Tag: Cory Booker

The Bane of Bain

Back in 2012, Barack Obama made so much hay out of Mitt Romney’s connection to Bain Capital that a distraught Cory Booker was inspired to cry out, “Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright.” Booker called Obama’s attacks “nauseating” and “ridiculous,” which earned him a supportive tweet from John McCain. Fast-forward to 2017. The Obama people are now pushing hard for Deval Patrick, the former two-term governor of Massachusetts, to run for the Democratic nomination in 2020. Guess what Patrick has been doing since he left the governor’s mansion? Working at Bain Capital. It’s something. The combined forces of Wall Street and the Hamptons—sorry, Clinton and Obama—are pushing hard, variously, for Joe Biden (who’s making strong noises that he’ll be […]

The Four Most Beautiful Words in the English Language: I Told You So

It was hard not to think of Gore Vidal’s aperçu when I read this piece on Cory Booker in the New York Times this morning. When snow blanketed this city two Christmases ago, Mayor Cory A. Booker was celebrated around the nation for personally shoveling out residents who had appealed for help on Twitter. But here, his administration was scorned as streets remained impassable for days because the city had no contract for snow removal. Last spring, Ellen DeGeneres presented Mr. Booker with a superhero costume after he rushed into a burning building to save a neighbor. But Newark had eliminated three fire companies after the mayor’s plan to plug a budget hole failed. In recent days, Mr. Booker has […]

In Which I Pour More Fuel on the Cory Booker Fire

About six weeks before Cory Booker ran into a neighbor’s home to save her from a fire, a building he owned—but didn’t live in—caught fire.  Booker had bought the building, and the one next door, in 2009 as a residence for him and his parents. But after the renovations got too costly, he abandoned both buildings and bought another place elsewhere. He’s been looking for buyers ever since. Squatters moved into the absentee-owned building, and may have in fact started the fire. (h/t Matt Sledge) Forgive the video below—it and the music are truly atrocious—but before everyone starts jumping on me, remember: I didn’t start this fire.   Update (11:45 am) Turns out the neighbors of Booker’s abandoned buildings have […]

In Which I Rain on Everyone’s Cory Booker Parade

Everyone’s giddy about Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s rescue of a neighbor last night from her burning house. The Twitterati are calling him a superhero and comparing him to the Seal team that killed Osama bin Laden. If Cory Booker hadn’t come along, Aaron Sorkin would have to invent him. This isn’t the first time that Booker has rushed to a scene of hazard and saved the day: during a blizzard two winters ago, he was out there shoveling snow, getting praise for doing the things we expect city workers, and not mayors, to do. Booker, in fact, admits he has no training in firefighting or rescue, and the director of the Newark Fire Department made a special point of noting […]