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Top Comments: And Stay Gone This Time [1]
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Date: 2025-06-25
While nothing’s final until November, the results of the NYC Mayor primary have been a tremendous relief. Even so, I have to ask: how was Andrew Cuomo ever a contender, given his history? And why did he have the support of so many Dem politicians who should have known better?
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There were a dozen candidates running, and if the party establishment thought Mamdani’s socialism went too far, they had plenty of other choices. Throwing all their weight behind Cuomo sent a clear message about who and what mattered to them.
Four short years ago, Cuomo resigned in disgrace, after multiple credible allegations of sexual harassment, including assault. He abused his power to retaliate against the women, including demanding gynecological records, and made the taxpayers foot the bill. And yet he was endorsed by prominent Dem politicians, forty percent of whom previously called for his resignation as Governor.
The message to women is, basically: You’re expendable.
There’s a popular media trope of a guy who’s horrible to other people, but everyone else tolerates his behavior because he’s just so gosh-darn brilliant at his job. (The TV show House is one example.) Even if the Too Valuable to Lose Guy was a real thing (it’s not), Cuomo is clearly not that guy. His mishandling of the COVID pandemic should be disqualifying all by itself.
There was a brief moment, at the beginning of #MeToo, when it looked like harassment and sexual assault might actually be taken seriously. Then the wagons circled, the media cranked out headlines about “scary times for men” because #MeToo had “gone too far,” and we were told to stop being so mean to the ones who “weren’t as bad as Harvey Weinstein.” Part of this, of course, was because several of our media outlets have their own harassment issues. But there’s also this weird idea that harassers are are somehow entitled to a redemption arc.
What are women entitled to, and why doesn’t it include physical safety? As Charlotte Clymer said:
Women often don’t even get first acts, and men like Andrew Cuomo, always the complicated hero in their own stories, feel entitled to at least five.
And yes, I am painfully aware that some of Cuomo’s boosters were women. The explanation I heard offered from Cuomo supporters was something like, “He’s a fighter — he’s an asshole, but he’s our asshole.” No. We don’t need a blue TFG.
Moira Donegan observes:
It’s long been the impulse of the party to move right, chasing Republican victories by replicating Republican policy positions, and since their loss last November many Democrats have followed in this decades-old tradition, shifting their rhetoric still further rightward on border policy, crypto, foreign policy, trans rights and DEI.
I continue to hope, against all evidence, that they’ll finally notice what actually makes people want to vote Democratic. Donegan again:
But perhaps what is most telling about the Democratic party’s embrace of Cuomo is not just their disregard for principle or policy, but their willingness to squander other talent. The mayoral race in New York City is crowded, but Cuomo’s two nearest contenders – Mamdani and Brad Lander, the city comptroller – have run remarkable campaigns. … You would think that the Democratic party would be more eager to make use of these men’s talents – the policy achievements of one, the preternatural campaign skills of the other. Instead, mainstream Democrats seem fearful, and almost hostile, towards these candidates. Then again, that’s much the way they feel about their voting base itself.
On to Top Comments!
Highlighted by MandyDR:
Sue Blue puts into words what a lot of women are feeling these days.
Top mojo, courtesy of mik:
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