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Fascinating article in the NY Times today about how argued about the content of the Mayor's speech during the Republican National Convention. With the Mayor's approval ratings higher than expected (expectations at City Hall are low), especially after subjecting his mostly blue citizens with red-staters, it's a great look at how the Mayor is a begrudging Republican-in-name only. Many people remember that Mayor Bloomberg, who had been a lifelong Democrat, switched to the Republican party in a political move that proved successful, but the Mayor has been openly critical of the current Bush administration, especially in trying to get money for NYC. Which is what the Mayor wanted to do at the convention: Criticize Republicans in Congress for not giving enough money to a post-September 11 New York. The NY Times reports that Bloomberg and Republican operatives were tangling over his speech, to the point of him being deleted from the program and then needing to get Karl Rove involved. Zoinks! What the Mayor was able to say, "We all must recognize that homeland security funds should be allocated by threat and no other reason," was met with "stony silence" at the convention. It seems like NYC likes its Republicans to clean NYC up so much it almost feels fascist (think Rudy's efforts to clean up NY) or Democratic in sheep's clothing (like the Mayor).
The Mayor had uninvited Congressman Bob Ney to his pre-Convention shindig, because of Ney's refusal to give NYC funding.
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I've been an avid Gothamist reader for a little while, but it's getting more difficult. There's been a puzzling amount of recent entries about Bloomberg that are nearly identical. The name of this site should be changed to Bloombergist.
There were a few things Bloomberg has said that I agreed with, but he never follows through. He talks a lot about getting more Federal anti-terror funding, about the MTAs problems, and about a lack of support from Albany. But has he actually followed through and attempted to fix any of this? No. He's a good complainer but he doesn't do a damned thing to fix the big, important things. He only seems to follow through with handling budget cuts and fixing potholes.
Gothamist says he's a "Republican-in-name-only," but I'll be damned if anyone will say that he's a Democrat in sheep's clothing. He's no Democrat. Cutting public services and underfunding current ones stinks of a big red "R" more than anything else, not including the trampling of some of our first amendment rights (another Republican trait).
How is proposing non-partisan primaries (which hurts Democrats) a sign of Bloomberg being a Democrat in sheep's clothing? How is deliberately coercing the PEP to enact NYC's underfunded version of "No Child Left Behind" being a Democrat in sheep's clothing? How is cutting funding for public schools, public service and underfunding mass transit being a Democrat in sheep's clothing? How is restraining political dissent being a Democrat in sheep's clothing? How is not discussing issues and coming to a true consensus being a Democrat in sheep's clothing? How is supporting George W Bush being a Democrat in sheep's clothing?
I'm truly puzzled why these big issues don't matter to some people!
Damn. I think he's a democrat in sheep's clothing. Do you think congress and the state will just hand out the cash he's asking for? Do you think a democratic mayor would get the funds from a republican controlled congress and republican governor? While I don't agree with the cuts either, THE CITY'S IN DEBT! How do you propose to pay for everything?!
he's a rich guy enjoying the challenge of being mayor of the greatest city on earth. he hates the homeless and treats the City workers who make this town run with utter contempt. He has no respect for the principle that their are 3 branches of government and operates as if the judicial branch is something to be ignored if not destroyed. He's a smart bastard, but a bastard all the same and he may have been a democrat in a previous life but as a mayor he has been like a heartless republican.
Listen, when contemplating whether you're going to vote for Bloomberg next year, anyone who is at all liberal should look at his handling of the protests during the RNC. Could Giuliani have handled it any worse? Probably not. On that issue alone, Bloomberg has lost my vote, and I was a lonely, leftist supporter of his during the early days of his term when he was cutting city services.
Sure, he did a great job handling the fiscal crisis, but like they say in Tanner '88, we need and deserve more than a good manager. He turned his back on everyday NY'ers and threw in with the national GOP during the time when we needed his support the most.
We need a *real* democratic/Democratic mayor, not one in disguise.
Last year the City Hall Press Office, it its infinite wisdom, pushed an unwanted Republican gathering on a still vunerable New York City. All the while repeatedly scolding anyone who dared question the idea by screaming that it was "good for us" and that we "should put up with it".
Now, in typical cowardly Skyler-Cunningham form, they are crying to the NYTimes that they themselves were scolded by the Bushies just for trying to speak their minds in an 8 minute speech at the convention.
If they really want sympathy and respect from this city because they stood up to, yet ultimately cowered to the big Rove posse, they should start with an apology for helping re-elect G.W.Bush and illegally detaining peaceful protesters.
Instead of leaking this lame story to the NYTimes over dinner at Basso.
Yeah Gothamist, I'm a little leery of this post. It's really just a bit of Bloomberg propoganda.
Even if this report *is* true, then the strategic leaking of it *after* the election is troubling. Oh look, he's a democrat again. Shocking.
It's going to be hard for me to forgive Bloomberg for his actions during the RNC. I'm not one to hold a grudge, but in this case, I think holding on to my anger may be the right thing to do.
there's a special level of hell reserved for bloomie for bringing the RNC into this town. remember the many speeches he gave then about how proud he was to have switched parties?
When we elect Republicans, for whatever reason, we make the GOP stronger. We re-elected Giuliani because he made necessary improvements in his first term, and somehow he's now a major player in national politics, using his post 9/11 clout to get psychotic homophobes into power everywhere.
I don't want to watch it happen any longer. Surely someone in the local Democratic party is capable of not running the city into the ground. As a matter of fact, the city needs a little bit of running into the ground, because maybe then middle-class people like me could afford to live here again.