How High Is ‘Too Damn High’? Fringe Candidate Pays $800 A Month

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Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is Too Damn High Party attends the gubernatorial debate at Hofstra University October 18, 2010 in Hempstead, New York.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

If you’re a New Yorker, you may laugh at him, but guess what? That’s more than NewsFeed pays (nyah-nyah!)

The New York Post today has a scoop on New York’s newest political hero, Jimmy McMillan, a black-gloved, exquisitely mustached Vietnam veteran running for Governor of New York under the banner of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party. But as quickly as fortunes rise in this state, so too do they fall: The Post is reporting breathlessly that McMillan only pays $800 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. Or, as they put it, “his rent isn’t that damn high!”

NewsFeed, however, would like to note a few points in defense of McMillan.

First, while $800 a month is a pittance compared to rents in Manhattan, NewsFeed would venture that to readers outside New York, LA and London, that rent seems fairly expensive. Secondly, we would also note that $800 a month is not low at all for an apartment in a non-tony area of Brooklyn. (McMillan lives in Flatbush.) NewsFeed paid less when we lived in Bed-Stuy.

Third, and most importantly, does the amount McMillan personally pays in rent make his concerns invalid? As the Post describes:

“It’s not about my rent. It’s not about me,” he said, emphasizing that rents elsewhere have steadily risen. “What about the children’s future? Where will they stay?”

While NewsFeed generally is not a fan of any plea to “think of the children,” in this case we agree wholeheartedly with McMillan. Even if our own rents are not very high, that does not mean that high rents are not a problem. They are — and they’re only getting higher! Let’s vote this guy in, as long as he promises to stop blaming things on the Jews.