Spitzer Unloaded, No One Exploded

[vimeo 107343546 w=500 h=281]

“Jail” FINAL :30 from Rob Astorino on Vimeo.

Right? Wow.

This is the perfect distillation of a desperate campaign looking to get some attention. Frankly, this reboot of the Daisy ad is perfect in its utter stupidity. Now, I know that Cuomo has been hitting Astorino hard on some nonsense lawsuit down in Westchester, but I thought that the “soup is nice” ad was pretty damn effective. (Dentures are an optional Medicaid coverage that New York State offers, and that Astorino wants to eliminate). The ad resonates because it reminds people that Republicans love to cut, cut, cut things that help actual New Yorkers. True, paying for seniors’ oral care won’t benefit the extremely wealthy, like Carl Paladino and indictee Rick Perry, both of whom can feasibly pay for their own dentures and dental work, but it will do much for seniors for whom budgets are often tighter. 

Astorino’s suggestion that Cuomo could go to jail is pure hyperbole – there’s absolutely zero chance of that happening. Secondly, by bringing that up, it reminds me – hey, isn’t Astorino up to some shady shenanigans, too? Thirdly, if Cuomo went to jail, there would not be a catastrophic nuclear holocaust; there would, instead, be an orderly substitution of Kathy Hochul. Remember Spitzer? Spitzer unloaded, but no one exploded.

 

59 comments

  • I saw this ad for the first time last night, sat up and yelled, “Are you fucking kidding me?” before laughing. You can see and smell the flop sweat from the Astorino campaign from this commercial and thinking bringing Rick Perry in for a fundraiser was a good idea.

    • Its a good idea for his supporters. Some people actually know the difference between NY and Texas economics and appreciate a speech from someone presiding over the 13th largest economy in the world, texas

      • The difference between Texas and NY economics is Texas is sitting on a fuckload of oil.

        Take the oil out of Texas and the place becomes just as pathetic as Arkansas, Oklahoma or any of the other pseudo-theocratic states that surround it. Rick Perry has done nothing but consistently fuck over women and the working class of Texas. His hipster glasses haven’t made him smarter or even managed to win over enough Austin hipsters to avoid being prosecuted by the Travis county DA.

        • Thats alot of conjecture sir. …”pseudo-theocratic”…ya, virtue is so last century

          “Exactly what makes Texas’ economy so strong is a matter of much debate. Politico suggests that most of Texas’ job growth is due to oil and gas extraction, and says that “a century’s worth of data suggest” that Texas’ experience isn’t something that can be engineered by policy changes. The article also quotes a variety of sources suggesting that taxes don’t matter much for site selection, and state and local taxes are quite small. Overall, it gives the impression that states can’t effectively use policy (or at least tax policy) to shape their own economic fortunes.

          “However, attributing Texas’ whole experience to fossil fuel industries is inappropriate. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since 2007, Texas has added about 82,000 mining and logging industry workers, which constitutes major job growth by any measure. But meanwhile, the Lone Star State also added 228,000 workers in education and health, 156,000 in professional services, 162,000 in hospitality services, 130,000 in trade and transportation, even 80,000 in government.

          So while fossil fuel extraction certainly matters, it’s hard to say that’s the whole story. Government employment (not something Texas is known for) grew by almost the same amount, and many other sectors added even more employees. Have fossil fuels helped Texas’ economic growth? Absolutely. Can Texas’ success be written down entirely to natural resources? Absolutely not.

          In fact, the academic evidence that taxes affect economic growth is strong. High, progressive taxes on mobile factors of production do harm economic growth. States lacking Texas’ natural resource bounty, such as Indiana, have also seen strong economic results from adopting sound tax and other economic policies. And, as I’ve written at some length in response to criticisms of our State Business Tax Climate Index, there is enormous evidence to support the idea that sound tax policies support economic growth, ranging from academic studies to surveys of businesses. Beyond that, there is strong recent evidence that international investment choices (such as those that Toyota faces) are indeed influenced by state policy choices like taxes (as well as education expenditure, labor policy, etc).

          But long-term tax policies do matter. Stable, neutral, non-distortionary tax policies, offering low tax rates on broad tax bases, can support economic growth. Firm site selection is one channel, through which taxes affect economic decisions on the margin. There is robust evidence that taxes (while certainly not the only or even the largest factor) do matter for site selection. And, as one of the few site selection variables policymakers can directly control, it makes sense for them to be concerned about the role of taxes.”

          http://taxfoundation.org/blog/response-politico-taxes-and-texas-miracle

          • Maybe start your own blog and stop clogging this one with your soporific gibberish?

          • mabye you should read at night and skip the drugs, if my writing is doing that job for them

          • cue sounds of struggle…. No, Wait !!! I have more, more I tell you! You people need to listen to me… Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh….

          • Not to worry, he’s being looked after by TOP MEN.

          • Quoting a Koch-sucker front operation? Thanks for playing!

          • what is a koch

          • Look in a mirror, dummy

          • Oh really? Taxfoundation.org published an article saying Texas’ tax climate is super great for the economy? COLOR ME SHOCKED. Certainly a completely unbias source there with absolutely no agenda!

            I know plenty about government job growth in Texas seeing how I work at one and was hired for it in the last year. What all that fails to mention is that a giant chunk of that ‘government’ job growth is for temporary government jobs through outsourced companies who pay a fraction of what the state does with little to no benefits. I make half of what my co-workers who are official state employees do, get no paid time off and a barebones health care plan that makes serious illness just as financially devastating to me now as it was when I had no insurance. I live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to afford a shitty one-bedroom apartment in Austin where rents increase dramatically from year to year thanks to the influx of trust funders and entitled tech start ups looking for a state willing to let them fuck over their labor force more than California would. I have zero job security as my position is considered temporary and the company I work for has a year to year contract. If another company comes along next year and puts in a lower bid, I’m out on my ass so a bunch of fucking oil barons don’t have to cough up tax money to fund social services.

            Please, don’t sit here and lecture me about how Texas’ tax policy is a positive for this state. It’s not. It’s a positive for the elites and a strain on the poor. The class disparity here dwarfs anything I ever saw growing up in Buffalo and no one, not even politicians who pass as ‘liberal’ here, even tries to pretend they give a shit about the working class.

            Rick Perry is a piece of shit who has done nothing more than accelerate the death of the working class. It doesn’t shock me in the slightest that fellow piece of shit Carl Paladino is so cozy with the guy.

          • Maybe you should move out of the UN model city for a sustainable future, the Liberal Austin.

          • I plan on it, mostly because it’s not a liberal city in any meaningful way but rather a bunch of trust fund hipsters and aging hippies who think passing a ban on plastic bags is a better way to use political capital than raising the minimum wage or addressing the affordable housing crisis.

            The only people who really think Austin is liberal are parents upset about all the tattoos and piercings their kids got when they moved here from Dallas.

          • How bout citing a partisan free website if you expect anybody to buy the drivel…..still like your avatar, though….

        • You’ve actually got it half right….Texas has oil and a shitload of federal moola (read: our tax dollars hard at work) to prop up Gov. Goodhair’s idle boasts.

          http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20120805-texas-can-no-longer-complain-that-it-gives-more-than-it-gets-from-federal-government.ece

          New York, by contrast, pulls itself up by its bootstraps and gets things done the American way…by taking less handouts from Uncle Sugar.

          http://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700/
          I wish Texas would secede from the U.S. (and the federal $ lifeline) so it can disintegrate into ruin and be reclaimed by Mexico. Arriba!

      • dwarfed by the 8th largest economy in the world, that socialist paradise, the great state of California. Funny since Democrats took back control of state government that Cali went from the brink of ruin to fiscal splendor.

    • If I were a Cuomo backscratcher planning to respond to Asstrorino’s Daisy ad, not that it even merits a response, I would acknowledge Asstorino’s desperation. It’s a terribly desperate grab for who even knows what? Voters in their 60s?

  • seniors’ oral care is provided by…say it with me, MEDICARE….not MEDICAID . I would have thought…nevermind. happy to help

    • The Astorino remark was regarding dentures under Medicaid, which is an optional program that NY participates in. That’s why I linked to this.

      Dental care is generally not covered at all under Medicare, but should be.

      • I am quite capable of reading.

        “(Dentures are an optional Medicaid coverage that New York State offers, and that Astorino wants to eliminate). The ad resonates because it reminds people that Republicans love to cut, cut, cut things that helpactual New Yorkers. True, paying for seniors’ oral care won’t benefit the extremely wealthy, like Carl Paladino and indictee Rick Perry, both of whom can feasibly pay for their own dentures and dental work, but it will do much for seniors for whom budgets are often tighter”

        If you think your mashing of the two won’t confuse the liberals, I have a bridge to sell you, unless you are just in the business of misleading voters.

        • You should try making sense. That would be good.

          • you are a journalist, have some integrity. I quote your piece. What does medicaid have to do with medicare? Nothing. You want your readers to believe that evil republicans want to cut cut cut seniors dentures through insinuation.

            Do you have an editor?

          • I didn’t mention Medicare. You did. Are you saying that seniors can’t be on Medicaid?

          • Of course seniors can be for LTC, ect and those not eligible for ssb.

            You have quoted “The ad resonates because it reminds people that Republicans love to cut, cut, cut things that helpactual New Yorkers. True, paying for seniors’ oral care won’t benefit the extremely wealthy”

            I really do not want to play wordsmith.

          • It’s a wise man who knows not to enter a game he cannot win.

          • All one needs to do is listen to guys like Romney, Lyin Ryan. McCain etc or any of the Reps. in congress to know that their intent is to cut/eliminate and or privatize any and all “entitlements” as they call them in addition to seeing that the rich and the corporations pay as little or no taxes as possible….of course this all goes on while they continue to cut benefits for veterans who fight all the wars that the Reps love to engage in……

          • I do not disagree with you at all. Managed opposition, one side wants to cut, one wants to provide (tax)

          • Eliminating all entitlements/subsidies, business and personal, as well as wasteful military spending and money-sucking alphabet agencies, would allow the private economy to operate more efficiently at a much lower cost. That would render this discussion moot.

          • We tried that once I think – it was called the 19th century or something.

          • Right Mike…and I assume you will be first in line for one of those 7day 80 work weeks like they had back then….Right?

          • The people, who had their standard of living rise dramatically, would probably be in line.

          • With horrendous inequality and child labor. We’re halfway there!

          • People frequently make the mistake of trying to view the past through the lens of the present. It leads to inaccurate perceptions. At that time, child labor could mean the difference between a family starving to death, or eating. That is not unlike what you see today in developing 3rd world countries. It is a natural progression, dictated by necessity.

          • That would be great Mike if we were all truly “created equal”…….

          • I guess that all depends on how you interpret the phrase “created equal”.

          • Alan is not a journalist. I’m not either. Actually I have no clue what Alan is. He has some valid points yet hangs with the political party than has caused countless families and business to flee NYS.

    • wrong. there is no coverage for oral/dental care at all under Medicare.

  • Cuomo’s corruption trumps any criticism of Astorino. A vote for Cuomo is a vote for corruption.

    • A vote for Astorino is a vote for forcing seniors to subsist on a soup-only diet until they die horrible, torturous deaths from scurvy.
      Let’s all play the Hyperbole Game!

      • There’s no game to play. I didn’t endorse Astorino, I merely commented on Cuomo. You shouldn’t make ASSumptions.

        • Why not? You’re making haughty assumptions about my vote for Cuomo. I didn’t say anything about you voting for Astorino, so why take offense? If you’re not voting for Astorino, then I applaud you for being anti-force granny onto a liquid diet until she can only shit water and expire in a most painful and embarrassing way. Why does Rob Astorino want to kill our grandmothers?

          • You responded to my comment about Cuomo and corruption with a terrible analogy about Astorino. You’re support of Cuomo was implicit in your response. The evidence of corruption regarding Cuomo is pretty clear, unlike your belief that Astorino favors a torturous death from scurvy for grandmothers.

          • No more terrible than calling Cuomo corrupt before a single charge has be lodged against him. You have just as much access to the “evidence” of Cuomo’s corruption as I do – which is to say, none. Your assessment of Cuomo as corrupt is based wholly on your rank speculation and obvious bias, just like mine that Rob Astorino wants to slowly starve your grandmother until her organs fail.

          • The fact that no charges have filed against Cuomo, to date, only shows that the same corruption pervades the political/legal establishment.

          • The fact that Rob Astorino has managed to evade prosecution for his awful plan for force seniors to starve themselves is a testament to the tenacity and resolve of NYS’ brave seniors who are committed to accessing solid food.

  • Alan? Follow me here. The Democratic Party in NYS has caused countless people/businesses to flee our state while bullshitting the public on what they do. Michael is correct. Cuomo’s corruption trumps any criticism of Astorino.

    Alan, your smarter than this. Why are you carrying their flag?

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