Are the wheels coming off Rick Lazio’s gubernatorial bid?
Politicians have bad weeks and terrible weeks and for Rick Lazio this one is both at the same time. Here’s the context:
The man who gave up a solid congressional career to get pummeled by Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2000 Senate race (insuring his footnote place in history) is running again against another political dynasty.
This time Lazio is aiming for the governor’s seat, trying to topple Democratic heir apparent Andrew Cuomo
Cuomo is a guy who desperately needs a stiff challenge, if voters are to get any kind of clear idea about his ambitions or policy ideas.
But it looks increasingly like Lazio’s not the man for the job.
A new Siena poll shows Cuomo still running away from the Republicans, leading by a ridiculously large 30 points.
What’s more, Lazio faces an increasingly serious — I’m avoiding the word credible in this context — challenge from Carl Palladino, a tea party favorite who is fond of lobbing rhetorical grenades.
As a consequence, Lazio has himself jumped on the bombast bandwagon swirling around the so-called “Ground Zero” mosque.
This ad issued by the Lazio campaign isn’t misleading: it is unabashed, heartstring-yanking baloney propaganda.
(The Islamic group developing the mosque has no ties to 9/11. There are no suspicions of any link to terror funding. Quoting a bunch of poorly informed people on the streets of Manhattan doesn’t change that.)
Lazio’s flirtation with demagoguery aside, he also faces an investigative article by the Village Voice that probes his wheeling-and-dealing while working at JPMorgan during the years when his political career was on hold.
The article doesn’t reveal any criminal wrongdoing, but it paints a portrait of a Wall Street insider working to game the kind of big-government Washington dollars that he’s been deriding in his bid for the top job in Albany.
This campaign has just over two full months to go.
Unless Lazio can grab some kind of traction — the mosque kerfuffle doesn’t seem to be doing the trick — he’s likely to get a second footnote in the history books, as the man trounced by the Clintons AND the Cuomos.
The question may be whether he reaches the finish line with any of his dignity intact.
Tags: election10
It’s not a mosque and it’s not at ground zero. Unfortunately, this type of fear mongering ad seems to play well with people and it garnishes votes.
The one reassuring thing is that Paladino’s and Lazio’s trumping up of this non-issue hasn’t helped their pathetic poll ratings. Even though actual facts don’t matter in the hysteria, it’s nice to know that this appeal to bigotry for campaign purpose is failing miserably at its objective.
First, Brian says,
“There are no suspicions of any link to terror funding.”
Yeah. Especially if we don’t look into the sources. Reporters have traditionally been curious about such things, but I guess that was old-school reporting.
Second. Lazio to me represents a career politician. Not my ideal candidate, but better than Cuomo. I’ll take a third party candidate if one emerges.
JDM,
A little off topic, but aren’t you a little squicked out by the fact that Fox is funded by Sharia-enforcing terror money?
Wasn’t it a German politician in the ’30’s who said that if you tell the public a lie often enough, they’ll believe it?
Beware of demagogues in patriots’ clothing.
“Yeah. Especially if we don’t look into the sources.”
We?
Or maybe it was looked into and nothing was found. But I guess it’s easier to cast evidence-free assertions than to actually trying to find the evidence.
Given the controversy and the number of people who want to believe that there’s something behind the scenes to validate their bigotry, I’d be shocked if nobody has looked into it.
But as we all know, actual facts and rational analysis have little to do with this hysteria.
JDM has the easiest job in the world. He can whip up hysteria and imply serious allegations (but never with the guts to come out and say them outright because he knows they’d be libelous) without ever having to do the work of trying to back them up with actual facts or research, without ever having to put up or shut up. This is bigotry and guilt by association at its most crass.
Brian Mann,
“Unless Lazio can grab some kind of traction — the mosque kerfuffle doesn’t seem to be doing the trick — he’s likely to get a second footnote in the history books, as the man trounced by the Clintons AND the Cuomos.”
How do you know Lazio makes past the primary? I’m guessing he doesn’t.
Rick who?
Brian, please provide the links to who looked into the funding and found nothing at all worth investigation. From what I read it’s all still ongoing.
Brian:
I don’t have a secret source of information, and your name calling is unbecoming.
I am not whipping anyone into a frenzy. The truth is that you DON’T KNOW if terrorists will be contributing or not.
Didn’t you learn from the Obama fiasco that until all the facts are in, we cannot simply hope for the best.
I guess not.
JDM: I’d like to see all your bank statements to ensure YOU arent being funded by the KKK. Until you publish said statements, assumption will be that you are indeed funded by the KKK. QED>
@ JDM- What do you mean “If (a third party candidate) emerges?” Carl Paladino already has the new Taxpayers line on the ballot, and he’s driving to take the Republican nomination. Our only chance to beat Cuomo is to unite behind one strong candidate- and that ain’t Rick Lazio.
What is the Obama fiasco? I’m going to need more information on this. So far the only fiasco has been the republicans lack of support for anything and a new found concern for the deficit they ran up.
JDM –
This Islamic organization is widely respected. The Imam at the center of the project worked closely with the Bush administration and the FBI.
More importantly, our society (thank goodness) doesn’t work the way you suggest.
We don’t allow people to make ad hominem attacks against people or groups and then suggest that if the people being attacked want to defend themselves they’re welcome to.
The way it works is that if the people who want to attack this group have specific facts, they’re welcome to bring them forward.
The fact that no such facts have been presented is telling.
Instead, the arguments being made are very simple:
These people are Muslims and Islamic places of worship would be “disrespectful” if placed near to the site of Ground Zero.
Why?
Many of the people attacking this project are very specific in their beliefs that Islam is evil and “unChristian.” Muslim = terrorist.
But of course none of those things are true. Islam is not an evil faith.
Just as decades of terrorism perpetrated by radical Roman Catholic groups in Quebec and Ireland in no way discredits the Catholic Church, 9/11 doesn’t stain all of Islam.
–Brian, NCPR
“…for the deficit they ran up.”
All by themselves? Golly, if the Republicans are entirely responsible for all this it’s news to me.
I don’t like democrats or republicans, I’m an independent. However, Bush was president when we saw a budget surplus turn into a deficit. Regardless of who controlled congress when (I know you’ll bring that up), the president has the veto pen and should use it when necessary. He never used it.
Bret – “all by themselves?” Maybe not 100%, but who can you honestly say had the real control of things in the 8 years prior to the Obama administration? Governmental control is not all done overtly and openly in the Executive and Legislative branches – an enormous amount occurs quietly behind the scenes within a presidential administration. To think that the Bush administration was not the prominent factor, directly and indirectly, in the current deficit is just plain naive.
I would disagree to an extent on Bush. I’m not a Bush fan, but I certainly liked him better than the current occupant. Sandwich is right, Bush didn’t use the veto pen. That’s my biggest beef with him. But that in no way relieves the Congress from it’s responsibility in spending us into ruin. They all share guilt in this area, and none of them will take any responsibility for it.
Widely respected by who? I mean does a religion have to be respected to have rights? What does perpetuated mean? To me the point is that if we are going to have religious freedom it should not matter what this Muslim group believes even if they are very very conservative in their faith.
The larger and more interesting question is if they are American or not. You can’t be mainly funded from overseas and say well we are a home grown bunch, but even here that is okay under our law and should be in my opinion. Of course it is also okay to point that out and talk about transparency.
Right on Mervel. The Pilgrims weren’t very well respected. That’s one reason why there is, well, America.
Also, isn’t the Catholic Church HQ foreign?
I think this group has been pretty transparent. And they’re really not conservative. At a Daniel Pearl memorial service, Rauf said, “I am a Jew,” if being Jewish means believing in God. That’s a statement that could be a death sentence among Qaeda types. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/08/ground-zero-imam-i-am-a-jew-i-have-always-been-one/61761/
Can’t wait for Lazio to attack Fox News for it’s pro-terror ties:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100820/bs_yblog_upshot/news-corps-number-two-shareholder-funded-terror-mosque-planner
Once again I’m amazed that people go to the Comedy Channel for their news. Just amazing.
The bigger picture- Murdock is a liberal through and through. He owns Newscorp which owns several very successful news outlets. Those organization apparently function independently of Murdocks liberal views. Trying to tie the one somewhat conservative news outlet to terrorists is juvenile at best. If Fox News had MSNBC’s ratings no one would care. But because many people seem to prefer Fox to the other available outlets the open minded and unbiased liberals attack the network with wispy evidence of…nothing.
No wonder it was on the Comedy Channel.
Bret,
Little research project for you. Look up Rupert Murdoch’s (it’s spelled with an “h” at the end) political donations. Here’s a starter kit: http://www.newsmeat.com/billionaire_political_donations/Rupert_Murdoch.php
Count up all the Rs he’s given money to and then count all the Ds. Put an asterisk by any Ds, like Ed Markey and Fritz Hollings, who were on telecommunications committees and therefore dealt with legislation affecting News Corp.
Then tell me with a straight face that he is a “liberal through and through” and that his media empire has no relation to his political leanings. Are you trying to be funny? Or do you really believe that? Or do you know it isn’t true and just want to pass on disinformation?
Also, I cited the connection to Fox’s terror sheik ties on the In-Box comment thread prior to the Daily Show. Little credit where due, please. Uh, and Bret, it was a joke. To point out how absurd the Ground Zero thinking is. Like the Daily Show did.
Finally, even Ron Paul thinks the Ground Zero “Two Minutes Hate” exercise is absurd.
http://www.ronpaul.com/2010-08-20/ron-paul-sunshine-patriots-stop-your-demagogy-about-the-nyc-mosque/
OA, my blood was up over the story, my apologies. What I should have said was Murdock was a modern businessman, hedging his bets like they all do. But his support for Hillary was quite firm. Wither he really believed in her or thought, as I did, that she would be the Democrat candidate and wanted to be in the right corner.