"Vinnie" Gentile After the "Cugine" Vote in NY11?

Photo Courtesy of SILive.com

(Writer's Note:  The following article may contain some derogatory terms about Italian-Americans. Please know that I, an Italian-American myself, am using this terms for literary effect and to bring absurdity to the absurd political tactic I am about to detail, and hope that you take my poetic license in the spirit in which it is offered)

"A! O!  Youse guys know 'dis "Vinnie" guy ova' hear?"

It looks like NY City Councilman Vincent Gentile has gone through a little bit of a "goombah" makeover and he rolls out his campaign as the Democratic candidate vying for the NY11 Special Election to be held on May 5th.  

It seems that his consultants have convinced him to go by the name "Vinnie" instead of "Vincent", which he used in prior local races, including his NY City Council re-election bid in 2013.  

For instance, after the "Read More" break  are some photos from the "Vincent" Gentile City Council campaign in 2013, courtesy of the Councilman's public Facebook account that you can compare and contrast with "Vinnie Bag O' Donuts' " Congressional bid. 

There he is with his paisan, Dominooch..., I mean, Domenic Recchia

And now contrast with "Vinnie - that Knockaround Guy from 'Round the Way's" new flavor now that he's a Big-Time Wanna-Be Wise Guy running for U.S. Congress in a district with a significant Italian-American community  in Staten Island on the other side of the Verrazano Bridge (known colloquially to the old timers as the G***** Gang Plank when it opened).

Hell, even his social media has gone all "Vinnie" on us! His Twitter, his website - when did that nice young I-Talian boy Vincent Gentile make his bones and become Vinnie from Brooklyn?!?

These are the games people in politics play to con voters into giving them your vote.  Gentile and his camp are playing a bit of ethnic politics to accentuate that he's "one of the boys" and steal a few low-information votes.

It's racist.  And it's offensive.

It also smacks of clear desperation a mere few weeks into this special election.

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About Gene Berardelli, Esq.

To learn more about the author, check out the "About Us" page. Behind Enemy Lines Radio is a national Award-Winning radio show / podcast broadcasting live out of the belly of the Democratic beast - "The People's Republic of" New York City that airs on multiple radio stations as part of the Talk America Radio Network. It is also an "Insider" column on Newsmax featuring show hosts Gene Berardelli and Russell Gallo. The show is also available on multiple networks across the internet, with more being added regularly.