That means recruiting more Blue Dogs and New Dems for the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- and blocking progressivesThere was a time when I felt I was the only one who hated the DCCC and thought the organization should be abolished. That was a long time ago and I'm not alone any longer. From coast to coast, almost every state Democratic Party organization despises them.
In case you missed Chris Hayes' jaw-dropping interview with double (or triple) agent Felix Sater Friday night, MSNBC has actually posted it in embeddable form. That's it above. Sater is the kind of instinctual career criminal who will work for the Mob one day, the FBI or CIA the next day and the Russians the day after-- at the time, of course-- working for no one but Felix Sater. They don't come lower. But they do come as low. Remember Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm? Like Sater, he likes to immunize himself from criticism by screaming how he served in the military.
A photo that probably won't help Grimm much anymoreBy asking the question Where are Staten Island's congressional race donations coming from? Staten Island Live is making a civic contribution media outlets should follow everywhere.
Remember the good old days when the NRCC made Mafia thug Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm a member of their Young Guns program? Grimm managed to beat a Democratic incumbent, Blue Dog GOP-lite backbencher Michael McMahon 65,024 (49.5%) to 60,773 (46.2%). But Grimm is a big time career criminal and Congress didn't slow him down one bit and he eventually wound up in prison. So now he's a felon-- and a candidate for Congress again.
Two of the most outstanding campaign videos so far this cycle were the ones introducing Randy Bryce (WI) and Amy McGrath (KY). Bryce immediately proved himself an even better candidate than the one his video showed. He built a powerful populist brand that is going to bring him all the way to Congress and make history by taking down Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House and a darling of the Beltway media. McGrath, on the other hand, was anything but ready for prime time.
Even Mussolini rejected the Mafia... but Bannon & Trump have no problem with the MobBannon's anti-establishment rampage so far has been directed towards Republican Senate incumbents allied with Mitch McConnell. Except in one instance: Bannon has allied with the Mafia to try to get convicted felon Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm back into Congress over the political corpse of Ryan ally Dan Donovan.
Blame Trump?Mafia thug Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm was convicted on a plea-bargain and given a slap on the wrist sentence because he had so much dirt on so many FBI agents. Now he's out of prison and feels he is entitled to run for Congress again and pretend the only thing he ever did wrong was about paperwork.
Former Mafia thug Michael,"Mikey Suits" Grimm got off very easy. He was given a sweet plea deal in return for resigning from Congress and for agreeing to not embarrass anyone in the FBI. So now he's out of prison after less than a year and already attacking former Staten Island D.A.
Trump's hometown wasn't kind to him last year. NY-5 (southeast Queens) gave Hillary an 85.7-12.7% rout. NY-07 (Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy, Bushwhack in Brooklyn and Woohaven in Queens) gave her a 86.9-10.4% win over Trump. But that was nothing compared to NY-13 (Upper Manhattan) where Hillary took 92.3% of the vote to Trump's 5.4% or NY-15 (South Bronx) where Trump only got 4.9% of the vote.
New York's 11th congressional district includes all of Staten Island and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Gravesend. Staten Island residents make up between 70% and 75% of the district's voters. Aside from being New York City's whitest congressional district, it's also the most Italian congressional district in the country.
