Posted on 06/29/2005 10:32:25 PM PDT by Coleus
Republicans' liberal use of Mafia metaphors has angered some Italian-American activists who weighed in on the contentious campaign for the governor's office Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester enjoyed some unexpected praise from environmental leaders who are at odds with his Democratic opponent, U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, over preservation of a Delaware River island.
The Italian-American activists gathered in Trenton to demand an apology from top Republicans, who have repeatedly compared Corzine and his allies to mobsters in an effort to underscore his links to the party's most controversial figures.
"To actually have a party organization that uses this as a playbook ... is disgraceful," said Robert Bianchi, president of the state chapter of the Italian-American Bar Association. "A lot of times, Italian-Americans have just accepted these insults as a punching bag, and I'm not going to do that."
Republicans have not said anything about Italian-Americans in general, but party Chairman Tom Wilson has on several occasions referred to "La Cosa Nostra," another name for the Italian Mafia, and called Corzine and other Democrats "capos," or mob chiefs. Bianchi said that perpetuates negative images of Italian-Americans to the exclusion of more laudable figures such as explorer Christopher Columbus and continental namesake Amerigo Vespucci.
Manny Alfano, who heads an organization called the Italian-American One Voice Coalition, wrote a letter to Wilson decrying the "cheap effort to taint the electoral process." Alfano was one of several critics who pushed Corzine to apologize for two jokes he reportedly made about Italian-Americans during the 2000 Senate campaign.
A call to Wilson on Tuesday was returned by two Italian-American Republicans, former acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, who explained that Wilson meant no offense.
Earlier, several environmental leaders appeared with Forrester in Trenton to applaud the Republican's stance in favor of preserving a 300-acre island in the Delaware River near Camden. State and local officials have agreed on a plan to develop housing and a golf course on Petty's Island, but environmentalists say the state should accept owner Citgo Corp.'s offer to donate it as open space.
Corzine said in a statement Tuesday that it remains unclear whether the redevelopment plan is up to environmental and economic standards. However, he said the oil company's donation offer should be viewed "very skeptically" given pollution problems on the island, which is home to a pair of bald eagles.
lol, I was friends with this guy is HS and his family/extended family were strange. Leave it at that.
One of the great Italian American writers. Too bad nobody reads him anymore...like Puzo, they only know him for the Godfather, which was only a so-so book -- but he also wrote one of the great immigrant books of the twentieth century -- Fortune Pilgram, which I'd put up there with any other immigrant book.
That's a good kinda strange, if you ask me. Honestly, I never understood that exagerated outrage italian americans have. It's part of our cultural heritage, it's not an indictment of any italian in particular.
And it's sexy and dangerous - like I said, if I were to sit down and write myself a sterotype, it would look a lot like the Italian/Gangster one. ;-)
Every immigrant group gets its turn at crime, just like they get their turn at sports and entertainment. And, I might add, contributing something along the lines of food to the American appetite.
Exactamundo, as the Fonz (another great fictional Italian-American) would say! ;-)
have you ever heard the "Jerky Boys"? I like the pranks they do with the character Frank Rizzo, they are hilarious! :D "This is Frank, FRank RIzzo! Open your ears wacky a*S!" :D cracks me up every time :D
...and then they move out to the 'burbs, the kids wear Polo and grow soft.
Hey, I'm 1/4th Welsh. When is it gonna be OUR time ? ;-)
...yo...howze you doin'...?
Welsh? Tough one. If you have any Irish in you, well, they already had their time.
Scots-Irish, partly, but that ain't really Irish.
I first heard the Jerky Boys back in the mid 1980s, back when they were underground audiotapes passed along from friend to friend. I love those guys, too, and no later incarnation of the gimmick (Crank Yankers, for example) comes anywhere close.
My favorites are The Egyptian Magician, The fruity guy calling the baloon store, and anything with Sol or Frank Rizzo. That being said, I like them all! GREAT comedy!
No kidding!
Sorry to say, your forefathers made the mistake of not being jammed into ghettos, engaging in violent street brawls and organizing themselves into brutal criminal enterprises. They quite sensibly arrived and said, "Hey, where can we grow something to eat or sell?" and then left the cities.
Ralph Lauren = Ralph Liphshitz
hehe Sol! he was funny :D but i think Frank was my favorite. "what were those things, those.. fava... fava beans???" LOL
Tony Curtis is just a kid named Bernie Schwartz from the Bronx, after all - and a fellow Las Vegan these days, like me! ;-)
My German cousin (I'm 1/2 that) ran one of this country's (then) largest cities and just missed out on getting elected to the Senate. Half the family lived in the sticks and the others in the cities. All that "race mixin'," couldn't make up their minds. :-P
Holy crap! He's still alive?
Haha! Did you ever hear the one where Frank calls NYC radio and music personality Juggy Gayles? Frank calls him up at home and talks about the 'old times,' like how Frank Sinatra still owes him some money, how they used to 'finger' each other in the backrooms of the Brill Building, and speaking prominently of the classic tune 'The Hucklebuck.'
It's very funny on 2 levels - its hilarious on its face, but the references to the oldschool nyc music and radio scene make it a classic for fans of the scene! WILD!
The Jerky Boys are number 1 - all the others are imitators. Did you ever see their movie?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.