Without googling, tell me four things you know about Daniel Patrick Moynihan

[theboss]

I'm testing a theory here and the ongoing Russert laments made me think of old Danny. My theory has been that DU exists in a universe were nothing existed prior to 2000 or at the earliest 1992.

So...I'm just curious as to the interest in the real history of "Liberalism" - not just liberalism under Bush.

So, I'm pulling out one of the icons - arguably the most important "Intellectual" in the Senate during the last quarter of the 20th Century.

Tell me what you know.

[AngryAmish]

1. 1. He had funny glasses.

2. He talked with a weird, ahhhh.. clipped way.

3. He was rude to Milt Rosenberg once.

4. He was UN ambassador.

5. He wrote a groundbreaking study of the black family breakdown in the 60s.

[Carnea]

2. Dead Irish New york Javits center. nt

[Drunken Irishman]

3. He had the most Irish sounding name of any senator.

Hottie Bridget Moynihan may or may not be related to him.

And he said one of my favorite quotes of all-time:

"To be Irish is to know that in the end the world will break your heart."

That quote was in response to Kennedy's assassination.

[Captain Hilts]

4. phd about FDR/Knew ER/Poverty analyst for Nixon/Rail travel advocate. nt

[DaveinMD]

5. plenty

He proposed abolishing the CIA.

He predicted that the Soviet Union would implode from within.

He was a proponent of welfare reform, but not of the type that Gingrich passed and Clinton signed.

He was vilified as a racist for talking about the higher rate of fatherless families in African American communities.

He was an avid defender of social security and medicare.

[mdmc]

6. When he first ran for senate his opponent called him an ivy league intellectual

Moynihan responded with mock indignation, "I see that the mudslinging has begun."

I love that man!

[SoCalDem]

34. He shilled for republicans to "privatize" social security n/t

[mdmc]

53. did he really?

[SoCalDem]

54. Yep.. he was part of the "bi-partisan" continency that Bush appointed

It always irks the hell out of me when dems step up and allow themselves to be used, as cover for Bush's lamebrained schemes.. I'm sure that some of them may think that , by being included, they can "keep an eye on things", but in actuality, they are just being used ...and when the whole thing blows up in his face, Bush then says..well it was a buipartisan idea, and the democRAT senator this and congressman that agreed with us..


http://www.csss.gov/press/press050201.html

[mdmc]

60. and did come out to support the non-lock box theory?

[Bucky]

7. He was a friend to JFK & Nixon. His report on the decline of the black family...

was a milestone in the American social work professions, identifying the way poverty and urban conditions were conspiring to attack the stability of our communities and dispelling the naive notion that simply throwing money at the problems of urban poverty would fix it.

He was a consistently middle of the road Democrat, standing up for liberal values but being very pragmatic and intellectually flexible in how to achieve his goals. He was a true successor to FDR's tradition of experimental social reform: try something, see if it works, then try something else if it doesn't. He was brilliant. He came off like a stuffy old prof, but I think he came from a working class neighborhood in NYC.

He was connected to all the right people. He was compassionate and rejected ideological reasons why government should do things a certain way.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. He worked as a bartender

He wrote the famous "Separate but unequal" report about racism in our society.

He, as one wag put it, wrote more books than most people have read.

He came from very working-class roots.

He was smart enough to hire a young Tim Russert.

[Captain Hilts]

10. Evidently, he had a great marriage. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Cold warrier who worked for Nixon.

[theboss]

11. Now that's an interesting description

Accurate, but slightly limited.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. He was a moderate domestically. A hawk internationally.

Sort of a smarter version of Humpty Dumpty.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

12. Without Google

1) Long serving Senator from NY
2) His resignation opened up a seat for Hillary
3) Well respected as an astute thinker from both sides of the isle
4) Predicted the long term effects of broken families 30 years before anyone else was talking about it.

[Captain Hilts]

16. He endorsed Clinton, actually. nt

[mdmc]

13. he predicted that Lee Harvey Oswald would be killed within 24 hours

of JFK being shot. He wanted Oswald in secret service custody.

[theboss]

14. This thread could be viewed as a little smart-assy...but I like the responses

Anything is better than the 1000th "Bush sucks" or "Russert sucks" or "Oil sucks" thread of the day.

Consider this a palette cleanser.

A lemon sorbet of a thread, if you will.

[whistler162]

15. He was born in the midwest.

SO HE WAS A CARPETBAGGER!!!!!!

Just like RFK.:evilgrin:

[Captain Hilts]

17. and HRC. New Yorkers just don't care. My friends there always refered to him as -

"God Bless Daniel Patrick Moynihan."

[Winterblues]

18. Are you somehow suggesting that Moyniham was in any way a Liberal?

I question your memory then if that is the case..

[theboss]

20. I think he defied conventional descriptions in a lot of ways

Gun to my head, I would call him a Liberal though.

[hfojvt]

21. why should we do it without google?

Is it a bad thing to learn something new by looking it up? I happen to be from the midwest. Unless they run for President, we are not gonna hear that much about a New York or other east coast senator. I had never heard of Lieberman either until Gore picked him as Veep.

1992 happens to be a long, long time ago. I remember when I was teaching economics in 1990 and I would talk about Reaganomics and expect my students to remember that since it was practically current history. Then I realized that they were only 20 and Reagan was elected when they were 10 and probably not paying that much attention to politics. In the days before CNN, CSpan, and the internets, sources of information were kinda limited between the AP and the big three.

I thought it was kinda odd when Bob Dole ran for President in 1996 and many people older than me did not remember that he ran for Vice President in 1976.

[theboss]

23. Feel free to google

I'm just curious how much people here really know about their own history. I've been caught up in two threads - one on Russert and one on "black families" that both tie to Moynihan. I'm curious if people even know who he was.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. He was a Senator from New York

He wrote a study on urban African-Americans
He was in the Johnson administration as something or other but Nixon used him, too, I think
He was an academic with a background in the social sciences.

(I wrote this without looking at anyone else's answers.)

[theboss]

24. You get a B+

Sort of fumbled the Nixon part. :-)

[DireStrike]

25. Lets see

NY mayor... or was it governor...

also... something about labor...

um, I'm 23, do I get a pass?

[theboss]

32. You get a pass if you research him

This stuff is important to know. Don't be a Freeper and make pronouncments without knowing anything.

[Sunnyshine]

26. He was an iconoclast in many ways. I had to do a report on him for Fresh. yr in college.

I think he started out a bit rough with "The Report" because it seemed insensitive and played into conservative stances. He served in cabinet positions for Presidents on both sides. I think he voted to ban late-term abortions earlier in his career. He was ahead of his time in many aspects and stood up for many Democratic causes throughout his career. Later in life, he became more classic liberal.

That's if my memory serves me correctly. Ooh, and I love lemon sorbet on a hot, hot day!

[kath]

27. He was in the Senate for years, and years and...

He wrote something about the decline of black families (teen pregnancy, etc.) leading to poverty that caused a lot of controversy.


not sure on this one, but I think he was ambassador to the UN?

("intellectual" - bah! We don't need no steenkin' intellectuals. We need leaders that everyone wants to have a beer with. I HATE fokkin' egghead nerd elitists.)

[skooooo]

28. ...his report

From the late 60s on poverty. It had a catchy name, I think, but I can't remember.

[bean fidhleir]

29. He was a nominal Democrat, he was an arsehole, he was responsible for

the phrase (and concept) "benign neglect", he was opposed to safety nets.

[mdmc]

30. thats not how I remember him

I always thought he was a big government liberal. A big supporter of the welfare state.:shrug:

[bean fidhleir]

47. Certainly a supporter of the welfare state for corporations

For human beings, my memory says not so much.

[Gabi Hayes]

36. heh....first thing that came to mind after bow tie was DINO

also, DINO Larry ODonnell hacked for him

[book_worm]

31. 1) worked in LBJ and Nixon white houses

2) Wanted to have a guranteed income for poor people
3) Wanted to overhaul Social Security during Reagan's term
4) A more liberal version of William Buckley

[kath]

33. k & r

[JackRiddler]

35. 1) As ambassador to the UN...

managed to shut down a debate within that body concerning East Timor, which was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 on the day after Kissinger and Ford met with allied dictator and mass murderer Suharto and apparently gave a green light.

2) Theorized that the black family was the cause of black poverty.

3) Opposed the MX missile under Reagan. (I was actually in the Senate gallery watching a speech before a vote in which VP Bush cast the tie-breaker.)

4) Um... was a senator from New York.

Okay, I ran out so I had to cop out on number 4.

The above done without reading other responses.

[Mr Rabble]

42. Good memory. Even further, while at the UN....

explained that his job there was to, "render the entire UN as utterly useless and ineffective".

Nice guy...

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. He was overweight

he said all politics is local

He was a lion of legislation

And poverty was his main issue

Do I pass?

[theboss]

39. I think you just descried Tip O'Neill actually

Just saying.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Ok that is ok

confused him

[Elidor]

41. All politics is local was Tip O'Neill

[freestyle]

38. Wrote ridiculous analysis of Black families

Worked in the Nixon administration. Senator from New York. He thought he was a Democrat. I never took much he said seriously after reading the report he wrote in the 1960's essentially blaming all manner of ills on Black women.

[BigDaddy44]

57. The "ridiculous" analysis....

Happened in hindsight to be right on the nose.

[theboss]

40. Here is an anecdote a friend of mine from New York used to tell comparing D'Amato to Moynihan

The story goes that if you called D'Amato's office for help on getting your mother's Social Security check delivered to the right address, they got your mother's Social Security Card delivered to the right address.

If you called Moynihan's office, you got a treatise on the passage of the Social Security Act.

[dsc]

44. Ok

Worked for Nixon, Ford, and Johnson. Wrote a report on the black family and illigimacy. Senator from New York until 2001. I think he was ambassador to the UN.

[KamaAina]

45. He was referred to as "the jewel of the United States Senate"

2. Tim Russert once worked for him.

3. He represented New York state.

4. He was a Democrat.

[dixiegrrrrl]

46. 2 things

black eyebrows

[NashVegas]

48. He Grew Up in Hell's Kitchen

He was a NY Senator

He was integral to Social Security legislation

He criticized Reagan's Nicaragua policies.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

49. Okay

I'll try for one (without looking at any other posts)
Wasn't he the author of "A Nation at Risk"

[BurtWorm]

50. 1. US Ambassador to UN during Ford Administration

2. Born/raised in Hell's Kitchen.

3. Wrote a report on race during Johnson Administration that helped set the stage for conservative assault on New Deal social programs by criticizing their inability to deal with the breakdown of poor African American families.

4. Wrote a book late in life criticizing the notion of government secrecy.

[JackRiddler]

51. So where was this thread heading?

[bemildred]

52. Why not just make your point, whatever it is?

You sound like a troll with an axe to grind. The density of experts here on DPM means nothing at all about DU, one way or another.

[mitchum]

55. 1. D...

2.I
3.N
4.O

[bunkerbuster1]

56. Without looking at the subject lines of the other replies...

Was a NY Senator a real long time.

Back in the late 60s, took a very un-PC (at the time, apparently) look at the effects of poverty on urban families; how much of that was really about the "evils of welfare" I don't know but that's how it's recounted.

Wore a goofy hat.

Had a bit of a speech impediment that made him sound a bit drunk.

Was spoken highly of by PJ O'Rourke.

Was hauled before the TeeVee cameras when an erudite Democrat was needed.

that's about it.

[-..__...]

58. He wanted to raise the federal excise tax on ammunition...

from 11% to 50%.

In the case of the mythical "Black Talon" ammunition... the tax would have been raised to 10,000%.

(Chris Rock wasn't the originator of the tax the bullets answer to gun control).

[H2O Man]

59. I could list

far more than four things about Moynihan off the top of my head, including many positive and many negative things. He lived for years at Pinder's Corners, a hamlet outside of Oneonta, NT, not far from me. A close friend worked for him while he was Senator, and he was one of my uncle's favorite politician. I had quite a bit of contact with him, and especially with his office, over the years.

Moynihan was, in his younger years, pretty close to being a "Kennedy democrat." By the mid-1980s, he had shifted to being closer in foreign policy ideas to the neoconservatives that had joined the republican party that decade.

He was certainly among the more intelligent members of the US Senate in recent history. But, again by the mid-1980s, one needed to approach him for important business before the lunch hour.

Russert's working with Moynihan is an important factor in considering his entire career. Russert's main area in his work at NBC/MSNBC was Washington, DC, rather than international affairs. He knew the ways of Washington from his association with Moynihan.

Equally impressive, in my opinion, was that Russert worked with Mario Cuomo after he was with Moynihan. Governor Cuomo is another highly intelligent democrat, and in my opinion, is among the best politicians that the nation has produced in recent history.

[JackRiddler]

61. SO WHERE WAS THIS THREAD HEADING?