Sunday, September 12, 2010
110 Knocks
September 13 Hudson Terrace Party: Young Professionals For Reshma
September 13, 2010 at 8:00 PM
Hudson Terrace
621 West 46th Street
Between 11th and 12th Avenues
New York, NY 10036
Friday, September 10, 2010
GOP In November?
(Source: Daily Mail
Via: Lamont Carolina, the number one Obama 08 volunteer in all of New York City)
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Bill Clinton Endorsed Maloney, Or Did He? Read Carefully
What Bill Clinton Really Said
What Bill Clinton Said
The first bill I signed into law as President was the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993. Carolyn Maloney voted for it.
Carolyn Maloney is someone who will fall in line. She is a pretty reliable Democrat. She is a checkbox Democrat. She is no leader, if that is what you are looking for, but she is not one of those who give you a hard time voting for what the rest of the party is very willing to vote for. That is an A on reliability.
What Bill Clinton Really Said
What Bill Clinton Said
(S)he recently introduced a bill that would expand this act to include LGBT employees and their partners. That is how you effect real change— by figuring out how to build upon the progress we've made as a nation.
Carolyn Maloney has not done dazzling work on gender. There is no pre-Maloney, post-Maloney thing on gender. She has been unremarkable, pretty much. But I don't think this is a quest to demolish Maloney and put in her place Reshma Saujani. If Reshma Saujani wins, she is going to have to build on some of the good work Maloney and others like Maloney have done. These early women have laid down the foundations. Women in future will have to build upon that. Reshma Saujani's quest is more to become the successor to Maloney, rather than to displace Maloney.
What Bill Clinton Really Said
What Bill Clinton Said
(Maloney) passed anti-rape legislation .... (Maloney) succeeded in getting mammograms covered by Medicare
See, I told you. Maloney has done some work for women. Women in future are going to have to build upon Maloney's work. What Maloney has done is not the total package, it is not a complete package, it is rather piecemeal and haphazard, but it is what it is.
What Bill Clinton Really Said
What Bill Clinton Said
with all the work she's done on financial issues.
Look, both you and I know Maloney will bite the arm if you will give her a finger. She has been trying to take credit for all the financial reform work that has been done by two chambers of Congress these past few months, but this is election season, and she is facing a tough primary fight. I think she is entitled to take a little more credit than is due hers. What the heck, politicians do that all the time. Don't fault the woman for what is pretty mainstream behavior.
What Bill Clinton Really Said
What Bill Clinton Said
As a father, I want what's best for my child and someday, her children. Decades from now, we will all still be reaping the benefits of Carolyn's extraordinary work.
My daughter has never heard of Carolyn Maloney. But then she likes rap music too. It might be generational. I asked her, and she was wondering if Carolyn Maloney was one of our family friends from back in Arkansas. Carolyn does have a North Carolina accent, but that is not why Chelsea asked.
If you ask me, Carolyn Maloney is "maxed out" like the New York Daily News said, or was it the Observer? It is hard to keep track of New York newspapers, there are so many of them. I am from Arkansas. We like to keep it simple, one newspaper per town.
I was going to stay neutral. Reshma Saujani did raise a lot of money for Hillary 08. But Maloney kept bugging me. So I finally relented, and asked my staff in Harlem to prepare a little something. I said email. You know I don't send out emails. That just is not who I am. I am a robocall guy. So if Maloney is telling you I sent out an email on her behalf, she could not be telling the truth.
But what the heck. She reminds me of Clinton 92, and that is just the sweetest memory. And so I asked my staff to prepare a little something for her. With all the insurgency that is going on, she will likely not win, but September 15 is another day. You bet I will be placing a call to Reshma Saujani first chance I get. I am going to start the talk by saying thank you for all you did for Hillary. Yeah, I know. I read that power shoes story in the New York Times. These women are from a different planet. They speak a different language. It is code to guys like me.
Chelsea wants to come out for Saujani. And I am trying my best to not let that happen. How will that look? Father is for one candidate, the daughter for another? So far so good.
Just between you and me, Chelsea does NOT relate to Maloney. At all. So for anyone, even me, to say Chelsea's children might connect any dots going back to Maloney, I don't see that happening. But this is election season. The emphasis is not on accuracy, at least not for my and Carolyn's generation. We peaked out politically in the 1990s. Bush was an anomaly.
Chelsea and Hillary have both been ganging up on me. Hillary says if she were not Secretary of State, she would outright endorse Reshma Saujani. But since it is not legal for her to endorse, she did the shoe thing.
My mother, though, if she had been around, I think she would have sided with me. It is a South thing. Maloney has just the accent. But truth be told, I am not for Maloney either. Sitting and former presidents don't have the luxury to not endorse an incumbent. I mean look at my man Barack. He kept Maloney dangling on the 9/11 health bill. He is feeling like Maloney is taking too much credit for finance reform. So he left her dangling. But he did endorse her first, back in April. It is not like he had the option to not endorse her. But then now he has gone and undercut her. He has pulled the rug. I understand politics speak. By now Barack is neutral, if not tilting Saujani.
And if you watched Reshma Saujani on NY1, I am neutral too. But it takes some political sophistication to be able to read that. (Bill Clinton Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani)
Barack is pissed Maloney is taking too much credit for finance reform. Hillary is pissed Maloney is taking too much credit for the work on the health of the 9/11 first responders. My man Charlie Schumer is pissed Maloney is taking too much credit for the Second Avenue subway line. Now that is one trick I would like to learn from Maloney. How do you take credit for something that does not even exist? I am pissed Maloney has tried to take too much credit for my Family Leave Act. "We all worked together," Maloney says to me about my Family Leave Act.
So far Maloney has not taken credit for anything Bloomberg has done. How does Bloomberg do that? Barack, Hillary, Schumer and me, we would all like to know how.
What Bill Clinton Really Said
What Bill Clinton Said
Carolyn is what I call a "how" politician
All my grey hair aside, I am still a politician. Don't you call me no philanthropist! I feel like I am entitled to at least one lie in one email. And this is my lie. The truth is Carolyn Maloney has no clue how Congress works. Look at the woman's record. She says she has authored 70 bills. We all know what that means. Her staff authored those 70 bills. It is not like Maloney went to Yale Law School like me, and Hillary and Reshma Saujani. She does not know how to author bills. Of those 70 bills, three passed. If you can't connect the dots there, let me tell you in plain English. That is NOT good. That is NOT a good record.
When I say Carolyn Maloney is a HOW politician, that is an inside joke in Clintonland. Once Carolyn Maloney was overheard saying on the Hill: "People keep passing bill after bill. How?" That is when James Carville decided on that nickname for her, that Maloney is a HOW politician.
Reshma's Afghanistan Remark And The Wise Guys/Gals At FireDogLake
Image via WikipediaNew York Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Who Thinks “Afghanistan Attacked Us” By Jane Hamsher, FireDogLakeThe insinuation here is that Reshma Saujani is a green horn, especially on foreign policy, and does that not make the New York Daily News an ignorant little newspaper to have endorsed Reshma Saujani in the hottest primary in America?
First thing first, the New York Daily News is not some ignorant little newspaper. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in New York City. Or maybe the FireDogLake people are based out of Utah, and they don't know that little fact.
As for Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden - or maybe the FireDogLake people think it was Saddam - masterminded and funded the most vicious attack on US territory since Pearl Harbor. Not even Pearl Harbor itself compares to 9/11. No attack on US soil compares to 9/11. 9/11 was the first attack of its kind on US territory.
The Al Qaeda did it. Osama Bin Laden was and is the chief of that organization. He was living in Afghanistan and might still be. At the time he was living under the direct protection of Mullah Omar, who was and is the head of the Taliban, and is also on the run. Osama Bin Laden played a key role in bringing the Taliban to power in Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar were blood relatives in 2001. The Taliban was and is a regional organization. The Al Qaeda was and is global. The Al Qaeda continues to actively plot against the US. If they have not succeeded on a second attack, it has not been for lack of trying.
After 9/11 happened, the US asked Mullah Omar, the head of state of Afghanistan at the time - today it is Hamid Karzai - to hand over Osama Bin Laden. If he refused, that would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Mullah Omar refused. He claimed he had no knowledge of the 9/11 plot and that the US needed to submit proof that Osama Bin Laden had something to do with it in the first place. Maybe the blog FireDogLake is interested in that parsing of words, but my candidate is not.
It was Afghanistan, it was not Iraq. That was the whole Obama 08 plank, that the US needed to stay focused on Afghanistan and the Afghan-Pak border, that to go into Iraq was to take eyes off the Al Qaeda that never stopped plotting against the US in the first place.
That is why President Obama has increased military presence in Afghanistan but has pulled out of Iraq.
Are you still going to tell me Afghanistan did not attack the US? If the people in power at the time in Afghanistan had nothing to do with it before or after 9/11, they would have handed over Bin Laden. Instead they ran away with him and are perhaps hiding together as we speak. Why?
In The News
Russell Simmons Backs Maloney Foe New York Daily News (blog) (AllVoices.com)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Reshma Saujani and Me Clyde Fitch Report (blog)
The Main Street-Wall Street Battle: When Will It End? Wall Street Journal (blog)
Hip-Hop Mogul Russell Simmons For Reshma Saujani In NY-14 Primary Brawl By Celeste Katz
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Reshma Saujani have raised more than $4.1M in East Side race for House seat New York Daily News
Economy tops issues in Maloney race YourNabe.com
Scoopy's Notebook The Villager
Incumbents Have Edge In Most Races Western Queens Gazette
Custom Shirts, GPS Dating and Hyperlocal News at the NY Tech Meetup NY Convergence (blog)
Congressional hopeful Reshma Saujani: 'I might not vote' on Election Day if I lose primary New York Daily News
An Insider Running as an Outsider New York Times (blog)
The New York Observer's Primary Choices New York Observer
Murkowski Not Done Yet, Political Mudslinging on Twitter and More in Capital Eye Opener: September 8 Center for Responsive Politics
New York Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Who Thinks “Afghanistan Attacked Us” By Jane Hamsher, FireDogLake
Saujani Harshly Criticizes Maloney in Radio Debate | The Lo-Down NY
Maloney, Saujani Spar in Radio Debate | OurTownNY
Links to Wall St. Become Liability in Primary Races - NYTimes.com By DealBook
Maloney, Saujani Spar in Radio Debate By Our Town
Reshma Saujani Calls Carolyn Maloney a Liar During Radio Debate DNAinfo
The Big Debate: Rep. Carolyn Maloney Vs. Reshma Saujani - Liveblog New York Daily News (blog)
Before Debate, Maloney, Saujani Get Dueling Endorsements | OurTownNY
Good Morning! | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side By ed, The Lo Down NY
The Big Debate: Rep. Carolyn Maloney Vs. Reshma Saujani – Liveblog By admin, Colocation Hosting Pricing
Reshma Saujani: "Afghanistan Attacked Us" Video
RESHMA SAUJANI: YOU GO GIRL! Janet Hanson · 85Broads.com
New York Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Who Thinks "Afghanistan Attacked Us"
Battle For NY-14: Maloney, Saujani Each Get Big Endorsements Gothamist
For Indian-American pols, the “What are you?” test | Gauhar.com By sarmad
YouTube - Reshma Saujani on Israel
Reshma Saujani Vs. Carolyn Maloney On Debating... Again - New York
Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Francisco Moya, Lynn Nunes New York Daily News (blog)
Daily News Endorses Saujani | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side
DN For Saujani To Bring 'New Blood' To NY Delegation By Liz Benjamin, Capital Tonight
Mayor Graham's View: DN For Saujani To Bring 'New Blood' To NY Delegation By Jeff Graham
THE N.Y. TIMES ENDORSEMENT EDITION: AGAINST RANGEL, FOR LAZIO AND MALONEY.. Florida Latin Connection
Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Francisco Moya, Lynn Nunes Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles
Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Francisco Moya, Lynn Nunes
Okay, So Maloney Has Been A Democrat, And A Woman
Image via WikipediaCarolyn Maloney has been a Democrat. She has consistently voted the party line. But to say Maloney is a Democrat in the context of the September 14 primary is to insinuate Reshma Saujani is perhaps not a Democrat. That would be a lie. To point out that Maloney has voted the party line is to imply that perhaps Reshma has not been, or will not be a loyal Democrat. That amounts to slander. No, Maloney did not wave a magic wand and turn a Republican district into a Democratic district. She did not benefit from her extraordinary political skills or rousing oratory in 1992, she benefited from redistricting that added big chunks of Democratic territory to District 14, namely Astoria and Roosevelt Island. So the suggestion that if Maloney is not on the ballot in November then somehow the dams will burst and the seat will go to some guy called Brumberg, that is, well, Baloney. Reshma is going to have an easy victory in November.
The biggest things people say about Maloney is that she has consistently voted the party line. They do that because there are no bigger things to say about Maloney. She has no national stature. She is a City Council woman who ended up in Congress by happenstance. She won because of redistricting and she has kept the seat by not allowing for any primary opponents. Her 18 years of reign have been a sham. The dirty guys on her payroll have kicked off all of her primary opponents over the decades. They tried the same with Reshma Saujani, but they found they instead have a fight on their hands. Because Reshma Saujani is a fighter.
To vote the party line on health care reform, and then to try and take credit for health care reform in a Democratic primary is dishonest. You can say that in November, but not in September. Reshma Saujani is a Democrat who is already dreaming in terms of Health Care Reform 2.0.
Maloney voted the party line on Wall Street reform. Reshma has been for Wall Street reform since day one. Her father lost a big chunk of his 401K to the mess that made the Maloney family 20 million dollars. Now tell me, who is Wall Street's candidate? Maloney showed up with the sheriff after the looting was over. The curious thing is that she was part of the looting. She watered down regulations in 1999. When people talk about the hypocrisy in Washington DC, they are talking about Maloney. You loot the people and then you show up on stage claiming you are their savior. But the people are smart. They are going to connect the dots on September 14, and they are going to blame Maloney for the Great Recession.
Things get much worse on gender. It is like saying because Al Sharpton is a bonafide civil rights leader - which he is - and so you should not vote for Barack Obama for president. They are both black, but they are apples and oranges. Carolyn Maloney and Reshma Saujani are both women but they are apples and oranges.
They say Maloney Baloney passed anti rape legislation. That really gets under my shirt because that is like suggesting if Reshma Saujani ends up in Congress, she is going to pass pro rape legislation, or something. Rape is a heinous crime, and anti rape law enforcement has to be funded to the teeth, and I am glad the US Congress took some steps in the 2000s. But why not the 1990s? Why not the 1980s? Why did Maloney wait a full decade and a half before she worked on anti rape legislation? That is the real question.
This mediocre, reliable, token woman Democrat reminds me of Charlie Rangel. Charlie Rangel is that black dude that white folks choose to be nice to. Charlie, I am going to show up for your birthday party, I just want you to keep saying race is no longer an issue, or at least not between us.
Men on Capitol Hill have been hoodwinking Carolyn Maloney. They say, Carolyn, so here's 10 million dollars for anti rape legislation, now please make this gender thing go away please, enough.
Charlie Rangel is not my idea of progress on race. Carolyn Maloney is not my idea of progress on gender. The women on the East Side need to wake up. They live in a city whose local news is national news, global news. The choice they will make on September 14 will reverberate around the country, around the world. This is not just about the East Side.
Maloney is an abject failure on all counts. But I don't really blame her. I suspect she was born mediocre. She did her stint. Now say bye bye Maloney Baloney.
Bill Clinton has also managed to put a few tens of billions into the Global South. That is like Maloney putting tens of millions into anti rape legislation. There are three billion needy people in the Global South. 20 billion from Bill Clinton and 40 billion from Bill Gates are drops in the ocean. I want Reshma to figure out a way to pump a trillion dollars in Wall Street for-profit money into global microfinance. Now that would not be a drop, but a full bucket.
Carolyn Maloney needs to retire already.
Baloney Maloney will tell you she has authored 70 bills in Congress. What she will not tell you is only three of those have actually passed, one was to do with renaming some post office. So if you one day find yourself at a Carolyn Maloney Post Office, now you know how that happened.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Hillary Means More To Reshma Than Barack Means To Me
I don't really know how to explain this, but I am going to try.
All my slights, my hurts, all the topsy turvies along my career path - some days I feel like I have not even started on one yet - all of them can be encapsulated in 500 years of world history. Beyond 500 years I draw a blank. When you go back more than 500 years, I come across stories of all sorts of glorious kings in my part of the world, some of whom were supposedly great, but they were still kings, the arrangement still was feudal. But you hang on to the threads regardless. They are dead and gone.
But for women that span has got to be 10,000 years, at least 10,000 years.
At some level I was really torn in 2007 and 2008. I wished I did not have to choose between the idea of the first black president and the first woman president, I wished I did not have to choose between the two super duper candidates. But I did throw in my lot with Barack, and I did do the best I could for him. The one solace was that perhaps this was the future. Women and black men could compete for the top most jobs and there was not much angst among the masses. This will perhaps feel normal down the line as well, I thought. I took solace in that thought.
Here were two out and out outstanding individuals. And they were both running for president. A more powerful political office has never been designed ever. This was a big deal.
I have worked hard to talk in terms of The New Woman for September 14. I have done it because I concluded early on that that was what was going to be the biggest reason for victory. The techies and brownies will pad the victory margins, but it is the women on the East Side who will have to wake up to give Reshma her much deserved victory on September 14.
And victory it shall be. I smell it. It's near. It's about to happen.
September 14 Will Birth The New Woman
Hillary Clinton Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani
Hillary's Support For Reshma Can Not Be Spinned Away
Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14
Carolyn Maloney: The Al Sharpton Of Gender Relations
Maloney Wrote A Book Saying Her Best Is Not Good Enough
Bill Clinton Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani
Image via WikipediaSo I met this Clinton 92 veteran dude at a Digital Dumbo event. (Digital Dumbo 18: The Dumbo Loft)
A week or two later he emailed me saying he had just read a newspaper article on Reshma and he thought that would be a great way to get on the Inside City Hall program on NY1. I passed on that email to Kevin, the campaign manager, and James, the media guy, and I asked the Clinton guy to share any contacts he might have with Kevin and James. Since I have not talked to him. Or to Kevin and James about this.
And now we get this: Reshma Saujani On NY1: The Big Moment.
This is how a skillful former president does what he needs to do, what he knows is the right thing to do.
And Jesse Jackson showing up right before Reshma's NY1 appearance is no accident. It is possible he showed up on his own as a proud Chicago guy. Or maybe Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson had a little talk before that.
Hillary Clinton Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani
Barack Obama Just Endorsed Reshma Saujani
Who is next? FDR? Abraham Lincoln?
Reshma Saujani On NY1: The Big Moment
Image via WikipediaVideo: NY1 Online: Saujani Makes Case For Unseating Carolyn MaloneyVideo: NY1 Online: Saujani Makes Case For Unseating Carolyn Maloney
Video: NY1 Online: Saujani Makes Case For Unseating Carolyn Maloney
Video: NY1 Online: Saujani Makes Case For Unseating Carolyn Maloney
Video: NY1 Online: Saujani Makes Case For Unseating Carolyn Maloney
Four major newspaper endorsements and I was still waiting - breath abated - for this NY1 appearance by Reshma. This is that big moment. The tidal wave of victory begins now. We are on.
I am sure this video will be put on YouTube by the staff, because I would really like to embed the clip. I am sure the campaign will email out the link to the clip to everyone.
This is the best of all of Reshma's TV appearances this election season.
This Elizabeth person puts Chris Matthews to shame. Her questions were probing but not demonizing.
Curiously Jesse Jackson showed up at the studio to greet Reshma right before her appearance on TV. That would make my mood for sure. I am calling this a Chicago conspiracy.
Reshma Saujani is the most amazing politician I ever met. It is good to finally see her on TV. Otherwise Carolyn Baloney had decided the hottest primary race in America was going to suffer a TV blackout. Her CNBC appearance I thought was pretty cool too. But this NY1 appearance is it. This is the ultimate cool.
CNBC is national. NY1 is so New York City.
This is the moment I have been waiting for. The victory march begins now in earnest. I am getting ready for the victory party on Tuesday. What about you? All the labor leaders are invited. I know you are kind of slow, but that's okay. Show up for the victory party on Tuesday.
Reshma Featured On Rediff Property
Maloney Lied Repeatedly In Radio Debate
Radio Debate: Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney
New York Observer Endorsement: Reshma 2010 Now Unstoppable
Maloney Reshma Radio Debate Aftermath
New York Daily News Is Da Bomb
New York Times Also Endorsed David Yassky: Yassky Who?
One Detail Missing In AP Article On Reshma
NY1, NY1, NY1, NY1, NY1
Brian Lehrer's Message To TV Journalists In Town
Carolyn Maloney: Radioface
The Brian Lehrer Show: Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney
Wayne Barrett: Suspicious Package
Village Idiot Wayne Barrett
Maloney Should Skip Radio Debate And Create Jobs For An Hour Instead
Carolyn Maloney: Feeling Ugly?
MyFoxNY: Reshma Saujani
Carolyn Maloney: Chicken
Reshma On CNBC
Vogue India Features Reshma
Sarina Jain: YouTube: Reshma Saujani
Reshma Saujani: South Asian Powerhouse, National Candidate To The Tech Sector
I Am Angry At Chris Matthews
Reshma For Congress YouTube Channel
DNAinfo.com: Reshma Saujani
Chris Matthews Repeated The Lie That Reshma Is Wall Street's Candidate
Reshma Saujani And The Chris Matthews Band
Reshma Saujani At The Huffington Post
Bloomberg Video: Saujani Sees Private Sector Jobs Crucial To Recovery
This NY1 appearance is the crown jewel of all of Reshma Saujani's media appearances this election season so far. Go NY1.
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Reshma Featured On Rediff Property
Image via WikipediaIndia Abroad is Rediff property. Reshma has been featured in an article in India Abroad.
In the late 1990s I was an early team member to a dot com called Chaitime.com. Chai means tea. We were going to be the largest South Asian online community. Long story short, we lost, Rediff won.
It is good to see Reshma featured on Rediff property today.
But I am not liking this if-I-lose talk one bit. There has only to be talk of the victory party Tuesday.
Looking For Michelle
I never asked Barack to deliver Iowa. But I did ask Michelle - in person - to deliver Iowa, and deliver she did.
Michelle Obama Is Just Fabulous
I Stand With Michelle: Iowa Must And Can Be Won
Before Michelle And I Became Rich And Famous
Michelle was right. No Iowa was Obama going home instead of to the White House, and she delivered. She publicly stated in the fall of 2007 that Iowa was a must, and became a little unpopular with some of the staff. But that was okay. Truth be told.
And now it is election time all over again. And I don't see how Barack can win if Michelle is not going to hit the campaign trail.
Barack Obama is a politician. Hillary Clinton is a politician. Bill Clinton is a politician. But Michelle Obama is not a politician. That is her appeal.
Her brother said in 2007, she hates politics, but she hates losing even more, and that is why she was pounding the pavement for Barack Obama.
Barack defied history in 2008. Black folks were not meant to become president, I don't care if your father is from Kenya, and mother from Kansas. Well, Barack broke that rule.
Now the rule is he is supposed to lose the House and the Senate in November. If he loses the House and the Senate in November, no one is going to come out and say Barack is a bad guy. First term presidents are supposed to lose the first midterm election. That has been the norm.
But I am of the mind that Barack needs to defy history all over again. He needs to do whatever it takes to keep the House and the Senate. He needs that to be able to do the good work he wants to do on immigration reform next year. He needs that to be able to present himself as the guy who will cut the deficit and bring down the debt as he gears for re-election.
Keeping The House And The Senate
Crisis: Opportunity For Greatness For Obama
The Dumbfuck Immigration Laws
Save Immigration For 2011
In South Africa They Had Apartheid, In America They Got Immigration
And that is where the non politician comes in. The politician could not have done it without the non politician in 2008. He sure can't do it in 2010.
Looking For Professor Obama
Assigned To The Astoria Office
Image via CrunchBase
I have been assigned by Reshma 2010 to work out of the Astoria office the final few days that I signed up to volunteer. I will be making phone calls and knocking on doors. And I will do whatever else I am asked to do. One thing would be boost the morale of the staff/interns/volunteers/gawkers in the office, and any passers by on the sidewalk.
I signed up for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. But I have a feeling I might show up also tomorrow, Friday. The idea would be to show up after lunch and stay as late as possible.
I have emailed some key people on the staff saying we need a ton of cookies and vitamin water in the two offices. Every time I have sat down to make phone calls, it has felt like a sea voyage. I have labored over it. Phone calls don't come naturally to me. I do much better with small group small talk. Did I say I don't own a phone?
I showed up for the office opening party in Astoria. (Reshma 2010: Queens Office Opening Party: August 9) My first reaction that I shared with many people was, I actually like this office better than the Manhattan office. The Astoria office is democracy, the Manhattan office is capitalism. Voters are not elevator fodder. Voters are sidewalk people.
The Astoria office is on the ground floor. It is at street level. The entire office is see through. People on the sidewalk can see the entire office except the inside of the restroom, and that probably is by design.
I really like that proximity to the sidewalk. You can step out and suddenly you are a man of the people. You could be someone gawking in while passing by.
Before I started volunteering for Reshma 2010, it is like I had never been to Astoria proper. The neighborhoods are so great. They are so very inviting. I mean, I had been to the Beer Garden during Obama 08. Alexis, who was a key Obama person in Queens, was out of there. That Beer Garden place is really something. It has got to be the best beer place in the city, and I am not even much of a beer drinker. It is the setting I dig.
The last time I was at the Astoria office was right after the community conversation event in Queens 10 blocks away. I walked the 10 blocks to the office and picked two more Reshma 2010 red, white, and blue shirts, my uniform for this election season. Right before that 10 block walk, I got lost for a few blocks after I stepped outside the Holiday Inn where the event was. It is much easier to not get lost when you follow the train tracks.
Jon Gardiner in tow, I showed up. My first reaction, we need Reshma 2010 posters all over that thing at the top of the entrance. That is so much wasted free advertising space. That would work 24/7.
NY1, NY1, NY1, NY1, NY1
Roosevelt Island: Community Conversation
Community Conversation: Upper East Side
Reshma's Lower East Side Community Conversation
NYConvergence: Custom Shirts, GPS Dating And Hyperlocal News At The NY Tech Meetup: The NY Tech Meetup celebrated Rosh Hashanah last night the traditional way: hosting 800 people for a full course of startup demos. Thrown into the mix were a presentation by Google and an appeal from Democratic Congressional candidate Reshma Saujani (running in New York's 14th district) to get involved, specifically by voting or volunteering for her. She has emphasized technological innovation and tax breaks for investment in her campaign.
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