Sad to say, you're incorrect. My mind is on your attitude toward Petraeus today.

Sure he may just be following Bush's orders, but his level of political involvement seems unprecedented at least in recent history.

Actually, SD, New York doesn't only consist of New York City (where what passes for a Republican is a should-be-Democrat and liberal like Bloomberg, or in the great liberal-welfare-state years, Lindsay). It doesn't only consist of Hyde Park, a tourist attraction and Mecca for FDR-worshipers, or Albany, which everyone in the state of New York uses in conjunction with the word “dysfunctional.” No. Upstate exists, and there are many problems in Upstate with little government fiefdoms, an arrogant attitude of raising taxes to solve every problem and “problem” that can be thought of, enormous future government retirement-related liabilities, and often a reputation as being a dumping ground for criminals from NYC metro as well as the site of frequent NYC-based criminal enterprises. I lived in Upstate for two years and saw all of this along with a dearth of industry, exodus of 30+ per cent of youth, and more and more remaining youth on welfare as the months went by.

At the very least, he's allowed himself to become one of Bush's political pawns.

Bush is his Commander. Unless you don't subscribe to the notion of civilian control of the military and the power of the executive as CINC, then senior officers are political pawns by definition.

i don't know which part of upstate you consider to be typical upstate NY, but a considerable Bible Belt has in fact formed in sections of it.

When my son in-law joined the local volunteer fire fighters, he was questioned about his faith every time he showed up for work or meetings. There was definitely a right and a wrong answer to these questions, and as a result, there is one less volunteer fireman in upstate NY.

For counter balance, there are the orthodox Jewish enclaves where the unwelcome mat is out very boldy for all outsiders, even for drop-by shopping. .

I'm not saying that the enclaves typify all of upstate NY; far from it. . But before moving in anywhere, it's good to meet some of the neighbors to see what free space there is for your own undisturbed life style.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN213...

We all know Colin Powell was good. Many of us were willing to vote for him as President as early as 1992, and we really wanted him to run in 1996, not only in 2000.

I don't expect to see much of a following to my own state of mind, though This country does love its military heroes to the point of adulation. If you don't, then you are a traitor, in fact.

Given the demographic of the upstate voters, I doubt that any politicians will give them the time of day. There is no reason for Democratic politicians in the NYC area to spend time or money worrying about an area that is much older on average, poorer on average, and with an economy that is just not going to recover. There is no upside for a Democratic politician in NY to but effort into upstate issues.

Eventually, upstate will be nothing more than vacation space for the rich New Yorkers who still have a car and can afford gasoline.

SD, the reason Joe Bruno did such a titantic job of holding the GOP together all these years is exactly because of the reasons you mention. He's been fighting a Dem majority which he knew he would never vote out of both houses at once. But he did manage to balance the needs (and potential outrage) of the upstate vote with the city interests. Hopefully Sheldon Silver and the Dems still understand that they can only run just so wild, even now, before they start a revolt in the back country which may come back to bite them.

The Democrats hold a supermajority in the State House while the Republicans hold a one seat majority in the State Senate. Given that the State votes more than 55% to the Democrats on state wide elections should be able to redistrict many of the Republican state Senators out of their seats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_New_Yo...

What makes you assume Petraeus would be a Republican?

At the very least, he's allowed himself to become one of Bush's political pawns.