Archive for April 7th, 2006
Spitzer Pledges To Re-Energize Democrats - April 7, 2006 - The New York Sun - NY News
Asked about legislative gridlock, Mr. Spitzer said it was a matter of “mindset,” and not the Democratic leaders currently in office. Mr. Spitzer said he would push for fairer redistricting and other reforms. When 7-year-old Aliza Fatima of Jamaica, Queens, asked Mr. Spitzer to build a science lab for her school, he said yes. And when she asked him to attend her graduation in two years, he said yes - if he is elected governor.
If the current “mindset” isn’t the result of current leaders in office, who is responsible? This is typical rhetoric from someone (Sptizer) who owes allegiance to his party members. Acknowledge the problem but deflect the blame. Spitzer talks a good game and has managed to foster a false perception that he is on the “side” of the taxpayer. Nothing could be further than the truth. Spitzer is very adept at playing the game according to the current rules which favor incumbents over the best interests of the voters.
Mr. Spitzer’s speech came the same day that simultaneous protests were held in Manhattan, Albany, and Buffalo by a group hoping to oust incumbents from the state legislature. The group, the New York Coalition, describes itself as a “a coalition of groups looking for people to run against the leaders in Albany.”
A similar anti-incumbency campaign two years ago led by the Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, helped oust an upstate Senate Republican and a Democratic Assemblyman of Long Island. Mr. Suozzi has made “dysfunction” one of the hallmarks of his uphill campaign to win the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Mr. Spitzer’s near-unanimous support among state Democratic leaders is evidence that he is too entrenched to enact substantial reform, Mr. Suozzi said. An aide to Mr. Spitzer said a major policy announcement would be made Saturday during a statewide convention hosted by the Citizens Budget Commission. The nonpartisan group released its recommendations on how to reform borrowing by public authorities in New York.
A vote for Spitzer is a vote for the status quo, a vote for Tom Suozzi is a vote for progress.
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The Dirty Word in 43 Down By Jesse Sheidlower
If you finished Monday’s crossword puzzle in the New York Times, your answer for 43 Down, clued as “Scoundrel,” was SCUMBAG. Most puzzlers, penciling in these letters, felt nothing more than mild satisfaction. But a small number knew enough to be outraged.
Allan Siegal, the assistant managing editor who is the Times’ arbiter of usage and style, told me “we got dozens of angry messages from readers, as well as complaints from colleagues on the staff.”* Bloggers expressed their surprise and dismay. Why were people so upset?
The original meaning of scumbag is “condom.” The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to 1967, with 1971 as the first example of the “despicable person” sense, but current research has pushed the dates back to 1935 (based on the still earlier scum, “semen,” and bag, “a condom”) and 1950 respectively.
This is just plain dumb. With all the language that is commonly used these days, I can’t believe that the word “scumbag”, appearing in the New York Times, has set off a controversy.
