(Community Matters) from Politico’s Playbook:
FIRST LOOK : House Democratic leader NANCY PELOSI, to CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, for ABC’s “This Week,” on whether she supports the Occupy Wall Street protests: “Well, I support the message to the establishment — whether it’s Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest — that change has to happen. … I think one of the most angry responses I’ve seen to actions in Washington came after we passed the TARP bill. … People are angry … that they don’t have jobs. … [T]here’s nothing that makes you angrier than not being able to provide for your family or understand what your prospects are for the future. And I do think that, from what we saw after TARP, that the focus on Wall Street was one that they thought was a legitimate place to go: ‘Don’t do this again. Don’t put Main Street at the mercy of Wall Street.’ … [N]ot to paint everyone on Wall Street with the same brush. That would not be fair.”
AMANPOUR: “I just want to get your reaction to some comments by Eric Cantor [at the Values Voter Summit]. He said, quote: ‘I’m increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and other cities around the country. … Believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against other Americans.'”
PELOSI: “I didn’t hear him say anything when the Tea Party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of Congress right here in the Capitol. And he and his colleagues were putting signs in the windows encouraging them.”
AMANPOUR: “But do you think it’s pitting Americans against Americans?”
PELOSI: “Well, that’s the American system. It’s the democratic system. We don’t all agree. We’d have a king if we were all of one mind. We don’t. We have different views. And the part of the democracy of our country is the expression that people give, and the Constitution guarantees that.”
CANTOR SPOKESMAN Brad Dayspring responds: “People are angry and obviously have the protected right to express that. His point was that some politicians in Washington who are encouraging and applauding this are ‘pitting Americans against Americans.’ … [T]he basis of the Tea Party was redress of their elected government. The goal of these protesters remains unclear, other than a unity of protest in and of itself. … Leader Cantor merely said that he was growing concerned with the occupy protests — and I would think that most Americans, whether they agree or not with any or all of the varied causes evident there, feel the same
Community Matters 
Somewhat related: It’s interesting how well the regional economy in New York is doing and how this may blind the media to the depth of the recession nationwide.
Crain’s New York has an article (http://bit.ly/nmQg3r) about “The Great Recession That Wasn’t” stating “The number of jobs that the city lost during the 2008-09 recession was lower than previously estimated. The downturn, one of the mildest since World War II…”
which is funny because a few years ago bailout apologists were saying the financial crisis would have the same effect on New York that Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans. I guess not.
Now we need Richard Florida to explain New York’s success: was it the creative hipsters in Brooklyn, the vibrant immigrant community in Queens, or the corporate welfare recipients in Manhattan?
Of course, it’s a complicated story, but I noticed the schadenfreude in the sports blogosphere the other day when the Detroit Tigers knocked the New York Yankees out of the playoffs. One small victory for Main St?