The Party of Lincoln is Now the Party of Stinkin'.

My Dad was a Republican. I wouldn’t say he was a “proud” one, especially after Goldwater became its presidential nominee in 1964, but rather a “loyal” one, working hard for his boss, New York State Sen. Thomas C. Desmond, in the 1930s and doing his best to see that Desmond got reelected again and again.

Albert J. Abrams was a classic “Rocky Republican,” admiring the policy positions of our liberal Governor Nelson Rockefeller and flying with him (and their colleague Jackie Robinson) to the Republican National Convention in San Francisco in 1964 in a doomed attempt to prevent Goldwater from getting the GOP nod. Dad looked upon Desmond, Rocky, Jackie and other Republicans of his day as smart, good-hearted, forward-thinking and open-minded, and optimistically believed they represented the “silent majority” of their party.

Hear that buzzing sound? That’s Dad, spinning in his grave.

Join Me in Early Voting!

I’m proud to have voted today, even though I could have waited until Nov. 6. I have never failed to vote in my life, and I have always done so on Election Day. So when the Two Ladies came to my door yesterday and asked me to vote early, i told them, “Don’t worry; I’ll vote on Election Day.” But they made a very good point: A lot of good people worked very hard to enable Newburgh residents to vote early. There are too many people here who fail to vote on that ONE DAY because they’re sick; because their ride failed to show up; because they had to work, or they had to work overtime; because it’s raining and they have no way to get there; or because they just plain FORGOT. This cures all of that. Voting early adds my voice (and ballot) to say HURRAH to those who fought for it.

In Republican-infested Rensselaer County, the legislature failed to put ANY early-voting polling placesin Troy, where most people (and most Dems, students, and people of color) live. Instead, they’re way out in the rural and suburban parts of that county.

NEWBURGHERS: PLEASE VOTE EARLY, so that the large number of early voters will convince our politicians to keep our polling place (the Activity Center, 401 Washington Street) as the early-voting site forever. In fact, next election season, they should ADD another Newburgh site. The library or 123 Grand Street are both in heavily populated areas, and as for location, they are to northeast Newburgh what the Activity Center is to the southwest of the city. COME ON OUT AND VOTE EARLY!

All this AND a sticker that says, “I VOTED TODAY!” Do it!