Politics on the Hudson

   The Dalai Lama visited the Senate this morning to give the convocation, preaching his message of peace, truth and compassion. The Buddhist spiritual leader had senators laughing when he said he wasn’t sure if he should join the Democratic Party, The Republican Party or create his own. His tendency is to side with the minority, he said, which in this case is Republicans (they have 30 seats to the Democrats’ 32).

   Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, asked that the Dalai Lama “pray for this minority,” which prompted chuckling in the chamber. Skelos noted that the Dalai Lama’s appearance in the Senate today is fitting because senators will be voting on a controversial $2.7 billion bailout for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Skelos suggested to his colleagues that they keep the debate civil and respectable.

   A number of senators went up to meet the Dalai Lama personally and posed for photos with him. Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck, Westchester County, asked him to bless her Tibetan prayer wheel. Oppenheimer has visited Tibet twice.

   The Dalai Lama is speaking at the Palace Theatre in Albany this afternoon. The Tibetan spiritual leader fled his country 40 years ago when the Chinese invaded Tibet and lives in India.

(Photos by Heather Senison.)