Is Anybody Here Interested in the Danny and Vinny [or is that “Vinnie”] Race [or is that Show] ?

YOU CERTAINLY DIDN’T HEAR THIS  HERE, FIRST:  “Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, a Republican, is left to cruise to election over City Councilman Vincent Gentile in the May 5 special election to replace former GOP Rep. Michael Grimm....”                                                                                                                   –   NY Daily News, 4/4/15

The only issue left in doubt in the Campaign for Congress in the Brooklyn – Staten Island Eleventh Congressional District  District is whether Councilman Vincent Gentile, the Democratic Party Candidate, spells his nickname “Vinnie” or “Vinny”

 
And [GM making a loud yawn sound] this just in: Gentile and Donovan expressed themselves about the Iran Nuke deal  –  Yippee !

I’m getting calls from this, that or the other brand of Brooklyn Young Republicans telling me about doing stints at the Dan Donovan Brooklyn Headquarters, near the end of the earth at 97th Street in Bay Ridge; and I’m getting nice and simple mailers from “Donovan for Congress” that really don’t say very much. On the other side of the fence, the grass is certainly not as green; and the word I’m getting is that the Bay Ridge Dems and the rest of the Gentile folks are moping around and angry at everybody, including me.

What does anybody expect about a race that has had no real sound and no real fury, and certainly has come to signify nothing ?

It’s no wonder that the Daily News has decided to throw in the towel for the Democrats (See “Democrats all but concede Rep. Michael Grimm's Congress seat to Republican Dan Donovan” by Dan Friedman, 4/4/15, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/dems-concede-grimm-congress-seat-donovan-article-1.2173911]).  However, I do need to report that Dan Friedman of the Daily News unequivocally pointed the finger at Democrats for the presence of the large towel in the middle of the ring, saying, and I quote [Of course, there are quotes around it !]: “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrat’s campaign arm, has quietly but completely thrown in the towel for the contest to represent New York’s 11th congressional district, which includes Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn....”

To show you how little real news there is about this special election campaign, the Brooklyn Eagle covered the News article above as if it were itself a news story (See “Report: Democrats giving up on Gentile in congress race” by Paula Katinas, 4/6/15, The Brooklyn Eagle [http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/4/6/report-democrats-giving-gentile-congress-race]).  Now, under different circumstances, I might have taken Paula Katinas to task for doing that, but since that’s pretty much what I’m doing right now, that just wouldn’t be fair, would it ?  Besides, she did get Justin Brannan’s quote comparing the Dan Donovan Campaign to the Kentucky basketball team. Unfortunately, even Justin couldn’t bring himself to comparing his campaign for Councilman Gentile to Wisconsin, the momentary  victors.

Even the Staten Island Advance is having trouble coming up with stories that might make any of this stuff seem remotely interesting.  Now some might want to debate this last point about the Staten Island Advance; and they are welcome to do so in the comments following this post; and they should be sure to put in citations so I can have a chance to prove my point in a dull rebuttal about what I’m sure will be any insipidly dull article that might be cited.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

According to an old buddy, writing in “JPUpdates”  –  Jacob Kornbluh:   “...Praising Senator Chuck Schumer and other New York Democrats who have recently defied  President Obama’s opposition to require congressional approval on a final deal with Iran, Staten Island District Attorney and Republican congressional candidate, Dan Donovan issued a direct hit on his Democratic opponent for enthusiastically supporting the framework on a final Iran deal announced last week. ***  Councilman Vincent Gentile, the Democratic candidate in the open seat for NY’s 11th Congressional District, applauded President Obama “for agreeing to a much-needed framework to keep Iran’s nuclear program peaceful,” setting the world on a “safer path.” Gentile stated that he is “cautiously optimistic” that the current agreement would lead to a “final, comprehensive long-term plan that will make our country, our allies, and our world safer....” (See “NY11 – Donovan: Gentile Is Out Of Touch With Mainstream Dems on Iran Deal"  by Jacob Kornbluh, 4/7/15, JPUpdates [http://jpupdates.com/2015/04/07/ny11-donovan-gentile-is-out-of-touch-with-mainstream-dems-on-iran-deal/]).