This was the moment that John McCain sealed not just his fate, but the fate of the Republican Party this year. There will be no comeback in 2008:

John McCain cedes the "health" of the mother to the Democratic Party, thus alienating women voters. But I see something deeper in this clip. It cedes "health" altogether. It admits that to the Republican party, the healthcare crisis is not of concern to them. "Health" is, to McCain and the Republican Party, so unimportant that it gets put into finger quotes. John McCain has just defined "health" as nothing but a rhetorical talking point.

A serious question: is there even going to be a republican party in this state, in the sense of an organization with meaningful ability to influence public policy, after the November elections?

The signs at this moment aren't all that promising. The not-so-casual observer can isolate three flashing signs of decline.

Fragmented, low-profile leadership: The top-ranking republican in this state today is Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. Skelos has virtually no statewide profile and isn't really doing much to acquire one, choosing to act very much like the leader merely of Long Island republicans, and not as the titular head of his party for the entire state. The rest of the leadership roster is similarly desiccated; Rudy Giuliani, the best-known New York leader of that party, went from Presidential front-runner to also-ran in a matter of weeks, former governor George Pataki has vanished, former Senator Al D'Amato is busy lobbying, and former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno is probably negotiating with the Feds right now over those pesky indictments. Henry Kissinger, meanwhile, has opted out of anything having to do with state politics for a very long time.

As to the next generation of leadership, if it's out there, it's difficult to detect. This stems in part from a systemic feature of our electoral system, whereby New Yorkers stick with incumbent legislators for decades (a problem that similarly affects the black political leadership, in ways that offer parallels to the republican challenges). Republicans, by choking off avenues of advancement for new stars - cf. Trunzo, Caesar, or Maltese, Serph - have disincented their young guns from seeking out the path of public service.

A lack of infrastructure:

Democrats and Progressives have spent the last decade or so building infrastructure, and most of that work has been bottom-up. We have dozens of blogs that directly drive traditional media coverage, the best GOTV operation in the state provided by the WFP (which also provides a useful incentive for Democrats to act Progressively), several state-wide and local email lists that reach activists, bloggers, office-holders and volunteers at a moment's notice, kick-ass commercial firms like Global Strategy Group and Knickerbocker SKD, one of the best ad-makers in the country in Jimmy Siegel, and so on and so forth.

The republicans have nothing to compare to this huge, complex and largely self-directed machine.

An impending electoral meltdown:

It's entirely possible that New Yorkers are going to wake up on November 5th represented by twenty-six Democratic Congressmen and with a six-seat (or larger) Democratic Senate majority. The messaging environment in the Congressional races is driven largely by national issues, of course, but consider some of the signs pointing to a party in disarray: In Staten Island, republicans are desperately trying to get disgraced NY-13 incumbent to throw his hat in the ring, despite the fact that he's probably going to spend a few days in jail before the election. Republicans have held that seat for thirty years. Meanwhile, yesterday's Siena poll confirmed that the Senate republican offense has collapsed, and that their defense is tottering. The Democratic share of the vote in the 2006 Senate elections was already higher than that of Joe Bruno's embattled minions. Ina year characterized by a pronounced enthusiasm gap between the two parties, that's probably not going to change for the better for the GOP.

Republicans had better start thinking about what to do next, because they're about to get hit by a truck.

Got a message from my brother. He saw the run on the IndyMac Bank in Duarte, California.

Let me introduce this with dueling headlines. From the Pasadena Star-News:

IndyMac appears close to collapse: US regulators may not be ready to protect bank

And from the LA Times:

IndyMac denies that it's close to collapse: "Depositors have been pulling money from the Pasadena-based thrift, whose share price is down 90% this year."

Today, my brother saw a crowd at the Duarte IndyMac Bank desperately trying to get their savings out. Many elderly people were claiming that they are being offered dollar for dollar on the first $100,000...after that only fifty cents on the dollar.

And yet another story on Bronx County GOP:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02032008/news/regionalnews/da_probes_downtow...

DA PROBES DOWNTOWN 'BRONX' POL
By BRUCE GOLDING
February 3, 2008 -- Prosecutors are investigating a Bronx politician after The Post revealed he's been living for years in lower Manhattan in apparent violation of state law.
The Post has also learned that election officials knew almost a decade ago that GOP district leader Fred Brown lived outside The Bronx, but ignored the information.

A November 1999 letter to the city Board of Elections said Brown "has not lived in this district or borough for many years" and was using a phony address to run for district leader.

A spokeswoman said the board could not act on the complaint because it was made anonymously, and state law requires a signed affidavit to challenge a voter's registration.

The Bronx DA's Office is investigating whether Brown, 72, filed false documents to register and vote in The Bronx, a spokesman said. That crime is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

There is yet another news article in yesterday's 1/29/07 Village Voice newspaper on Jay Savino and Fred Brown.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0805,barrett,78995,6.html

Fred Brown, a Bronx delegate for Giuliani and former school-board member, was convicted of using the school district's printing press to produce a 100-page political journal in the '80s. Asked by the Voice about the 13 liens and judgments against him totaling more than $100,430—including three from the IRS for $32,986—Brown said he didn't know what they were about, adding that he was scheduled "to meet with the IRS in February." Brown conceded that he lives at 355 South End Avenue in Battery Park City, even though he is running as a delegate from the address he's registered at in the Bronx. "My [previous] apartment at 375 South End was destroyed on 9/11," he explained.

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/the_republican_dissident/bronx_county_gop_a_tal...

Usually Lincoln awards are given to people who have achieved some sort of progress of excellence.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01272008/news/regionalnews/rudy_pol_pals_bro...

http://www.joinrudy2008.com/article/pr/1112

New York City Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey had a meeting with Bronx County GOP Leader Joseph J. Savino on January 27, 2006. This meeting occurred while Kevin Sheekey was on city payroll time as listed on his schedule that was just FOILed by members of the press. The purpose of this meeting was for Mr. Savino to get the endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg for Mr. Savino to run later in 2006 for the state senate seat in the 34th district against incumbent State Senator Jeff Klein in which Savino lost in. A New York City employee cannot do any sort of political campaigning on city payroll time. Mr. Savino did get the endorsement from Mayor Bloomberg. Mr. Savino is also currently the target of a criminal probe being conducted by the New York City Department of Investigation. Some of Joseph J. Savino’s close friends and political associates are also being investigated for political campaigning on city payroll time. Inside sources have told me that Mr. Savino has confirmed that he did have a meeting with NYC Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey on January 27, 2006 at City Hall to discuss the political endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg for Mr.

Congratulations are in order for Marcus Cederqvist from Manhattan GOP, who was just appointed the executive director of the New York City Board of Elections by a landslide vote today. In a second vote today for the position of general counsel for the Republican commissioners. Jay Savino lost the vote by 6-4. 3 out of the 5 NYC GOP political clubs that he is in charge of as vice chairman of the NYS Republican committee voted against him not getting this position. Plus Jay Savino is not a resident of the Bronx, he is a resident of Rockland County, and he has to be a resident of NYC to be an employee to work at the Board of Elections. What excuse did Jay Savino use this time??> He stated that he is separated from his wife. As many of you remember when he ran in the 2006 34th state senate campaign, he was saying that he was a lifelong resident of the 34th state senate district, but he was not, so the excuse he used then was that his wife had pregnancy problems so that is why he had to move his wife to her mothers house in Rockland County. Now Mr.

Please read the BLOG and hyperlinks below, it is becoming real disgusting of what has become of our political party system.

It seems that the Bronx Republicans are pretty much lost when it comes to having a credible county organization. Under the current leadership of Joseph J. Savino, we have found many current members of Bronx County GOP tainted with criminality. What is Mr. Savino running in the Bronx, a political club or a halfway house of criminality and corruption. Please read all hyperlinked websites below:

2007 - 2009 Current elected officials for Bronx County GOP:

http://www.gograssroots.org/downloads/newvoices/BronxRepDL.pdf

Fred Brown - 77th A.D. Current 2007-2009 Male State Committee member:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEED81131F930A15754C0A...

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE6DD1530F93AA15755C0A...

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0717FD3A5F0C708DDDA108...

http://www.nycsci.org/reports/12-93%20CSB%20ELECTS%20RPT.pdf

Curtis Johnson - 79th A.D. Current 2007-2009 Male State Committee member:

YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS HARD AT WORK

Dawn Sandow, who is the deputy chief clerk at the Bronx Board of Elections needs to explain why she has to lie to the taxpayers of New York City who pay her $ 83,500.00 a year salary. Ms. Sandow says that she lives in the Bronx, but she actually lives in Rockland County and when you work for the city of New York you are bound by residency requirements that you must live in the confines of New York City. Last year a newspaper article was published by Dave Seifman from the New York Post about this Bronx County GOP political hacker. And at the time this news article was published on September 3, 2006, Ms. Sandow was quoted as saying that she lives in the Bronx with her mother. Well it turns out that her mother Mae Sandow died many months earlier on April 10, 2006 at a senior citizen nursing home in the Bronx. Now please keep in mind that Dawn Sandow did not live in the nursing home with her mother. And Dawn Sandow has her voter registration at 1625 Radcliff Avenue in the Bronx, while the mother had her voter registration at another address and you always vote from where you live:

SANDOW, MAE, V