Tag: new york

New York’s #Obamacare ripping old people away from their doctors.

Because to Governor Andrew Cuomo – not to mention Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand – old people are just numbers on a screen. Numbers on a screen that don’t reliably vote Democratic, to boot. The background is that New York’s Medicare Advantage program is having doctors being removed wholesale from the network: “one health carrier alone, UnitedHealthcare, is terminating contracts with up to 2,100 doctors serving 8,000 Medicare Advantage patients in the New York metro region.”  This is causing not a little anger and, frankly, despair:

Alfred Gargiulio, who has cerebral palsy with a seizure disorder, has been seeing Leibowitz [a doctor affected by this] since 1993. “Obama had said I could keep my doctor. Now they’re doing away with my doctor. They kicked him out! After 20 years, that’s not right. We love Dr. Leibowitz,” said Gargiulio.

Another patient, Wilma Streicher, 76, was equally baffled. “Of course I want to keep Dr. Leibowitz. I don’t see why they want to push him out,” she said.

Continue reading New York’s #Obamacare ripping old people away from their doctors.

Hardcore antiwar Left attempts to hijack public anger at @barackobama over #shutdown.

You might have noticed last night the groundwork for a future attempt (probably later today) to incite outrage about war veterans getting arrested at a Vietnam Veterans memorial.  Turns out that these particular war veterans get arrested every year – in New York – as part of their general antiwar protesting.  Don’t believe me?  Believe the Atlantic, then:

The gathering took place in part to protest the twelfth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. A similar protest and set of arrests occurred last year at the memorial. In the video embedded below, a veteran tells police that they are there to bring awareness to the “immense atrocities” committed in Vietnam, and that “some of you are so much younger, and history has been denied you, so you just need to know why we are here.”

As you can see, this has nothing to do with Barack Obama or the government shutdown at all.  Or, really, our veterans – given that this group thinks that those who served in Vietnam are unindicted war criminals. Continue reading Hardcore antiwar Left attempts to hijack public anger at @barackobama over #shutdown.

Martha Robertson (D CAND, New York-23) to accept fundraiser from child molester.

You would think that Do not accept political favors from somebody who once molested a kid would be one of those basic Rules Of Life.  You know: the sort of thing that people don’t need to be told about, before they start out on a federal Congressional career.  Apparently not:

Peter Yarrow, who rose to fame in the 1960s folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, is set to do a fundraiser for [New York] Democratic congressional candidate Martha Robertson later this month in Ithaca – even though he infamously pleaded guilty in 1970 to a charge of “taking indecent liberties” with a child.

Not surprisingly, Republicans are making Yarrow’s appearance an issue in Robertson’s spirited race against Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, in the Southern Tier district that includes Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. The Reed-Robertson race is expected to be among the hottest congressional contests in the country next year.

“It is absolutely deplorable that Martha Robertson would kick off her congressional campaign by having a convicted sex offender headline her fundraiser,” said Ian Prior, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Continue reading Martha Robertson (D CAND, New York-23) to accept fundraiser from child molester.

Sean Eldridge (D CAND, NY-19 PRI) not really showing moral courage on #Syria.

I mean.  Politicians are going to have to pick a side, here.

Sean Eldridge, the soon-to-be Democratic congressional candidate and husband of New Republic owner Chris Hughes, is staying silent on the Syria debate, even as his opponent has stated firm opposition to a military strike.

The Syria debate has put several candidates in a bind ahead of the 2014 elections — none more so than Eldridge. He and Hughes are close friends of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders who support Obama’s proposed strike. Hughes also worked on Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. At the same time, a large majority of Americans — including Eldrige’s would-be constituents in New York’s 19th — oppose the strike.

Given three full days to respond, neither Eldridge nor his spokesperson replied to multiple requests for comment on Eldridge’s Syria position.

As Politico noted: Republican incumbent Chris Gibson is firmly in opposition to a Syria strike. Whether you agree with that position or not – and I’m not judging people on it, either way – it is nonetheless a position.  What Sean Eldridge is apparently trying to do here is run out the clock, in the hope that once the USA commits to do something on Syria it won’t matter what his position was.  Which makes Eldridge quite the… equivocator, doesn’t it? Continue reading Sean Eldridge (D CAND, NY-19 PRI) not really showing moral courage on #Syria.

Tweet of the Day, Man, The NY Daily News Is FUMING edition.

I’ve rarely seen them this angry on the front page.

Admittedly, it’s Eliot Spitzer: but, shoot, they were so mad that they misspelled words on the front page. That’s special raging fury of a billion exploding suns, right there.

Via Hot Air Greenroom, which depressingly also notes that Eliot Spitzer is ahead in the primary. But that’s OK, at least from the point of view of content generation: I already know my tagline for that particular race.

I think that the New York Post may not entirely like Eliot Spitzer.

Call it a hunch:

We urge New Yorkers to put an end to this awful reality show by voting for Scott Stringer in the Democratic primary [for Comptroller]. Yes, we know: Ordinarily, the New York Post would not be thumping for a candidate whose other endorsements range from the teachers union and the Working Families Party to Gloria Steinem. And we still reserve the right to offer a different endorsement in the general election.

But Stringer is a sober, honest man who understands how the city works and how important the job of comptroller is. He is not hellbent on crusading against Wall Street, settling personal political vendettas or ripping up the rule book — instead, he aims to do what the office requires, and do it well.

These are not ordinary times, and this is no ordinary election. The Post endorses Scott Stringer because in a race between an Upper West Side liberal and a hotheaded, hooker-chasing, office-abusing, self-promoting, lawbreaking, ego-obsessed “steamroller” who still has trouble admitting he ever did anything wrong [Eliot Spitzer], it should be no contest.

Hell of a thing, that.  Even more so if Spitzer wins the nomination and then the election; you probably don’t want to be involved in NYC’s fiscal atmosphere if that happens.

Moe Lane

New York Republicans take issue with NARAL NY disclosure carve-out.

The really short version: the state of New York has a law in place that requires donor transparency for nonprofit organizations. Last week NARAL Pro-Choice New York received a unique exemption for that policy – and I mean unique; the rules were determining exemptions got changed after NARAL got its exemption. Since then the NY GOP has actually managed to get upset about something done for/by the Democrats:

Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos is asking the state’s top ethics panel to rethink its decision to exempt NARAL Pro-Choice NY from having to disclose its financial donors.

Skelos, in a letter to Joint Commission on Public Ethics Chairman Daniel Horowitz, said the commission’s decision to exempt the abortion rights group was made behind closed doors and violated the spirit of the state’s Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011.

They’ve even got some press support for this one, for what it’s worth: unfortunately for the forces of anti-cronyism, New York State government is remarkably unconcerned about whether or not people get upset over the way that favorites at court are routinely given special consideration. And, forgive me for saying this, but: the way that the NY GOP routinely participates in such court shenanigans is one major reason why the New York State government feels free to act in such a manner. I humbly suggest that the NY GOP keep this in mind in the future.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Democratic Carpetbagging attempt in NY-19?

I really hope that this is representative of the Democratic party’s Congressional battle plan for 2014:

In January, [Sean Eldridge and husband, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes] bought a $2 million modern home here overlooking a reservoir, laying the groundwork for Mr. Eldridge’s campaign for their new local Congressional seat, New York’s 19th.

Word of Mr. Eldridge’s political plans has delighted the friends who make up his social circle: Donors to his exploratory committee include George Soros, the billionaire financier, and Sean Parker, the tech entrepreneur behind Napster and Spotify.

But his ambitions have puzzled some residents among the farmers, mill workers and small-business owners who populate this district, which rises through the Catskills and rolls north through cornfields and apple orchards to the Vermont border.

Continue reading Democratic Carpetbagging attempt in NY-19?

You thought that the Weiner-Spitzer thing couldn’t get any funnier, didn’t you?

I mean, how could it?

  • Anthony Weiner is running for NYC Mayor.
  • Anthony Weiner has an excellent chance of getting the Democratic nomination for NYC Mayor.
  • Anthony Weiner thus has a very good chance of becoming the next NYC Mayor.
  • Eliot Spitzer heard this and said Hey, maybe I can get in on this action.
  • Eliot Spitzer is thus running for office in NYC.
  • Eliot Spitzer is running for NYC Comptroller, which I believe keeps an eye out for oh, say, money laundering done to hide a government official’s payments to hookers. Just to pick a scenario at random.
  • Eliot Spitzer might still win.

But that’s not the truly funny part.  Here’s the truly funny part: meet Eliot Spitzer’s Libertarian opponent. Continue reading You thought that the Weiner-Spitzer thing couldn’t get any funnier, didn’t you?