Obama/Gore '08!

Last night was the final nail in the coffin for Clinton's campaign. Truth be told, her campaign has been dead man walking for two months, but lingers on. After two solid months of negative campaigning against Obama she was unable to turn the tide. It's over. She'll officially pack it in before May is through.

In a bit of poetic justice, the "gas tax holiday" pander blew up in her face, contributing to her disappointing showing in Indiana (the barest squeaker of a win, where she was previously poling a double-digit victory). That kind of pandering is just insulting, and it solidified any doubts that middle-of-the-road voters may have had about her integrity.

In any case, we can now say definitively what I've been saying to friends since September: Hillary Clinton will not be the Democratic nominee for President in 2008. Which brings me back to the "dream ticket" I proposed almost one year ago: Gore/Obama '08!

Gore would make a fine Vice President . . . hell, he already has 8 years on the job experience. Give him total responsibility for Energy and Environmental policy and he just might want the job.

Congressman Weiner: Hillary or Gas Tax?

Still waiting for a substantive response from the Weiner camp on McCain/Clinton's incredibly stupid, pandering "Gas Tax Holiday" plan.

Meanwhile, condemnation of the plan is virtually universal from every economist or policy wonk on either side of the aisle. Here's Mayor Mike:

Mayor Bloomberg is criticizing a proposal to suspend the federal gas tax during the summer months, a plan backed by senators Clinton and McCain, as "about the dumbest thing I've heard in an awful long time, from an economic point of view." . . . . Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday he thought, "In this case, Obama had it right."

Asked about a proposal by the state Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, to apply a similar policy to New York state's gas tax — about 33 cents a gallon — over the summer, Mr. Bloomberg repeated his objections.

"I just do not think that it is intelligent policy and it's not a good energy policy," he said.

This is literally among the worst policy ideas I've ever heard. What disgusts me is that I am certain that Clinton is smart enough to know this . . . but is pandering anyway, going for the low-information voters.

Congressman Weiner, a few short months ago, was absolutely correct to say that we need an increased Federal gas tax dedicated to transportation and especially transit improvements. That is still correct today, and I hope that Rep. Weiner will reiterate his call for a responsible gas tax policy.

Fossella Popped For DWI

From the Washington Post:

Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-N.Y.) was arrested overnight in Alexandria and charged with driving while intoxicated, court records showed today.

Fossella is the only Republican currently representing NYC in Congress . . . for now.

He will be challenged in the election by either Domenic Recchia or Steve Harrison, depending who wins the Democratic primary.

This will help.

Clinton, Schumer, McCain Pandering On Gas Taxes

Reuters - Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday slammed as bad idea
Newsweek - Political Pandering
Matt Yglesias - "real harm is done to people's lives by this sort of gimmickry"
Streetsblog - Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton: Where Is the Leadership?
TIME - Clinton joins McCain in the race for panderer in chief
Paul Krugman/New York Times - Gas tax follies

Again, this is the sort of bull$hit pandering I expect from the GOP . . . I expect this steaming pile from McCain. But Clinton and Schumer are out there shilling for a "Gas Tax Holiday" which would do NOTHING to help ordinary Americans while exacerbating our underlying problems of oil dependence and runaway deficits.

Ask any economist worth his salt: the Gas Tax Holiday is the worst kind of economic policy. Pandering to the public, yet shortchanging us of any actual benefit.

Barack Obama (video)is the one candidate in this race has called it for what it is.

My question: where is Congressman and Mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner on this? Weiner very vocally opposed Congestion Pricing on the promise of increasing the Federal gas tax to pay for transit improvements. Yet he is also backing Senator Clinton for President . . . the same Senator Clinton calling for a gas tax holiday. I've called Rep. Weiner for comment, and his staff was polite. I'll post here when I get a substantive response.

Just in case I wasn't clear above: it might sound good in a vacuum, but this gas tax holiday is HORRIBLY IRRESPONSIBLE ECONOMIC POLICY. If you only have time to click one of the above links, click on TIME for Justin Fox's succinct explanation of why this is bogus pandering of the worst sort.

New York Democrats WILL Take The Senate This Year

It might have been back in December when local Senator Martin Connor predicted that we would pry away a Senate seat (in a heavily Republican upstate district) in yesterday's special election. That whittles the GOP Senate Majority (held for 40 years) down to one (1) seat.

Mr. Aubertine won 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Mr. Barclay, according to unofficial results. Republicans outnumber Democrats 78,454 to 46,824 in the north country district, and Mr. Barclay had been favored to win.

Further, he predicted that if we were able to swing this seat, we will take the Senate this year. There were some skeptics in the crowd. But hot damn, the winds of change are blowing. Change is coming to Albany, massive change, and sooner than you think.

Congratulations to Senator-elect Aubertine, Senator Connor, Governor Spitzer, and the party leadership on a tremendous victory.

Q. What would it take for me to vote Republican?

A: Noach Dear running as the Democrat.

See the Brooklyn Paper for a small selection of the reasons why.

Electing a truly, truly awful Democrat is worse than electing a Republican. It's easier to defeat a sitting Republican in this county than to oust a bad Democrat.

Congratulations to the Hon. Diana Johnson

Brooklyn's next, and first black, surrogate court judge.

There is still the small matter of the general election, but in this race it was all about the Democratic primary.

Congratulations to all.

Brooklyn Democratic Primary Tomorrow

Via email, the following reminder from Joanne Simon:

Tomorrow, September 18th is a Democratic primary. On the ballot in
Brooklyn this year are races for Brooklyn Surrogate (often described as
widows and orphans court) and two municipal district civil court races,
which affect limited sections of Carroll Gardens and Gowanus.

Since this list is not political, this message will not endorse any
candidate. It is a reminder to get out and vote!

You can only vote in this Primary if you are a registered Democrat.

The polls will be light tomorrow, so there will be no long lines!

I encourage all of you who are registered Democrats to get out and
exercise your right to vote tomorrow. The Primary is where your vote
counts most! Thanks much,

Jo Anne Simon
Democratic District Leader,
52nd Assembly District

I, of course, am free to put my opinion in the mix. IND has endorsed Diana Johnson for Surrogate, and I'll be casting my vote tomorrow. If you're on the fence, I encourage you to do the same.

Here's Sen. Velmanette Montgomery supporting Diana Johnson (courtesy Daily News' Liz Benjamin).

Here's Daily Gotham's mole333 on the primaries in general, and noting that Johnson has the endorsement of IND, CBID, and Lambda.

Show some love for a progressive candidate tomorrow. UPDATE: In case I wasn't clear enough - I endorse Diana Johnson in the election tomorrow. VOTE!

Recchia Rising?

Via Gowanus Lounge's news links, the Post reports that Councilman Domenic Recchia is looking to unseat Congressman Vito Fossella:

The 13th Congressional District encompasses Staten Island and South Brooklyn's Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights and Gravesend neighborhoods. Fossella, a Republican, has represented it since 1997.

Recchia has been a steadfast supporter of enhanced service on the F lines in Brooklyn, specifically supporting the rstoration of F express and extending the V local.

We need more transit supporters in Congress (and fewer Republicans). This is exciting news and we're delighted that Recchia will throw down with Fossella. Last time around, Steve Harrison gave him a good go, getting 43% of the vote despite being outspent 15-1 by Fossella. 2008 is going to be a bad year for Republicans, and this district may well swing to the Democrats.

Harrison, by all accounts a solid guy, is also expected to run in 2008. One thing is certain: It's going to be an interesting couple of years in Brooklyn politics.

Holy Jeebus: Bloomberg Bolts the GOP

Wow. I didn't see that coming, as bad as a fit as Bloomberg's policies and the national GOP's are.

I thought Bloomberg would throw his hat in the ring for 2008, but now I'm just flabbergasted. No idea where he's going with this.

To paraphrase Clark Griswold: I couldn't be more surprised if I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet.

Frost/Nixon, ???/Bush

Saw Frost/Nixon last night, which was phenomenal. An overarching theme of the play is that Ford's pardon short-circuited the justice process, ensuring that Nixon would never be held to account for the crimes he committed in office. Could Frost nail down the wily Nixon?

The elephant in the theater, of course, is the Bush Administration, which has gone far beyond the crimes of the Nixon administration in it's abuse of power and institutionalized lawlessness. Thanks to a toadying Republican Congress and a shamefully compliant Washington press corps, these abuses still remain largely hidden.

Former DAG James Comey's startling testimony before the SJC yesterday provides a thread that Congress needs to keep pulling. Glenn Greenwald has a good rundown here.

It's long past time for a special prosecutor. The tainted legacy of Ford's pardon of Nixon has been played out to our country's (and the world) detriment repeatedly, from Iran/Contra to the NSA domestic spying, as President's have violated the law and the Constitution with impunity.. We need to remind ourselves that no man is above the law, not even the President.

The crimes of George W. Bush must be investigated and any candidate for President in 2008 must pledge: No pardons for the Bushies.