New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, picking up where Joe Lieberman left off.
Nominally Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
selected former
Republican Gov. George Pataki to chair a commission to cut taxes in the state.
"Governor Pataki's selection as chair of the commission is especially troubling, since his specialty is in budget-busting income tax cuts for the rich," said [Working Families Party] State Director Bill Lipton. "Tax cuts for the rich failed to produce gains for the middle class when Governor Pataki was in office, just as trickle-down economics has failed time and time again."
We all know what Pataki's
raison d'être is, and he's being enabled by Cuomo. But that's not the worst part. Note the Cuomo camp's response to criticisms over the Pataki selection:
Those who oppose this unprecedented level of bi-partisianship underscore the point of why this type of cooperation is so important, particularly given the ongoing dysfunction and gridlock in Washington DC.
In other words, the message he's getting from the government shutdown is that we need
more bipartisanship, more inclusion of Republican voices that haven't been earned at the ballot box or via public opinion.
Obviously, the problem in D.C. isn't a lack of bipartisanship—a majority of both congressional chambers would vote for a clean funding bill to reopen the government and raising the debt ceiling. The problem is a nihilistic, terroristic minority who is holding the nation's economy hostage in order to garner policy concessions that it can't earn at the ballot box.
Thus it's clear. If you want the Democrats to capitulate today, then you are Andrew Cuomo's Lieberdem base. Go to his website and sign up for his email list and drop a few bucks. Offer to volunteer to spread his gospel of weakness and concession. Surrender anything and everything you believe in to an undemocratic minority because it's more important to fetishize "bipartisanship". And lament Joe Lieberman's retirement no longer, because you have a new champion to carry on your quisling cause!