Mario Cuomo

The New Yorker caption for this picture is: "At close range, the Governor is a formidable presence. His speech comes in aggressive, self-confident bursts, especially when he's sizing up the state of political play, and he is relentless." I thought this was kind of funny, because just looking at the picture, I thought of some tacky horror-movie villain.by KenIt's about as old an argument as there is in the field of government: compromising to get stuff done vs.

We saw and heard a snatch of Mario Cuomo's 1984 Democratic National Convention keynote speech earlier this evening. This clip is still only 7:48's worth, but that's 7:48 of what remains one of the great American orations.

by KenSome of these passings are really hard, and this is a really hard one. Because Mario Cuomo was a politician and a genuinely decent human being. He respected people and understood the role government had to play in improving their lives.