Prosit!

Mark is dead on about the NY GOP - it's a moribund organization with no leadership and no hope. I think an important point that can't be emphasized enough is that the local GOP actively worked in cahoots with the Democrats to ensure our loss of the legislature, the city council, and the mayoral race (although, in fairness, the last was a losing proposition to begin with).

What can you say about a party that doesn't think that winning elections is its raison d'etre? It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the pressure on Pirro to withdraw was not at all based on the phony sell that they are attempting (namely, that she couldn't win - I agree with Mark's assessment that she is a strong candidate to unseat Hillary!), but that this is a coordinated thing: the Dems won't run a credible AG candidate in return for this "favor".

PS: This line from Mark is a candidate for Best of the Quad Squad 2005: NY isn't just a blue state, it's clinically depressed. Awesome!