Bob Duffy has gone with the flow quite a bit since taking office, remaining out of direct spotlight whenever partisan issues come up, if possible. I’ve been critical of that many times, especially since the partisanship is actually hitting Rochester and Monroe County where it hurts with things like the FAIR plan.

But apparently, the MCC situation has gotten under his skin. H/T to RochesterTurning for bringing this video to my attention, wherein Duffy lays out in stark terms his displeasure with the nakedly partisan politics - and money grubbing, let’s not lie - of the MCC situation. He even goes as far as to say that the “spirit of cooperation” is cosmetic, which in political terms is quite harsh. Duly so, of course, but harsh nonetheless.

He points out that 25% of MCC students are City residents, and that gives the City a large stake in resolving the issue of the MCC president appointment. Moreover, he goes as far as to threaten that Governor Patterson can even play a role in this by appointing members of the board of the Renn Square project that perhaps the Republicans might not like.

“We’re impacted, I’ve never been asked to submit a name for the board,” he said, “But we have a new governor. And the governor has the ability to put people on the board and Governor Patterson is a true partner with us and I will be in touch with Governor Patterson.”

He says “a lot of things pass through this office,” and that he’ll use as many as he can to change the situation.

Lyrics by Niel Peart of Rush. I’ve always loved this song, but upon recently getting the remastered version of the Signals album, it occurred to me how the current situation seems even more relevant to the lyrics than the Cold War era he wrote them about. I’ve taken the liberty of adding some pictorial links for emphasis:

We’ve got nothing to fear but fear itself
Not fate, not failure, not fatal tragedy
Not the faulty units in this mad machinery
Not the broken contacts in emotional chemistry

With an iron fist in a velvet glove
We are sheltered under the gun
In the glory game or the power train
Thy kingdom’s will be done

And the things that we fear
Are a weapon to be held against us

Chorus:

He’s not afraid of your judgment
He knows of horrors worse than your hell
He’s a little bit afraid of dying, but he’s a lot more afraid of you lying

And the things that he fears
Are a weapon to be held against him

Can any part of life be larger than life?
Even love must be limited by time
And those who push us down that they might climb
Is any killer worth more than his crime?

Like a steely blade in a silken sheath
We don’t see what they’re made of
They shout about love, but when push comes to shove
They live for things they’re afraid of

And the knowledge that they fear
Is a weapon to be used against them

Well, NY Senate Republicans, John McCain and Hillary Clinton seem to disagree, but even the Rochester Business Journal’s readers don’t buy into the “Gas Tax Holiday” garbanzo that they’re selling:

Rochester Business Journal - Snap Poll

Nearly two-thirds of respondents oppose a gas-tax holiday this summer.

It’s a shame the RBJ is so insistent on selling their papers instead of embracing new media with any kind of gusto. They don’t publish any internals to the polls, which would be helpful.

It’s almost fun watching Republicans lap up the Democratic primary controversy in a thinly-veiled hope that they can win what is ultimately an unwinnable Presidential contest in the fall. Peggy Noonan, always the voice of reason, takes her time deliciously pouring over every last word from Democratic insiders, painting a Randian picture of despair. You can almost see the billboard illuminated with the words, “Who is John Gault?”

Declarations - WSJ.com

The question “Who will tell her, who can make her go?” is really the question “Who will save the Democratic Party in 2008?” It cannot be doubted at this point that real damage is being done to its standard-bearer and to all those who will be on the ticket with him.

Yeah, it’s just a shame no one really gives a crap about the Republicans right about now. John McCain isn’t competing against anyone specific in this race yet, and he’s still losing to both potential nominees in the polls. The Republican Congressional Committee is in shambles, torn asunder by controversy and failure, leaving Congressional Republicans to fend for themselves against a hoard of angry constituents and an army of well-financed Democrats. There’s no election funds from donors who are keeping their powder dry; the Dems are out-registering voters two and three to one across the country; John McCain is counting on George Bush to eliminate his self-afflicted public financing problem before he gets crushed under the tracks of the Obama funding machine.

And because more people have involved themselves in the Democratic Primary process than voted in the 2004 election for either candidate, she thinks it’s the Dems that have the problem? No, she doesn’t. We know what she thinks, so let her have her psycho-drama fantasies in the WSJ.

Exile at RT picked up on a gem this morning which I’m only just now catching up to. Apparently, Tom Reynolds is in trouble again for his role as Republican Congressional Committee chairman. I suppose that it’s only to be expected that the man at the top of the sleaze heap should be found guilty of still more sleaze. Hopefully, some will stick on him for good this time.

So sayeth the Republican Party.

Anyway, looks like a great movie, but the tag line could use a bit of work: “Tell House Democrats to stop playing games with politics. (look for the Countdown to Death video game, based on this commercial, at your local Game Stop soon!!) “

John McCain has a big problem.

Stories about his alleged tryst with a lobbyist who lobbied his own Senate council are starting to leak out there. Now, a ten year old allegation, that’s not too much to worry about under normal circumstances. And the simple allegation, the singular NYT piece by itself, is not the problem.

Basic damage control spin is all that is required. It’s rudimentary politics. All you have to do is play it cool, stick with the program. And whatever you do, don’t lean to far forward and say something rash. Oops:

McCain Says Report on Lobbyist Not True - washingtonpost.com

“I’ve served this nation honorably for more than half a century,” said McCain, a four-term Arizona senator and former Navy pilot. “At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust.”

So, I guess that whole Keating Five thing was no big deal, then. How quickly we forget when we’ve decided that we’re “The Maverick Senator.”

But this is clearly overreach. It’s a wild swing that tends to make me think there’s something here. Chuck Todd spoke on Keith Olbermann’s program and seemed to indicate that the story was probably a mere tip of the iceberg.

And I do wonder if this wasn’t the reason John McCain’s Straight Talk Express went so crooked during the 2004 election. Most of us who paid attention noticed an incredible about-face in 2003, when suddenly McCain was buddying up to the man he barely talked to after the 2000 election, George Bush. He seemed in the grip of some other force that made him suddenly support the war he’d criticized before; something that forced him onto the stage at Bob Jones University, home of those he’d previously referred to as “the agents of intolerance.” Was this it?

Or is there more we haven’t heard about yet? Because if there is, you can bet whatever deals with the devil he made four years ago are off now that the Hard Right has decided that he’s the enemy and Mike Huckabee is the savior.

Interesting polling data from People Press today.  In what has to be seen as a fairly harsh rebuke to both McCain and his Conservative detractors (Rush Limbaugh, I’m looking in your direction), People Press finds that not only are Republicans basically split on the question of McCain’s Conservative credentials, a hefty majority of Republicans aren’t even aware that there’s all that much opposition to him in Conservative talk radio circles.  And in any event, many of them think he’s just too damned old.

And yes, polls are a lot like assholes: everybody’s got at least one.  Indeed, the two are often found together, especially in Conservative circles, but that’s another story.  Still, if voting trend polls have not gotten their bearers their money’s worth this year, I still think that these sort of general impression trends are of value.

Amazing. You know you’ve gone too far when you have a nun arrested. Seriously? A fucking nun?

Yes, and the story is at the D&C, RochesterTurning, and our own Carla Palumbo’s blog. I suspect we’ll be hearing from Jon Greenbaum soon, as well.

Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap by our own Rochester Police Department Monroe County Sheriff’s Department (correction by Carla Palumbo, thank you!). Don’t they have some obligation to enforce our rights, too? I guess asking police to say no to Republicans is too much in our current America, but I’d hoped for better. Welcome to our police state, where Republicans set the rules, tap the phones and network connections, appoint the judges, appoint the prosecutors, decide for the governor what is and what is not enforcible at the DMV, rewrite fire codes and beat up nuns.

It’s both sad and pathetic, with just a little bit of farce, the way the D&C bends over backwards to defend the Republican led Legislature. There was apparently quite the to-do at the Public Defender meeting last night, and I was clearly at the wrong meeting. Channel 10 seems to have decided that the change in policy - discussing which was the point of the meeting - was a foregone conclusion. R-News seems to have done a good job covering the play-by-play of the event. Channel 13 described it as a “fracas,” which if nothing else is a delightful choice of words. RochesterTurning was there to cover the action.

And then there is the Democrat and Chronicle, the Paper of Rectum for the Rochester and Monroe County area. What do they have to say about the incident? Well, that silly body of humanity known as “the public,” just refused to leave the meeting of a democratically elected body:

Public defender meeting shut down after protest || Democrat & Chronicle: Local News

The public refused to leave or listen to the public safety officers who were ordering them out, while legislature Democrats walked out in protest and Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester approached Republican legislators and demanded a merit-based selection process.

Remarkable, isn’t it? There is simply no room in this statement for insubordination to the rule of the Republican Legislature whatsoever. Everyone, including those who elected the body, is expected to toe the line.