Trump has his "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" moment:

"USA Today published a brutal editorial Tuesday after President Donald Trump smeared Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) by saying she 'would do anything' for campaign contributions. 'A president who’d all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama’s presidential library or to shine George W. Bush’s shoes,'” USA Today’s Editorial Board wrote, adding Trump was clearly suggesting Gillibrand would trade sexual favors for campaign donations. The board added that Trump is a 'uniquely awful' person with 'sickening behavior.' His tweet was a new low for a president redefining rock bottom, they wrote. -- USA Today Calls Trump Unfit To Clean Obama's Toilets In Scathing Editorial (Yahoo News).

Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom? by The Editorial Board (USA Today)

Giving cynicism a bad name

The Republicans' embrace of Roy Moore is no more cynical than the Democrats' lynching of Al Franken. If Moore wins, the GOP Senators can righteously refuse to seat him, confident the Republican governor will replace him with another member of the tribe. If they let Democrat Doug Jones win, on the other hand, they're stuck with him for at least six years. Does anyone really think Al Franken would have been shoved out the door if the governor of Minnesota was other than a Democrat? (Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand may have made a tactical in trying to jumpstart her presidential campaign by shoving out the popular Franken. Political activists have long memories).

Politics: Obama to Paterson: "Quit race." Paterson to Obama: "No."

Voicing concern over whether the currently unpopular governor of New York, David Paterson, who succeeded to office when Eliot Spitzer resigned, will drag down the ticket in the general election next year, and thus potentially affect control of Congress, President Obama has asked the incumbent not to run for a full term. (Paterson says he's running anyway.) This comes after the White House drove three more-progressive primary candidates out the race earlier in the year in order to protect Blue Dog Kirsten Gillibrand who was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Paterson, ironically over White House objections, when Hillary Clinton quit to go to State. Wonder how long New York Democrats will accept being dictated to by the national party.

2010: Let the people decide

 As they have in last several election cycles, Democratic Party leaders will favor conservative candidates over progressives in next year's primaries

The Times says Carolyn Maloney has decided not to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in next year's New York Democratic primary (Gillibrand Rival Won’t Run in Primary by Raymond Hernandez - New York Times 2009-08-07). The veteran liberal House member representing parts of Manhattan and Queens earned her shot at the seat. And you'd think the Empire State's registered Democrats might be entitled to decide for themselves whether they prefer to be represented by a traditional Democrat like Maloney or a DLC-style moderate like Gillibrand. But apparently Pres. Obama has signed on to the long-standing Schumer-Emanuel strategy of supporting conservatives over progressives in House and Senate primaries. In May, Steve Israel, the five-term congressman from Long Island, and Manhattan borough president Scott M. Stinger were forced out of the race by the White House. Since being appointed to fill the seat made vacant when Hillary Clinton ascended to the executive branch, Gillibrand has tacked left, suggesting she's another "moderate" with no fixed positions or beliefs. Will it come as a complete surprise if the voters in the general election choose a genuine Republican over an ersatz Democrat?