Gillibrand Moves Leftward After Moving Upward
Tags: ACORN, David Paterson, fund, funding, Hillary Clinton, Kirsten Gillibrand, national rifle association, taxes
Politics didn’t change Kirsten Gillibrand, but a new job did. She became a company woman once since she was assigned to stand for in the Senate; that’s different that how she acted while representing only New York’s 20th Congressional District in the House. Unfortunately for her, she may have just veered too far leftward even for many leftists.
It all has to do with the Senate voting to cut off housing funding for ACORN, an enterprise that has shifted from merely sleazily corrupt to comically insane. Following the Andrew Breitbart-led ACORN smacking, 83 senators voted to slash the depraved community group’s allowance. Alas, Gillibrand was one of seven senators who thought the hooker enablers still deserve the government’s money. It’s not precisely the best example of her bravely standing up against the majority.
What’s most frustrating is that she made her name as an occasionally centrist-minded representativebeloved by the National Rifle Association. She was one Democrat whom the right could find marginally agreeable, especially considering she filled Hillary Clinton’s place. In fact, conservatives may have even considered backing her when she actually ran for statewide office depending on how liberal of a candidate the Republicans field. If nothing else, it seemed that she would have been intermittently on their side.
Instead, she’s irritating conservatives while probably not doing enough to appease members of the left outraged over her rebellious ways. Maybe she deserves a little slack. After all, she’s trying to figure out how to win her first election for the seat she’s currently holding; it’s a situation that she of course shares with David Paterson, the governor who appointed her.
Either way, Gillibrand has chosen her course: she obviously thinks tilting quite heavily to the left will help her win the 2010 primary. If that’s her strategy, all she’ll have to do until then is continue to discard her old ideals. It’s tough to surmise another reason why she would support an organization that keeps getting caught helping pimps and hos avoid paying taxes. Oh, and they were also willing to facilitate importing underage El Salvadoran sex slaves. Political observers will be keen to ascertain if her “alienate basically every voter in the state” policy pays off.
Anthony Bialy is a freelance writer and “Red Eye” Conservative in Western New York. He also writes columns for Smart Girl Nation. Follow Anthony on Twitter.