I have taken a lot of flack here for criticizing the Democratic National Committee’s actions over the past several years. A Sufi saying…”As above, so below”…applies to the following situation. (From…of all publications…the NY Times.)
Read on.
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A last-minute mailer from Democrats wrongly describing Cynthia Nixon as anti-Semitic is a disgrace.
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This is dirty politics, nearly as sleazy as it gets.
Days before Mr. Cuomo’s primary race for re-election on Thursday, the New York State Democratic Committee has sent voters a campaign mailer falsely accusing his challenger, Cynthia Nixon, of being “silent on the rise of anti-Semitism.”
It says she supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. She does not. It accuses Ms. Nixon of opposing funding yeshivas, private religious schools attended by many of the city’s Orthodox Jews. She has never said that.
“With anti-Semitism and bigotry on the rise, we can’t take a chance,” the mailer reads. “Re-Elect Governor Andrew Cuomo.”
This is the lowest form of politics, and the most dangerous, exploiting the festering wounds and fears along ethnic and religious lines.
“I didn’t know about the mailer,” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference Sunday in Manhattan. “I haven’t seen the mailer.”
Sorry, Mr. Cuomo, but that strains credulity.
Mr. Cuomo dominates the state Democratic Party. It acts ethically or abominably at his direction, or at the very least, with his campaign’s blessing.
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State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat who hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the primary, said in a statement released by the Nixon campaign on Sunday: “I am doubly offended and aghast that my party organization would produce and mail such a false, damaging attack on Ms. Nixon and then watch the Governor and key staff act surprised they had done this. Shameful.”
Given all the ethical lapses in Mr. Cuomo’s administration, of which he has also pleaded ignorance, this smear is appalling. It is the kind of cynical behavior that detracts from Mr. Cuomo’s often-impressive ability to govern. If he is not careful, it could make voters feel they have no choice but to vote for someone else.
Mr. Cuomo deserves a third term because of his potential to lead. He should stop squandering that potential now. To be sure of it, New York Democrats need to turn out in large numbers on Thursday to support every reform-driven candidate possible — for the Legislature, for attorney general, even for party committees. They can teach Albany a lesson it won’t soon forget.
Yup.
For those not living in the NYC area, I must point out that Jewish voters are historically a solid Democratic bloc…solid enough to turn statewide elections. I must also point out that the NY Times’ ongoing support of the racist Israeli regime (and its political financial arm in the U.S., AIPAC) has been an important part of the formation and continuation of that bloc for decades.
So…the Times is playing both ends against the middle here. It wants Cuomo to win…hence the praise for his “…often-impressive ability to govern…potential to lead.” After all, it is a loyal neoentrist rag. But it is also mindful of the affluent new wave of millennial voters of all races and cultures that is rapidly becoming its paying audience…mindful of the recent Ocasio-Lopez win and mindful of the gathering anti-mainstream Democratic Party wave that is forming all over the country.
In the old days…like say last year or 2016…the Times would have simply sat there and let this sort of politics pass by relatively unnoted. They didn’t complain much when the DNC screwed Bernie Sanders, you might have noticed. But Albany and the NY State Democratic Party as a whole have been corrupt on every possible level for decades if not longer, witness the number of high officials close to Cuomo in Albany who have taken serious legal falls over the past couple of years.
However…suddenly…it is adjusting its course somewhat.
Consider, please…
Cynthia Nixon has no shot whatsoever of defeating Andrew Cuomo in a primary. This is a statewide election, and an actress who rose to fame in a TV pean to gentrification (“Sex In the City”), is openly lesbian and refers often to her “wife” is simply not going to win against a second generation Dem governor given the conservative Democratic voters of upstate NY and the NYC suburban bedroom communities.
Sorry, but there it is.
So…why the “Opinion” piece in the Times?
By The Editorial Board
The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.
Why?
It’s about business.
Duh.
It’s about securing its mostly affluent Jewish and millennial audience during extremely hard times for print media.
How does this relate to the “As above, so below” idea?
Simple.
On other, more national levels, the DNC and its media satraps are going to do the same thing.
That recent wonderful news about the DNC changing the rules for superdelegates?
I’ll believe it when I see it in action, unencumbered by some other under-the-table jiggering.
Just more hustle, I fear.
Why do I say that?
Because the leopard does not change his spots.
That’s why.
Until then?
As Queen Victoria famously said:
We are not amused.
Not fooled, either.
Not me, anyway…
You?
Later…
AG
