Is this division geographical or cultural? Is Upstate everything beyond the Hudson? Is there a world beyond that matters to the people of NYC and Long Island? This inquiring mind wants to know.
Wow! Lots of comments and more information than I could have hoped to receive. You all have given me plenty to chew and digest.
NY is getting hot under the collar about Caroline, Paterson, Cuomo(though he appears to be an afterthought now) and one Kirstin Gillibrand. If she was from outside the city and she was in lockstep on progressive issues would she be receiving this same sort of backlash? Will NYC accept someone from upstate?
Caroline was doomed. Her intensely private personality was not going to make her a good campaigner. She is far better suited to the quiet nature of an appointed position within the administration or in the private sector. She was going to have to brave the relentless press of cameras and public appearances. That was not and is not going to be her nature. We all liked her name and her politics, but that is not going to get you elected in a General. She did virtually nothing to come out of her shell. I do not blame her one whit. She is who she is. I felt sorry for her more than anything for being thrust into the limelight. It was uncomfortable and hot and did not suit her personality. Hillary thrives on it. Apparently Gillibrand is willing to stand up and say what she thinks. But...and this is a biggie, she isn't from the city.
Is that a deal killer? Is she not going to enjoy the support of Democrats downstate because she knows better than to inflame the hunters of upstate? Guns are a non-starter. If you want to ensure that you provide the opposition with lots of material, then start off by portraying hunters as evil bastards and all guns as the right hand of the devil. While that plays well in DC and NYC it is shitty politics everywhere else. Get that through your thick head. If you want to give Cornholio the biggest present ever, then start hollering about Gilliland and Guns.
I can't stand either of my Sens. I have a blockhead and a cheerleader. If one of the worst things you can say about Gilliland is that the NRA can't say something bad about her then you should count yourself lucky. She voted for FISA? So did a lot of other people. She opposed Gay Marriage and now is ok with it? Brilliant. She ran against an idiot who had a connection to Abramoff and beat his wife? Then he was sunk and she got lucky.
Again, if this is the worst that downstate can come up with to be pissed off about then I feel sorry for you too. Primary her if you want to, holler, whine and get more pissed off than usual. Bloody the streets with carnage and stir up every bit of vitriol you can muster. What good is that going to do you? Ignore upstate, disregard everything outside NYC, they don't matter? Good luck with all that.
I suspect that I am going to thoroughly piss off some of y'all. I like NY and most every New Yorker I have ever met. I want to understand this dichotomy between upstate and downstate and if I have to get in your face to do it, that doesn't scare me.