Maloney flies off the rails
Carolyn Maloney appears to be having a difficult time creating a realistic narrative of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as a Pat Buchanan wanna-be. She continues to slam the senator for her moderate voting record while in the House on issues like guns and immigration and earlier today, she flew off the rails.
From the City Hall News:
There is Carolyn Maloney, ripping into Kirsten Gillibrand broad and hard for voting against the two stimulus bills and for changing her positions on several core Democratic issues, sounding out her case on the fly as, “It’s the NRA, it’s immigration, it’s all these other things. In fact, I got a call from someone from Puerto Rico, said [Gillibrand] went to Puerto Rico and came out for English-only [education]. And he said, ‘It was like saying n-r to a Puerto Rican,’” she said, using the full racial slur. “I don’t know-I don’t know if that’s true or not. I just called. I’m just throwing that out. All of her-well, what does she stand for?”
The better question to ask is what do you stand for? Using the N-word to make a political point? I thought the last person to do that was George Wallace in the 60s, but apparently it’s not beneath the congresswoman to whip-up racial divisiveness. Realizing that she just stepped into a big steamin’ pile of race hate, Maloney feverishly tried to backtrack — emphasizing that the person putting the words in Gillibrand’s mouth was not her, but rather an anonymous Puerto Rican. I can almost hear her stammering as I read her pitiful disclaimer that she’s “just throwing it out.”
This is the latest in what is becoming a string of not so good news for the still unofficial Senate campaign of Carolyn Maloney. She needs to get her act together. I’ve heard plenty of bad things about Gillibrand, but nothing positive from Maloney. Gillibrand has the endorsements, the money, and the media platform of a statewide official. Maloney needs to become a big actor in statewide politics and this isn’t the best way to get her name out there. I fear for her and her supporters that she is attempting to turn her campaign into Hillary Clinton’s presidential run circa April 2008, and this gaffe is just further confirmation of it.
Related posts:
You’re right about Maloney’s desperate attacks, but you say, “I’ve heard plenty of bad things about Gillibrand.” Well, this smear by Maloney is indicative of how distorted many of the Gillibrand reports are. Please do some research about my district rep, Kirsten Gillibrand. She enjoys a 68+% approval rating here because she is extremely hard-working, accessible, transparent, and intelligent. Her voting record is solidly progressive. She opposed the war in Iraq, is a staunch advocate of women’s rights, pay equity and choice; gay rights; stem cell research; increasing the minimum wage; and expanding affordable housing, Head Start and SCHIP. She is also greatly respected for her experience in financial services and banking. She has been endorsed by numerous progressive democratic issue-groups, including the ACLU, the League of Conservation Voters, EMILY’S List, NARAL, the Sierra Club, and the AFL- CIO. She represented a traditionally conservative district, winning twice, and still voted party line 93% of the time. The distortions about her have been exaggerated and fueled for political reasons, like these Maloney attacks. Finally, your smear about Clinton at the end repeats another well-circulated falsehood that was created and encouraged for political reasons. People need to do their own research, and analyze words and actions in relevant context.
I don’t feel that my last comment was a smear, merely a reference to a campaign whose positive message had long since receded in the face of “throwing the kitchen sink.” It has little to do with Clinton and everything to do with the people who were running her campaign.
The article linked above provides wonderful information on this race - including information on Sen Gillibrand, Rep Maloney and Mr Tasini. It is certainly worth the read.
You missed Jon Cooper, he is also considering a run:
http://cooperfornewyork.com/
[...] this earlier this month in which Maloney, during an interview with a newspaper reporter from NYC, used the “N”-word to somehow attack her wouldbe opponent. And of course, Gillibrand keeps racking up an army of [...]