Frank Bruni at the Times opines that Gov. Cuomo’s endorsement by the WFP jeopardizes his chances of running for President in 2016 as a centrist Democrat:
“… Since becoming governor of New York three and a half years ago, Cuomo has been performing a balancing act with implications for Democratic politics well beyond the state … it speaks to a perennial challenge in both parties: How does a pragmatic politician steer the kind of centrist course that often works best in the long run without provoking a revolt from the more partisan warriors in his or her camp? Over the weekend, Cuomo confronted such a revolt from the Working Families Party, which was threatening to complicate his re-election by running a candidate to his left. He was forced to grovel before its members and to accept help in placating them from Bill de Blasio, a man he prefers to pummel and keep at a distance. “It’s disastrous for him,” one prominent Democratic strategist told me, saying that it undermined Cuomo’s calculations and strategy to this point …”
I agree that it was an embarrassment for Andrew. If he was really confidant of having a 30 point lead over Rob Astorino there would have been no reason for him to accept the WFP line. Why did he choose to do that?
“… “He likes to live in the middle,” said another Democratic insider, one who has known him for decades. “That’s where the country is, and to the extent that you can find an authentic political pulse in him, that’s where he is.” … The prospect of a left too potent — and of anyone but him calling the shots — clearly chills him. He wants to pick and choose his liberal flourishes, not have them chosen for him …”
That may be true on a personal level, but he made a bad decision during his 2013 State of the State to try and revive gun control as an issue, despite the slow death spiral it has been in for years, thinking it would be the foundation of his presidential bid. It got Cuomo national attention, not for any substance on the issue, but because he totally lost his shit while pushing for it. It has been downhill for him since then.
SAFE is what opened the door for the WFP. If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in Him. There will be blood in the water, the sharks will come … And they did come.
Cuomo had to make promises to get their endorsement. If he keeps those promises it will be bad for New York which will be bad for his his image nationally. If he doesn’t keep them it will be bad for his image nationally among Democrats and the hard Left. Either way, Cuomo comes out the loser.
Cuomo is a dog, and going hard on gun control was just plain stupid in the long run. Why democrats scream about civil rights, then push hard for disarmament mystifies me. Don’t they see that gun control is the “leper’s cough” of American politics?
Let’s call WFP by it’s real name, CWP or “Communist Workers’ Party”
So you are saying Jacob that just like in nature, show any sign of weakness and the predators attack??? Hence the Safe Act showed Andy’s weak spot of the WFP to attack.
SAFE created the weak spot.
He doesn’t have a chance in hell. No one likes his NY bullying
Let us not forget NYC, the Liberal bastion. And a good portion of our state’s politicians hailf rom the same region that elected the Commie DeBlasio! Most of the out-of-touch residents of the rotton Apple will vote for Cuomo hands down regardless fo his worthlessness…
It sure seems so, doesn’t it? It used to be, democrats wanted everyone to get a vote, and direct elections. They were for the little guy, and believed in conservative fiscal and social values. My father in law is one such old-school democrat. He’s a conservative, union-proud gun owner who was abandoned by his party and his union.