NY 2022 - Zeldin/Esposito, Libertarian & WFP updates

[coloradocowboi]

Cuomo would crush Biaggi.

If AOC ran against him...that would be more interesting.

I'd put my $ on AOC at this point. She is not gonna do it though. Too cautious (which is why she'd do alright tho)

The only person left who I think could successfully primary Cuomo is Jumaane Williams, and that's only if he was willing (which the left so seldomly is) to go full scorched earth mode. Call Cuomo a murderer for his handling of COVID 19, make sure everyone knows it was Black and Brown people he was killing, highlight his relationship to Wall Street, maybe throw a few pictures of him with Trump into ads and say something like "Andrew Cuomo's Old Boys Club: It's a big one but you ain't in it."

He's not undefeatable, he's an actual moron. But most of his potential challengers are too (Cynthia Nixon stay home!)

[coloradocowboi]

Okay, folks, I think we are being really presumptuous about the power of "the establishment" in NYC politics. Hochul is not winning, and neither is anyone directly in Cuomo's sphere of influence. The latter should be obvious why, but IIRC Hochul is from up-state and that's not gonna help at all in a primary. Unless I'm wrong?

I'm also betting that New Yorkers will want a historic candidacy, probably a woman of color. My money is on Tish James or maybe AOC if she thinks the primary is worth the risk.

[coloradocowboi]

A lot of people think this is a setup, I am just saying.

Six women?

"A lot of people think"... who exactly thinks that? What's their evidence? That's also a phrase Trump used for his talking points, trying to give them more credibility.

I know it's a bronz post, but parts of the "blue MAGA crowd" in the Politico and NYT comment sections legitimately believe that:

Told you.....

Agreeing with the blue MAGA crowd which actually believes Manchin should be expelled from the Democratic caucus and become a Republican doesn't really increase the validity/credibility of your statement...

I don't think there's really a lot of overlap between Cuomo stans and people who think Manchin should be kicked out of the caucus. I would assume super pro-Cuomo people would be moderates.

Fully anecdotal, but in the Facebook comment sections of Politico and NYT, there is such an overlap. I'd describe them as mostly partisan and establishment Democrats, who love Cuomo for whatever reason and hate Manchin because he isn't in line with the caucus 100 % of the times and are generally not the brightest bulbs in the box (so... Manchin should switch to the GOP so the Repubs are in control again??). They also appear to love Neera Tanden and whenever a Democrat criticized, their only argument is "But what about Trump?". They're not as obsessive as most Trumpists about their loyalty to the party, but have some cultist tendencies, hence "Blue MAGA crowd".

(As said, this observation is just based on lurking too much in comment sections.)

Lots of these types of people on Twitter, especially around the page of BrooklynDad_Defiant, someone who was revealed today to be a paid DNC stooge and who likely is the origin of the "a lot of people think this is a setup" conspiracy theory. Obvi neoliberals are as prone to conservatives to conspiracy theories. They both are committed to belief systems that challenge the scientific method and empiricism lol, the only difference is one of their primitive belief systems has been marginalized while the other is still cherished by the national propaganda machine and elite. *yawn*

[coloradocowboi]

New York should not just get rid of Cuomo because of his terrible conduct on multiple fronts, but also because the alternative is so much better. Just replace the scumbag with this queen to get things on track:

https://twitter.com/NYMag/status/1370062988821069835

Sry to tell you but this NRA supporter and anti-immigrant xenophobe is gonna get primaried and lose.

[coloradocowboi]

Assuming Cuomo was impeached instead of resigning, what would be the impeachable offence against him?

From a quick look at the allegations, I am not sure if the allegations of sexual harrassment qualify as a crime? (as opposed to say, rape, which is 100% a crime). I have no idea where the line gets drawn for sexual harrassment in legal terms, it could also be that sexual harrassment simply doesn't get prosecuted enough or that I am wrongly understanding the accusations, but being a creep is not illegal? The covid scandal could be the one though.

He definitely should resign though

Abuse of power and obstruction of justice, both regarding the coverup of the nursing home situation.

Yeah lol. Truly insane to me that people keep forgetting that this is arguably a way larger abuse of authority than the gropes, although they both come from the same worldview

[coloradocowboi]

Assuming Cuomo was impeached instead of resigning, what would be the impeachable offence against him?

From a quick look at the allegations, I am not sure if the allegations of sexual harrassment qualify as a crime? (as opposed to say, rape, which is 100% a crime). I have no idea where the line gets drawn for sexual harrassment in legal terms, it could also be that sexual harrassment simply doesn't get prosecuted enough or that I am wrongly understanding the accusations, but being a creep is not illegal? The covid scandal could be the one though.

He definitely should resign though

Abuse of power and obstruction of justice, both regarding the coverup of the nursing home situation.

Yeah lol. Truly insane to me that people keep forgetting that this is arguably a way larger abuse of authority than the gropes, although they both come from the same worldview

The obvious explanation is that the nursing home scandal was being brought up by Republicans for months in advance and also tarnishes several other (mostly Democratic) governors that were held up as models for other states to follow, whereas the sexual harassment accusations are fresh and only tarnish Cuomo himself. If you only look at the latter then elected Democrats can pretend to somehow be more principled than Republicans in punishing their own. Case in point

I prefer that Governor Cuomo be impeached and convicted instead of being made to resign for this one reason -to show Republicans that Democrats have more integrity than they do.  We have the courage to punish our own leaders when Republicans (except for the brave few) failed twice to join them even when they privately agreed that the evidence for impeaching and convicting President Trump both times was overwhelming.  

Right, Democrats have so much integrity that they'll probably punish their own, as long as those punished are politically weak and easily replaced by other Democrats. Otherwise they'll just stop talking about it, as was the case with Virginia's Gov. Blackface Klansman and his partner in crime, Lt. Gov Serial Rapist.

Who do you think this is fooling?

The bar is set low, for sure, and yet my point still stands.  When is the last time the Republican Party impeached one of their own? And I don't just mean a few senators or congressmen, but the bulk of their elected representatives banding together to oust a President or governor belonging to the same party.   And President Andrew Johnson doesn't count.  

Yeah I'm sorry. I agree with your point about the nursing home scandal, but there were plenty on the left who were critical about that as well. They were just silence by the corporate machine that is the central party. Also the Dems at least really cracked down on sexual harassment allegations, and Republicans literally denounced Trump for saying that he assaulted people on camera but then did nothing about it--not to mention the myriad other scandals. It is a low bar, but one of the reasons I still am a Democrat despite hating them is that the GOP can't even get over that (or off the ground and out of the gutter).

If this was Ron DeSantis nothing would be happening at this point, and the women accusers would be ignored. And please don't bring up Eric Greitens. He literally documented his rape and then lied about it to law enforcement. He wasn't forced out by his party, but the justice system lol

I am really wondering what the political strategy is for the Democrats. Who is the establishmen's preferred Governor?

Hochul for sure. Or maybe Tish James.

The lobbyist crowd and Wall St. probably want Hochul, but the party will likely want James because she isn't as controversial. If Hochul fails to get the WFP nomination (a definite possibility) she could blow the race. James is the most mainstream candidate who can also unite the base.

[coloradocowboi]

Except the Republicans never claimed to be the party of #MeToo, nor have their supposed virtues been paraded by a Pravda-esque media campaign for the past few years. A crooked politician being accused of sexual harassment is one thing, a crooked politician who was repeatedly pushed as a presidential contender because of his medical management running for the Party of Women's Rights being accused of the same (after months of cover ups of his medical failures) is something else entirely.

If anything Republican voters have demonstrated way more willingness to punish their own when it actually counts. In 2018 when control of the Senate was at stake enough Republicans in Alabama decided to not show up to give the seat to Doug Jones, whereas Menendez in New Jersey won by the sort of margin any regular Democrat would win by. There are literally zero examples of Democrats holding their own accountable when it carries actual political risk. To be clear I despise Republican politicians but when they said Democrats would never hold themselves to the standard they applied to Kavanaugh they were absolutely right.

I also dislike the Democrats but your point is factually wrong. Democrats booted Al Franken from the Senate for grabbing exactly one tit. Anthony Weiner was punished for cheating on his wife. And Republican voters punishing their own? Where do you get that from? Can you name an instance in which a GOP candidate lost a primary because of sexual assault allegations in recent memory? Greitens is about to be a Senator. Or what about Scott DesJarlais?

The idea that Democrats have less integrity than Republicans on issues like sexual abuse is laughable. Like you using Roy Moore as an example just proves my point! He almost won (and would've in a higher turnout election) and wasn't just accused of assault, but pedophilia.

And for the record, the point about what Cuomo did being bad isn't augmented by the presence of feminists in the Democratic Party, it's bad because it's universally bad lol. I would have a hard time thinking your problem with the Dems is anything more than tribal dislike if you're more offended more by "hypocrisy" than an abuse of power

[coloradocowboi]

Lee Zeldin randomly goes full voter suppressionist, demands mandatory Voter ID.

https://twitter.com/leezeldin/status/1398836537702371328?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%...

You should tell that to black people in Harlem. They're not listening to white liberals at Berkley or liberal hosts like Rachel Maddow or Joy Reid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBxZGWCdgs

You should also tell the majority of Democrats that an ID requirement is supressing their vote, because they're not convinced either.

Hi, I'm a professional research scientist. When you explain to these people what you mean by a voter ID and that people have to show ID when getting registered virtually everywhere, they oppose the draconian measures that you claim they support because they answered yes to a question they didn't fully understand. This is why opinion polls on complex issues like this are not only meaningless, but ultimately very bad for our society because: a. they misrepresent people that are uninformed and ambivalent toward an issue as supportive and b. they act for cover for the insane argument that just because something can be construed as popular it must be morally good.

Just to be clear, voter IDs are objectively redundant because, again, you already have to show an ID when you register. Voter IDs are economic wasteful, spending taxpayer dollars on an unnecessary measure. They also obviously target certain demographics, which is their only real effect. Voter fraud is a made up problem that is mostly committed by Republicans anyway, and it is at this point just anti-democratic (small d), fascist propaganda to assert otherwise. Our democracy is in trouble and they are   symbol of the fascist regime people would replace it with. Most marginalized people, by the way, are smart enough to realize that this is the regime Lee Zeldin would enact.

Republicans are no friends to the people of Harlem because they are 100% committed to keeping Black people from voting. Why else would they target Sunday voting hours? Or indeed pass voter ID laws that would disproportionately affect African Americans? It's just an insult to everybody here's intelligence at this point to suggest that Harlemites, dealing with racism and violence and economic marginalization all the time, who vote for Democrats in droves because they know that the other party actively wants to oppress them, are going to be sympathetic to some fascist voter ID law.

You'll see when Zeldin loses by double digits, even against Cuomo. No Republican is winning in New York precisely because the GOP is dead in NYC and dead in Westchester and dead in the city of Buffalo and dead anywhere where people think critically, e.g. Ithaca, Syracuse, parts of Long Island.

[coloradocowboi]

Cuomo won't be Gov, he is guilty on all charges

He's not going anywhere

He's more likely to be impeached by the end of the month than he is to be governor by January, 2023.

[coloradocowboi]

Governor Tish James Kathy Hochul. Let's go.

She is far from guaranteed to make it out of a primary. James is a better bet. She can placate both wings of the party.

[coloradocowboi]

Some news about Tom Suozzi, but I certainly a waste of time should he actually get in.

https://twitter.com/bern_hogan/status/1446638029452496897

Based. I really want Brown to win.

Lol no, loving the landlord's write-in candidate/sore loser of the year is not "based" this is:

https://twitter.com/Indiawaltonbflo/status/1447549549095100421?t=sJzTuf-CS4Mq8XO...

For my gripes with Hochul, I can't wait until she gives this Republican crook the spanking he deserves.

Honestly either Suozzi is an inside job meant to make Hochul look more progressive or he is one of the dumbest men alive (likely tbh). Anyway, is there any hope a more ethical Democrat could take his seat? Or is the Kathleen Rice vibe the best we can hope for?

[coloradocowboi]

I've told you she was a swamp creature the moment she put a knife in India's back. The only difference between her and Cuomo is her gender.

I would even argue Andrew Cuomo is more progressive. This is a woman who IIRC once ran with NRA backing. Again though, all of this has Jay Jacobs nasty fingerprints all over it. The man is literally compromised and must be taken down at all costs.

LaSalle is the kind of braindead Third Way pick that is a humongous red flag that not only do centrist NY Dems not plan to fight back against the GOP, but are keeping the door open to even partnering with them again if it means the landlords, police unions, and Fortune 500 companies that pay their bills keep doing so. Primary every last one of them, and any D Senator who votes to confirm LaSalle. Our party needs to start fearing its voters the way that Republicans do.