16 June 2004
Spectator
Presidential funerals and Buffalo hometown politics: form trumps substance at the Capitol, City Hall, WNED, and One News Plaza
No, Ronnie, trees are not ecoterrorists
The Spectator has long been witness to the gradual devolution of government into the absolute triumph of form over substance, thus, the Reagan canonization was no big surprise. But the ability of the neocons to morph the benign dolt into the ultimate gladiator who won the Cold War is nothing short of obscene. Almost 40,000 dead in Korea and another 60,000 in Vietnam might have played more significant roles in winning the Cold War than Ronald Reagan but who's counting, right? And what about the 241 Marines wasted in Beirut because Ronnie thought form would defeat substance? How blithefully we dismiss the idiocy of someone who once actually stood on a stage and said "93% of all pollution is caused by trees" - he didn't just say trees caused pollution, y'all, he actually assigned a percentage to amount they caused! Now that's leadership conservatives can genuflect to.
Jimmy's still scamming the citySpeaking of form over substance, the Buffalo News recently ran a story about Jimmy Griffin refusing to take a $1,000 stipend for being the chair of a Common Council committee. What the News failed to mention and what the Spectator pointed out some months ago is that Griffin wasted $15,000 in a cash-strapped city to build himself an office in the Tosh Collins Center in South Buffalo so he wouldn't have to drive all the way to City Hall. Even with the Spectator's minimal math skills, Griffin would have to refuse 15 years worth of leadership stipends to pay the city back for the cost of building his new digs.
Is Giambra helping or screwing Nancy Naples (politically)?The Spectator can only imagine the glee in the Nancy Naples' congressional campaign at the news that Joel Giambra is "withholding" his endorsement of her and might actually endorse someone else. It's hard to envision even the the most pandering politician wanting Giambra's endorsement these days. The first thing you would have to do is buy your campaign office furniture from his vendor of choice.
Peddling fear, racism, and finding someone to hate, or why The Specator isn't a Conservative
On June 14, National Public Radio carried a story about the imminent opening of the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock AR. After a discussion about the economic impact the Library would have on that city, there was a report that a wealthy Houston oil baron was investing his own money to establish a "Counter Clinton Library" in Little Rock. The oilman said he was "afraid the Clinton Library would be a stepping stone to put the Clintons back in the White House in '08." That is the essence of conservatives - they are afraid. They are constantly afraid of anyone and everyone and everything that does look, talk, or pseudo-think like they do. They flourish on fear and use it as a weapon to divide society and ultimately control it. That's the oxymoron of all whole Ronald Reagan crap. The conservatives would have us believe that Reagan was the eternal, if cockeyed, optimist who believed in this country in a way no other president did. In actuality, he was a fear-mongerer of epic proportions. He played to base racism when he conjured up the image of "the welfare queen" but he used the federal budget as a piggy bank for corporate welfare to defense contractors (remember $600 toilet seats and $400 ballpeen hammers?), polluters, and the wealthy on whom tax cuts were lavished. The same animus is at work in the twisted mind of Houston oilman who thinks we need a counter-Clinton library because he's afraid. Conservatives of that stripe thrive in fear. They have to have someone and something to hate. Think of the vast amounts of public and private money that was spent to bring down the Clinton presidency and the only crime they could come up was adultery. Makes the Spectator damn proud to be a 'Merican.
Some guys can't tell the difference between a party you get drunk and fall down at and a political party, but they should learn
After endorsing Republican Jack Quinn in '02, one might have thought that Democrat Mark Shroeder might be ready to pull a Giambra or a Pat Gallivan or a Chuck Swanick and declare himself Republican For Life. But nope - he's a Democrat again. At least, he's running in a Democratic primary for the Assembly seat being vacated by his pal Brian Higgins who wants Quinn's congressional seat. A big stumbling block to Higgins might be Quinn's endorsement of Republican Nancy Naples as Quinn's choice as a successor. Shroeder told us to vote for Quinn in '02 but Quinn is telling is telling us to vote for Naples in '04. So where does that leave Shroeder? With the fence he straddles poking up into his gonads (if he has any).
Why did WNED broadcast Lee Coppola's frenchkiss interview with Stan Lipsey? Why did Lee Coppola DO a frenchkiss interview with Stan Lipsey?
The Spectator hopes he was the only one so devoid of weekend activity that he watched the June 13th WNED-TV paean to Stan Lipsey and the Buffalo News. Otherwise, the considerable confidence that Lee Coppola built up as a journalist of integrity will vanish. It was pathetic to watch Coppola serve up slow pitch after slow pitch to Lipsey. When the inept Lipsey fouled one off, Coppola moved the foul lines to make sure Lipsey's feeble swings resulted in base hits. Ask any rank and file reporter of the News what they think of the state of journalism at the paper. If Margaret Sullivan writes one more sophomoric self-congratulatory essay on the new presses at the News, the Spectator will cancel his subscription. (Oh wait - I've already cancelled.) This french kiss of an interview might have been comical if it hadn't been about so serious a subject. God, Lee, how could you do that to yourself? You used to be a reporter.
Spectator, a frequent contributor to Buffalo Report on local and national politics, resorts to speculation only for matters Spectator hasn't seen or taken part in first-hand.
Copyright 2004 by Buffalo Report, Inc.