For those of you who have grown weary of New York's endlessly frustrating political process, I offer one candidate who has been untouched by all the muck and mud of your hometown's political bickering.I speak, of course, of one Charles Montgomery Burns, who has recently launched a campaign for mayor.
Check out the video on the web site.
I have no idea who's behind this campaign. But their slogan is "No third term -- vote for Burns!" Which, I take it, is a stick in Mayor Bloomberg's eye.
Hizzoner is someone I have mixed feelings about. I didn't vote for him the first time he ran -- I voted for Mark Green instead. But I sort of regretted it instantly. I didn't vote for him the second time because of three reasons:
a) I thought the West Side Stadium was ludicrous. (Although that issue has been thankfully taken off the table.)
b) I thought his invitation to the GOP to hold their convention in NYC in 2004 handed George W. Bush his reelection. (Although, in fairness to Bloomie, he also offered the Democrats the city for their convention. The schmucks didn't take it.)
c) He not only accepted but actively sought the endorsement of Lenora Fulani and Fred Newman, two Lyndon LaRouche supporting cultish nuts -- and Bloomberg gave Fulani's All Stars Project a hefty sum of tax payer money by way of thanks.
All of which made him disqualified for my vote, as I looked at it.
But I recently had an epiphany... Mike Bloomberg has been the best Mayor of New York in my lifetime -- by a lot. He's a hell of a lot better than Giuliani, David Dinkins, Ed Koch or Abe Beame. While he hasn't been everything I've wanted in a mayor, he's been a pretty decent one. (Faint praise? Perhaps.)
And while I thought there was something imperial and outrageous about changing the rules midstream to allow himself to run for a third term, I generally think term limits are a dumb idea.
I'm still on the fence about who I'm going to vote for. But I'm glad there's a third alternative in Monty Burns. Given his contempt for hippies and Staten Island, this is the sort of campaign I feel I can get behind!
(Hat tip, curbed.)
