Sen. Gillibrand in pocket of Philip Morris

And that’s even worse than being in bed with the NRA.

Despite her transparent attempts at denial, in the 1990s, Kirsten Gillibrand, now the newly-appointed junior senator from New York, did some very heavy legal lifting for tobacco giant Philip Morris, specificially helping to stiff Justice Department attempts to find out what Philip Morris had discovered about smoking hazards from its own laboratory in Germany.

The fact that, after initially agreeing to an interview with the NYTimes, Gillibrand cancelled out speaks volumes.

So, why shouldn’t New York voters just pull the “R” level rather than voting for a pseudo-Democrat who’s not that indistinguishable from some Southern Republicans? (That is, if Gillibrand survives the Democratic primary in 2010, which I hope she doesn’t.)