The Internet News Business

Hoffman Calls Givesies-Backsies in NY-23

A few weeks ago, way up in northern New York, Democrat Bill Owens defeated Doug Hoffman, a Conservative Party candidate who drew support from the tea-steepage-pouch crowd all around the country to defeat the evil Dede Scozzafava.

The result hasn’t been finalized, and the final corrected counts are coming in, and absentee ballots are being counted as well.  Every county board of elections in New York State is run with one Republican and one Democratic commissioner.  If there were any anti-Hoffman shenanigans going on, the Republican commissioners would be screaming bloody murder.

Hoffman has been going on the Glenn Beck program recently to, among other things, retroactively attempt to retract his election-night concession.  Gosh, I remember it was just 9 years ago when Al Gore refused to concede in the first place, and the Republicans accused him of everything short of infanticide.

Not one to just milquetoastedly play givesies-backsies, Hoffman went full wingnut with this insane, rambling letter to supporters accusing ACORN of attempting to steal the election in NY-23. The body of the letter is what one might typically expect from a disingenuous nutter, but my favorite part is this postscript:

I ran a different kind of campaign, one where Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, Tea Party and 9/12 activists rallied around. ACORN, the unions and Democratic Party were scared, and that’s why they tampered with the ballots of voters in NY-23. Will you please contribute today so we can show them that fair elections are the Will of the People? Thank you.

Yeah, the Democrats were so scared that they won the election.  The unions were so scared, they helped Owens win the election.

But the kicker is this:  ACORN didn’t send anyone to NY-23.  ACORN wasn’t there.  Even a handful of Republican BOE commissioners up there take issue with Hoffman’s outburst.

Jerry O. Eaton, Jefferson County Republican elections commissioner, called Mr. Hoffman’s assertion “absolutely false.”

“No one has touched those ballots or has access to those ballots except Board of Elections staff — and in a bipartisan manner,” he said…

…George J. Williams, Oswego County Republican chairman, said Mr. Hoffman’s assertion “is not accurate.” He said he roamed the county on Election Day and saw no evidence of tampering.

“We’re not going to take the blame because he didn’t hold his concession speech,” Mr. Williams said. “If there’s any doubt, I would never concede. I know things could happen. Did illegal things happen? No, I do not believe that.”

Mathematically, Hoffman cannot win.  It’s over.

And it’s not over because ACORN stole an election or SEIU intimidated people.  It’s over because the voters were given a stark choice between a candidate who was acutely aware – and concerned – about local issues, and a candidate who was acutely aware of what Glenn Beck’s listeners and viewers were concerned about.

In just a few days, the word ACORN has gone from being something that struck fear in the hearts of conservatives and Fox News commentators everywhere, to being the punchline of a joke.

Giuliani Still Looking To Get Elected

Former New York Mayor and punch-line-of-the-week Rudy Giuliani has decided that he won’t run for Governor in New York in 2010.  Instead, he’ll apparently run for the US Senate against Kirsten Gillibrand.

What makes this somewhat interesting is that, despite all his recent Palinist bluster, Giuliani is as much a New York Republican as, say, Dede Scozzafava.  (If he isn’t, then he’s just an inconsistent clown, which returns us to the punch-line-of-the-week.  My God, it’s all so cyclical).

Perhaps he can take a cue from his 2008 Presidential bid, and not campaign anywhere in the state except for the conservative-leaning, heavily populated Suffolk County.  Call it a “Suffolk Strategy“.  Also, Giuliani is excited to win the Senate and then quickly parlay that into another destined-to-fail Presidential run.  Look out, Florida!

A Bearded Jim Jones

Via Andrew Sullivan, Spencer Ackerman on a Khalid Sheik Mohammed trial in New York City, and the possibility that KSM will grandstand or make idiotic pronouncements somehow.

My hope for the KSM trial is that it does more than all this. It should forever shatter the pernicious myth that al-Qaeda is composed of supermen — supermen against whom America has no choice but to alter its character and most precious laws in order to confront. I suspect we’ll have an Eichmann-in-Jerusalem moment — and sorry for the unfortunate Nazi/al-Qaeda analogy; al-Qaeda are not the Nazis; but I couldn’t really think of any other parallel — except instead of the banality of evil, we’ll see the lunacy and vanity and self-absorption of it. That’s because al-Qaeda’s weltanshauung depends on a myth that holds America to be implacably determined to snuff out the glory of Islam. In reality, most Americans couldn’t give a fuck about Islam and only started to know the first thing about it because of 9/11. But that America — an America bearing no resemblance to the actual America — will be what KSM seeks to counter-indict. It’s farcical, and farcical in ways that can only benefit the real America.

But what grandstanding?

How is KSM going to grandstand?

Federal criminal trials are not state criminal trials like the OJ Simpson case.  There won’t be cameras in the courtroom, and there won’t be audio recordings, either.  He probably won’t do a perp walk, and he’ll certainly be held without bail, thus eliminating the possibility that he could hold impromptu press conferences on the courthouse steps every day.

The feds don’t put up with the kind of BS that state criminal courts let happen.  The most you’ll get is a dull recitation of the day’s events from some well-coiffed network talking head, or from some airheaded dullard on the Insider or Extra, and some courtroom sketches.  We won’t have, for instance, Nancy Grace picking video nits from the trial on a daily basis.  There won’t be OJ Simpson trying on a glove.  This will not be the media circus everyone’s assuming it will be.

But to Ackerman’s underlying point, echoing that of AG Holder – really, who cares what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say?  He’s a former, indicted board member of a morally bereft, financially troubled, ideologically unpopular terrorist death-cult.  Who gives a shit what he says or thinks?

#Acornfacts

ACORN thought it would be a good idea for OJ to try the glove on in front of the jury, over a latex glove. #acornfacts

ACORN put up the “Mission Accomplished” banner. #acornfacts

ACORN guilted Sarah Palin into doing the Couric interview. #acornfacts

every time Michael tries to get out, ACORN pulls him back in. #acornfacts

Your turn…

Reader Survey

By Christopher Smith

Last week, WNYMedia.net celebrated it’s fifth birthday.  In those five years, 6,200,000 visitors have stopped by to leave nearly 250,000 comments on 500,000 articles, videos and podcasts.

As a community, our readers have donated nearly 10,000 hours of their time to political candidates and activism efforts for which we have advocated.  We’re pretty proud of that.

So, here we are with a large daily audience, a thriving video production and web design business and a whole lot of talented writers and videographers.  We want to know more about you.  After all, you know more about our contributors than most of their families do.  So, we might as well ask you a few questions.

Over the course of the next five years, the type of content we provide and the way we provide it will change as rapidly as the Internet itself.  We want to know what you like to read about, talk about and how you share it with your friends.  We want to play with new models of journalism and start funding freelance writers to tell stories of regional import, with contributions from you.  We want to tell the stories you want to hear and we want to make a couple of bucks doing it.  You’ve built this community with us and we thank you.

So, stop over to our survey page and tell us a little about yourself.  There will be drawings for five Buffalo Prize Packs for those who fill out the survey.  The prize packs include:

Buffalo First Coupon Book – Retails for $15 and features $4,000  in coupons to local businesses!

2010 Celebrate Buffalo Calendar – A beautiful calendar by Buffalo Heritage Unlimited featuring the photography of Mark Donnelly, PhD. A $14.95 value which makes an excellent gift for anyone who appreciates the beauty of our fair city.

AUDieu:  Buffalo Says Goodbye to The Aud – AUDieu will bring you back to The Aud and all the poignant moments and memories you shared there. This beautiful 120-page, full color coffee table book tells the story of Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium through hundreds of photographs and the memories of some of her most ardent fans.

The Fine Art Of Capturing Buffalo – Another beautiful book from Buffalo Heritage Unlimited. The Fine Art of Capturing Buffalo is an inspiring new look at the City of Buffalo, shot by award-winning photographer, Mark Donnelly, Ph.D. It’s a five-year body of his work, displaying his passion for the city, and the countless treasures that surround us.

Frozen Assets: The Beautiful Truth About WNY’s Fourth Season – View the city through the lens of perhaps our most misunderstood three months — our spectacular winters. You are invited to be inspired by the majesty of our city adorned in white, to debunk the exaggerations about our weather, and to laugh all the while you are doing it.

As always, thank you for reading, contributing and being part of our success!

New York State Senate: Useless and Redundant

Want to reduce taxes? Reduce the cost of government. Want to reduce the cost of government? Reduce the size of government. Want to reduce the size of government? Slough off a completely useless and redundant legislative house.

This would also need nonpartisan redistricting and comprehensive abolition of state authorities in their current iteration, but it’s a start.

Brian Davis Resigns

It’s official.  He’s a convict and an ex-Councilman.

The Common Council will name someone to replace Davis through December 2010.  This sort of political wrangling – the undemocratic kind – is the most vicious and stupid, so grab some popcorn.

They Call it Chutzpah

I don’t really have much to add to this story beyond what was written in the Buffalo News and by Mark Byrnes.  But yeah, Carl Paladino has no business complaining that someone – anyone – is getting tax abatements or other forms of incentives to renovate a building that is the heart of downtown Buffalo.  And Pat Hotung has no business complaining that the Main Place Mall is empty and whatnot, since the place is a depressing shithole and relatively new.

For this crowd to go to a meeting of the pointless Buffalo Place and complain about Rocco Termini getting available state incentives so as to renovate AM&As is the very manifestation of chutzpah.

Look! A Parade! Commence Pissing!

Image courtesy Chris Hawley

No good deed goes un-shat-upon.

If you haven’t read what Gabe has to say about EHM in Buffalo, here it is.  Go look. I agree with everything he says.

If you haven’t read what Colin wrote, go look.  I think his comments miss the point completely.  Calling it a “poverty pageant” is uncalled-for, and frankly not at all different from what the right-wing has to say about it.  What an interesting coalition of glib know-it-allness they’ve founded.

Was the family that received the benefits of a visit from Extreme Home Makeover undeserving?  No.  No one can argue that.  What they argue instead is that there are loads of other families that are also deserving.

Well, yes.

And by selecting this family and showing what a motivated populace, a quick-reacting city government, a generous builder, and helpful non-profits can accomplish, we are reminded of the amazing things that people can accomplish when they have not only a purpose, but support from government and industry.

Will the home makeover completely turn the entire neighborhood around?

Well, maybe, maybe not.

That’s hardly the show’s raison d’etre, and this is the first instance I’m aware of where the show came and rehabbed inner-city squalor.  There is such a toxic cocktail of socioeconomic problems that affect these neighborhoods that it’s silly to expect any one thing to fix it all.  Lifting a family up from generational poverty is something that the show may actually accomplish in this instance, thanks to the generous help of Canisius College.  If local colleges teamed up to offer scholarships to well-performing students, do you think that might be something that would help?  Something that the colleges might do in response to what just happened on Massachusetts Avenue this past week?  Maybe they should.  It beats selling drugs on the corner, getting shot at.  It also beats growing up in a poor neighborhood with no job prospects thanks to manufacturing and business evacuating western New York over the past few generations.

Well, the house was ok, but a car?  A college?  Now you’re just piling on and handouts never helped anyone.

Fucking hell, actually in this case these “handouts” aren’t just a dollar to buy a sneaker or some food.  These are the building blocks upon which a successful life can be made.  A house with water and heat; a car that works; a free college education.  Again – unless they don’t deserve it, I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.

I even saw one blog criticize Buffalo ReUse, which offers green demolition of homes in Buffalo, and many jobs and skills to underemployed east side residents, as “self-important busybodies“.  Wouldn’t that be the exact criticism you’d use to describe someone who’s got a problem with local non-profits helping a local family out?

That eerie consensus among the ultra-right and the ultra-left?  The ultra-right is upset that Grover Norquist wasn’t brought in to fix our tax liabilities, while the ultra-left is upset because of the use of “Disney dollars” to basically turn one house into a showhouse, and then abandon the area back to its own devices.  Both groups focus on the limitations of what EHM did, and totally ignore or pay lip-service to the possibilities.

Luckily, most people are neither ultra-right nor left.  Luckily, people did respond to this particular home makeover with ten times the number of volunteers seen in most cities.  Luckily, PUSH, which agitates for fair and adequate housing throughout Buffalo, answered the call and will continue working the west side long after the cameras are gone.  Luckily, Buffalo ReUse, which teaches jobs and skills to inner-city residents while also developing a genuine green business on the east side, will continue to fulfill its mission to teach, and to keep demolished homes out of landfills to the fullest extent possible.

Hopefully, the attention brought to Massachusetts Avenue will not end here, but will continue.  Perhaps other builders will team up with these non-profits to help fix up homes and neighborhoods.  Bringing attention to these neighborhoods and reminding people that there’s more to life on the west side than gangs and shootings is a good thing. Because these are vibrant communities where there are not just welfare queens and gangbangers, but people striving to make a good life for them and their kids despite the violence around them, the difficulty in getting good work and daycare.

Not everyone has bootstraps to pull themselves up by.  Sometimes, they need a hand up, and if regular people, educators, government, and industry can team up to do it more and more, that will help these neighborhoods and society.

[UPDATE: What Donn Esmonde said.]