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| credit: original photo by Trevor Vaughan |
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella
You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh
Under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh
Under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh
Under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh
I really like this photo, sent by Mayor-elect Ravi Bhalla today. In it, you can see at least three campaigns' soggy volunteers - and two candidates- huddled together inside the dry uptown Ferry station on the rainy election evening.
I don't see frowns; I see smiles. Big ones.
I don't see frowns; I see smiles. Big ones.
There is nothing better than participating in our free and fair democratic election process, nothing more American than advocating for the candidate you choose and without fear of reprisal. And after it's over, there's no place for arrogance or bitterness or "resistance" because we rise or fall together.
For every "you did this!" there's a "but, you did that!" Can we acknowledge that we have hurt each other?
Maybe not today, but let's try. I think, I hope, eventually we all get there.
Now here is Mayor-elect Bhalla's message to all of us, that came with the photo.
to me, this picture says the vast majority of the campaign workers on all sides were engaged in a spirited campaign and enthusiastically supported their candidate of choice...and that the ridiculous petty, juvenile bickering was relegated to a very small handful of big-ego senior people at the tops of the tickets (and a few who imagined themselves to be there).
ReplyDeletethis is a snapshot of the spirit of democracy, and shouldn't be tainted or overshadowed by the negative actions of a few entitled folks and their political hacks.
Such is life - I opened up the comment section for no reason other than to comment that I agree, it is a great picture & then I read the comment that had already been typed....
ReplyDeleteoy vey, gimme a break. do you deny there was ridiculous petty, juvenile bickering during the campaign? my point is the negativity was generated by very few, and that the vast majority of people involved on the ground with the campaigns -- the real grass roots -- were good-hearted people.
Deletedo you actually have a problem with that?
I preferred to just focus on the positive. Do you have a problem with that?
DeleteLOL...well, better late than never, i guess!
DeleteIndie here: "I preferred to just focus on the positive. Do you have a problem with that?"
DeleteIndie there: "What is interesting is that Ravi mentioned that Michael DeFusco has yet to be absolved and he also mentioned that all the campaigns are being investigated. So, apparently, Ravi hasn't been absolved yet either. Gee, I hope that the police make some headway on finding who did this as it would be just awful if our Mayor-elect takes office with this cloud of suspicion such as that hanging over his head. "
So this would be a case of Indie being "focused on the positive" that Bhalla may one day be exonerated for the good of the city. All sweetness and light and hopes for a bright future.... How dare you doubt the sincerity, Me.
...and your point is?...I was responding to the photo on this thread which I think is great.
DeleteI don't know why you would ruin a positive thread with a re-post that was from another thread which reflects something both dark, ugly and accurate about the mayor-elect. Nowhere have I read that MDF is a suspect. Have you?
response to another thread entirely and is actually also a response to the mayor-elect's very unfortunate (appalling ) comment at the most recent city council meeting where he stated that both that ALL 6 campaigns were being investigated and that MDF needs to be absolved. If what Ravi said is true, that all campaigns are being investigated, than all of them need to be absolved before Ravi will support MDF and speak out against the attacks on MDF.
Wasn't talking to you, Indie. Not worth the time or effort. I was talking to Me, who is. I was illustrating the hypocrisy between your feigned disappointment here and your schadenfreude at Kurt's clubhouse. Sorry if you thought I was addressing you.
DeleteYou were talking ABOUT me - thus, I respond
DeleteIn this respect, elections are like casinos - you don’t get to place your bet AFTER the wheel stops spinning.
DeleteDenunciations of a campaign’s racist overtones are always welcome, but ring quite hollow after the target of said overtones has won the election and the offending campaign has placed an embarrassing fourth.
“Positive Indie” distancing herself from offensive rhetoric and trying to rein it in amid the heat of battle is an imaginary character we’d all love to have met.
“Positive Indie” attempting a transparent historical revision after actively participating in said offending campaign and patronizing campaign-funded alt-right propaganda blog failed to get her where she wants to be is the reality on the ground.
I’m sure Mayor-elect Bhalla is an inclusive leader who recognizes the importance of all his constituents, even those who participated in spinning and rationalizing some of the ugliest campaign rhetoric in recent memory. Indie will still get her five minutes each council meeting to pontificate and bloviate on behalf of her imagined rent-control constituency.
But the rest of us have no such obligations to magnanimity, and are not being fooled by the “Positive Indie” schtick.
You roll the dice, they land where they land.
Agree. That picture is democracy and it's awesome.
ReplyDeleteQuick correction, there are two candidates pictured above. Michael Flett and Sal Starace.
I stand corrected!
DeleteThat is a great photo. People work hard on these election for people and issues they sincerely believe in.
ReplyDeleteThere is a still a fair bit of nastiness floating about post-election. Hopefully those in office will draw inspiration from this picture and focus on the issues to maintain and improve Hoboken.
Our All New! corporate website will be intermittently neutral. Positive? Be serious. That ship has sailed and sunk within sight of the dock. We do reserve the right to call you Unelectable's "chief propagandist" and insist that you have no reaction to being so designated or we'll toss another hissy. Seems fair to us.
ReplyDeleteWe've decided to keep the "Resistance" branding.
Looking back on our first 6 months in operation, apart from cocking up the Suez deal and cocking up the Union Dry Dock deal and directly causing the loss of a reform council seat and bringing back the Beth Mason mindset that anything that's bad for my enemy is good, even if it screws the city and the taxpayer ---- we feel that the brand is ... largely ... untarnished. Especially when you factor in our successes in the areas of.... In the area of.... With that thing....
Well, we're still working on the complete list of accomplishments, but it will take some time to get everything down on paper. And it's so hard to park at that stationary store with the third world conditions on Washington Street... Also bike lanes. Pay to play. NJ Transit.
We do have an idea in the works for "Beth-ing" the Suez contract.
Using Beth's nearly disastrous interference in the hospital sale as our inspiration, we plan to add a meaningless addendum to the already negotiated deal and claim credit for the entire deal and saving the city on that basis. It's tried and true and a real crowd-pleaser!
One small complaint concerning our All New! corporate website.
We do not appreciate the way everyone keeps calling it SSDM - Same Stiff Different Morgue. It's a wonderful All New! venture and a clear break with the past. The perceived... obsession with this site, the seeming... inability to accept defeat gracefully, the spectulation... that we hope to see Unelectable fail catastrophically (otherwise, what would be the point of our "Resistance" government in exile...) --- could not be further from the truth.
For example, check out our "why can't we all get along" approach to the lunacy of Mike Defusco demanding that the mayor-elect help fund a private investigation that would completely undermine his relationship to his own Chief of Police on day one. Sure if Beth did that, we'd be all the way up her ass. But what did we just say about "bad for my enemy is good for me, even if it screws the city and the taxpayer"? So we didn't question Defusco's fingnernails-on-a-blackboard grandstanding. Heck, we're even shilling for Alex Santora these days. That's what the Resistance is all about, Charlie Brown. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
So please ask people to stop calling our All New! corporate website SSDM - Same Stiff Different Morgue. It's hurtful to us and to our three (3) participants who dragged their asses from the old site to the All New! one.
Of course, maybe it's your job as chief propagandist to deny our All New!-ness.....