This past weekend, Trophy Wife and I went to a film festival where they were showing the classic movie "Goodbye Columbus".. After the movie we headed off to a diner where we struck up a conversation with some people at another table who had just come back from the Devils game where they had just blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0,... This made me wonder if at the end of the game they started to chant.... "Goodbye Columbus"
That was not the only Devil that night…before the movie started, the local Democrat Mayor dropped by en route to a Halloween party dressed in a devil costume, prompting one weisenheimer in the back row to yell out.. "Hey.. she's dressed as a Republican". Another more politically astute wiseacre would have guessed she was dressed as her mayoral opponent in the ‘99 Democratic Primary.. According to a local blogger‘s blog, after all these years, the mayor and her cohorts dislike this guy so much that they encourage Democrats to NOT vote for him in party races so that he ends up with the lowest vote total amongst all the Democrats.
It was good timing to see Goodbye Columbus the week before Election Day.. Even though the movie based on the Phillip Roth book is about 2 Jewish families, it really is about the Haves and The Have Nots… Richard Benjamin plays Neil Klugman.. (no relation to Jack who plays his girlfriend’s dad!) your typical Democrat struggling working class guy who is more concerned with stuff like his era’s rudeness and disrespect towards blacks. He also spends time listening to a wedding guest complain about how hard he works and makes virtually no money, while his less smart brother is so rich even though he is a self proclaimed “gonniff”.. literally meaning thief but in context… “not the most ethical businessman”…. Neil’s girlfriend Brenda Patimkin is played by Ali McGraw, and her whole family is more concerned with protecting their wealth, hiding their "furniture from when we were poor" , and making sure that the country club pool is properly chlorinated. The movie gets its title from Brenda’s incredibly shallow brother who always listens to his “Goodbye Columbus” record.
These party differences continue today… The GOP is shivering in their boots as the Democrats make their big moves in Congress. Hopefully Alberich and his liberal friends will keep a low profile over the next week to keep the "l" work out of the political rhetoric. But there are some interesting election notes coming down the stretch.
THE DEMOCRAT I WON’T VOTE FOR - I am breaking with one tradition this year.. I will not be voting for one of the Democrats who is running for a county seat. I had a little verbal exchange with him in 2004, and wrongly assumed he was a Republican until I was speaking with a local big macher Democrat about what a shmuck this guy is.. and was informed that he is actually.. gasp…. a fellow Democrat!
The guy owns a company that "managed" the condo complex I used to live in. The moral of the story is, there were some board members who were just absolutely horrible people... and it is the job of a condo management company to look out for the best interests of the condo community first , and to work around sleazy board members when the situation arises. Heck, the board tampered with election results while the management company just sat and watched… so I am sure some laws were broken too.
In my situation, due to his poor leadership, this condo management company made numerous billing mistakes.. .. and these evil condo board members took advantage of these mistakes by fining residents and booting cars and all kinds of other insanity. As I mentioned in a previous column I filed a complaint against those board members at the state capitol, and have spoken with lawmakers about legislation to put an end to this madness. . For more info… see the Feb. 27th column in the archives. I also found out that one of those idiot board members recently sold his condo - hopefully he bought a house so he won’t annoy other condo residents.
I admit that the management company was not 100 percent at fault here.. however, there is a point where a condo mgmt company has to step in and just say "enough!". For example, my current condo complex has a good board, but at a meeting some residents were going off on a tangent about a silly issue that was beyond the scope of the board and management company.. (It had to do with owners who rent their units not paying fines). At one point, as residents tried to loudly find a scapegoat, the person from the condo management company just got up and said... "enough!" …………..and then calmly explained how residents, boards, and management companies have to work together and outlined that rules spell out exactly what boards and management companies‘ responsibilities are..
The errors of the old condo’s management company finally reached their peak and I had enough. Not only was this corrupt board breaking rules in the bylaws, but I was getting fines for sloppy billing mistakes, so I went to the company's office and this politician came outside to speak with me where I asked him in no uncertain terms. "How do you allow your company to be run so poorly?" He had no satisfying answer.. Whereas my follow up question was “If people vote for you, will you run the county and/or state into the ground as badly as your company?”…
Next Tuesday when it is time to vote.. I will keep my word… Unfortunately there are no independents on the ballots so I will vote for a Republican. This Republican is a huge underdog and won't win.. but he will get that one extra vote from me. Hopefully if this person ever decides to run in a future election, enough of us who know the real story, will step forward to volunteer for his primary opponent.
THE DIRTY NJ SENATE RACE - Menendez vs Kean - What exactly has Tom Kean Jr. accomplished? And, did you know the seats he held in the state government were jobs he "earned" by appointment.. Kind of like Gerald Ford. The only election he ran.. he lost.. and how can he possibly win if his entire advertising campaign is based on negative Menendez ads? Kean also busted Menendez’s chops when Menendez stepped into a quagmire at a Jewish forum at a Livingston synagogue when he said he would be supporting Joe Lieberman’s independent Connecticut Senate bid.. He later back pedaled when the Dem bigshots told him it’s a no no to speak out against the Democrat candidate Ned Lamont. Some Jewish voters got annoyed, and Kean had a field day with that one..
One thing to Kean's credit.. he has separated himself from Bush and criticized this useless war.. and if he were to win.. which he won't.. it would be amusing to see how ostracized he would be by the other Senate Republicans.
THE FILTHY TENNESEE RACE - This one is getting national attention with the cheap shot ads produced by the Republicans supporting Bob Corker in his race against Democrat Harold Ford. The ads imply that Ford was involved with porn and loose babes. Corker claims he had nothing to do with the ads… and the Republican National Committee which paid for the commercial claims it “had no control” over it. That’s a bunch of bull… if the commercial they “control” had shown a little boy sharing his Coke with Mean Joe Greene.. they would have pulled that off the air in a Tennessee minute! Just further evidence that the RNC is a disgraceful dishonest cowardly organization!
THE KERRY COMMENTS - I actually agree with Kerry’s point - he in no way implied that only dumb kids join the military. Actually, a lot of people who need to make a livelihood enroll in the military as a way to support their families. And of course it is very admirable for people to serve our country, and they deserve to be saluted. However, one would think that military enrollment is currently down, since people don’t want to fight in a war that we have no business being involved in! Kerry’s point was you might want to find another vocation.. otherwise you might end up in Iraq and eventually dead like our other heroic soldiers who are only dead due to the incompetence of our current President. Then your heartbroken mom can be ridiculed by Bush’s media cronies just like Cindy Sheehan…
THE O’REILLY AND LIMBAUGH FACTOR - Rush Limbaugh made an ass out of himself making fun of Michael J. Fox's Parkinson related shaking and his inability to stand up straight.. remember the painkiller addicted Limbaugh was caught with an illegal supply of Viagra... he should be lucky if he could get his limp biscuit to stand up straight!
Then you have the Bill O'Reilly appearance on Letterman. I cant believe O’Reilly used to be a vanilla Channel 2 news anchor in the 80s! Despite what the right wingers were spinning.. Letterman was quite humorous... but the fact is Dave sees O’Reilly for what he is - a big mouth loser. Letterman asked him what is the big deal if we take our troops out of Iraq, and we ended the unnecessary deaths of our military heroes, To which O"Reilly chimed in that Iran would then invade a weakened Iraq and then oil prices would shoot up....
"Oil prices" chimed in Letterman... "our boys are dying because oil prices might go up?..."
If O'Reilly wasn’t such a buffoon he would have said there are grave dangers to other countries if Iran gets more powerful... but instead he took the evil Bush party line about oil prices and how they hurt the Bush pocket book.
And if this conversation took place at the Patinkin house in Goodbye Columbus... Neil's character would have been more concerned with the lives lost there, while Brenda’s family would have worried about oil. And her brother would go into his room to listen to his Goodbye Columbus record.
This is why on Election day... we should get our priorities straight and send a message to Bush that we don’t want our boys dying for his family's oil money... Last week, Columbus couldn’t beat the Devils.. But Tuesday is the day for us to beat the Republican Devils. It‘s time to say “Goodbye Columbus“….. and Goodbye Republicans!.
Now time for the pro picks...
Last week we went a disgraceful 4-10 while the season to date record is a lowly 12 games under .500 at 48-60-6. Amazingly, we predicted The Cardinals would win the World Series back in March, and that Dave Price would be a candidate to replace Bob Barker back on February 17th! Pumpstradamus has his pick of the week below...
GIANTS 13 faves over Houston – I am back on the Giants bandwagon. Leave a lot of time to get to the game if you are coming from NY since Sunday is also the NY City Marathon.
Atlanta 5 faves over DETROIT – The Falcons seem to have righted the ship after the Giant metldown.
Cincinnati 3 doggies over BALTIMORE – One would think that this would be the Bengals year due to the Steeler swoon, but if they don’t put away the Ravens, they will be 2 games back in the division.
WASHINGTON 3 doggies over Dallas – I’m not sold on Romo just yet.. and could the Skins really be this bad?
Green Bay 3 doggies over BUFFALO – The Pack looks better.. and they are actually 2-1 on the road.
Minnesota 5 faves over SAN FRANSISCO – A huge game for the Vikings if they want to contend for the Wild Card.
Indianapolis 3 doggies over NEW ENGLAND – Jeepers… I went against the Colts last wk in Denver and got burned… how do you pick against them? On the other hand the Patriots are looking damn good. Lets stick with the Colts.
Kansas City 2 doggies over ST. LOUIS – Those St. Louis fans are still celebrating the Cardinals lucky World Series win. Mediocre teams don’t win Super Bowls in the NFL and at the close of business Sunday, the rams will be 4-4.
CHICAGO 13 ½ faves over Miami – I’m not getting fooled again by the big spreads. Crummy teams have no chance against the Bears.. Let ‘em win this one.. then next wknd, Rutgers and The Giants can both defeat unbeaten teams.
TAMPA BAY 1 doggies over New Orleans – The Saints are America’s Team.. but only when they play at home. The Bucs are the only losing team in their division by the way.
JACKSONVILLE 9 ½ faves over Tennessee – Make sure the Titans get back in time for Tuesday so they can vote for Harold Ford.
SAN DIEGO 12 ½ over Cleveland – I am not a big Charger fan and Cleveland looked pretty good in their referee assisted win over The Jets. I think they will cover. See Pumpstradamus’s pick below
Denver 2 ½ doggies over PITTSBURGH – Last one still on the Steelers bandwagon should turn out the lights.
Oakland 7 ½ doggies over SEATTLE – Last week all the prognosticators (except me) went anti-Seattle because of their injuiries. Now everybody loves ‘em. I think the Raiders will cover this one.
PUMPSTRADAMUS PICK OF THE WEEK (so far 4-3-1 after last weeks Rams loss) – In honor of Goodbye Columbus… we go to the Buckeye State of Ohio for this week’s pick – and Pump says…. Let's go with the Browns, since Election Day is coming up and I have sudden horrific flashbacks of the 1992 campaign of California's "Governor Moonbeam" Jerry Brown. What's he up to these days??
10 comments:
Hopefully Alberich and his liberal friends will keep a low profile over the next week to keep the "l" work out of the political rhetoric.
Possibly a necessary short term strategy at this point.
But ... the GOP has been able to successfully smear any Democrat to the left of Zell Miller as a "liberal" ... Nate -- if you were running for office the GOP would accuse you of being a liberal.
And which sounds better "I'm not a liberal -- I'm not! I'm not! I'm not!" or "ya know: what's so bad about being a liberal?".
The GOP hasn't gotten to where it is by running away from its "base". Why should the Dems. have to run away from moonbats like me? It's inevitable that the Dems. will be defined as liberal just as the GOP will be defined as conservative. Perhaps, then, the Dems. should stop running away from that label, which conceeds that liberalism is bad (and hence conceeds there is something wrong with Democratic ideology), but rather should run to that label and redefine it in the public's mind as a good thing (as it so used to be defined).
That kinda chutzpah is how the GOP has done so well (that and that they have a lot o' money at their disposal) -- why shouldn't we Dems. be a bit more chutzpadig instead of running away when we're accused of being liberals?
Unfortunately there are no independents on the ballots so I will vote for a Republican.
Don't feel bad about this Nate. It happens. Even I've voted for Republicans in local NJ elections. If a liberal, lefty moonbat like me can vote GOP (when the other candidate is corrupt, incompetent and/or crazy), anybody can do it, nu?
Hey DAS>.. great to hear from you again. In the many moons since I turned 18, I have only voted for a Republican ONCE,and that was the first or second time I voted... and I lived to regret it!
And... I dont think a lot of us like to be called liberals.. We're not liberals, so why call us by that name?
Wow! I've voted for more Republicans than Nate has. And I call myself a liberal?
I might need to turn in my membership card in the global liberal moonbat conspiracy to destroy "family values" ... ;)
Nate. I'd reckon you are not a liberal. You're a moderate, I would say (actually, some would say that I'm not a true liberal: that I am someone who takes, as per the formula of BG -- remember him and his twin sister from RU Hillel? -- very liberal positions for conservative reasons). But the fact is that, today's political discourse being what it is, if you were running for national office, you would be tarred and feathered as a liberal only slightly less moon-batty than, say, myself. So if you were running for office, which do you think would serve your campaign better: denying (however true the denial is, it's still a denial and might not play well politically) that you are a liberal, or rattling off some popular policies brought to us by liberals and asking why the GOP is smearing such a great tradition?
It used to be that moderate Republicans didn't like to be called conservatives just as today moderate Democrats (and even some of my fellow "progressive" types) don't like to be called liberals. But the rise of the GOP corresponded with it not following the lead of moderates and ditching "conservatism", but by re-branding conservatism itself. Some of us on the liberal wing of the Dem. party would say that the Dems. need to do a similar rebranding of liberalism rather than running away from a label inevitably stuck to all of us.
Its quite shocking that you have voted GOP more than me.
Heres another Republican tall tale from upstate NY that I heard about after I posted this column: A candidate running for a local election is being blasted by the GOP commercials for spending "tax payer money for sex phone calls!"
The real story: aforementioned candidate was staying at a hotel for a political function when he misdialed an office number and ended up calling a sex line instead. According to the phone records he hung up immediately and then redialed the office which has the same number, but a different area code. The total cost to taxpayers for this call that went less than a minute?
$1.25
Im getting ready for vote for Menendez.. and heres another reason to vote for him --> it's easier to spell!
In FL, the airwaves are full of the most nasty attack ads against Dem. candidates. I think I only heard one GOP ad that actually mentioned what their own candidate in any substantial way rather than just attacking the Dem. candidate with stuff that pretty much has been made up (too many tall tales to recount here). Interestingly, both the GOP ads and the Dem. responses have generally played down the party identifications of the candidates involved.
In any normal place, the voters would be so disgusted with the attack ads they'd vote for the attacked rather than the attackers. But FL (outside of maybe the AKs in South FL -- and I suspect the Dems. might win big in South FL 'cause it seems the GOP is loosing the Cuban vote -- and the isle of blue known as Leon County, where I happen to live ;) ) seems like the sort of place that would rather like to support loons and bullies just because they are loons and bullies.
So even though the media are calling most of the races as close (except they are calling the Nelson/Harris race with a big victory for Nelson), I wouldn't be surprised if the GOP does quite well in FL and I wouldn't even be surprised if Harris (keyn-anhora, < spit ; spit >) is our next Senator.
If the GOP does win here, though, it'll be a sign that being a complete loony and mean-spirited bully helps you politically, at least in certain "red" parts of the country ... how frightening is that?
hey I have not read your blog in quite some time-- kids are keeping me too busy. i just read a small portion of it tonight regarding your condo management issues. i have two words for you: "retain counsel". we are embroiled in a similar situation at our place at tahoe and it stinks but we are getting an attorney to represent us. funny thing is, the attorney will be representing us against our own HOA which we (and all homeowners) pay the legal bills for. so in essence, we are suing ourselves. it's very common and i know of several HOA forums that you can go to for guidance. if you are in a real pickle, don't hesitate to retain an attorney. we are finding that's the only way to try and remedy the situation. good luck and say hi to "trophy wife" for me.
I will pass along your regards! The issues I wrote about concerned the condo complex I used to live in. The place we are at now is actually ok and I really don't have any complaints with the board or the management company. However, I do advise people to go to as many meetings as humanly possible to see the board in action, so they don't end up in the horrible situation that made life so unpleasant at my old complex.
whew, glad the bad stuff is all behind you now. i thought this was a current situation, so i'm glad to hear that's not the case. to tell you the truth, we did go to all the meetings and Gary even chaired the Finance Committee. it didn't benefit us one bit-- in fact, if anything it made us more mad to see what was going on behind the scenes and not be able to control it or change the way things worked. there is that "old boys network" at play here-- you know the types. retired dudes who have been there for 20 or 30 years and think they own the HOA :) and you can't bust through all the bull&%$* when you don't live there full-time. the sneaky little devils try to run illegal votes and things like that. i'll let you know how our situation pans out. it involves boat mooring and it's super complicated but we hope the attorney can help resolve it. i'm sure it will come at a high price. have a nice night!
Hey DAS... With the NJ Devils beating Carolina and the Menendez Senate victory... we could have a split headline on Wednesday that days... Kean loses and Canes lose!
Post a Comment