Bob Hardt, NY 1’s editorial director, wrote that Cuomo should grow up and act like a Governor, not a bully.
He was especially appalled by Cuomo’s behavior at the Labor Day parade, where he refused to shake Teachout’s hand and no matter how hard she tried to reach across to do so, Cuomo was surrounded by other officials and bodyguards determined to prevent a face-to-face encounter, or Heaven forbid, a handshake.
What the event showed is that Teachout has courage and dignity–she kept smiling no matter how many times she was pushed away–and Cuomo showed he is afraid of her. No class.
Hardt wrote:
Life really is like high school – it’s just that the stakes keep getting bigger.
After unsuccessfully going to court to try to stop tomorrow’s Democratic primary from happening, Governor Cuomo and his running mate, Kathy Hochul, pulled off their best King and Queen of the Prom behavior this weekend, pretending that their opponents, Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu, didn’t exist. Hochul got downright weird at the Labor Day parade in Manhattan on Saturday, when she literally turned her back on Teachout when she tried to shake her hand.
It was a symbolic moment that perfectly captured Cuomo’s response to dissatisfaction in the liberal wing of his party by just pretending that it isn’t there. After the primary, the governor plans on wooing (or is it Wu-ing?) those voters back when he faces the Republican-Conservative bugaboo of Rob Astorino in November.
But it’s not really smart or courageous by the governor to ignore members of his party who think he gave public employees the short end of the stick or want him to ban hydrofracking. Teachout and Wu aren’t the standard tinfoil-helmet-wearing minor candidates as much as Cuomo and Hochul want them to be. They’ve received numerous endorsements and are getting traction across the state. Why not explain why you think their ideas are out of step with the state rather than hide from them?
After The New York Times’ devastating article on the governor’s behavior surrounding his anti-corruption commission in which Cuomo’s team appeared thuggish, maybe it’s smart not for top Cuomo aide Joe Percoco not to look like he’s going to tackle Teachout at this weekend’s parade.
Bullying your way through the primary china shop will get you a messy win – but it’s not the most artful way to go through politics. There’s nothing wrong with explaining yourself to voters in forums like debates or at least mentioning your opponent by name.
With Primary Day approaching tomorrow, it’s time for both Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul to stay after school.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The video is priceless.
http://boingboing.net/2014/09/06/hilariously-awkward-video-of-a.html
Can you explain to me what the hell Bill de Blasio is doing in that clip, especially the part where he makes the gesture that involves biting his own hand?
I also recommend watching this video at least once while focusing entirely on Joe Percoco, Cuomo’s adviser-bodyguard.
I assumed he was doing this:
Agree re: Percoco. He sets a mean screen.
I am disappointed that De Blasio is vigorously supporting Cuomo after Cuomo humiliated him last spring
That’s why I am not in politics
Guess you’ve seen today’s NY Post — Cuomo AND DiBlasio intimidating and threatening NYS Democrats who were inclined to endorse Teachout/Wu. Make this go viral. Only one day left until the primary in NYS. http://nypost.com/2014/09/08/cuomo-and-de-blasio-intimidate-democrats-backing-teachout/
Teachout and Wu are the only honest ones running. Many Americans are puppets.
Scratch a bully, find a coward.
Scratch a coward, find a monster . . . .
“Where’s da maya! We need da maya!”
This man is NYS governor? The interview following the parade is very telling. Not only did Cuomo purposely ignore Teachout at the parade, he was caught in a lie about not having the opportunity to speak to Teachout!
Makes one wonder about Cuomo’s character and what else he lies about…
I am voting for Teachout in tomorrow’s primary.
I don’t live in NY so I won’t be voting for her, but I’m grateful to her for raising the corruption issue.
This is a review of her book:
“As Teachout makes clear, the framers themselves predicted that corruption would be a constant threat. George Mason, for example, warned that “if we do not provide against corruption, our government will soon be at an end.” It was a preoccupation of the founding debates. In James Madison’s notebook from the summer of 1787, “corruption” appears fifty-four times. As Teachout puts it, “corruption, influence, and bribery were discussed more often in the convention than factions, violence, or instability.”
By corruption, the founding era did not mean simply the explicit exchange of cash for a vote, what the Supreme Court in its campaign finance decisions has come to call “quid pro quo corruption.” Teachout notes that the word “corruption” came up hundreds of times in the Constitutional Convention and the ratification debates, yet “only a handful of uses referred to what we might now think of as quid pro quo bribes,” constituting “less than one-half of 1 percent of the times corruption was raised.”
Did NOT mean simply the explicit exchange of cash for a vote.
I’m hoping she won’t be the last anti-corruption candidate, and that the issue of captured politicians and regulators just gets bigger and bigger.
She’s right when she says “no one will admit this”. They won’t.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/sep/25/how-corrupt-are-our-politics/
Apparently Randi Weingarten was making 11th-hour robo-calls for Kathy Hochul yesterday.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/teachers-union-big-randi-weingarten-late-robocall-kathy-hochul-blog-entry-1.1932086
“Hi, this is Randi Weingarten- you may know me as the president of the American Federation of Teachers but I’m calling today as a fellow Democrat and delegate to the Democratic National Committee, to urge you to vote for Kathy Hochul for Lieutenant Governor in Tuesday’s Democratic Primary.
I worked closely with Kathy when she was in the Congress. She fought back against extremist Republicans who attacked Medicare, Social Security, affordable healthcare and stood up for public schools, our children, our families and our educators. Her 100 percent pro-choice, pro-equality, pro-worker pro public school record is exactly what we need in our next Lieutenant Governor.
In Congress, Kathy sponsored the Safe Schools Improvement Act to require school districts nationwide to implement anti-bullying policies. Kathy has pledged to help invest in our public schools and expand Universal Pre-K to every region of the state so all of our children get a head start on success.
This is Randi Weingarten and I urge you to vote for Kathy Hochul for Lieutenant Governor in the Democratic Primary this Tuesday September 9th. Thanks.”
FLERP, Randi supports whoever she wants. Neither UFT not NYSUT made an endorsement.
I voted for Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu.
Sorry, Diane, but you’re being willfully naive on this one:
Weingarten/Mulgrew put up a slate to take over NYSUT when the then-leadership started straying from the plantation on things like Common Core and test-based teacher evaluations insisted upon by our Reptilian Governor. Weingrew’s slate claimed it opposed CCSS during the campaign, but then Karen McGee, Weingrew’s chosen head for NYSUT, spoke against an anti-Common Core resolution at the AFT convention.
Then Weingarten/Mulgrew threatened to cut off funding to the Working Families Party if they had the temerity to endorse Teachout.
Then Randi does robocalls for Cuomo’s running mate, an anti-immigrant politician who opposes reasonable gun control laws.
Can you honestly say that most teachers who received those robocalls said to themselves, “Oh, Randi is just calling as an individual, not head of the union?”
This is just Weingarten and Mulgrew’s usual duplicity. They are finessing the situation, since they know they can’t openly support Cuomo, much as they’d like to, since the membership rightfully loathes him.