An overlooked nugget in the reporting on Charlie Rangel's speech to the New York Congressional delegation about Spitzer's budget is this:

Mrs. Clinton, according to people who were in attendance, did not take sides. But she did joke that if the matter could not be settled now, she would “fix it” in 2009.

That's from the 'I may have just gotten re-elected to one job, but don't expect me to actually work for you while I'm angling for my promotion' doctrine. You may recognize it from last year's race in the Eleventh Congressional District, specifically the Yassky and Clarke candidacies. Both of these jumped out of the gate within days of their re-election to a four-year term in the City Council in November 2005. It's quite normal, expected even, for New York politicians to royally shaft their existing constituents as they work for that advancement their shining talents so richly deserve. You poor creature are just a voter, and guess what: you don't really matter so much to the caste of your professional overlords. Now spread 'em; there, that's a good little peon. It may be uncomfortable, but you can certainly vote for Hillary in that position, you know; perhaps more easily so, even. A variant on this principle is currently playing out in the 40th City Council District, where the Clarkes, mother and daughter, found and backed some pitiable schmuck, a 'doctor' who has never practiced medicine in this country and did not even have the simple, baseline good sense to establish the in-district residency required to take office. The end result is that there's now the need for a new election – no, thank you, Una. We liked the first one so much we're all just thrilled at the repeat – twice the cost, sure, but twice the fun, too. Or take the DiNapoli fiasco. Faced with the outcome of the November election – in which the voters chose the competence of Alan Hevesi over the perceived lack thereof of that bow-tie guy, whatever his name was – the Assembly decided that what the voters had really given a mandate for was the elevation of the dewy-eyed Assembly equivalent of a prom queen, and so effing what if the guy has no discernible experience or qualifications? Don't like it? What are you going to do about it, bitch? Is it any wonder that people don't vote anymore, and that they don't care about the political process? Even if we vote for the legislator that has chosen us – which is the way the system works in practice – they don't stick around if there are better jobs to be had. It's just another way in which New York has the most dysfunctional political system in the nation. We are a banana republic.