Whiskey Fire

"God doesn't flip-flop"

Good grief.

A veteran New York Assemblyman on Monday stood by his decision to wear blackface makeup, an Afro wig and a basketball jersey to a costume party in the face of criticism he called “political correctness to the absurd.”

Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind wrote on his blog Monday that he doesn’t understand the criticism swirling around Albany and doesn’t know why anyone would be offended by the costume he wore to a party he recently held at his home in Brooklyn to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Hikind hired a makeup artist and wore an orange basketball jersey, sunglasses and an Afro at the celebration that traditionally includes costumes....

And there is more.

Earlier this month, Hikind criticized the fashion designer John Galliano, who was recently photographed in New York City dressing as a Hasid with a long jacket and curly sidelocks. Two years ago, Galliano was fired from Christian Dior after his anti-Semitic rant was caught on video.

Hikind demanded an explanation from Galliano for his costume.

“If it was just anyone else, I wouldn’t know what to say. But considering who this guy is, considering his background and what he’s said in the past, let him explain it to all of us: Are you mocking us?” Hikind told the New York Post.

And still more.

In Albany, Hikind has championed some conservative and religion-based issues. In 2009, he opposed an early vote to legalize same-sex marriage“It is about what I believe God wants,” Hikind said then. “God doesn’t flip-flop on an issue.”

And, of course, there is a punchline:

Hikind reiterated to WCBS reporter Alex Silverman that it "never crossed my mind for a second" that blackface is off-limits. "If I was black," Hikind said, "on Purim I would have made my face white."

And indeed, exactly that has happened at nearly every Purim party thrown by African-Americans throughout history.

Shocking Political News That Will Shock You

Shockingly, to win statewide office in New York, it turns out that a candidate need to be against the idea that one ought to be able to readily purchase a machine capable of the bulk elimination of schoolchildren.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand vigorously championed Americans’ right to carry high-powered guns — before she turned against them.

Since the Newtown massacre, the senator has been at the forefront of the national campaign demanding stricter gun-control laws — including her own legislation to prevent gun trafficking....

“I think gun owners probably view her in ways they view Mitt Romney. How do you trust someone when they change their stance and politics?” said Richard Feldman, head of the Independent Firearms Owners Association.

Truth. I confidently predict that this flip-flop has completely destroyed any hope Gillibrand may have nursed of winning the 2016 Republican primaries.

Things That Should Happen But Won't

Shelly Silver absolutely should be tossed out as the Speaker of the NY Assembly, but he won't be, because slime pays. Ain't state capitol politics grand?

Ha Ha No

Oh please.

When the debate commission announced that this year’s town-hall debate—in which questioners would be selected from among undecided voters in the surrounding region—would be held in Long Island, NY, rather than in a swing state, it raised a few eyebrows. Undecided voters in Nassau County generally aren’t like undecided voters in Ohio or Virginia. They tend to be people who start from a liberal foundation but may be a little too populist to be comfortably Democratic voters these days, and so in some respects a kind of mirror image of what we normally think of as swing voters.

Jesus Fuck, you'd never get a full-bore right wing loon elected from them New Yorky precincts!

Nassau can be every bit as pig-ignorant asshole racist as Mississippi, or (shudder) Staten Island.

Corruption!

Leon H. Wolf of Red State has Discovered Injustice.

Regardless of how you feel about the same-sex marriage issue, Time Warner’s decision to give proponents of SSM free air time (hilariously couched as a “mistake” by Time Warner execs) during the recent SSM battle in New York ought to be appalling.

Gracious. And this is to do with what? This?

Time Warner Cable gave advocates of same-sex marriage $70,846 of free airtime this spring, lobbying records show.

The communications giant aired ads produced by the Human Rights Campaign as part of its "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" series during March and May, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed for same-sex marriage in a statewide tour.

And why were these ads so generously aired?

initially, Time Warner considered the ads to be public service announcements, according to Susan Leepson, a regional vice president for communications at the company.

Hee hee. So the Time Warner people hadn't even realized that advocating same sex-marriage in New York might be controversial, along the lines of advertisements for kids to brush their teeth aren't controversial. 

Mr. H. Wolf squawks "No reasonable person would assume that this was actually a mistake," which goes to show what Mr. H. Wolf knows about reasonable people in New York, where gay marriage... is in fact not particularly controversial.

The only reason gay marriage was subject to anything like a close outcome in NY is because the NY GOP are cultural rump, which is to say, on this issue, they represent disappearing clumps of bigots.

One wonders whether such a mistake would ever be made if the Club for Growth produced a series of commercials starring Adam Baldwin pushing for the passage of the Balanced Budget Amendment in New York – even though such a commercial actually would arguably constitute a public service (but only if one believes that the public is served by the good credit rating of the United States government). Of course, the question answers itself.

Discuss the pathology amongst yourselves. I'm ever so weary...

UNRELATED. repsac3 is right, and all of us at Whiskey Fire mourn the loss of Christina Santiago, who believed in something good and lived for it.

The Archbishop Regrets

Archbishop Dolan regrets he is unable to wed gays today.

Not that he was asked....

But he will tell....

thanks to those courageous millions who valiantly fought this unfortunate project of social engineering.  You can hold your heads high.  Sanely, civilly, thoughtfully, vigorously . . . you did not cave-in.  The forces on the other side were a Goliath indeed — with tons of money, “glitterati” from entertainment circles, political powerbrokers, and the media — but you proved a worthy David.

In New York, on gay-marriage, to use a superfluous hyphen just like an archbishop, the Catholic Church was not outspent. The church was out-argued. Among under 35 voters, by about 3-1.

The reason the Church lost in NY is simple. The Church was -- and is -- wrong. Morally wrong. Grotesquely so.

And fucking whiny about it.

But, three, we do worry indeed about this freedom of religion.  Editorials already call for the removal of guarantees of religious liberty, with crusaders calling for people of faith to be coerced to acceptance of this redefinition.  If the experience of those few other states and countries where this is already law is any indication, the churches, and believers, will soon be harassed, threatened, and hauled into court for their conviction that marriage is between one man, one woman, forever, bringing children into the world.

If you don't like it when a guy marries a guy, don't marry a guy, guy. If you really want martyrdom, fly to Saudi Arabia and suck a cock in public. But don't fucking pretend if two chicks get a marriage licence in Poughkeepsie, the death squads are headed for the cathedral.

if we did hurt anybody in our defense of marriage, I apologize. We tried our best to insist from the start that our goal was pro-marriage, never anti-gay.

Given that this is childish, I'll happily respond "fuck you," which represents an advance, as it is adoloescent.

"We always loved you even as we struggled to keep you second class citizens. Er... fist bump?"

 

Strictly Comedy

Maggie Bigot Gallagher:

New York Republicans are responsible for passing gay marriage. The party will pay a grave price.

No they won't.

The NY GOP bowed, finally, to the will of their constituents -- such as it is.

It's not correct to say that most New Yorkers support gay marriage in regards to the principle of the thing. Oh to be sure, maybe about half of us do. We're the good guys!

But the real reason gay marriage passed in NY this year -- and I am, to be clear, whoopin' hollerin' glad it did -- is that most New Yorkers are of the opinion that "fuck this who marries who shit, I need a job, or need to keep a job, or my kids need a job, and by the way, job jobs jobitty job job job."

Anyone attempting to make gay marriage repeal a cause in NY is invited to waste their time and resources. Which are basic qualifications for GOP statewide candidtates overall, who have been astonishingly wingnutty awful for quite a while now.

NY moved on before the vote, which is why, as any NY political observer will tell you, the vote even happened.

Gay marriage is a hard issue, but it's also one that is not directly to do with what has Albany all fucked up right now. That is to do with money. That the NY leg finally talked in depth about gays (damn I'm cynical, but I'm right) is an indication of how deeply resistant they are to talk about money.

Now, don't get me wrong -- Andy Cuomo strongarmed gay marriage through the legislature, and he deserves tons of credit for achieving a landmark civil rights victory.

But don't trust him to not want to fuck over NY teachers.

I really hate to say this, but I think I'm right.

I Have Entered a Shiny New Realm

My stepdaughter just turned 21, & she's gay, & we live in New York. It's nice to know she'll live out her adult life having to explain to the generation after her all about how they won't have to deal with the sort of bizarre bigotry that said up until 2011, she wasn't allowed to marry the love of her life (or whoever she thought that would be until she got a divorce, just like not-gays tend to do half the time). I was only a couple of months old when Stonewall happened; now this happened. Most of the political developments over the course of my life have kind of sucked ass, but this... is pretty sweet.

Have to give kudos to Andrew Cuomo for this one. I still think he's an asshole. Don't even think this gives you a pass on union busting, brother. But for now, well done.

MAS. The fact that this came down to individuals and their consciences says everything.

With his position still undeclared, Senator Mark J. Grisanti, a Republican from Buffalo who had sought office promising to oppose same-sex marriage, told his colleagues he had agonized for months before concluding he had been wrong.

“I apologize for those who feel offended,” Mr. Grisanti said, adding, “I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife.”

The moral logic is inexorable.

New York State, Progressive as Shit

The New York Post, publishing something not disgusting. Well, world without end, hall o'looya.

I am the gay granddaughter of Albany's most outspoken marriage-equality opponent. Until now, out of love, I closeted my feelings about my family's patriarch, who has so vehemently denounced gay rights.

But my grandfather should know that as he continues to skewer the marriage-equality bill on the radio, television and in newspapers, I am listening and reading. And I've finally conjured the courage to stand up for what is right.

There is I think a lot of confusion about why deep blue states like NY are not leading the gay marriage movement. The truth is that the politics of New York City are intricate and consequential, because a lot of people live there, and they have intricate and consequential agendas.

But that said, fuck Ruben Diaz anyhow, that longtime bigoted asshole.

Winning the Future

Democrat Kathy Hochul won the special election in NY-26, usually a thoroughly wingnut district dominated by people who are worse shitheads than your uncle who is a loud paranoid asshole. What Does This Mean?

Democrats scored an upset in one of New York’s most conservative Congressional districts on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the national Republican Party in a race that largely turned on the party’s plan to overhaul Medicare.

This may actually be true. Who knows? Special elections are, well, special. But then again:

Top Republicans, including House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and the majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, traveled to the district to provide support to Ms. Corwin. At the same time, the national party and its allies, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a group tied to the Republican strategist Karl Rove, jumped in, spending at least $1.1 million on radio and television ads supporting Ms. Corwin.

And again:

“I have almost always voted the party line,” said Gloria Bolender, a Republican from Clarence who is caring for her 80-year-old mother. “This is the second time in my life I’ve voted against my party.”

Pat Gillick, a Republican from East Amherst, who also cast a ballot for Ms. Hochul, said, “The privatization of Medicare scares me.”

Doug Mataconis writes:

It’s worth noting that, according to the latest results, about 100,000 votes were cast today in the 26th District. In November 2010, when Chris Lee was re-elected, there were over 200,000 votes cast. Today’s turnout represented, at best about 17% of registered voters.

Right. But then again, that's precisely the point. People who are likely to be motivated to vote in special elections are likely to be, uh, motivated by something.

By 2012 Democrats will probably have fucked up enough to allow the Sacred Preservation of Medicare to be a core Republican principle, but that doesn't mean that any, like, Americans, want anyone to fuck with Medicare.

MAS. As an upstate NY voter, I remember well the taxi driver I once had in that district, a guy who opined, "up here, a lot of us think, Tim McVeigh was just misunderstood." True fact!

MUCHO MAS. Via Roy, this is pretty funny. The Son of Erik stuff is as usual the true lovely.

Certainly the Democrats made Paul Ryan’s medicare plan an issue, and certainly it was not hugely popular. But to say that is why Corwin was defeated is spin devoid of fact. Ultimately, for those who think this was a rejection of the GOP’s medicare reform efforts, they’ll have to explain who the GOP candidate and the Tea Party candidate combined got more votes than the Democrat.

Because even in fucking 26, Medicare.

Which is, by the way, a single payer program.

NY26 is fucking crazy wingnut. Don't let the "NY" fool you.