Liam McCabe did something that a lot of people on the GOP side of things in Brooklyn don't do very often --- HE STEPPED UP --- AND --- HE STOOD OUT…..

Republican City Council candidate speaks out at left-Democrat "Resist" event, presented by something called "Fight Back Bay Ridge" *  ---  which was falsely billed as a "Town Hall" held at Marty Golden's Bay Ridge Manor

Maybe, some of you read my earlier comment about Liam McCabe’s latest exploits  ---  It was posted on the thread to the post immediately below  (See my 4/24/17 Comment, “UPDATE FROM LEFT FIELD: THE "HORATIO AT THE BRIDGE" EDITION”  to my 4/22/17 post  “The Reverend Khader El-Yateem is a candidate like we have never seen before”).   In that comment I mentioned that I needed to do a more complete post about Liam McCabe’s going into the Democrats’ and other leftists’ den  and bearding their latest lion  ---  Well, here it is.

To the uninitiated, the latest in left-footed, left-leaning  “lions”  are these so-called “Town Halls” to express outrage aimed at incumbent Republican Congressmen in what some people conceive of as competitive districts.  In this case it was the “Town Hall” gathering of the clans last week at Marty Golden’s home ballfield,  the Bay Ridge Manor  ---  organized by something called  “ Fight Back Bay Ridge” [see more about that group below at " * "].  

Several reports about the April 19th meeting organized by  “Fight Back Bay Ridge”  told the tale of Liam McCabe standing up to bell the cat and tell everybody what was really afoot at the Bay Ridge Manor that night  (See  “Donovan constituents come together at community-organized town hall” by  Meaghan McGoldrick  [with photo of Liam McCabe at the event],  4/20/17,  Brooklyn Reporter   [http://brooklynreporter.com/story/donovan-constituents-come-together-community-organized-town-hall/];  “Sparks Fly Across The Aisle As Bay Ridge Hosts Town Hall In Lieu Of Congressman”  by  Carly Miller,  4/21/17,  brooklyner.com   [https://bklyner.com/sparks-fly-across-aisle-bay-ridge-hosts-town-hall-lieu-congressman/];  “Bay Ridgites host town hall for Donovan — who didn’t show" by Caroline Spivak, 4/24/17, The Brooklyn Paper [http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/40/17/br-donovan-fake-town-hall-2017-04-28-bk.html]). 

The most detailed and definitive report appears to have be the one that showed up on the blog, brooklyner.com [ it also showed a photograph of Liam McCabe while he was speaking at the ”Fight Back Bay Ridge event].   According to that report,  McCabe was  “….   ‘The only Republican in the room’…   But some feel that the event was lacking in healthy debate — and inclusion — from both sides of the aisle….   ‘They didn’t call anyone from the Republican world and didn’t have any panelists that represent our interests. It was more of a leftist pow wow or rally against Trump and Donovan,’ said Liam McCabe, a former aid to Donovan and a Republican City Council candidate.   This was an agenda-driven rally as opposed to a town hall.’   McCabe admits that Republican events don’t reach across the aisle either, and that’s something that needs to change….”

MC CABE’S OWN VERSION OF HOW IT WENT DOWN

Early on Monday,  I had a chance to talk to Mr. McCabe about the goings on at the Bay Ridge Manor.   He said that none of the reports so far gave a real taste of how things went down at the  “Bay Ridge Fights Back”  forum.

According to Liam, as soon as he was identified as a questioner,  which occurred rather late in the proceedings,  there were a variety of hoots, hisses, boos and catcalls by many of the attendees.   He said his question was simple and straightforward  ---  how many people there were Republicans and had even voted for Congressman Donovan or President Trump.   McCabe then told me that once he had asked his question,  some started shouting that he was only there to disrupt and distract from the criticism of his old boss,  Congressman Donovan.

Liam McCabe then made this assertion:   “I wasn’t there to distract or disrupt anything.  But,  I did want to make the point that the event had been billed as a “Town Hall” with elected officials,  and it was nothing of the sort….”   Then he said to me,  “It obviously was a left-wing partisan event to drive a particular anti-Donovan, anti-Republican narrative….”  He continued by saying,   It wasn’t a balanced or centrist event in any way;  and the only outreach was to and by leftist groups like the Bay Ridge Dems….”   Then he said the proof is in the record  ---  “Look at the extremist groups that the  ‘Bay Ridge Fights Back’ organizers listed as their  ‘co-sponsors’  and  ‘panelists.’…”

Liam McCabe also told me that It wasn’t until he was preparing to leave that two or three women came up to him and whispered their thanks for his being there and speaking up the way that he did.   One of the women said she too was a Republican and that the so called  “Town Hall”  was nothing like she had been told it would be.

LIAM MC CABE'S CLAIM ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE SO-CALLED "TOWN HALL" IS BACKED BY A PUBLICALLY REPORTED RECORD THAT SHOWS  ---  THIS PRESENTATION BY  “BAY RIDGE FIGHTS BACK”  WAS NEITHER FAIR AND BALANCED,   NOR WAS IT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE POLITICS OF THE MAJORITY OF THE BAY RIDGITES THAT IT PRETENDS TO REPRESENT

According to the Brooklyn Reporter article, cited above,  this so-called  “Town Hall” event was  >>>CO-SPONSORED <<<  by  “…   350 BK, the Alliance for Quality Education, the Arab-American Family Support Center, the Association of Muslim American Lawyers, CAIR New York, the Jericho Project, Metro New York Healthcare for All, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, the New York State Nurses Association, Staten Island for Change and Veterans for Peace Chapter 34….”   And the “…panelists included Jennifer Durkin, partner at Durkin & Puri, LLP; Danielle Castaldi-Micca, director of Governmental and Political Affairs for the National Institute for Reproductive Health; Kit Kennedy, director of the Energy and Transportation Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council; Tori Lyon, chief executive officer of the Jericho Project; and Andrea Shapiro, program coordinator for the Metropolitan Council on Housing….”

MCCABE SAYS HE WASN’T PULLING A STUNT EITHER  ---  HE SAYS,  “…  IT HAD TO BE DONE  …”

I put it to Liam,  was this a well-timed stunt or did he have a good reason to be at such a patently leftish agenda-driven forum only intended to benefit hard-core Democrats.

His answer seemed quite sincere;  and to many it might even border on the inspirational.   

Here’s how he answered me,  “I wasn’t there to defend my friend and old boss,  Dan Donovan.  At least not per se;  but my intent was to defend the Republican brand;  and in Bay Ridge,  that includes  Marty Golden,  Nicole Malliotakis  and  Dan Donovan.  Once I saw what was going down,  that my worst suspicions were right,  I had to speak up.   I might have made as many as 400 enemies,  but I think it had to be done….”  There  was a little more,   but nothing as good as that part.

Don’t get me wrong,  as far as I’m concerned,  Mr. Liam McCabe is far from a perfect Republican candidate for NY City Council or any other office at the present time.   However, more and more he’s showing that he is a real diamond in the rough.   It’s even possible that his time might be coming a lot sooner than I and many others would have thought.

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* Just who are the  “Fight Back Bay Ridge”  crowd ?
... And,  just what are they fighting against ?
  

A quick look at their Twitter site will tell and show you all that you need to know:   their logo is a raised fist above the word  “RESIST”;  their self-description is internally inconsistent, and minimally it is deceptive, if not an outright lie,   “…  Fight Back Bay Ridge@FightBackBR....   Fight Back Bay Ridge is a grassroots organizing group founded in November 2016 to mobilize in south Brooklyn for progressive action and localized support….”;   the rest is routine non-factual Democrat-liberal-progressive propaganda,  mostly in the form of Re-Tweets,  like our old friends the  “HRC Volunteers”  under their various names and styles.

More important that  “what”  they are fighting against is  “who”  they are fighting against  ---  That answer is simple and obvious  ---  THE  “WHO”  IS YOU,  and  THE  “WHAT”  IS  LOTS OF THE THINGS THAT YOU BELIEVE IN  ! ! !