by Damozel | So with Caroline out of the running, it looks as if Kirsten Gillibrand is the woman who will replace Hillary. Who? Never fear: The Plank has helpfully published "Ten Things You Didn't Know About Kirsten Gillibrand." It's true I didn't know those 10 things about Gillibrand before today.
It seems she's a maverick, a word I really didn't want to hear ever again after Palin lost the election for McCain and the GOP. The New York Post, which itself speaks solely in high decibel ululations has a piece called "Dave Picks Kirsten Gillibrand as Liberal Dems Howl."
For what it's worth, here's what The Post has to say:
The decision was a major rebuff to some of the state's best-known Democrats interested in Clinton's seat, including Attorney General and former federal Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, for whom Gillibrand once worked as a junior lawyer; Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, and Reps. Carolyn Maloney of Manhattan and Steve Israel of Suffolk County.
Sources said "at least five" members of the state's Democratic congressional delegation called Paterson to protest the possibility of Gillibrand's selection. One, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Nassau County, even threatened a primary challenge. Gillibrand faces a special election in 2010.
Democratic activists predicted that Cuomo, son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, would also "seriously consider" challenging Paterson in a primary next year.
Calls were made from Paterson's office to leading Democrats and Republicans throughout the afternoon, inviting them to a special meeting room attached to the Capitol for "a major announcement."
The inclusion of several prominent Republicans among the invitees was an early sign to insiders that Paterson planned to pick an upstate Democrat.
Gillibrand has won two successive elections in one of the heaviest GOP districts in the state, first upsetting incumbent Rep. John Sweeney and, in November, defeating former state GOP chairman and multimillionaire Alexander Treadwell, in one of the most expensive races in the nation.
Via The New Republic, are some reasons liberals don't like her.
...She bucked House leadership by voting against both versions of the TARP bailout bill in the fall.
...A big gun supporter, she's been given a 100% approval rating by the NRA -- she's one of the extremely few Democrats on a federal level to win official NRA endorsement -- and, this fall, she voted in favor of a controversial bill to repeal District of Columbia laws prohibiting the possession of semiautomatics.
...A couple more mavericky votes: She was the only New York Democrat to
support the May 2007 war-funding bill; the others voted against it
because it did not contain a troop-withdrawal timetable. She also voted
for H.R. 6304, the
FISA Amendments Act, which extended immunity to telecoms that spied on U.S. citizens at the behest of the Bush administration.
...During this year's campaign, she described her voting record as "one of the most conservative in the state" of New York.
....Her district, while not overwhelmingly Republican -- the Cook Political Report gives it a "partisan voting index" of R+3 -- voted for George W. Bush twice. (The Plank)
Of course, her district did go for Obama (though "narrowly") (TPMDC) Of course, it's unlikely that the other sort of Dem --- the 100% progressive sort --- would end up as senator for upstate New York. Anti-gun as I may be, I have to agree with Michael Tomasky at The Guardian: "Any Democrat from a rural district has to be pro-NRA." And there is a bright spot. On the other hand, Eric Kleefeld notes hopefully that she's been "inching leftward" on certain issues of interest to progressives.
She appears to have switched her position on gay marriage from a standard "safe" Democratic stance, to now being a full supporter.
Empire State Pride Agenda has put out a press release saying that Gillibrand has spoken to them, and they are glad to say that New York will have its first Senator who endorses full marriage equality. This is a big change for Gillibrand, who previously had a conventional Democratic position of endorsing civil unions and non-discrimination laws, but not being for gay marriage.
To be sure, Gillibrand's voting record on gay rights was not anything that could be called bad. There weren't too many votes on gay issues in the last two years, but she did vote for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, as well as the hate crimes bill.
At The Guardian, Michael Tomasky questions Paterson's motives --- and also his common sense --- in selecting Gillibrand.
In these cases, one smell test that ought to be passed is that a governor should be able to say "X was the best person for the job" with at least some degree of plausibility. I don't think Paterson can do that here....
Paterson has just made himself lots of enemies. I mean lots. Gillibrand will certainly face a primary challenge in 2010 -- one congresswoman, Carolyn McCarthy, has already vowed to...Paterson may even have invited a primary challenge against himself in 2010. Today's New York Post suggests as much:
Democratic activists predicted that Cuomo, son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, would also "seriously consider" challenging Paterson in a primary next year.
Believe me, you don't want to pick a political fight with the Cuomos. They throw elbows....
Scott Lemieux says: "Ugh."
Hopefully she'll move left now that she represents the entire state," says Kevin Drum hopefully.
Lance Mannion, whose new Senator she is --- "My new senator is a Bush Dog?????"--- muses:
Meanwhile, back in her largely rural, longtime Republican district: Gillibrand won in 2006 because her incumbent opponent turned out to be a drunken wife-beater. Her re-election victory in 2008 was solid but then she was the incumbent and it was a Democratic year, advantages her would-be Democratic successor won't have....[S]he looks to me like the weakest choice Paterson could have made.
As one of LGM's commenters said, Bring back Spitzer!
Todd Beeton reports: "Gillibrand has asked to serve on the Armed Services and Agriculture Committees in the Senate. She pledges to bridge upstate and downstate and work across the aisle to help all New York."
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Damozel,
This is a comment on part of the New Republic quote:
"A couple more mavericky votes: She was the only New York Democrat to support the May 2007 war-funding bill; the others voted against it because it did not contain a troop-withdrawal timetable. She also voted for H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act, which extended immunity to telecoms that spied on U.S. citizens at the behest of the Bush administration. "
Didn't a whole bunch of Dems vote for Telecom Amnesty (including then-Senator Obama)?
TNR didn't provide a bill # for the war-funding bill, so I couldn't find the roll call vote. Do you know how our prominent "liberal" Dems voted for that?
Posted by: Deb | January 24, 2009 at 02:49 AM
And who else would make a Pretty Convincing Republican?
President Obama 'orders Pakistan drone attacks'
Missiles fired from suspected US drones killed at least 15 people inside Pakistan today, the first such strikes since Barack Obama became president and a clear sign that the controversial military policy begun by George W Bush has not changed.
Security officials said the strikes, which saw up to five missiles slam into houses in separate villages, killed seven "foreigners" - a term that usually means al-Qaeda - but locals also said that three children lost their lives.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5575883.ece
And this, too:
Barack Obama asks Gordon Brown for more soldiers
President Barack Obama has asked Britain to supply up to 4,000 extra frontline troops to help a planned American surge of forces in Afghanistan, defence sources say.
The request poses a dilemma for Gordon Brown because the Ministry of Defence (MoD) believes it can only spare 1,700 extra troops.
Obama has identified the Afghan conflict as an American priority and wants Britain to be a key partner. The new US strategy is likely to test the “special relationship” between the two allies, putting Brown under pressure to show commitment to the Afghan conflict by announcing an increase in troop numbers.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5581564.ece
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