Plan B Forum

Just watched Andrew Cuomo (NY governor) press conference. You don't have to agree with him (it happens that I do, broadly) to recognize, and be reminded, that there are politicians who are smart, resourceful, compassionate and above all, human beings.

Living NY through the eighties I got used to Mario - his dad. The voices and cadence are so similar, it's eerie.

I was happy to read Cuomo supported the drug treatment for COVID-19. . https://www.ajmc.com/newsroom/fda-appro ... rug-combo-

For the most part, I do agree with his policies, but where his dad was a gentleman, he appears to have a big streak of arrogance. His attitude toward those who scoff at the isolation steps we are taken are more like that of a cop who is being ignored "Don't test me", "Just shut up and live with it", "I'm [not even we're] not going to tolerate it for long." IMHO, it's like he always has to see everything as a pissing contest, and he has to be the a;pha dog that marks his territory everywhere. Leadership involves convincing people to follow you, not treating them like children who can be bullied and threatened. Maybe he sees Trump and his bluster as what a modern politician has to be but, sadly, I don't see him in the same league as his dad.

I have watched his pressers the last few days because it is clear he tells the truth and respects his constituents- and the American people as a whole - to take it in. He has some distasteful N.Y. arrogance but I’m used to that having family from there; he is still warmer than the orange menace. Most importantly he clearly believes that his potential for getting re-elected in the face of the extraordinary measures he has had to impose on the state is of zero importance at this juncture - he is being guided solely by science and public health advice as to how to preserve life and our medical system’s ability to cope. For that alone he gets massive kudos - a real leader cares more for the people than for his own ambitions.

Comparing him to Trump is pointless; I can't think of anyone who can surpass Trump in idiocy. And for the most part he is doing the right thing; but it is sheer idiocy to treat the electorate as if they are children you can continually scold and threaten, all that will do is encourage noncompliance with your policies (that's why the war on drugs has continually failed). Leadership requires convincing people to comply, and he isn't even trying; like Rudy, his ego is getting in the way. I believe he honestly thinks this is leadership the people will respect, much like Rudy did after 9/11.

One of the issues Cuomo faces is inaction of previous NY administrations.

"Hospitals in New York are running short (of ventilators). To his credit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is doing his best, but he admits “you can’t find available ventilators no matter how much you’re willing to pay right now, because there is literally a global run on ventilators.”

It’s a little late. Several years ago, after learning that the Empire State’s stockpile of medical equipment had 16,000 fewer ventilators than the 18,000 New Yorkers would need in a severe pandemic, state public-health leaders came to a fork in the road.

They could have chosen to buy more ventilators to back up the supplies hospitals maintain. ­Instead, the health commissioner, Howard Zucker, assembled a task force for rationing the ventilators they already had."

I was never a fan of Andrew Cuomo, but I have to admit that watching his press conferences, he certainly comes across much more like a President should in a crisis like this (in command of the facts, empathetic but firm and consistent) than Il Boobce...

Watching Cuomo and then watching Trump's embarrassing, pathetic, error riddled and blatantly dishonest performances the contrast could not possibly be more stark...

It remains to be seen whether Cuomo's reputation is sullied by the upcoming closure of the Indian Point power plant that supplies 25% of the power to NYC. There's no doubt the supply of power in NY state will be in flux. Cuomo played a major part in forcing the closure.

Back in the days of poor water chemistry control, it wasn't uncommon to have corrosion issues in nuclear power plant steam generators. To remedy issues at Indian Point the girth welds in the steam generators were machined out and replaced. That meant the plant was restored to maximum output. The subsequent buy out by Entergy put in place a management for which complying to NRC standards was never an issue. Even Bloomberg supported the continued operation of the power plant.

My evaluation of Cuomo is he's a quintessential politician who sucks dick as appropriate when special interests are involved.

Trump has never been a politician and never will be. If that chaps your ass, your ass needs chapped.

It's not Trump's not being a politician that bothers me Darren...

It's the complete ignoramus, incompetent, corrupt, malignant narcissist, rule of law and Constitution trampling, not even being a minimally decent human being bit that "chaps" me...

Lord Jim wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:27 pm

It's not Trump's not being a politician that bothers me Darren...

It's the complete ignoramus, incompetent, corrupt, malignant narcissist, rule of law and Constitution trampling, not even being a minimally decent human being bit that "chaps" me...

I wonder back in the day if gladiators' reputations in the Coliseum suffered because they stammered, ran thoer mouths or had scandalous personal habits.

One of the things I like about Trump is if it crosses his mind it comes out his mouth.

I've seen two incidences of regulatory changes made by bureaucrats. One put me in court. By the time of the court date the regulation had been changed back. The judge threw the case out.

Federal agencies need to be put on zero based budgeting. Get rid of use it or lose it spending. The more Trump looks at operations of federal agencies the better. I like that he's not a politician.

gladiators' reputations in the Coliseum

LOL!

I'm trying to imagine the cowardly President Bonespurs as a "gladiator"...

Too funny...

BTW, it's you and your fellow Vichy Republicans who are in need of a good "ass chapping"...

Darren wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:58 pm

Federal agencies need to be put on zero based budgeting. Get rid of use it or lose it spending. The more Trump looks at operations of federal agencies the better. I like that he's not a politician.

Oh yeah, the funds that have been slashed from pandemic response have been working oh so well for you lately.

And then there's this:



I won't ask you to make a fool of yourself by defending such recklessness, you've cornered that market so well already.

Scooter wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 9:38 pm

Darren wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:58 pm

Federal agencies need to be put on zero based budgeting. Get rid of use it or lose it spending. The more Trump looks at operations of federal agencies the better. I like that he's not a politician.

Oh yeah, the funds that have been slashed from pandemic response have been working oh so well for you lately.

And then there's this:

I won't ask you to make a fool of yourself by defending such recklessness, you've cornered that market so well already.

Last I read the bloated NSC was downsized. Tell me about this pandemic response. Did they take the plan with them?

Darren wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:27 pm

Trump has never been a politician and never will be. If that chaps your ass, your ass needs chapped.

Lord Jim wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:27 pm

It's not Trump's not being a politician that bothers me Darren...

It's the complete ignoramus, incompetent, corrupt, malignant narcissist, rule of law and Constitution trampling, not even being a minimally decent human being bit that "chaps" me...

Well said, Jim; I agree 100%.

Face it, Darren: *ALL* of the USA's greatest Presidents have been politicians. (So have most of the worst ones.) To command and control a political system, and to use that system most effectively, requires a skilled politician—or at absolute minimum a competent, intelligent human being with a thorough understanding of how the system works.

I remember a haberdashery man that quietly got done what had to be done. Now we have a marketing man that puts the RONCO guy and Billy Mays to shame. I'm ok with that. So is the rest of the silent majority.

Darren wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 9:48 pm

Tell me about this pandemic response. Did they take the plan with them?

Cutting 80% of the funding for responding to infections originating overseas is going to make any plan pretty much dead in the water.

It's been fun watching your downward spiral into incoherent gibberish. I thought that, with wes gone, we were going to miss that aspect of this place. Thanks for stepping up to fill the gap.

I remember a haberdashery man that quietly got done what had to be done.

Yeah, well good ol' Harry didn't walk straight out of the hat shop into the Oval Office...

He had been elected as a county judge and then spent 10 years as a US Senator (a position that he owed to his involvement with the Pendergast political machine) before being tapped for the Veep position in 1944...

Compare that to Trump's resume as reality TV host, conman grifter, and spectacularly failed businessman...

And BTW, HST also served bravely as an army captain in Europe during WW I...

Unlike President Yellow Belly...

Darren wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 24, 2020 10:20 pm

I remember a haberdashery man that quietly got done what had to be done. Now we have a marketing man that puts the RONCO guy and Billy Mays to shame. I'm ok with that. So is the rest of the silent majority.

Harry Truman served in the Missouri National Guard before, and in the US Army in France during WW1, where he rose to the rank of captain, and then in the Officers' Reserve Corps (later called the US Army Reserve; he was active reserve until '42 and inactive until '53) where he eventually retired as a full colonel. His haberdashery store went bankrupt during the recession of 1921. He was elected as a County Court Judge and later as Presiding Judge in Jackson County, Missouri, appointed state director for the Federal Re-Employment program (part of the Civil Works Administration), elected and re-elected in '34 and '40 to the US Senate, where he served on several high-profile Senate committees (all with the help of the Pendergast political machine). Democratic political bosses pushed Henry Wallace out and Harry Truman in as Roosevelt's VP pick in '44—and the rest, as they say, is history.

So don't tell me that Truman was a haberdasher and not a politician, and don't tell me that your current marketing man is in any way similar.



ETA: oops, Jim beat me to it.

Also wasn’t it Harry S. Truman who said “the buck stops here” whereas DJT said “I take no responsibility”?

Leader v. Coward