Dan’s Papers June 17, 2011 danshamptons.com Page 17
About Mayors
A Mayor Favorite No More
A Mayor Prospect Considering
The Mayor of Reyjivik Iceland
Anthony Weiner
Alec Baldwin
Jon Gnarr
By Dan Rattiner The thing I can’t get out of my mind about Anthony Weiner is the fact that all the politicians on both sides of the aisle considered him a rising star. The Democrats loved him for his smarts and his wit. The Republicans hated him for his standing up to them. He was considered the leading contender in the race to become Mayor of New York City until the recent events of the past two weeks. He was also considered as a possible future Governor or even President of the United States. He is only 46 years old after all. What he did does not matter. It’s what he did after what he did. I can’t believe how he handled this. This man is one of the stupidest people on the planet. It makes no sense. The first stupid thing he did, you may have heard, was press the wrong button on his computer. He intended to send a picture of himself with a bulge
By Dan Rattiner Dan’s Papers hereby endorses Alec Baldwin for Mayor of New York. Baldwin has not announced he is running yet. But he has for a long time publicly said he’d like to get into politics. And after the collapse of Congressman Anthony Weiner’s reputation, Baldwin had aides put feelers out. He’d make a great Mayor if elected, and he’d be elected in a landslide. The Democrats would vote for him because he is Alec Baldwin. And the Republicans would vote for him because he is the rock solid conservative Jack Donaghy of NBC’s “30 Rock.� And there is something else. Indeed there is a whole lot of something else. Being Mayor of New York is largely about moving the needle a little bit this way or that as the great Ocean Liner that is this city glides slowly along into the future. Mayor Bloomberg has been able to do that. In prior years, Rudy Giuliani was able to do that and before that Ed Koch and Fiorello LaGuardia were able to do that. All were forceful personalities before becoming
By Dan Rattiner Up until a year and a half ago, Jon Gnarr, 43, was one of the top TV comedians in Reykjavik, Iceland. He had this absurd sense of humor. He once said they needed more tourists to bolster the economy. He suggested they build a Disneyland out by the airport, but one that “would have all the cartoon characters actual size. It would be the only Disneyworld in the World with a Mickey Mouse the actual size.� He also said the city council should build a big statue in the harbor, sort of like the Statue of Liberty in New York. But different. “It should be of our most famous citizen,� he said. “Bjork.� Bjork is a cutting-edge rock star. “She’d be holding up a microphone instead of a torch. Music would play. And she’d slowly turn. At night, lasers would come out of her eyes and shine on each of Reykjavik’s many tourist attractions one after the other. And a tape player would explain what each one was in three languages.� Gnarr became famous for a role he invented for a TV sitcom, a bald, miserable, very
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Dan Rattiner is looking for a summer intern to help organize the third volume of his IN THE HAMPTONS series, this third book called “Still in the Hamptons,� which will appear next May. The first two books are available in all bookstores. If interested, call Evy or Ro at 631-537-0500.
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