Weiner's "sharpness" was nowhere in evidence when he, alone in the entire (then-) Brooklyn Congressional delegation, voted in favor of the use-of-force resolution that gave the Bush Administration the green light to invade Iraq. Weiner effectively disenfranchised those of us in his (then) Congresssional District who opposed this action (since both his mentor Schumer and Sen. Clinton voted "pro-war" as well). No doubt he'd argue that he was duped - which means, I guess, that all the other Brooklyn reps were a lot "sharper" than he. Maybe "glib" is a better description.

Weiner and a majority of Congress voted for this rotten immoral war which harms our troops which empties the civic purse and which ppisons of political life. By the way, a majoprity of US citizens supported the war then too.

As I see it, at present, Weiner is and has been an anti-war figure for a good while now. We can, each of us, be grumpy that he didn't sign on as an anti-warrior sooner. We none the less need to welcome him into our ranks. He's been much better against the War than Senators Schumer and Clinton -- both of whom have improved as most Americans have come around to an anti-war position.

What I meant when I called Mr. Weiner "sharp" however, was that his comments are often phrased to draw blood from those he's talking to. It's a rhetorical style I like. Mayor Koch had that zinger style too, you may recall.

I have to agree with the assessment of Weiner's performance. He was, too many, surprisingly astute. Much better even than at the ridiculous Press Q+A at Time-Warner preceeding the 2005 Democratic Mayoral Primary. It's too bad the Bronx BP was not all to question re his lock-out of the Yankee Stadium area residents at the sole public hearing for this giveaway to the nation's wealthiest sports franchise & the displacement of the Bronx Terminal Market vendors.

I, too, wanted to ask the Borough President about the Bronx Terminal Market the destruction of which, I'm told, also destroyed many small businesses at which immigrants shopped. Maybe DMI will allow for an online forum on these issues. I will certainly suggest it.

Appreciate your companion writings around the DMI/Baruch symposium. My sense is both Carrion & Thompson have bought the Bloomberg economic babble & perhaps, too, the absent Speaker Quinn. Former CSTG head Lou Albano possed the question re the port & Congressman Nadler's efforts & serious matching dollars for the 4 generations-delayed trans-harbor rail freight tunnel. There was a uniform chorus re hizzoner's waffling (which really has tilted anti-port with the Red Hook land uses changes) but no follow-up as to why the opposition doesn't unify to challenge the Bloomberg-
Doctoroff giveaway to REBNY & friends. That may be more important than how loud NYIRN, ITAC, GIDC, etc, can be. What good are the industrial advocates silent supporters? In the context of who is the Middle Class & how is it faring, the press has suddenly discovered NYC's engineering shortage. Gee, what might engineers have to do with industry or a vertical, dense, heavy public infrastructure - dependent city?

we (really, I mean they) can start more focused discussion online, perhaps. It may be that some electeds have done the math, seen that Mayor Bloomberg is not unpopular, and concluded that opposing his policies would draw unneeded fire from Mayor Mike and his minions.

Thank you for bringing up the question of the cross-harbor tunnel. By the time that guy brought it up, my brain was fried with note-taking and schmoozing. This is an example of a subject which would benefit from much more careful debate and discussion. How can we set that up?