Nice That The NY Times Endorsed Zephyr Teachout And Tom Suozzi But...

It's been a downbeat election cycle and the NY Times' down-ballot endorsements yesterday reflect it. The highlight was an endorsement of Zephyr Teachout-- kind of a no-brainer compared to John Faso, a crooked lobbyist propped up by modern-day robber baron hedge fund managers Paul Singer and Robert Mercer. "Ms. Teachout," wrote the editorial board dryly, "is the better candidate for this era of gridlock and disillusionment. She promises to be the strong voice for change in Washington that so many angry voters are demanding." Yes, she does. But the Times headlined their column of endorsements with one for Chuck Schumer without a mention of the fact that he's taken $26,095,801 from the banksters-- in fact more from the Finance Sector than any politician in history who hasn't run for President and more than quite a few presidential candidates. Schumer's $26,095,801 is more than evil Wall Street puppets Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have taken combined ($20,715,188-- so you could add in former GOP Leader and presidential candidate Bob Dole's $5,135,775 and still not get to Schumer's gigantic war-chest of bribes). But why mention that and spoil a good endorsement? After all, "he helped set up the corporation to fund and manage the crucial Gateway rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey."

It was good of the Times to note that well-respected and admired former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi is about to replace another Schumer-type prince of corruption, Steve Israel, as the congressman for Long Island's North Shore. "Suozzi," they pointed out, "as county executive, saved Nassau from near bankruptcy. He has an impressive record fighting corruption, and he ran a lonely but principled campaign against Eliot Spitzer in 2006 for the gubernatorial nomination. He has been a national leader in the battle to limit urban sprawl and revitalize aging suburbs. He would be a strong, articulate advocate for his district and party." Yes he would. Tom Suozzi and Zephyr Teachout should be welcomed by progressives nationwide as they join a nearly hopelessly deadlocked Congress. Neither is a hack follower; both are capable leaders-- something Congress sorely lacks. Alas, though, those were the only two good congressional endorsements The Times made. Anna Throne-Holst is another Long Island candidate-- likely to lose badly to Republican incumbent Lee Zeldin-- on whose behalf The Times allowed itself to be fast-talked by the DCCC, ignoring a far more attractive and winnable candidate the DCCC is ignoring, DuWayne Gregory, whose race against reactionary relic and Trumpist Peter King they ignored.

A race they should have ignored but didn't was way up in Syracuse-- they read The Times up there?-- in which they created an imaginary version of Republican hack John Katko, who they falsely claimed "is a rare breed of Republican, an independent thinker who has bucked his party in crucial ways." True he's taken a precious few votes to keep from getting kicked out on his ass in a D+5 district, but Katko is barely even a thinker, let alone "an independent thinker." Chris Gibson, the Republican making way for Zephyr Teachout, bucked his party. He has a ProgressivePunch lifetime crucial vote score of 32.91 (better than Blue Dog reactionaries Gwen Graham and Brad Ashford). Justin Amash (MI), an actual independent thinker has a 29.15 score. Katko's 22.88 score isn't terrible but it's essentially the same score as GOP hacks in blue-leaning districts like Mike Fitzpatrick (PA) and Carlos Curbelo (FL). Not that I'm suggesting The Times should have endorsed Democrat Colleen Deacon instead. Her nomination was engineered by Schumer and Gillibrand to keep it out of the hands of fierce Berniecrat Eric Kingson, feared by Wall Street-owned Dems like New Yorks' two corrupted senators.

The Times also suggests Northern New Jersey voters replace one of the worst Republicans in the House, Scott Garrett, with one of the worst Democrats the DCCC has dug up, a worthless Wall Street whore endorsed by both the New Dems and the Blue Dogs, Josh Gottheimer, exactly what the House Democrats don't need dragging their caucus ever rightward and into the clutches of his bankster financiers. Wall Street has already given Gottheimer $829,029, more than any non-incumbent running for Congress in the whole country. Why do you think that is? Anyone imagine the New York Times even knew, let alone tried to find out why?

The half dozen other non-incumbents who Wall Street is most heavily financing are all crooked and corrupt to the gills. Wall Street can't wait to get them inside the Democratic caucus to undue whatever good the Zephyr Teachouts and Tom Suozzis attempt to accomplish.

• Ro Kanna (D-CA)- $823,751
• John Faso (R-NY)- $574,065
• Anna Throne-Holst (D-NY)- $403,608
• Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL)- $334,339
• Mike Gallagher (R-WI)- $276,692
• Salud Carbajal (D-CA)- $259,579