Showing posts with label Carolyn B. Maloney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carolyn B. Maloney. Show all posts

Friday, September 10, 2010

Hillary Means More To Reshma Than Barack Means To Me


I don't really know how to explain this, but I am going to try.

All my slights, my hurts, all the topsy turvies along my career path - some days I feel like I have not even started on one yet - all of them can be encapsulated in 500 years of world history. Beyond 500 years I draw a blank. When you go back more than 500 years, I come across stories of all sorts of glorious kings in my part of the world, some of whom were supposedly great, but they were still kings, the arrangement still was feudal. But you hang on to the threads regardless. They are dead and gone.

But for women that span has got to be 10,000 years, at least 10,000 years.

At some level I was really torn in 2007 and 2008. I wished I did not have to choose between the idea of the first black president and the first woman president, I wished I did not have to choose between the two super duper candidates. But I did throw in my lot with Barack, and I did do the best I could for him. The one solace was that perhaps this was the future. Women and black men could compete for the top most jobs and there was not much angst among the masses. This will perhaps feel normal down the line as well, I thought. I took solace in that thought.

Here were two out and out outstanding individuals. And they were both running for president. A more powerful political office has never been designed ever. This was a big deal.

I have worked hard to talk in terms of The New Woman for September 14. I have done it because I concluded early on that that was what was going to be the biggest reason for victory. The techies and brownies will pad the victory margins, but it is the women on the East Side who will have to wake up to give Reshma her much deserved victory on September 14.

And victory it shall be. I smell it. It's near. It's about to happen.

September 14 Will Birth The New Woman
Hillary Clinton Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani
Hillary's Support For Reshma Can Not Be Spinned Away
Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14
Carolyn Maloney: The Al Sharpton Of Gender Relations
Maloney Wrote A Book Saying Her Best Is Not Good Enough


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Thursday, September 09, 2010

Victory Now, Victory This Very Time, Victory On September 14

The emblem of Recovery.gov, the official site ...Image via Wikipedia

This country needs its second stimulus bill now, not two years from now. (Reshma Saujani Is The Second Stimulus Bill This Country Needs) The New Woman needs to show up now, not two years from now. (September 14 Will Birth The New Woman) Obama needs help keeping Congress now, not two years from now. (Obama Needs To Ride The Reshma Insurgency Wave To November Victory)

And still the idiots in the media had to ask Reshma Saujani after the radio non debate - I DEMAND A TV DEBATE! - if she will vote for Maloney in November if she loses on September 14. Idiots. Reshma Saujani will be voting for herself in November.

Maloney Lied Repeatedly In Radio Debate
Radio Debate: Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney
New York Observer Endorsement: Reshma 2010 Now Unstoppable
Maloney Reshma Radio Debate Aftermath
New York Daily News Is Da Bomb
New York Times Also Endorsed David Yassky: Yassky Who?

It is time for Maloney and Rangel to go into retirement.

Maloney Dismantled Glass-Steagall And Gave Us Great Recession
Maloney Should Concede To Reshma Saujani
Maloney's Fantassy: That Reshma Had Not Run
We Intend To Swamp Maloney: The East Side Is Going Electric

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Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Maloney Lied Repeatedly In Radio Debate

Charles B. RangelImage via Wikipedia

Maloney spoke a string of lies in her radio debate.

She said she does not own BP stocks, she never has. Factually correct. Her family by now has sold all BP stocks it owned. When the Maloney family owned BP stocks, it was in her late husband's name, not hers.

By that logic, Maloney's net worth is zero dollars. She has not made any money. But the truth is her net worth is 20 million dollars. A-l-l of that came from Wall Street. I don't begrudge her wealth. I wish more of the same on as many others as possible.

But to suggest your family owning BP stocks had nothing to do with your voting the Dick Cheney votes on the oil industry in the early 2000s is hogwash. This is Charlie Rangel behavior.

Maloney's 20 million dollars are relevant in that she played a key role in undoing the regulations in 1999 that made her family a lot of money but that gave America its Great Recession a decade later.

Maloney has been accused of having hosted fundraisers with Wall Street PACs right when she was working on Wall Street reform. In the radio debate she said her congressional staff did not organize those fundraisers she attended. Factually correct. But the truth is she has separate staff for fundraising. Her fundraising staff organized those fundraisers that violate the basic ethics rules of Congress. Is that a problem or is that a problem? Did Maloney lie in saying her people did not organize those two fundraisers?

This is Charlie Rangel behavior.

"She lied," Reshma Saujani said. Saujani was pointing out the obvious. But the Maloney trolls are saying for Saujani to point out that Maloney was lying borders towards the "negative."

Looking the other way while wrong is being done, is that positive? That is not positive, that is irresponsible.

Maloney has lied repeatedly.

The biggest lie though was Maloney saying she had authored "70 bills." What she did not say was she got only three of those passed, one was to do with renaming a post office.

Wall Street Journal: Maloney, Saujani In Primary Debate: "Congresswoman Maloney has failed New Yorkers. She has failed to lead, failed to offer a single new idea in this race, failed to serve responsibly and ethically," Ms. Saujani said in her opening statement. "She says that I'm running a negative campaign. Carolyn, all I'm doing is telling the truth." .... Calling for a House ethics investigation into Ms. Maloney's conduct, Ms. Saujani accused Ms. Maloney of holding fund-raisers with lobbyists for the financial-services industry while negotiating legislation to reform Wall Street..... Ms. Saujani accused her of lying: "You said that your staff and you were not involved in those two fund-raisers. I'm holding the invitations right now and they say checks can be mailed to Maloney for Congress. It's this type of lack of ethics and integrity that people are tired of." ..... Ms. Saujani was scheduled Tuesday night to hold a fund-raiser at the home of Alan Jones, managing director of Morgan Stanley.

New York Tech MeetUp

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

And I'd Like To Take Credit For The Brooklyn Bridge

The view of Brooklyn Bridge from ManhattanImage via WikipediaAt least the Brooklyn Bridge exists. The Second Avenue subway line, have you been riding it? It does not exist. How ridiculous of Maloney to try and take credit for a non existent Second Avenue subway line that has been worked upon on and off since 1920?

Carolyn Maloney's Work On The Second Avenue Subway Line

Going by her record, I also expect her to take credit for having earned the right to vote on behalf of women.

Maloney Wrote A Book Saying Her Best Is Not Good Enough
Carolyn Maloney: The Al Sharpton Of Gender Relations
Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14

Sorry, but I have absolutely no respect for Carolyn Maloney, and I can't pretend otherwise. She is a lying, exaggerating politician. She is a mediocrity.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Al Hagan: Capable Of A Hate Crime

Unofficial seal of the United States CongressImage via Wikipedia
NYDaily News: Firefighters Hammer Maloney Opponent on 9/11 Remarks
Hard Fact For Al Hagan: Maloney Failed To Pass 9/11 Health Bill
Organized Labor Bosses Backing Maloney Are Acting Blind And Stupid
Positivity, Excellence, Dark Matter
Rangel Has Gone Radioactive
Who Is The Congressperson For Ground Zero? Not Maloney
Rangel And Maloney Need To Vacate The Premises And For The Same Reasons
Organized Labor Has No Business Endorsing Maloney
Maloney: Stifling Debate, Stifling Innovation, Stifling Job Creation
Firefighters Booing Hillary: Sexist

LettertoMsSaujani

9/11 did not happen yesterday. It happened almost a decade ago. Maloney had a decade before that to acquire "seniority," (instead of seniority, what she has acquired is senioritis) and to learn the ropes in Congress, and she has had a decade since to bring those skills to use to the service of the firefighters of this city, and she has failed. And Al Hagan has failed with her.

No one said their trying to get this bill passed was a bad idea, and I hope it passes in some form down the line, because it is a necessary bill.

"...you should be joining the scores of advocates in support of its future passage."

Well Al Hagan, that is precisely the plan. That is what she intends to do when she is in Congress starting this Fall. And that is why you need to at least go neutral in this primary. Just because you have been hanging out with Maloney over the years does not make her worth endorsing. Let the democratic process decide who should be your Congressperson.

Al Hagan's logic goes something like this. 9/11. I am a labor boss. 9/11. Maloney is in Congress. 9/11. We wanted this 9/11 health bill passed, but that was almost a decade ago. 9/11. We have been trying every year since to get it passed. 9/11. We have been failing. 9/11. I had coffee with Maloney the other day. 9/11. I hope you did not hear about it, but the bill's passage failed all over again. 9/11. And if you are going to criticize my incompetence, and Maloney's incompetence, do not forget that 9/11 happened. 9/11.

This is as convoluted as logic gets. This logic is so convoluted, I think this guy is capable of a hate crime.


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Nadler Should Vacate The Maloney Sinking Ship

El Dorado, the oldest working carousel in the ...Image via Wikipedia
Nadler: Saujani Needs to 'Check Her Facts' (observer.com)

And we thought Maloney was the only one behind the failed 9/11 health bill. All sorts of people are now coming out of the woodworks saying me too. Where have you been? El Dorado?

To stand by Maloney is to stand by Rangel is to stand by ethics violations. Nadler needs to take precautions here. I don't know much about him but he comes across like he might be a good guy. But even good guys sometimes make mistakes. And he is making one now.

Maloney is a sinking ship. Vacate.

Look Nadler dude, it is like this. The party you are a member of is on its way to an intellectual bankruptcy by 2016. You prevent that by bringing along Reshma Saujani. Why do you think Maloney is so scared of debating Reshma? It is because she knows Reshma is going to talk 2016 ideas. Maloney has no idea what those 2016 ideas are. Do you care about the future of your party? If you do, you are standing on a sinking ship. Vacate immediately.

Who Is The Congressperson For Ground Zero? Not Maloney (democracyforum.blogspot.com)
The Queens Gazette: Maloney Facing A Tough Challenge
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Friday, August 06, 2010

Charlie Rangel, Carolyn Maloney And Their Ethics Violations

The corner of Wall Street and Broadway, showin...Image via Wikipedia
Charlie Rangel has been charged with 13 "serious" - the president's word - ethics violations. A few weeks back Carolyn Maloney raised money at an event from some Wall Street PAC types at a time when the Congress and Wall Street were in negotiation on the Wall Street reform bill. Similar behavior had six other members of Congress under investigation.

Why is Carolyn Maloney not under investigation? To have Charlie Rangel under trial, and to not have Maloney under investigation smacks of double standards, smacks of racism, frankly.

They both engaged in similar behavior, but old man Rangel is the only one being put on trial for it. Why would that be?

We now live in the age of Obama. Such double standards should no longer be the way we conduct our business. Put Maloney under the ethics bus, yo.
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Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Organized Labor Has No Business Endorsing Maloney

Democratic Party logoImage via Wikipedia
Obama Has No Business Kissing Maloney

Organized labor in this city has major business pounding the pavements for the winner of the Democratic primary, but organized labor has no business throwing its weight into the wrong hat for the Democratic primary.

Reshma Saujani is the daughter of political refugees. Talk about starting from scratch. She went to public schools all her life. The working class families of this city might be able to relate to that.

To Mansion Maloney, all labor issues are abstract.

I am a free marketeer because I believe in democracy. There can be no democracy without a free market economy. A healthy American economy is one where Main Street and Wall Street are no longer working at cross purposes. You need someone like Reshma Saujani who can claim allegiance to both sides to be able to bring about that healthy relationship. It is not one or the other. We need both. We need entrepreneurs and we need workers. We need Main Street and we need Wall Street. We need strong public schools so that it does not matter where your starting line in life is.

In Reshma Saujani families of organized labor have a living, breathing embodiment of someone they can talk about to their kids as an example of someone who has achieved regardless of what her starting point in life was.

In this city of immigrants, Reshma Saujani is the ultimate immigrant. And organized labor has to claim her candidacy as its own.

Maloney, over the years, has voted the way organized labor would expect a Democrat to vote. But that makes her a checkbox Democrat. That does not make her a leader. Reshma Saujani is a Democrat. She too is going to vote like a Democrat on issues of particular interest to labor. But she is a leader. She is going to come up with the new thoughts for a new century. Organized labor needs to change with the times and stay relevant.

John Liu: Mayor Of NYC: 2013
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Friday, July 30, 2010

Firefighters Booing Hillary: Sexist

Gov. Sarah Palin has breakfast and visits with...Image via Wikipedia
I don't care if you are a firefighter and I don't care that 9/11 happened, if you are a sexist pig, you are a sexist pig, and I would take that exact same logic to so called progressives acting sexist towards someone like Sarah Palin. What is sexist is sexist. Your wearing the progressive label does not change that. And stop cashing on 9/11 that way. That is wrong and disrespectful. Palin has taken plenty of wrong stands, like in Arizona. Got to beat her on ideas. Acting sexist can not be in the arsenal.

Reshma Saujani: Top 10 Women To Watch In America
Reshma Saujani Makes Top 10 List
Barack Obama: The NRA's Candidate
Reshma Saujani At The Netroots Nation
Pelosi Will Continue As Speaker
Why I Am Pressing The Like Button On Al Sharpton
Carolyn Maloney: The Al Sharpton Of Gender Relations
Ed Koch And Carolyn Maloney: Bush Democrats

I hear some "firefighters" showed up at Netroots Nation.







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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Phone Calls, Dress Code


Phone Calls

I experimented with two hours of phone calls earlier in the evening. Early evening on a week day truly is the best time to be making phone calls. But only slightly better. My conclusion is that all times are good. You can't be calling too early or too late at night. But other than that.

And so I have a new appreciation for my first choice: Sunday afternoons. Best would be to do both, but if I could do only one, it would be Sunday afternoons.

I have learned it is important to leave full voice mails. For most voters that call might be the one live interaction they had with the campaign before they showed up to vote.

Phone calls can't be the only thing you are doing, but they are a very important thing to be doing. And you can make phone calls every day. I think you can make 50 phone calls per hour. 10 people doing that for five hours is 2500 calls.

You talk to a few strong supporters and they make up for all those people who did not pick up the phone.

One guy I talked to, all he wanted to know was if Reshma was running against Maloney. In that case I am voting for her, he said. Another woman, when I asked her what issues she was interested in, she listed them all and said, aren't we all? I said, no. Most people are not.

Sample voice mail: "Hi, this was calling on behalf of Reshma Saujani. Reshma is running for Congress. You can learn more about her at her website at reshma2010.com. That would be r-e-s-h-m-a-2-0-1-0-dot-com. And please vote for her on September 14."

Dress Code

I got two more Reshma 2010 shirts. Now I have three. I think I am going to wear them a whole lot. Black shoes, black pants, black jacket, and the red, white and blue Reshma 2010 shirt. Actually I think I am going to wear them every time I show up at the Reshma 2010 headquarters, every time I show up for a Reshma 2010 event leading to September 14.

After some trial and error, I got a dress code now. I am all set.

Tomorrow I am going to a tech event in Dumbo. I think I am going to show up in my Reshma 2010 dress code.

A Marathon Race

A congressional campaign is a marathon race. Got to pace yourself.

We got a great candidate, a great staff, great momentum. We are on our way.
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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Barack Obama: The NRA's Candidate

Barack Obama holding up a Pittsburgh Steelers ...Image via Wikipedia
I just did some thorough research online and have come to the conclusion that Barack Obama did not accept a dime of PAC money from the NRA when running for president in 2008. That makes Barack Obama the NRA's candidate, and progressives beware.

That has been the Carolyn Maloney camp's logic as applied to Obama 08.

Maloney has taken half a million dollars from the various Wall Street PACs. Reshma Saujani has not taken a dime from them. But that still has not prevented the Maloney campaign from working day and night to paint Reshma as the Wall Street's candidate.

That is downright dishonest. No wonder people stay so cynical of people in Congress. When Maloney does what she does, that makes the entire Congress look bad.

That is demonization. That has racial overtones.

John Liu, the next Mayor of NYC, was on Wall Street before he got into politics. Ends up that is a good thing. That means you are smart, you can get things done. (John Liu: Mayor Of NYC: 2013)

The Maloney camp needs to stop the lie. They need to stop feeding the lie to the media. They need to stop feeding the lie to Chris Mathews.

Ed Koch And Carolyn Maloney: Bush Democrats
Carolyn Maloney's Six Sins
I Am Angry At Chris Matthews
Reshma Saujani
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Friday, July 23, 2010

Why I Am Pressing The Like Button On Al Sharpton

Hello, Al Sharpton!Image by @superamit via Flickr
Before word gets out - and word does get out fast in this information age of ours - that I put out a blog post comparing Al Sharpton to Carolyn Maloney, (Carolyn Maloney: The Al Sharpton Of Gender Relations) and somebody prints out the post and hands it over to Al Sharpton and Al Sharpton gets all offended, I wanted to put out a new post making it absolutely clear that I admire Al Sharpton, I always have.

Reverend - he is one, is he not; I don't want to be seen confusing him with Jesse Jackson (I am not one of those who don't know Africa is not a country) who I have been honored to meet in person (I have seen Sharpton in person although never got a chance to shake his hand) - Sharpton is a pretty cool guy, if you think about it. (Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard)

When I got to see him up close, I remember thinking, I am not sure I want that on my head, but the guy sure has fancy hair.

He ran for president four years before Obama did. People say Jesse Jackson running for president paved the way for Obama. But those people forget that Sharpton also helped pave the way. Granted Jackson is bigger than Sharpton - one is like Gandhi, another like Nehru - but that does not make Sharpton insignificant by comparison. He does deserve a small mention.

When Sharpton ran for president, he was often considered the most articulate of all candidates. What failed his talents was a lack of field organization, a lesson Obama totally took to heart four years later. Would you dispute that?

Sharpton is a go to guy. People who run for office in this town routinely seek out his advice, especially on issues of race relations, but also on bread and butter issues in general.

He has had a political career, he is one of the most well known community activists across the country, and I think he also owns a radio station, which would make him a media guy. I know about that radio station part because Hillary would call in asking for his support when she was running for president and the Reverend would tactfully tell her he was still studying the candidates and weighing his options. That is how I knew he was secretly on our side. That was a time when blacks across the city and the country were falling like flies into the Clinton camp giving us Obama people the scare: if Barack can't even get black people, how will he get white people? Al Sharpton displayed much grace under that pressure. At some level I feel about him the way I feel about Caroline Kennedy. They were there for us Barack people when it counted.

Paterson Needs Caroline To Get To Barack
Advice For Caroline
Caroline Kennedy Is No Sarah Palin, She Is No Airhead
I Like The Caroline Kennedy Name
Caroline Kennedy: A President Like My Father

I remember, my candidate Obama showed up for an event in Harlem at the Apollo Theater in Fall 2007. He had dinner with the decidedly neutral Sharpton who after that dinner told the press people, "This black brother eats soul food. How bad can he be?" I could not have come up with that quote if I tried.

Once in a while the Reverend is known to get agitated, but you would too if you had been black in America the past so many decades. We all have a little steam to blow.

He is one of the few liberals known to always be ready to debate Bill O'Reilly. That is a positive quality.


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