NYC's Chief Jerk
Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg offered a mouthful of contempt for New York City's lower classes, Bill de Blasio's interracial family, and a tacit endorsement of Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former MTA head Joe Lhota.
His mouth dripping with elitist contempt for the poor, the Chief Jerk of New York said this:
"I'm not being cavalier about it, but most places in the world our poor are wealthy. There's a lot of tragedy around the world," Bloomberg said.
Previous measures of poverty looked at income and not services available to individuals - like air conditioning, which Bloomberg said was available to most Americans.
"When we grew up we didn't have air-conditioning. Air-conditioning in the schools, the subways. Are you crazy? Now, by most of the world's standards, you ain't poor," he said.
Umm...the people of New York don't live 'around the world.' It doesn't matter if they aren't poor relative to Somalia. They live here in New York, not Somalia. Its this kind of crap that completely justifies why he should have been gone a long time ago. A billionaire telling poor people they just be happy with their lot, because they've got AC in the schools! What a jerk.
But that wasn't enough. He also said it is racist for a white guy to go after black voters:
"Tearing people apart with this ‘two cities' thing doesn't make any sense to me," Bloomberg is quoted as saying. When the interviewer offers that de Blasio "has in some ways been running a class-warfare campaign, Bloomberg cuts in, "class warfare and racist."
...
In the magazine interview, Bloomberg reserved his strongest words for de Blasio, who is white, taking issue in particular with the visible role played by the candidate's wife, Chirlane McCray, who is black, and their two children.
De Blasio's son, Dante, who is biracial and wears his hair in a tall Afro, starred in a campaign ad that promoted de Blasio's opposition to the controversial stop-and-frisk policing tactic that overwhelmingly targets young black and Latino men.
"I think it's pretty obvious to anyone watching what he's been doing," Bloomberg told the magazine. "I do not think he himself is racist. It's comparable to me pointing out I'm Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote. You tailor messages to your audiences and address issues you think your audience cares about."
See, its okay for Bloomberg to go after the Jewish vote, because he's Jewish. But if an white guy goes after the black vote, why that's just downright racist. Especially if said white guy is married to a black woman and has an interracial family! According to Bloomberg, you must only get the votes of people of your same ethnicity. Nothing racist about that at all! This is another reason why this entitled asshole should have been gone four years ago.
Finally, Bloomberg offered his backing to Christine Quinn in the Democratic Primary and Joe Lhota:
"I thought the Times was right in their editorials on Lhota and Quinn. I'm very pleased about that," Bloomberg said.
As Speaker, Quinn "did a very good job for seven and a half years of keeping legislation that never should have made it to the floor, that would have been damaging to the city, from ever getting there," Bloomberg said.
Well, that should do her some good in a Democratic primary. She's got a guy endorsing a Republican and the rich folks at the New York Times behind her. Good for you Ms. Quinn.
7:43 AM PT: How about this comment:
Told that “some day the city will name something after you,” Bloomberg replied, “No. Probably not.”
“But what would you pick?”
He answered, “I never even thought about it. What would I like? Probably can’t change the name of Central Park, right?”
Umm...Bloomberg did not create Central Park, but I'll grant he's spent a ton of money taking good care of it. Cut all the outer-borough parks, which look like shit now, but I suppose that's enough for him to conclude he needs the most famous park in the world named after himself. Of course.