Meet Harry Wilson Candidate for NYS Comptroller
In these times when it’s clear to all that our state government in Albany is wildly and hopelessly dysfunctional – and no political aspirant for any job seems to be up to the task of governing – or...
View ArticleThe Sheriff of Wall Street Returns in Client 9 The Rise and Fall of Eliot...
Silda Wall Spitzer and Eliot Spitzer Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures Eliot Spitzer — a member of the pantheon of fallen political gods, Clinton, Gingrich, Sanford, Ensign, Hyde, Helms, Mills,...
View ArticleA Chile Wind Blows CNN Some Good
It’s an ill wind that blows no good on someone, and last week CNN was the chief beneficiary. The Chile wind moved CNN into second place in the cable news ratings, behind only Fox News. For the first...
View ArticleRay Kelly Harvard Club Freeloader
In a town where a cop can’t accept a free cup of coffee, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been eating and drinking for free for the past eight years at the Harvard Club. Kelly hasn’t paid for his...
View ArticleConfidence Game Kills a Zombie Lie Well Sorta
Wall Street’s last decade is full of assorted criminals and villains that will never be held to account. It’s simply not plausible that so many well-meaning, law-abiding people made so many innocent...
View ArticleEliot Spitzer and the Madam CoStar in Client 9
Even as a CNN political talk show host, the specter of scandal haunts Eliot Spitzer. Oscar winning Alex Gibney seized the moment to document the fallen governor who many believe might have been...
View ArticleHuffPost Review Client 9 The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
When I saw Alex Gibney’s Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer at the Toronto Film Festival in September, I wrote that it made you see Spitzer as a “modern-day ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Albany’ – like...
View ArticleCNNs Sanjay Gupta A Disturbing Conflict of Interest
FOX News compensated Juan Williams for guest appearances while he was still under the employ of NPR. I was impressed by how slick Williams orchestrated a double dip as guest commentator on a Republican...
View ArticlePower Politics and Polarization
Fed up with the polarization and posturing in Congress, many people opted to vote out the old and vote in the new in hopes of changing the game. Voting out women, however, is not going to help solve...
View ArticleHigh Crimes And Misdemeanors
Two trips to the theater this week reinforced to me why movies are important. Just as they have the power to delude us or lull us into fantasy, they also have the amazing capacity to offer truth in...
View ArticleEliot Spitzers Perfect Storm of High Finance Hubris Hostility and Hookers
Anyone who has seen The Corporation (a brilliant 2003 Canadian documentary) knows that business executives will go to any length (no matter the human cost) to extend their profit margins. In an age...
View ArticleSacrificing Eliot Spitzer that is
This is a morality tale. It’s also about the character of Democrats and the weakness most politicians on the Left show in the face of a fight. It’s something you never see from Republicans, even when...
View ArticleOf Testosterone and Pheromones
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, directed and produced by Alex Gibney, 117 minutes. Client 9 is an artfully produced, smartly edited, and dramatic reconstruction (and revisionism) of the...
View ArticleThis Is A Plug Not A Review Of Matt Taibbis Griftopia
First things first, let me be explicit about the purpose of this piece, and my own leanings. This is a plug, pure and simple, for the new book by Matt Taibbi, called “Griftopia.” I happen to think...
View ArticleTOP TEN COMEDIC NEWS STORIES OF THE 1ST DECADE OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Believe it or not, an entire decade has passed since the turn of the Millennium. 120 months. One tenth of a century. More than 3600 days. How did that happen? Its harder to comprehend than a faded...
View ArticleThe Governors Speech
The new Governor Cuomo delivered his first State of the State message yesterday. I watched the speech and found it credible and constructive. Cuomo seems to be making a conscious effort to get along...
View ArticleClient 9 The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer A Mayor Koch Review
This documentary deals with the fall of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who while in office, used an escort service that charged upwards of $2,000 an hour. Eliot and I are political friends and...
View Article