When Republican media gurus, pollsters and consultants swoop down like scavenger birds to pick over the guts of a candidate, his campaign and his consultants isn’t the term “road-kill” apropos ?
When a paper like the Daily News, and a reporter with a regular political column, like Celeste Katz, decide that the criticisms and negative opinions of GOP mavens has reached a critical mass (or should that be "critical mess") — then there’s nothing left to do, but to avoid stepping in that mess and pointing out to others that it is there
Celeste Katz of the New York Daily News has put it right out there like this: “In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 6 to 1, Lhota always faced an uphill battle to become mayor. But the first-time candidate has made the challenge far greater by running a poorly conceived, managed and executed campaign, GOP operatives and elected officials say. *** ‘It's been a painful campaign to watch,’ veteran Republican strategist Ed Rollins told the Daily News.” ( See “GOP doesn't pull punches about Lhota's campaign” by Celeste Katz, 10/19/13, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/lhota-campaign-disaster-gop-article-1.1490647]).
If there is a news item in Celeste Katz’ article, it’s not that the Lhota Campaign was a steamy pile of whatever almost from the get-go, even I’ve been saying that for quite some time right here on this blog. The news item is that Republican insiders, both national and local, feel free enough “to go on the record” with their slings and arrows, and sticks and stones. They don’t fear that they’ll be accused of killing the Lhota Campaign, because they know that all the GOP insiders and pros know that it’s been dead for some time now.
Make no mistake about it, even though the title of this lengthy and somewhat detailed article about many of the shortcomings of Joseph Lhota’s campaign is “GOP doesn't pull punches about Lhota's campaign” — it is fair to say that “The Daily News and Celeste Katz don’t pull any punches about it either”....
As I said above, “I’ve been saying [these kinds of things about the Lhota campaign] for quite some time right here on this blog....” That’s because one of my technical advisors about such things was extensively quoted in the Daily News article by Ms. Katz. I thank him for giving me a similar heads-up about all of this several weeks ago. There are also a couple of Baker Street Irregulars who also deserve thanks for their regular sources of links — both of them sent me the link for this article shortly after its Saturday night internet posting by the Daily News.
12 comments:
Its a tough year for Republicans. The tone of 2012 Presidential campaign portrayed party as anti everything that NY is about.
If deBlasio thinks universal pre K is the pressing crisis facing NY, than I suggest he take a look at the costs of pension and medical benefits to city workers.
The real Deblasio has just been getting out there. 2 more weeks of the voters looking at a guy who you could see sitting in a Park Slope playground with a stroller.
Is that who we really want as Mayor? I think not !!
That's exactly what the new white voters in the new hip neighborhoods want to see. And deBlasio has the majority of the minorities [the actual majority] voters locked up.... And the conservative Republican base hates Lhota more everyday.
IT'S OVER FOR LHOTA --- VOTE FOR SALGADO
Salgado !!
What about Carion?
He was the Bronx BP & served in Presidents administrattion. Why support a storefront preacher ?
Forget Salgado.
He hasnt filed a tax return in a decade
Salgado is the only FAMILY VALUES CONSERVATIVE running for mayor in 2013. If he is also a hard core TAX REBEL even better.
VOTE FOR SALGADO ON THE SCHOOL CHOICE LINE
If Salgado gets elected and locked up for tax fraud we wind up with Tish James as Mayor.
Ouch !!
BACKFILL: LANZA AND MALLIOTAKIS NOT ENDORSING LHOTA
Actually there were a couple of very bad bits of news in the papers for Mr. Lhota yesterday and today.
In addition to the Celeste Katz Daily News article about GOP consultants panning the Lhota campaign, the Staten Island Advance did an article about endorsements highlighting the disarray and dissatisfaction inside the GOP with Lhota as the Republican-Conservative candidate for mayor (See “Staten Island's Lanza on Lhota: Not my cup of Joe” by Judy Randall, 10/19/13, SI Advance [http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/staten_islands_lanza_on_lhota.html#incart_river]).
As reported in the Advance, “State Sen. Andrew Lanza slammed fellow Republican Joe Lhota, saying he won't endorse him for mayor, branding him "the better of two unappealing candidates" and declining to say whether he'll even vote for Lhota.”
In addition, according to Judy Randall of the SI Advance, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn)... told the Advance she is "supporting" Lhota but won't formally endorse him, saying he hasn't asked her to.
Deblasio will win and he will be a fiasco one term mayor.
The only chance a Republican can win is a liberal Republican.
UPDATE: THE “WHAT ELSE CAN HE SAY ?” EDITION — WELL, ACTUALLY, LHOTA PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING ELSE
In response to criticism that has been commented upon this blog, Republican Mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota has made retorts like this: “Comments from the cheap seats mean nothing.... They’re not in my campaign, they don’t know what’s going on inside my campaign. You can’t spend any time thinking about what these guys are saying....” (See “Joe Lhota On His Republican Critics: "Comments From The Cheap Seats Mean Nothing" by Erin Durkin, 10/20/13, Daily News
[http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/10/joe-lhota-on-his-republican-critics-comments-from-the-cheap-seats-mean-nothing]).
Can you believe that Republican-Conservative Candidate Joseph Lhota said this about his critics ? “...[T]hey don’t know what’s going on inside my campaign.... they’re not in my campaign....” ! Doesn’t Joe Lhota see how damning those remarks are about himself and his campaign ? These criticisms largely came from New York Republican campaign professionals who normally do involve themselves in local GOP campaigns; they are exactly the kinds of people that Lhota should have in his campaign. The real measure of the effect of the GOP criticism to date is that Joe Lhota has had to address it himself; that’s because none of his campaign managers and consultants has any credibility to defend the campaign or their parts in it.
At any rate, the real proof of the pudding about Lhota and his campaign is seeing how well he is doing with the public. Even Bill De Blasio expressed a similar opinion on his rival’s campaign, as follows: “If you look at his campaign, it's not for me to judge, but obviously the voters have not so far been impressed by the approach he's taken....”
UPDATE: THE “POLLING IS STILL BAD FOR LHOTA” EDITION
Bill de Blasio is leading Joseph Lhota by 44 points–68 to 24 percent–among likely voters, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released today (See “Poll: Bill de Blasio Still Dominating Mayoral Race” by Jill Colvin, 10/31/13, NY Observer/ Politicker [http://politicker.com/2013/10/poll-bill-de-blasio-still-dominating-mayoral-race/]).
UPDATE: LHOTA ASKS QUEENS GOP TO KEEP ITS ENDORSEMENT QUIET — LHOTA CAMPAIGN’S COMPLICATED REASONING INCLUDES BLAMING BROOKLYN GOP’S INFIGHTING
According to a source privy to what the Lhota campaign is thinking, the Lhota camp didn’t want to highlight dissension in the Queens Republican Party and in other Republican circles by publicizing the endorsement. The Queens GOP endorsement would have come about six weeks after an ugly Republican mayoral primary, with a court case still pending and only two weeks before the general election. Originally, the Queens Republican Organization led by Queens Republican Chairman Phil Ragusa had backed John Catsimatidis in the primary, while another faction led by Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich had backed Mr. Lhota. A very odd reason cited by Crain’s Chris Bragg was that the Lhota campaign felt that such an announcement also might have brought attention to infighting in the Brooklyn Republican Party, as well as to the fact that Mr. Catsimatidis has not formally endorsed Mr. Lhota ( See “Lhota shuns Queens GOP endorsement” by Chris Bragg, 10-22-13, Crain’s NY Business/ Insider [http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20131022/BLOGS04/131029970]).
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