Wednesday, January 29, 2014

How long are the Brooklyn and Staten Island County Republican Organizations going to put up with Michael Grimm, Grimm’s bad behavior and Grimm’s other longstanding problems ? Haven't things gone too far already ?

Here are just a few of today’s headlines:

“Rep. Michael Grimm rips reporter. Why so angry?” –  Christian Science       Monitor - by Peter Grier

“Rep. Michael Grimm apologizes for threats; reporter won't press                   charges” –  Los Angeles Times

“New York Congressman Threatens to Throw Reporter Off Balcony”  –           TIME - by Nate Rawlings

“New York Rep. Michael Grimm threatens reporter after being asked ...”          –  NY Daily News – by Adam Edelman



The stories about Michael Grimm since 2010 have consistently fit a pattern and it is not a good one  —   Are any of us surprised that he started out as a solid conservative Republican with strong Tea Party support and has turned into a hard-core RINO  “moderate” –  who routinely attacks the Tea Party and the likes of conservative Republican Ted Cruz ?



From the moment Michael Grimm stepped onto the local political stage, some time late in 2009, there has always been a cross-threaded feel about him, that got worse and worse as the fittings that made up the whole Grimm fix got tightened more and more.

Questions like  —   “Where did Mike Grimm come from ?” –  “Where’s he been and what’s he been doing all these years ? – and–   “Why is he here now?”  —   questions like that were always shoved aside by insiders associated with Guy Molinari and Mike Long. When somebody brought up this-that-or the-other detail that didn't fit the spit and polish narrative it was always pounded-down or pushed-back with the "It's just politics" defense or "It's the liberal media going after a Republican when the Democrats have done much worse and nobody mentions that" attack.

As time went on, we Republicans found out more and more about our Brooklyn and Staten Island congressman  —  little-by-little, drip-by-drip, story-after-story, fact-upon-fact —  as the truth has came out and continues to come out.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Grimm's version of his Marine Corps service and military decorations, his undercover and other service in the FBI, his “history” of business successes and failures, his personal problems that have gotten into the public eye and/or his dealings in Washington D.C. as New York City’s only Republican congressman; everything that Michael Grimm does seems to have a questionable underside, an improbable explanation, and a bad aftertaste.

2014 can be a decent year for local conservative Republicans, but only if we make sure that the national trends carry over to the local races  —   a second-rate gubernatorial candidate and a terribly damaged congressional candidate would be likely to destroy any chance of that. Because of  that and generally important considerations of good government and good PR, the Richmond and Kings County Republican leaderships need to ask themselves this: “Do we want to go into the 2014 elections with an albatross around our necks or a monkey on our backs like Mike Grimm ?”  If anybody answers "Yes !" Then they need to tell us >>>  WHY ......

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I SAW THE VIDEO.
MUCH ADO OVER NOTHING

Anonymous said...

I understand why the Times thought this story was important, but whose side are you on?

Galewyn Massey said...

If it's not obvious which side I'm on, I don't understand your question.

Anonymous said...

I love this guy, and appreciate his temperament. He has balls to say what he feels - can't blame him for that. Everyone is so f*cking scared to say anything nowadays, people should take a page out of his book.

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE “SIGN OF THE TIMES – BURYING ITS LEAD” EDITION

TIMES’ REPORT ON GRIMM’S APOLOGY IS MORE THAN A REPORT ON HIS APOLOGY — IT CONTAINS A DEMAND FOR CONGRESSIONAL ACTION AGAINST GRIMM BY THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK, BILL DE BLASIO

The New York Times has posted its second feature about Congressman Michael Grimm’s threat against a cable news reporter in less than a day (See “After ‘I’ll Break You in Half,’ Grimm Apologizes” by Sarah Wheaton and Marc Santorajan, 1/29/14, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/nyregion/rep-michael-grimm-threat-ny1-reporter.html?_r=0]).

The lead paragraph of the second Times article went like this: “WASHINGTON — Representative Michael G. Grimm of Staten Island, once considered a rising star in the Republican Party, touched off a political firestorm after delivering unusually vitriolic threats against a reporter inside the United States Capitol building on Tuesday night, just moments after the State of the Union speech.”

THAT PITHY PARAGRAPH IS AN ARTICLE ALL BY ITSELF !

“Representative Michael G. Grimm of Staten Island, once considered a rising star in the Republican Party...” OUCHA - MAGGOUCHA ! ! ! Now, that’s a bit sharp, don’t you think ?

“...touched off a political firestorm after delivering unusually vitriolic threats against a reporter inside the United States Capitol building...” “...UNUSUALLY VITRIOLIC THREATS...” That means >>> way over the line, as far as the New York Times is concerned <<< in case you missed it.

BURIED DEEP IN THIS RATHER DETAILED PIECE IS THE NEWS THAT THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK HAS DECIDED TO WEIGH IN ON THE ONLY GOP CONGRESSMAN IN HIS CITY — MAYBE HE IS TRYING TO RUN HIM OUT OF TOWN

According to the Times report by Sarah Wheaton and Marc Santorajan, “Mayor Bill de Blasio, joining a chorus of critics, said Mr. Grimm’s actions were “absolutely inappropriate'’ and called on the House to sanction him.... *** Mr. de Blasio said Republican leaders should condemn Mr. Grimm’s behavior. *** ‘We are going to have moments, between all of us in public life, and all of you who do your job, where we have disagreements and tensions,” he said at a news conference on Wednesday morning. “But it’s absolutely inappropriate to be expressed in that manner.’ ”

So there you have most of it ... the rest of the article is pretty good too.

Galewyn Massey said...

A congressman walking away, then coming back and acting like a thug on tape ... "MUCH ADO OVER NOTHING" ?

I think you're very wrong. Besides, it shows a pattern of threatening behavior by Grimm and those around him, like his "body man" Alvarez.

At about 6:20 PM EST, I saw a part of the video again on Bret Baier's Special Report on Fox News --- that' was Fox's national evening news cable show, and it means the story has made it as a major story in Fox's 24-hour news cycle. Most people on the right see Fox as right leaning, fair and balanced.

At the other end of the spectrum, MSNBC has been pounding this story from various angles all day. At about 7:50 PM EST on "Hardball with Chris Matthews", Matthews and his guests Ed Rendell and Dana Millbank of the Washington Post pretty much agreed that the news about Congressman Grimm of Staten Island and Bay Ridge Brooklyn's threatening a newsman in the Capitol Rotunda upstaged all of the other Republican responses to President Obama's State of the Union message. Dana Millbank even opined that for a little while, the Grimm story might have been a bigger deal than the President's address.

btw, "Much Ado About Nothing" has lasted over four hundred years.... I doubt people will be re-enacting Grimm's threats to young Mr. Scotto that long.

Galewyn Massey said...

RU talking about Grimm or me ?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I really care about what Nanny deBlasio says.

Anonymous said...

Warren should have stayed on the school board

Galewyn Massey said...

The issue is not what de Blasio has to say per se, or whether you or like minded people care what Mr. de Blasio has to say -- the issue is that Grimm is being used as a blunt instrument to bash the rest of us. Grimm is now a convenient caricature and a prop for liberal and progressive Democrats like de Blasio to use as they choose. .

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE “WHAT DO THE FOLKS REALLY THINK” EDITION

SI LIVE SAMPLE SHOWS THAT GRIMM MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH WOMEN

As the GRIMM THREATENS REPORTER story moves out of the 24-hour news cycle it will quickly become part of the background of the 2014 election cycle. The first snapshot polling about the incident hasn’t been made public yet, but one Staten Island Advance/ silive.com article/post might be a good indicator of what the polls will tell us (See “SILive.com readers have plenty to say about Grimm's behavior” by Jillian Jorgensen, 1/29/14, SI Advance/ silive.com [http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/01/silive_readers_have_plenty_to.html]).
During a year that the Democrats will make “women’s issues” a major campaign item, Congressman Michael Grimm’s behavior with the NY 1 reporter will be a problem going forward. An unstated “women’s issue” is that they do care how men behave in public; several of the comments cited in the Jill Jorgensen piece show that Grimm’s momentary rage and verbal abuse was not viewed favorably by women respondents.

Galewyn Massey said...

FYI: Warren Wilhelm was an earlier name of Mayor Bill de Blasio....

Anonymous said...

Looks like Rep & Con party in Nassau cut another deal with Cuomo on Kathleen "Fried" Rice congressional race.

Nobody wants to be a congressman anymore.

Galewyn Massey said...

Is this Mike Huckabee ?

Galewyn Massey said...

AN ALMOST UPDATE KIND OF BACKFILL: THE “SOME OF WHAT CONGRESSMAN GRIMM'S MOUTHY BULLYING MIGHT MEAN TO THE REST OF THE GOP” EDITION

SOMEBODY LOOKING WITH A REPUBLICAN P.O.V. AT ALL THIS GRIMM STUFF


To some of us, Alex Isenstadt is restating the obvious when he mentions that some Republicans are worried that memorable images of Grimm threatening a newsman will provide Democrats with even more fodder for attacks this fall. Quotes like this only serve to give Isenstadt’s article a little flavor: “It’s going to have an impact on the race… [Grimm has] been very angry and very aggressive. It’s the State of the Union. It’s a solemn event,” observed Leticia Remauro, a former Staten Island Republican Party official. “People are going to ask, ‘What’s going on here?’ ” (See ““Dust-up could hurt Michael Grimm’s reelection” By Alex Isenstadt, 1/30/14, Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/michael-grimm-2014-election-chances-102841.html]).

However, this is the takeaway item from this short insight piece: “... [S]ome Republicans called Grimm’s dust-up an unforced, made-for-the-tabloids mistake that’s likely to come up repeatedly as the election year unfolds. *** “It doesn’t help,” said O’Brien Murray, a Republican strategist in New York City. “The question is how much it hurts him.”

"... hurt's him..." ! Who gives a flying newsman off a balcony about how much it "...hurts him..." -- nobody really needs him [Grimm], do they ? What about the rest of the GOP in 2014 ? The real question is is: "How much will it hurt the rest of us in the Brooklyn and SI GOP ?”