NY-13: Rep. Vito Fossella arrested for drunk driving

[Sam Spade]

I'll give more details on what I see here later.  Too bad for Dems Hillary isn't the candidate here.  Obama will be a definite drag in this area of the world. 

I just don't see the President determining the outcome of Congressional elections so directly this year. I concede that I'm biased, but I figure that swing voters are going to vote against Republicans for Congress all over places like Staten Island this fall, even if they decide they can't vote for a black man for President and opt for McCain. I also don't see people staying home because of it, either. They're mad and they're going to take it out on someone.

You may be right.  Time will tell.  He's still a potential drag, as I'm sure you would admit.

[Brittain33]

He's still a potential drag, as I'm sure you would admit.

Could you explain what you mean by "potential drag"?

I can't conceive of a reasonable scenario where Obama behaves in such a way to cause voters to switch from Democratic to Republican on downballot races. I agree that he faces hurdles getting the votes of S.I. voters who would have supported Clinton. However, I would like to hear the argument that Obama on the ticket causes Democrats to lose a House seat they would have won otherwise. I find it too easy to imagine people coming out to vote for McCain because they don't like Obama and don't want a Black President but still voting Democratic for the House because they're pissed at gas prices and the war.

[To distance myself from them, of course voting for or against any politician based on gas prices is stupid.]

[WalterMitty]

i must lolz at this fellow for not being able to recite the alphabet at 0.17

jack london (a personal hero of mine) wrote about these types of pie-eyed buffoons in 'john barleycorn'.  the kind that have a few drinks and fall down in the gutter and start seeing pink elephants.

" he is the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants. He is the type that gives rise to the jokes in the funny papers."

[HardRCafé]

New York voters have real good judgment.  Hillary for Prez!

[WalterMitty]

New York voters have real good judgment.  Hillary for Prez!

yeah like tom dewey.

oh wait. you probably dont like him either.

but seriously.  dont compare hillary to this dunce.

[Spaghetti Cat]

For Republicans, what about Jeanine Pirro or one of the two guys they have on city council.  What about Elisabeth Hassellbeck (Survivor contestent, now host on The View, brother-in-law is Matt of the Seahawks).  I know she's a Republican (she spoke at the 04 convention) and from New York, but is she from Staten Island?

[they don't love you like i love you]

Pirro, LOL. Luckily for the GOP she doesn't live on Staten Island. You can do better than a Survivor contestant too.

[minionofmidas]

i must lolz at this fellow for not being able to recite the alphabet at 0.17

Yeah. That's drunk, but hardly incapable.

But he's a New York Republican - I'm not sure he can recite the alphabet at 0.0.

[Meeker]

Lol - Adultery is illegal in Virginia.

[Jake]

One question. How drunk is 0.17? Obviously it depends on the time he took to consume the drinks and how much he drank, but what's a good estimate?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

One question. How drunk is 0.17? Obviously it depends on the time he took to consume the drinks and how much he drank, but what's a good estimate?

0.17 is pretty drunk.  For a person of 160 pounds, it's the equivalent of drinking 7 beers.

[Meeker]

Yea, 0.17% is waaaay drunk. There's no way any sane person would feel at that level that it would be OK to drive.

Coincidentally, Maria Cantwell's Senate opponent in 2006 also had an incident where he blew a 0.17% BAC. A local blogger then wanted to see just how drunk that was, so they ran a little experiment and documented the results here: http://www.horsesass.org/?p=1988 Fossella and McGavick are probably fairly equivalent in size

[Jake]

Interesting. I can't say I've never driven with questionable ability to do so, but I can say I've never driven after drinking seven beers in two hours.

I endorse his opponent.

[minionofmidas]

One question. How drunk is 0.17? Obviously it depends on the time he took to consume the drinks and how much he drank, but what's a good estimate?

0.17 is pretty drunk.  For a person with of 160 pounds, it's the equivalent of drinking 7 beers.

More like 4 to 5. Closer 4.

But then I'm thinking of half-litre bottles at 5% alcohol.



.17 is certainly too drunk to drive safely - too drunk to drive even halfway safely, unless you've got more experience driving drunk than anybody should have - but it's not extreme, stumbling all over the place, incoherent drunk. Unless maybe if it's your first time this drunk.

[Joe Republic]

As well as being so strong on family values that he has two of them to love and cherish, Fossella also won't go anywhere near those evil, sinful homosexuals.  Like his own sister, for example.

[Brittain33]

As well as being so strong on family values that he has two of them to love and cherish, Fossella also won't go anywhere near those evil, sinful homosexuals.  Like his own sister, for example.

Ok, that vaporizes any sympathy I had for that guy.

[Torie]

As well as being so strong on family values that he has two of them to love and cherish, Fossella also won't go anywhere near those evil, sinful homosexuals.  Like his own sister, for example.

Ok, that vaporizes any sympathy I had for that guy.

The guy is a piece of work isn't he? 

[Sam Spade]

The Post and Daily News should be posted on this site for the next week because of the stories we're going to hear.

The Post was all about him not attending Mother's Day with either of the two mothers.  lol

[MarkWarner08]

If I were in NY-13, I would not have switched my vote based on driving while under the influence, committing adultery and fathering an illicit love child. However, I was outraged when I learned that Fosella wasted taxpayers dollars for an expensive jaunt with a paramour to Paris, France.

When a Congressman misuses public funds to benefit himself and his secret lover at the expense of his family and the benefit of no one -- unless he occupies a seat  in l'Assemblee nationale -- he has betrayed the trust of his constituents and  deserves to be unceremoniously dumped from office by the voters.

[Keystone Phil]

Fosella wasted taxpayers dollars for an expensive jaunt with a paramour to Paris, France.

That's it. This man is officially filth.

[MarkWarner08]

Fosella wasted taxpayers dollars for an expensive jaunt with a paramour to Paris, France.

That's it. This man is officially filth.

I made a point of noting that Fossella visited the Paris in France, not the one in Texas. I didn't want our resident francophobe to confuse those two cities.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

*Reads thread*

Hmmm.

This man really is low life, isn't he.

[minionofmidas]

*Reads thread*

Hmmm.

This man really is low life, isn't he.

Just a good upstanding working class conservative.

[Meeker]

He just sent out a release saying that he'll be retiring at the end of his term.

Good riddance.

[Sam Spade]

Not surprising.  Guess that the Mafia (or Guy Molinari or both) finally got the truth through his head before he ended up in Staten Island Park.

The GOP, from what I hear, wants Staten Island DA Dan Donovan to run.  This would, naturally, be a strong choice, imo.

The Dems should look into getting someone from Staten Island to run to avoid provincialism problems, imo, like Sen. Diane Savino or Assemblyman Mike Cusick.