The Rent is Too Damn High
Did anyone catch Monday night's New York governors debate? The crazies were out, let me tell you. The selection of candidates on show was so lamentable that I found myself identifying with the most unlikely of them:
Tunku Varadarajan at The Daily Beast has the best line--but wait for it:
All that was missing was a bottle of absinthe. But for that, the spectacle of Monday night’s debate among contenders for the governorship of New York would have made for a scene straight out of Toulouse-Lautrec. Everything else was there: cads, thugs, grotesques and strumpets, with Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate, possibly even doubling for a dwarf....
What a collection of cultural types, what a political bestiary: There were hacks (Andrew Cuomo of the Democrats); goons (Carl Paladino); fringe-dwellers (Howie Hawkins of the Greens); earnest losers (Warren Redlich of the Libertarians); race-centric poseurs (Charles Barron, the ex-Black Panther, of the Freedom Party); garish attention-seekers (Kristin Davis of the Anti-Prohibition party, a former madam, alleged to have supplied Eliot Spitzer with company) and outright eccentrics (Jimmy McMillan, of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, who provided the best, the most rollicking entertainment of the night; in fact, he gave the distinct impression of being Too Damn High himself).
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May '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Dammit, you stole my damned tag line for the rest of the week ("I would also like to point out that the rent is too damn high", etc). Now it's back to lame jokes about Swedish girls with bayonets who solve crimes.
I remember a girl on an NR cruise who complained about the rent being too damn high. I suggested maybe she shouldn't live in Manhattan. She disagreed. Strongly.
Aug '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Bread and circuses. Where was Bloomberg's horse ?
Jun '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Where is David Lynch when you need him?
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Kennedy Smith:
I remember a girl on an NR cruise who complained about the rent being too damn high. I suggested maybe she shouldn't live in Manhattan. She disagreed. Strongly. · Oct 20 at 6:54am
I might have pointed out that the price of those NR cruises is too damn high.
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
I walked into my Tokyo hotel room and switched on CNN--why is it always CNN and only CNN?--just in time to catch the opening rant from The Rent is Too Damn High Party. What's with Mr. McMillan's gloves? And I think we just unearthed a small loophole in the Ricochet Code of Conduct!
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
I might add that as much as I *love* this guy -- and he speaks to the single most consistently distressing element of our lives (rent) -- there are very few politicians who could get away with responding to a question about gay marriage by saying something along the lines of, "if you want to marry a shoe, I'll marry you." I wonder if GLAD is picketing this fellow today ...
May '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Pretty sure Mollie Henneberg just blew that to pieces with the discussion of Dan Weiner's definition of Santorum. And surely if damn is OK for a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta with good Queen Vic in the audience, it's cool for Ricochet.
Edited on Oct 20, 2010 at 7:27amRe: The Rent is Too Damn High
This cracked me up! I think he was running out of his, uhm, elegant couplets. Jesse Jackson, move over.
"The people I'm here to represent / can't afford to pay their rent"
"As a karate expert, I won't talk about anyone up here / because our children can't afford to go anywhere"
"Once again, why? You said it / the rent is too damn high."
May '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Ursula Hennessey
Kennedy Smith:
I remember a girl on an NR cruise who complained about the rent being too damn high. I suggested maybe she shouldn't live in Manhattan. She disagreed. Strongly. · Oct 20 at 6:54am
I might have pointed out that the price of those NR cruises is too damn high. · Oct 20 at 7:16am
You're way off message. It's actually a pretty reasonable vacation, for what you get. But still, if your rent is over half of your income, maybe commute?
May '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Claire might find some inspiration here as she prepares to launch Istanbul's The-Construction-Is-Too-Damn-Shoddy party. Claire, is your Turkish up to rhyming couplets?
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
When I saw the gloves, I thought of Marlon Brando's glove scene in On the Waterfront. People say Brando redefined acting in that scene. McMillan? I think he certainly redefined the boundaries of civil and decorous political debate!
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Kennedy Smith
Ursula Hennessey
Kennedy Smith:
I remember a girl on an NR cruise who complained about the rent being too damn high. I suggested maybe she shouldn't live in Manhattan. She disagreed. Strongly. · Oct 20 at 6:54am
I might have pointed out that the price of those NR cruises is too damn high. · Oct 20 at 7:16am
You're way off message. It's actually a pretty reasonable vacation, for what you get. But still, if your rent is over half of your income, maybe commute? · Oct 20 at 7:31am
I know, I know. I shouldn't bust it because many of the Rico big-wigs are the draws to these. I have just always wanted to get a ticket on a cruise for my husband as a gift, and it's way, way, WAY out of our budget. And, we actually DO commute AND our rent is almost half of income. It's just a hard time for families, I think, right now.
May '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Well, two thousand for a week at adult political Disneyworld. Not sure there's any tickets left for this go-round. I did get to give blackjack tips to Ed Gillespie and Steve Moore, And introduce Dick Morris to people. And sit right next to VDH's lovely bride at dinner.
Leaving it to individual consciences and budgets to determine if that rent's too damn high. It's not necessarily kid-friendly, cause they're not interested in the people you want to meet. See, if only you'd accepted that proposal from Rob, free NR cruises.
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
This man is a gift from God. Entertainment to make a point. If I lived in New York, I'd proudly waste a vote on him just for making me smile.
Or Kristen Davis. She makes me smile too.
May '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Tommy, I'm right there with you.
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Ooooh. My husband just sent me this. Seems our friend McMillan doesn't pay rent himself!!
The new video definitely provides a few more laughs, but this part of the article doesn't:
Jul '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Tommy De Seno: This man is a gift from God. Entertainment to make a point. If I lived in New York, I'd proudly waste a vote on him just for making me smile.
Or Kristen Davis. She makes me smile too. · Oct 20 at 7:57am
I actually think McMillan's going to get a pretty strong showing, cause an awful lot of people I know are planning to vote for him due to the general distaste everyone feels about Cuomo and Paladino. I'm unsure myself, Ursula's comment brings up some stuff I've read elsewhere and makes me a bit uncomfortable. I'm probably going to go with Kristin Davis, who's less amusing but more consistent at least, and has never been accused of anti-Semitism. Given the opportunity, I'll almost always vote for the candidate who freely admits to being a prostitute...
May '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Ursula Hennessey:
Oct 20 at 8:33am
Ah, jeez, you just took all the fun out of that.
Jul '10
Re: The Rent is Too Damn High
Kennedy Smith: Dammit, you stole my damned tag line for the rest of the week ("I would also like to point out that the rent is too damn high", etc). Now it's back to lame jokes about Swedish girls with bayonets who solve crimes.
I remember a girl on an NR cruise who complained about the rent being too damn high. I suggested maybe she shouldn't live in Manhattan. She disagreed. Strongly. · Oct 20 at 6:54am
Are you booked for the current cruise? We are.