his own with Cuomo in a casual conversation about french fries, never mind a debate about substantive matters?
The words sad, fatuous, and farcical come to mind.
Ave atque vale, Mario.
Scanning all those Cuomo tributes out there, there's nothing but niceness in grief. Unique amid all the Mario valorizers, I voted Homo all the way the last time it mattered. I guess if fortune were casting for a badass it'd be that misbegotten ilk, since if money is gonna flow through Manhattan island, politics gotto keep breeding types like that to dictate where it oughta pour. Anyhow no matter what's around the coroner I still dig Ed Koch like no tomorrow & pretty much any day over MMC.
New York magazine features links to articles from their archives on Mario Cuomo. "... six New York Magazine stories about Mario Cuomo that are worth re-reading, plus two rich examples of Cuomo’s gift for telling his own story."
Summing up the man in Ken Auletta's words, ""Cuomo’s brains and decency," Auletta wrote, "are exceeded only by his indecision."
Somehow, I have sense that there are still untold stories that will emerge.
@Richardo Bodici: I think Cuomo himself best summed up the difference between Koch & himself:
I think the basic difference is that I did not have the same regard for myself as he had for himself.
You might want to read the whole interview -- it's short -- of Mario on Ed. It's the next to last one linked in the series of New York mag stories, linked above. I don't think there's an inaccurate word in Mario's assessment of Koch.
Marie
Israel is missing?
Wherever could it be? Hmmmm....maybe it's in my back pocket. Nope, not there. Could it have sunk into the Mediterranean without anyone noticing? I hate it when that happens. Where would all those tourists hoping to visit the sites in Jerusalem land? The plane would be in the air forever, the passengers all newly minted Flying Dutchmen and women. Such a problem.
But anyone who is shocked by this (and it truly is reprehensible--did they think no one would notice that they had left out an entire country? Not to mention that terrorists from all those countries surrounding Israel would have nothing to point to on the map to show their kids where to aim the rockets.) should recognize that this is not a phenomenon restricted to corporate toadies aiming to sell atlases to middle eastern hate groups.
This shit happens right here in the good ol' US of A.
Conservatives in this country have been hammering school book publishers to deliver textbooks that omit President Obama's name from the list of presidents, that neglect to mention that slavery had anything to do with the Civil War (those lazy moochers were all happy on those plantations, right? Singing songs, eating watermelon...), that Thomas Jefferson had very little connection to the early US (that separation of church and state thing), that the world is only 6,000 years old, that evolution is just another theory, and that Moses is one of the founding fathers.
So, it's pretty bad that kids in certain middle east countries won't be able to find Israel on the map (it isn't there), but millions of American kids are being taught that things that are, aren't.
So where did Thomas Jefferson, Barack Obama, Charles Darwin, and all those antebellum slaves disappear to? Maybe they're on that plane looking for Israel.
Ricardo,
You voted Homo? How does one do that?
OM fucking G!
Gay marriage could be legal any day now in Florida. Public employees might have to, you know, serve the public, and that might include some GAYS! What to do? I know, board up the windows and doors, and if any same sex couple wants to get married at the courthouse, pretend we're not home. I mean, how terrible, to have to be in the presence of a gay couple who want to get married. What if they want to kiss? What if one of them touches me!! Oh god! The horror. Not just cooties...GAY COOTIES!
Wingers are growing increasingly childish, to the point where it's gone beyond just insulting. Conservative ideology not only makes people stupid, now it's infantalizing them.
I suppose if you can pretend that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery, you can pretend that your religious beliefs, even if you are being paid by the public to serve the public, despite those beliefs, trump everything else.
Hey, can we get Harper Collins to make a map of the US that leaves out Florida? Texas too. And Alabama, and....
@Akhilleus: Now that I know it's okay to make fictional maps for the edification of schoolchildren, I was thinking of drawing up a genuine certified Liberal Map of the U.S.
I've been having trouble figuring out how to deal with the places I'll be obliterating, but I guess extending the Gulf of Mexico & Atlantic into, say, Kentucky, would work, with maybe places like the Isles of Austin & San Antonio. I guess there would have to be a Lake Idaho & Lake Wyoming. But what to do with New Orleans, a city that is actually underwater but votes Democratic? Quit knocking HarperCollins. Faking maps is hard to do.
Marie
Interesting that Florida county courthouses will be issuing marriage
licenses to same sex couples but some will no longer perform wedding
ceremonies. They need more space for citizens to fill out domestic
violence paperwork! What's this about? Bible thumpers hitting each
other over the head with bibles?
Forrest,
Hey, it's their physical fitness plan. Whacking each other with Bibles and then going outside to shoot something.
Or someone.
Marie,
Great idea.
But then wingers will want to get in on the fun too. But wait, think of all the places they'll have to eliminate. The entire northeast corridor will be gone, as well as NY and California. Then, of course, they'll want to get rid of France, and all those socialist Scandinavian countries where people are nice to each other, because fuck that. Big hole there. People living on the other side of the Rhine will now own beachfront property. Canada will have to go too. Soshulized medicine, doncha know. I guess that means Britain as well. Interestingly, they'll probably let Russia stay, Putin being such a manly gun lover and winger heart throb. Most of the middle east will go. But Israel can stay this time, it being where god picks up his mail. Don't know what they'll do about China and India. They ain't Christian so ixnay to them too.
And their maps will all start looking like those from the pre-Columbian era with gigantic sea monsters inhabiting regions wingnut kids are not ever supposed to visit, or even ask about. I don't know what they'll do about American Revolutionary War history. The most important sites won't even exist. Well, that will call for another revamping of the history books. Maybe it was Moses who beat the British. Yeah, that sounds good. He did that Red Sea trick at Yorktown. Boy was that Cornwallis guy surprised! Virginia can stay, of course, because Army of Northern Virginia, Teabagger nuts, Ken Cuccinelli, etc.
It will be wingnut paradise.
@Akhilleus: As I recall, Washington crossed the Jordan on Christmas Day 1776. The waters of the Jordan parted, announcing Jesus's birth & giving Washington a clear shot at some drunken Hessians encamped at Fort Bethlehem. Or something like that.
Marie
Marie,
Isn't there a song that goes along with that?
"Georgie fit the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho..."
And those weren't drunken Hessians, I don't think. Most likely they were Planned Parenthood supporters, all high on mari-joowana.
Years later, Washington, gave the Sermon on the Mount Vernon. It was well received, by all accounts. There were at least two miracles that day although one involved a copy of the Second Amendment written in invisible ink.
Washington told the crowd that his life had been misspent and that he wished he had followed his true calling, to become a televangelist.
Ben Franklin was in the crowd and immediately went home and invented the TV. And he saw that it was good. Except for infomercials for Veg-O-Matic and Meet the Press.
The end.
@Akhilleus: Besides these displays of our excellent cartographic skills, I can see we both have futures as textbook writers for the Texas School Board. Just these comments alone should get us a couple of footnotes.
Marie
Sorry. No footnotes in Texas school books. Too pointy headed and confusing.
James,
Don't worry. We'll write them in crayon. Monosyllabic words only. (Anyone else think it's mildly--mildly, I say--humorous, that the word "monosyllabic" is not? Sorry. I'm easily amused.)
Well, Downton Abbey returns this week. About time, too, dammit.
I'm pulling for Thomas to get his ass kicked by Bates. Or maybe Anna. Hell, I'd love to see Mrs. Patmore brain him with a rolling pin. I'm way past feeling sorry for that oily asshole for that time he got beat up when he came to someone's rescue.
And no spoilers, please. I see where copies of the entire season are floating around (although, for the life of me, I can't see how they think they can keep Americans from finding out what has already happened on British television a few weeks before: Internet, boys, internet). The first thing I'll want to know is whether or not Mrs. Hughes and Carson ended up skinny dipping on that beach.
Of course, it's a dastardly scheme to put the thing on opposite The Good Wife.
Those TV people!!
Maybe they can do a mash-up. I can see Alicia becoming Lord Grantham's lawyer and suggesting he sue the king for dickishness, and Lord whatsisname drafting Eli to help his campaign to win Lady Mary. Maybe Kalinda will have an affair with Branson's teacher friend. The Dowager could be brought in to provide some good snark when courtroom scenes lag.
Oh, the possibilities.
@Akhilleus: I spent a good part of yesterday evening watching the rest of Season 5 (I'd watched the first several episodes a few weeks ago). The script remains interesting, tho as I recall the first episode of the season was fairly dull.
Maybe next year, PBS will quit delaying its airings of the show -- the producer would like them to -- & I won't have to watch it on those grainy pirated copies.
I did enjoy the NYT timeline P. D. Pepe linked yesterday, which compared historical events with script content.
Marie
He's still at it. A letter from Ralph Nader to the President about what Obama should do during 2015. I think he's got some valid points despite that people think he's a crackpot on the order of a left-wing Ron Paul.
@James Singer: You're quite right. The whole concept of footnotes is inherently elitist, & I'm ashamed I mentioned it.
Marie
Perhaps we can rename footnotes Freedom Notes. And they can be anywhere on the damn page.
That piece by Nader in no way bespeaks a wide-eyed radical. His op-ed site (http://ralphnaderradiohour.com) is a source of frequent thoughtful essays, usually grounded in simple logic. His trouble is that he draws just enough votes to be a spoiler, and can't seem to resist.