Are you ready to rumble?
Well I hope not because you’ll be extremely disappointed.
The two Republican challengers to Congressman Mike McMahon faced off in a “debate” last week in the posh environs of the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island, and the affair was the exact claptrap you’d expect from a couple of “Island” Republicans.
It was Mike Grimm, the fiery Gulf War veteran, against Mike Allegretti, the wonder boy transplant from Brooklyn. Here are some observations:
1. Look at all those white people! We know Staten Island is more then 70 percent white according to census estimates, but how about a little diversity? Political involvement on Staten Island doesn’t just occur in elite social clubs. Oh, wait, it does.
2. On health care reform Grimm starts off strong: railing against the “backdoor dealings” (btw, does he mean backroom, or is he talking about Rep. Massa?). Grimm quickly loses focus and his tirade devolves into a litany of talking points with a connect-the-dots relationship to the subject. “The Pharma, Unions, giveaways, the Louisiana Purchase” (huh?)
Bottom line: health care reform bad. Open up exchanges across state lines and cut taxes. That will fix everything!
3. Next up is wonder boy Allegretti. What’s his take on health care reform?
“[If] you wanna renovate your house you don’t knock it down. You renovate it and you continue living in it at the same time.”
Really? No shit, this is almost the same exact analogy that former Rep. Vito Fossella used during his half-assed attempt to make a public stance on the issue. Are these guys trading talking points like baseball cards? or do they have the same consultant? Maybe Allegretti has a family on the side as well. Probably not, just saying.
3. Next: How do we create jobs?
Believe it or not they both agree: cut taxes. Ronald Reagan’s cold dead body and trickle down economics lives on in the swank hotel lobbies of Staten Island.
4. Is global warming real?
Wait, this is a serious question? As soon as I start to feel bad for ripping on you guys you allude to the ridiculous, scientifically unsound position that global warming doesn’t exist.
Grimm: the jury is still out.
Props to Allegretti for admitting that global warming is in fact real and even if it’s not “what the heck do we do when the oil runs out and the coal runs out?” Great question. I’d love to hear Grimm’s response. Drill, baby drill??
5. They both hate abortion: no surprise.
6. On foreign policy, Allegretti sounds well-versed, tackling the issue of Yemeni terror groups and the threat of radical Islam in the Arabian peninsula.
In summary, Allegretti seems like a fairly nuanced conservative. One who can see both sides of an issue and come out with a well-informed position. Grimm seems like an ideologue. Unfortunately for Allegretti, the decision-making process will most likely take place in stuffy forums like this one rather than among ordinary Joe-six packs of Staten Island.