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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Mayor Bloomberg’s Finest Hour

Mayor Bloomberg’s Finest Hour

by John Cole|  August 3, 20106:34 pm| 122 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Politics

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This speech by Mayor Bloomberg was amazing:

“In the mid-1650s, the small Jewish community living in lower Manhattan petitioned Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant for the right to build a synagogue, and they were turned down. In 1657, when Stuyvesant also prohibited Quakers from holding meetings, a group of non-Quakers in Queens signed the Flushing Remonstrance, a petition in defense of the right of Quakers and others to freely practice their religion. It was perhaps the first formal political petition for religious freedom in the American colonies, and the organizer was thrown in jail and then banished from New Amsterdam.

“In the 1700s, even as religious freedom took hold in America, Catholics in New York were effectively prohibited from practicing their religion, and priests could be arrested. Largely as a result, the first Catholic parish in New York City was not established until the 1780s, St. Peter’s on Barclay Street, which still stands just one block north of the World Trade Center site, and one block south of the proposed mosque and community center.

“This morning, the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously voted to extend — not to extend — landmark status to the building on Park Place where the mosque and community center are planned. The decision was based solely on the fact that there was little architectural significance to the building. But with or without landmark designation, there is nothing in the law that would prevent the owners from opening a mosque within the existing building.

“The simple fact is, this building is private property, and the owners have a right to use the building as a house of worship, and the government has no right whatsoever to deny that right. And if it were tried, the courts would almost certainly strike it down as a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

“Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question: Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here.

“This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions or favor one over another. The World Trade Center site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan.

You owe it to yourself to read the whole thing. Way to stand up to the bigots, Mayor Bloomberg, and I hope the ADL was watching. They could learn a thing or two from that speech.

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Reader Interactions

122Comments

  1. 1.

    KS in MA

    August 3, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    Co-sign.

    The Salon article has a link to the video of his speech and of the other speeches that followed it. Sigh! I love New York!

  2. 2.

    Boots

    August 3, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    Good for him.

    When’s he planning to take on Rush head to head?

  3. 3.

    Martin

    August 3, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    Was he wearing a keffiyeh and eating a donut at the conference? Because it seems our jihad is off to a really slow start. I’m just sayin’.

  4. 4.

    c u n d gulag

    August 3, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    Well, there go HIS national political aspirations.
    I mean, if you’re a Republican and you don’t want to hate and divide, and you don’t use race and religion, how do you expect to win in a primary?

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 3, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    I’ve never liked Bloomberg (since I became aware of him, jumping parties and attaching himself to St Rudi’s coat tails), but this is like Byrd’s Ominous Silence speech. It stands on its own as a good thing that none of the bad (endorsing Bush/Cheney in ’04, etc) can take away from.

    I hope the ADL was watching. They could learn a thing or two from that speech.

    So could a few of the pols Bloomberg has allied himself with over the years.

  6. 6.

    Violet

    August 3, 2010 at 6:40 pm

    Really moving. Excellent, Mayor Bloomberg.

    Democrats should sit up and take notice. This kind of thing from them would be a welcome change. They should take every chance to remind Americans who is standing up for real American values. And who is not.

  7. 7.

    RedKitten

    August 3, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    Good for Bloomberg. I agree completely and applaud him for that speech. It really puts the cowardice and bigotry of so many people in the spotlight, doesn’t it? In a sane world, that speech would make some people realize what low cowards they are being.

  8. 8.

    General Stuck

    August 3, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    Our bad luck, the terrists poor aim hit a bunch of rainbow New Yorker libtards, and missed real Amurrica./wingnit.

  9. 9.

    bemused

    August 3, 2010 at 6:42 pm

    On Hardball, Den Senor really had his panties in a twist over this. I thought he was going to hyperventilate. It was quite a spectacle.

  10. 10.

    beltane

    August 3, 2010 at 6:42 pm

    This is the speech I would expect to hear from a mayor of New York City, though Giuliani wouldn’t have been able to deliver it even on his best day.

    New York City may be teeming with of all kinds of racial rivalry and almost tribal conflict, but everyone still gets to be a Real New Yorker (Even though we’re not Realamericans). As a fourth generation NY’er on my mother’s side, I have to say Mayor Bloomberg made me proud today. This is the America I love.

  11. 11.

    jeff

    August 3, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    Bloomy’s a fair-minded plutocrat, and never uses demagoguery. He’s the only “republican” I ever voted for. (BTW, I don’t need lectures about voting democratic: the NYC democratic machine makes me ill. Bullies and unions and special favors don’t exactly melt my heart. Which I don’t mean as an endorsement of the republicans, by any means.)

  12. 12.

    New Yorker

    August 3, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    Yes, definitely his finest hour.

    The only person I knew personally who died on 9/11 was a Muslim (Mohammed Shajahan, he’s on all the memorial sites). I remind myself of this as the right goes further and further off the fascist deep end when it comes to Muslim Americans.

    And of course there’s this:

    http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/krkhan.htm

    The Islamic crescent in Arlington National Cemetery. That’s what America means to me.

  13. 13.

    r€nato

    August 3, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    Clearly, they have forgotten 9/11.

  14. 14.

    Mark S.

    August 3, 2010 at 6:45 pm

    This hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for Real Americans bigots. Sherrod, judge striking down most of Arizona law, this. Republicans might need to find a new card from the deck to play.

    Nah, they’ll keep the racist dog whistles going until they’re a permanent minority party.

  15. 15.

    r€nato

    August 3, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    I can’t help but think that all those nitwit, provincial out-of-towner hicks trying to tell New Yorkers what to do, pretty much sealed the deal.

  16. 16.

    Svensker

    August 3, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    Not a huge Bloomberg fan but on this one he did real good. Thanks, Mayor B — it was good to hear some sanity, civic mindedness and just plain decency for a change.

  17. 17.

    Stillwater

    August 3, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion?

    I swear, I actually heard millions of voices screaming ‘hell yes’ when I read that. Fucking weird.

  18. 18.

    JGabriel

    August 3, 2010 at 6:49 pm

    c u n d gulag:

    Well, there go HIS national political aspirations. I mean, if you’re a Republican …

    I’m not sure that he is a Republican anymore. Bloomberg announced a change in status to independent / non-affiliated a couple years ago, and that’s how Wikipedia still lists him.

    .

  19. 19.

    jeff

    August 3, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    I forgot…didn’t we make him alcalde for life? That was really odd.

  20. 20.

    r€nato

    August 3, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    Wasn’t it grand to see all the teabaggers demonstrating against government tyranny and for freedom, the right of religious expression and the primacy of private property rights?

    Oh, right…

  21. 21.

    General Stuck

    August 3, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    @jeff:

    I forgot…didn’t we make him alcalde for life?

    Only Zorro can make it stop.

  22. 22.

    The Other Chuck

    August 3, 2010 at 6:54 pm

    Damn, that was about as eloquent and clear as a response gets. No mealy-mouthed hand-wringing mumblings about “weighing concerns” there. He drew a clear line, picked a side, and schooled the screaming right-wing wankers with a history lesson to go with the speech.

  23. 23.

    r€nato

    August 3, 2010 at 6:54 pm

    In the minds of millions of teabaggers, this mosque will be built right on the WTC site using the ground-up bones of 9/11 victims as mortar, thanks to an evil cabal of sinister, America-hating libruhls, our Muslim president and the ACLU.

  24. 24.

    cyntax

    August 3, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    @Violet:

    Democrats should sit up and take notice. This kind of thing from them would be a welcome change.

    Paging Anthony Weiner…

  25. 25.

    Cat Lady

    August 3, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    I hope Joe Lieberman’s dick shriveled in awe of Bloomberg. That’s what patriotism looks like, you traitorous scumbag.

  26. 26.

    TomG

    August 3, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    I’m certainly not a Bloomberg fan, but yeah, more of this PLEASE ! This is a very good response to irrational hate and fear.

  27. 27.

    r€nato

    August 3, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    Who will be the first reich wing scumbag to call Bloomberg a self-hating Jew?

  28. 28.

    4tehlulz

    August 3, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    I think we should all say a little prayer for those answering the phones at the mayor’s office and Bloomberg L.P., for they will suffer the brunt of teabagger rage at Mayor Bloomberg.

  29. 29.

    chopper

    August 3, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    half of me is meh on bloomy and the other half likes him. considering he’s a gooper, that’s high praise.

    gotta say this bit raises him a peg or two. right now i gotta say i’m proud of him as my mayor.

  30. 30.

    ellaesther

    August 3, 2010 at 7:06 pm

    This made me so happy when I read it. So happy, and proud. Unlike when I saw that Joe Lieberman was predictably opposed. As a Jew, may I say: I would like to keep Bloomberg, but we can throw Lieberman back.

    And because I’m shameless, here are my thoughts on it. I’m no Bloomberg, but on the other hand, I have more hair!

    Dear President Obama – Please address the Ground Zero mosque incitement.

  31. 31.

    Adam Collyer

    August 3, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    Great speech. Really hits the nail on the head.

    It’s still not a mosque. Nor is it in Ground Zero. This whole controversy is stupid and manufactured by people who are out to “protect” New Yorkers, except when they’re slamming them as un-American, right Sarah and Rudy?

  32. 32.

    Frank

    August 3, 2010 at 7:10 pm

    I do hope Bloomberg runs for President one day. This is type of speech real leaders do.

  33. 33.

    ellaesther

    August 3, 2010 at 7:10 pm

    @4tehlulz: Oh lord yes. That had not even occurred to me. Yes, a prayer, or — if you live nearby — a plate of cookies and some rum.

  34. 34.

    ellaesther

    August 3, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    @The Other Chuck: Yup. Almost like he actually believes in what he says he believes in!

  35. 35.

    MikeJ

    August 3, 2010 at 7:13 pm

    @r€nato: That ship sailed long ago.

  36. 36.

    Adam Collyer

    August 3, 2010 at 7:14 pm

    @Frank:

    I do hope Bloomberg runs for President one day. This is type of speech real leaders do.

    Say what you will about Mayor Bloomberg (and knowing commenters around these parts, they’ll say a lot), but he certainly doesn’t mince words. You know what he’s thinking and what he wants. His administration is open and the press has seemingly limitless access to him. Have to respect that.

  37. 37.

    Jay C

    August 3, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    I can’t say that I am, or ever have been, overly impressed with Mayor Mike – no animus much (except maybe over his high-handed dispatch of NYC term-limits law) just generally underwhelmed.

    But this is a speech to make one proud to be a New Yorker, and proud to have for Mayor an official who will forthrightly stand up for what is right; not just politically expedient. Good for him!

    @c u n d gulag:

    Mike Bloomberg doesn’t have to worry much about his “national political aspirations” – for one, he doesn’t really have any; for another, he has so much money that he can afford to tell any Party, Rep or Dem, to go FOAD over any ideological quibbles or shibboleths.

  38. 38.

    asiangrrlMN

    August 3, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    Major props to Mayor Bloomberg for unflinchingly doing the right thing.

  39. 39.

    CorgiFan

    August 3, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    @4tehlulz:
    Word.

  40. 40.

    Belvoir

    August 3, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    Although Bloomberg’s immense personal wealth has caused qualms, such as extending term limits at his own vast personal expense, he has for the most part been a very good mayor. In some ways, his huge wealth- his FU money- allows him to freely speak his mind and do what’s right, as here. He’s beholden to no one, does not seem to care for higher office than this- he has the best of all worlds where he is, personally. I applaud his speech, his NYC spirit, and damn I wish I had his FU money.

  41. 41.

    MikeJ

    August 3, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    @Belvoir: I have no problem with Bloomberg having money, and I absolutely despise term limits. I still would have preferred the term limits law be changed when someone who didn’t want to run again was in office.

  42. 42.

    anthrosciguy

    August 3, 2010 at 7:35 pm

    Especially when it is not a mosque.

  43. 43.

    wilfred

    August 3, 2010 at 7:40 pm

    He’s a mensch. Already thanked him in another thread, but he’d probably say la shukra alaa wajib.

    Fair play’s a jewel.

  44. 44.

    Annie

    August 3, 2010 at 7:42 pm

    @Cat Lady:

    Amen…Just watched the video. After listening to Republicans, the religious right, and teabaggers cry about “taking the country back” and waving the Constitution, we finally have a group of leaders –both political and religious — actually reminding us what the Constitution says. It was an awesome moment. I only wish we would have more moments like this.

  45. 45.

    steviez314

    August 3, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    @c u n d gulag:

    Well, considering he’s pro-choice, for gun control, wants to regulate calories and salt, I’d say his chances were pretty slim to start.

    He’s only a Democrat Independent Republican Independent when he needs to be.

  46. 46.

    S. cerevisiae

    August 3, 2010 at 7:47 pm

    Good for Bloomberg for standing up to the intolerant screaming hordes.

  47. 47.

    BR

    August 3, 2010 at 7:49 pm

    @cyntax:

    Paging Anthony Weiner…

    http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/06/anthony_weiner_strongly_defend.html

    In a sign that some Dems in Congress may rally behind Israel in the face of international condemnation of the attack on the aid flotilla, Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York strongly defended Israel’s move in an interview, blaming the bloodshed on Turkey and the activists for instigating the conflict.

  48. 48.

    The Main Gauche of Mild Reason

    August 3, 2010 at 7:54 pm

    @r€nato:

    Who will be the first reich wing scumbag to call Bloomberg a self-hating Jew?

    Marty Peretz. SATSQ.

  49. 49.

    QuaintIrene

    August 3, 2010 at 7:56 pm

    In the minds of millions of teabaggers, this mosque will be built right on the WTC site using the ground-up bones of 9/11 victims as mort

    Yes, and don’t forget all those sinister eerie minarets casting their shadow right over ground zero, and prayers being broadcast over loud speakers five times a day.

    Oh, sorry, That just exists in wingnut fantasy land.

  50. 50.

    gwangung

    August 3, 2010 at 7:57 pm

    Um. This is…odd.

    I actually agree with what a politician is saying. Whole heartedly.

    This is…disconcerting.

  51. 51.

    trollhattan

    August 3, 2010 at 8:00 pm

    Nice history lesson, nice speech mister mayor. I’m certain Pam Atlas and stalkin’ Malkin will come around now.

  52. 52.

    a good citizen's cap

    August 3, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    “But doing so, it is my hope that the mosque will help to bring our city even closer together, and help repudiate the false and repugnant idea that the attacks of 9/11 were in any ways consistent with Islam.”

    Anyone else especially enjoy that part? As many other New Yorkers will surely agree: will the backwater nationalists please stfu?

  53. 53.

    scav

    August 3, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    Apparently there were unrealamericans before there was an america. Youpee! wooohhhh though, brainwarp.

  54. 54.

    ellaesther

    August 3, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    @New Yorker: I just noticed your comment — thank you so much for saying this.

    I have to wonder how the families of those Muslims killed on 9/11, or in the US Armed Forces, feel about all of this hate speech. I just makes me sick at heart to think of it.

  55. 55.

    gil mann

    August 3, 2010 at 8:08 pm

    Wow, that was great. I need a cigarette after th…

    DAMN YOU BLOOMBERG

  56. 56.

    Keith

    August 3, 2010 at 8:11 pm

    But we would also be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to roller coaster rides in Chicago.

  57. 57.

    mr. whipple

    August 3, 2010 at 8:19 pm

    Wow, this makes my day. Well done, Mayor.

  58. 58.

    fitzwili

    August 3, 2010 at 8:21 pm

    Good for Bloomie! I think overall he has been a good mayor for NYC – even though I have serious qualms about some of his positions. He doesn’t race-bait and we needed that after Guliani. I love the 311 system. This however is the best speech I have ever heard him give- like John said thank goodness for his sane, stubborn streak.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2010 at 8:24 pm

    @Keith:

    Hey, I worked there when I was in high school!

    So weird to see places I know turn up in the news as part of the Islamofascist conspiracy.

  60. 60.

    patroclus

    August 3, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    Most excellent speech by Bloomberg. The lying, smearing Republicans have morphed into one of the most blatantly bigoted parties in history and I hope this speech helps shame them.

  61. 61.

    General Stuck

    August 3, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    OT

    More Casualties of War — the furry critter kind

  62. 62.

    QDC

    August 3, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    Wow, that’s like a scene out of West Wing.

    Did you notice that he called on New Yorkers to “repudiate” the notion that the attacks were consistent with Islam. “Repudiate” as in “That’s how you spell it Sarah Palin you pig-ignorant bigot.”

  63. 63.

    Bnut

    August 3, 2010 at 8:27 pm

    @Belvoir

    So what keeps other mucho rich liberals from doing the same? No snark.

  64. 64.

    jbartelson

    August 3, 2010 at 8:30 pm

    Go away.

    Jews were not bombing innocents, nor were their women regarded as chattel.

    I’m a woman and Muslims scare me, where are my rights?

  65. 65.

    JGabriel

    August 3, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    @gil mann: Hah! I laughed, but I think only other New Yorkers are gonna get it.

    .

  66. 66.

    scav

    August 3, 2010 at 8:36 pm

    And he can multitask:

    New York City was built by immigrants, and it’s sustained by immigrants — by people from more than 100 different countries speaking more than 200 different languages and professing every faith. And whether your parents were born here or you came here yesterday, you are a New Yorker.

  67. 67.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    August 3, 2010 at 8:40 pm

    Ya know the teabaggers are so out of the loop,cause you know religious freedom is what this country was founded upon, the very idea that the RWNJs could tell another religion that they cannot buld a house of worship is SO opposite of what this entire country stands upon… they keep screaming THE CONSTITUTION and yet they ignore it ever single day. It is amazing.

  68. 68.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    August 3, 2010 at 8:46 pm

    Yay, Mr. Mayor. I join everyone else here in applauding this kind of straightforward declaration of actual – as opposed to mystical Teabagger twaddled – American rights and responsibilities.

    I suppose the wingnuts have no way to respond to this except to become stupider and angrier.

  69. 69.

    Cacti

    August 3, 2010 at 8:47 pm

    Good to see the mayor of NYC stand up to the bigotry against building a Community Center Mosque two blocks away from at Ground Zero.

    Snark aside, it really was a nice speech.

  70. 70.

    Sarah in Brooklyn

    August 3, 2010 at 8:53 pm

    I’m glad he did the right thing this time, but I still loathe him. He’s turned Manhattan into a giant mall, and now he’s starting to do the same here in Brooklyn. I really detest him, but even a blind pig turns up a truffle now and again.

  71. 71.

    New Yorker

    August 3, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    @ellaesther:

    Every time I go next door to grab a cup of coffee or a six-pack or (trying to cut back on this…) a pack of smokes from the OHS mini-market run by Omar, I wonder what he must feel to know that he did absolutely nothing except come to the US and start a successful business and yet he’s an object of demonization by the likes of Palin and Gingrich and now fuckin’ Rudy the constipated altar boy.

    I do feel better knowing how much the people in the neighborhood (overwhelmingly Polish) get along with him and his store. There’s a bench outside the store where people hang out, smoke cigarettes, and shoot the shit with each other and with Omar and the other guys who work there. Other than the crazy old bitch who lives the next door down and calls him a “terrorist” because he lets people hang out in front of the store, everyone is friendly with Omar.

    I’m so glad New York isn’t Sarah Palin’s America. It’s my America, the part I still believe in.

  72. 72.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    August 3, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    @jbartelson: I’m a woman and Muslims scare me, where are my rights?

    …are you serious?

  73. 73.

    Belvoir

    August 3, 2010 at 8:57 pm

    @Bnut:

    So what keeps other mucho rich liberals from doing the same? No snark.

    Do what? Give a speech from City Hall about religious liberty?

    Ok, that was snarky, I wasn’t sure what you meant at first. I was referring to his wealth as it refers to his career as a politician. He can speak his mind and not worry about donors, campaign funds.

    Wealth hasn’t much to do with it though- ordinary liberals have been speaking out against the bigotry and misinformation. I was speaking of him as a special case- he’s the fucking Mayor, it’s definitely his place to speak about what is basically a Manhattan zoning issue that wingnuts have seized as a cause. Asking me why “other mucho rich liberals” don’t interject themselves into this “controversy” doesn’t make much sense. Much like right-tards interjecting themselves in a local NYC makes no sense.

    Bloomberg is not much of a liberal, by the way. He’s a former Republican, now Independent. Because he can be, oh boy can he be. He’s a New Yorker first I suppose, which to most people means “socially liberal”, and that does describe him. But no one ever says, “Liberal Bloomberg”. It’s not actually his affiliation politically. He’s a moderate Republican, basically, a businessman above all. But he takes civic duty very much to heart. Interesting guy.

  74. 74.

    KS in MA

    August 3, 2010 at 8:59 pm

    Another victory for sanity and anti-bigotry. Could we be on a roll here?

    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/bigotryfail_planned_rally_to_harass_muslims_with_d.php?ref=fpb

  75. 75.

    missy2432

    August 3, 2010 at 9:03 pm

    More liberal BS.
    Give away the country, you probably are not paying taxes anyway.
    You just expect the WORKERS to do so and support the less than ‘fittest’.
    Survival of the fittest, replaced by pandering to the loudest.

    Sigh, I’ll miss you, America.
    Good intentions….

  76. 76.

    Karen

    August 3, 2010 at 9:08 pm

    @MikeJ:

    I wish it had sailed long ago. My parents live on Long Island. Long Island lost a lot of people during 9/11 and by the hundreds of American flags I saw in people’s windows and porches and even in the back window of my father’s car, it’s as if 9/11 happened yesterday.

    I’m in DC and the Pentagon was hit on that day too. But in my opinion, we may have rode that train a long time ago but NY is still on that train and will never get off.

    Please, don’t think I mean the pain isn’t warranted or that I don’t ache for the people who lost loved ones. But there too many people out there who are using 9/11 as an excuse for jingoistic prejudice maquerading as patriotism.

  77. 77.

    Nicole

    August 3, 2010 at 9:10 pm

    It was a good speech. That said, Bloomie can still suck it, as far as I’m concerned. The illegal arrest and detainment of 1800 people protesting the 2004 GOP convention, which he pushed for NYC to get, would be plenty, but he kept going, ignoring the will of the voters so he could have his third term. I oppose term limits, but he preferred to buy off City Council rather than put the law to a vote.

  78. 78.

    PurpleGirl

    August 3, 2010 at 9:11 pm

    To be clear, Bloomberg was a registered Democrat. He switched parties for his first run for mayor because the Democratic field was very crowded (something like 5 or 6 contenders) and he didn’t want to fight in the primary. The Republicans accepted him because with his wealth he could pay for his own campaign and they didn’t need to help with money. He began hinting at a change in Independent because he thought he get more for the City from the national Republicans (which he didn’t). He pulled the end-run maneuver around the term limits law when he could have started a regular campaign to change the law the year earlier but he wanted to keep his plans private. He can be arrogant. (I voted for him for the second term but not the first or third terms.) He’d really like to institute non-partisan elections in the City, but gets little support for the idea.

    Also, he supports number of big real estate developments that I don’t think we need. His friends do, but the City I’m not sure needs the developments right now.

    The speech was one of his better moments.

  79. 79.

    MikeJ

    August 3, 2010 at 9:13 pm

    @Karen: huh? I was pointing out that insane people were calling him self hating long ago. I didn’t say I thought it.

    I too was in DC that day. Spent the morning driving my officemate around so we could buy a tv to bring into the office hoping we’d hear his daughter was alive.

  80. 80.

    ed

    August 3, 2010 at 9:14 pm

    Fucking Quakers!

  81. 81.

    PurpleGirl

    August 3, 2010 at 9:19 pm

    A bit of language trivia: alcalde is a Spanish (meaning mayor or chief judicial officer) word derived from the Arabic word for judge (al-qadi).

  82. 82.

    Ash Can

    August 3, 2010 at 9:24 pm

    Hats off to Mayor Bloomberg for doing the right thing. I second the “more of this, please” request.

    where are my rights?

    You mean the constitutional amendment that guarantees there are no monsters under your bed?

  83. 83.

    Raje

    August 3, 2010 at 9:25 pm

    @gil mann: Okay, that made me laugh out loud.

    I don’t love Bloomberg, but this is a really awesome speech.

    I read it before I watched it and I have to say, he’s not the best orator (though I love his accent).

  84. 84.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 3, 2010 at 9:29 pm

    @MikeJ #78:

    *I too was in DC that day. Spent the morning driving my officemate around so we could buy a tv to bring into the office hoping we’d hear his daughter was alive.*

    Wow. I hope she was.

  85. 85.

    Rick Massimo

    August 3, 2010 at 9:48 pm

    City to Palin: Drop Dead.

    Well. I’m old enough to get it, anyway …

  86. 86.

    scav

    August 3, 2010 at 9:50 pm

    @Ash Can:

    You mean the constitutional amendment that guarantees there are no monsters under your bed?

    you mean someone would guarantee that Cheney’s not under there?

    It’s ok, it’s ok, I can toughen up and live with the clockwork men under the bed if I have to.

  87. 87.

    Loon Juice

    August 3, 2010 at 10:00 pm

    @jbartelson: I agree, Muslims scare you, they should be deported.

    Probably Germans still make some Jews nervous, so lets get rid of them too.

    I don’t like dentists, they have to go.

    I don’t understand Mormons, where can we ship them off to?

    There are African-Americans who don’t trust the white folk, they better go too.

    There are white folk who don’t trust African-Americans, they better go too.

  88. 88.

    Jager

    August 3, 2010 at 10:01 pm

    @4tehlulz:

    They won’t be local calls

  89. 89.

    Svensker

    August 3, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    @Rick Massimo:

    :)

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne

    August 3, 2010 at 10:08 pm

    @PurpleGirl:

    Am I misremembering, or are all words in Spanish that start with “al” derived from Arabic? (Or at least the vast majority of them.)

  91. 91.

    Chuck

    August 3, 2010 at 10:14 pm

    The rules this country was founded on don’t cut it any more and What’s-his-face doesn’t get it. Time for new rules. Torture is good. Domestic spying is fine. Indefinite detention is alright. Unlimited corporate campaign contributions is excellent. Born in the USA doesn’t make a citizen if the parents are south of the border. Fox propaganda is news. The NAACP is racist. The president is a Nigerian and Obama is the worst president ever. There is no going back. Say what you please. Stay home and don’t vote. New rules.

  92. 92.

    Svensker

    August 3, 2010 at 10:18 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Am I misremembering, or are all words in Spanish that start with “al” derived from Arabic? (Or at least the vast majority of them.)

    Correctomundo. One of my favorites is “alcachofa” (artichoke). It always sounds like a big sneeze to me. And who doesn’t love “albondigas” (meatballs)? I just looked it up and apparently it comes from the Arabic word for hazelnut (because the meatballs were small, hazelnut size).

  93. 93.

    scav

    August 3, 2010 at 10:23 pm

    @Loon Juice: Southern Baptists aren’t nice to women either. And everybody’s ‘fraid of clowns.

  94. 94.

    Svensker

    August 3, 2010 at 10:28 pm

    @jbartelson:

    I’m a woman and Muslims scare me, where are my rights?

    I think they’re in Papua New Guinea. You should go there and look for them.

  95. 95.

    SLKRR

    August 3, 2010 at 10:34 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    English words that begin with “al”, too: alcohol, algebra, algorithm, etc.

  96. 96.

    Bosh

    August 3, 2010 at 10:34 pm

    And alcohol of course…

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    August 3, 2010 at 10:49 pm

    @Rick Massimo:

    RE: City to Palin: Drop Dead

    Well. I’m old enough to get it, anyway …

    I was just about to post something in this vein, but you beat me to it.

    This was a reference to a famous front page headline in the New York Daily News:

    Ford to city: drop dead (bankruptcy of New York City government and the refusal of President Gerald Ford to give financial assistance to the city prompted this headline in 1975.

    Mayor Bloomberg did New Yorkers and the sane part of the country proud in kicking the tea baggers and wingnuts to the curb.

  98. 98.

    The Moar You Know

    August 3, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    I’m a woman and Muslims scare me, where are my rights?

    @jbartelson: You don’t deserve any, you fucking coward. Clean the piss off yourself, climb out from under the bed, and act like an American.

  99. 99.

    fraught

    August 3, 2010 at 11:04 pm

    @New Yorker: OMG! I sit out in front of Omar’s with my dog every day of the week. I must know you. I love Omar and he is so much the glue that holds this Brooklyn neighborhood together. (Maria, the crazy woman next door) has been very quiet lately and I know of only one other neighbor who refers to Omar and Alex and Jimmy and Jalal as “Terrorists.” He’s a former cop and just can’t get over himself.

  100. 100.

    Perry Como

    August 3, 2010 at 11:06 pm

    This is why I love this city.

  101. 101.

    New Yorker

    August 3, 2010 at 11:13 pm

    @fraught:

    Wow, small world. I live at 227 right next door to the OHS. Do you know Czeslaw Weiss? He lives upstairs from me and he and his middle-aged Polish buddies are often hanging out either at the bench at the OHS or on the steps at my place.

    edit: I’m usually wearing a beat-up black Mets hat when out and about in the area. Say hi sometime!

  102. 102.

    MattR

    August 3, 2010 at 11:23 pm

    @New Yorker:

    edit: I’m usually wearing a beat-up black Mets hat when out and about in the area. Say hi sometime!

    I am chuckling at the though of fraught saying “Hey New Yorker” to everyone in a mets hat. I am thinking one of you needs some BJ schwag to identify yourself.

  103. 103.

    fraught

    August 3, 2010 at 11:24 pm

    @New Yorker: I give Czeslaw’s (Chester’s) wife Iwona English lessons at their place. I’m the old grey haired guy with green glasses and the King Charles Cavalier. I’ll look out for you.

  104. 104.

    rms

    August 3, 2010 at 11:38 pm

    At last I hear a Republican say something Sane, Brave, and American.

  105. 105.

    mak

    August 4, 2010 at 12:37 am

    I’m so glad you posted this, Cole, because even though it needed to be said, and said again, nobody’s said it (except for, I think, Wonkette).

    Aside from the fact that it was a beautifully written speech, it’s just plain smart politics on Mayor Mike’s part. Assuming that the Cordoba (or whatever it’s called) organization doesn’t blow something up in the next 24 months, people will start to realize that – as with every other instance of wingnut hysteria over the past year or so – this whole (few blocks away from) Ground Zero mosque YMCIA kerfuffle was not merely much ado about nothing, but rather, something to be ashamed of.

    My fondest hope and best guess is that, a couple years from now, when the “not on (or even within three blocks of) the sacred ground” people think back on this occasion, they’ll experience the same paroxysms of regret that they feel when their most shameful and idiotic episodes of drunken behavior crawls back into their skulls.

  106. 106.

    Jebediah

    August 4, 2010 at 1:15 am

    @SLKRR:
    Al Jarreau?

  107. 107.

    Tom

    August 4, 2010 at 1:42 am

    @mak:

    My fondest hope and best guess is that, a couple years from now, when the “not on (or even within three blocks of) the sacred ground” people think back on this occasion, they’ll experience the same paroxysms of regret that they feel when their most shameful and idiotic episodes of drunken behavior crawls back into their skulls.

    Not a chance in hell. Tomorrow it will be something else, the day after that something else, and so on, forever. They wouldn’t even be able to acknowledge the wrongness of their stupidity. As one of the BJ contributors makes clear in his Confederate series, this shit’s been going on a looooong time in America, and it ain’t goin’ away anytime soon.

  108. 108.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    August 4, 2010 at 3:04 am

    I’m a woman and Muslims scare me, where are my rights?

    I have green eyes and heights scare me, where are my rights?

  109. 109.

    Karen

    August 4, 2010 at 3:34 am

    @jbartelson

    Jews were not bombing innocents, nor were their women regarded as chattel.

    I’m a woman and Muslims scare me, where are my rights?

    Oh honey you do not want to hop on that train of “just because some Muslims did this all Muslims are evil.”

    One would think that as a Jewish woman you’d be extra sensitive to one size fits all bigotry. I know as a Jewish woman I am.

    You want to know where your rights are, dear? You get the right to observe Judiaism like they have the right to be Muslim. If not then you better go to Israel, become a settler and sleep with a gun under your pillow.

  110. 110.

    Jebediah

    August 4, 2010 at 3:34 am

    @Phoenician in a time of Romans:

    I’m a woman and Muslims scare me, where are my rights?

    I have green eyes and heights scare me, where are my rights?

    I’m a man and Republicans disgust me, where are my rights?

    I’m a boxer and my left jabs are weak, where are my rights?

  111. 111.

    Porlock Junior

    August 4, 2010 at 4:07 am

    @r€nato:
    Well, in all fairness, some of the out-of-town hicks are on Staten Island (some random poll result). To be even fairer, they’ve been trying for some years to be out of town as to NYC.

    Speaking of fair, I wonder if the Republicans on SI are happy with being known mainly for the famous Staten Island Fairy.

    Oh. Never mind.

  112. 112.

    liberal

    August 4, 2010 at 4:32 am

    @missy2432:

    Well, you got it almost right on one point. Though I pay taxes, my Federal income tax on the last $1,000 I make is at a lower rate than yours is likely to be. (I mean, unless you’re one of those people with no money who would rather be ****ed by Republicans than offend their masters.)

    14%, how do you like that? 14 cents on the last dollar. Do I have to pay AMT? Sure, absolutely. At 14%, but you’re not supposed to know about that.

    The *average* rate on the whole income is more like 10%. If you don’t count the tax-free income. Ask Joe the Plumber if you don’t understand the difference.

    If you want me to pay more taxes, you’re gonna have to put a stake through the undead corpse of Ronald Reagan and start taxing people who have money. BTW if you want to do it, I’ll buy you the stake and the hammer. I’d really like to see this country survive. It would be worth paying for, believe it or not.

  113. 113.

    Triassic Sands

    August 4, 2010 at 5:42 am

    I’m deeply offended by all houses of worship in the United States. Therefore, I expect them all to be razed. Surely, people’s right to freedom of worship can not be allowed to trump my own delicate sensibilities.

    (If this works, sports stadiums are next. They would have been first, but the coin toss went the other way.)

  114. 114.

    bob h

    August 4, 2010 at 6:45 am

    Why didn’t George W., who had a nuanced view of such things, speak up? (Because he’s basically a piece of rubbish and always will be).

  115. 115.

    Loon Juice

    August 4, 2010 at 9:00 am

    @Jebediah: “I’m a boxer and have a weak left jab, where are my rights?”

    Hilarious, the line of the day for me.

  116. 116.

    Indie Tarheel

    August 4, 2010 at 9:50 am

    @Jebediah:

    I’m a boxer and my left jabs are weak, where are my rights?

    OK, I know Cole gets a lot of tag requests, but COME ON! How can you NOT use this one?

  117. 117.

    ronrab

    August 4, 2010 at 10:04 am

    @Jebediah:

    I’m a boxer and my left jabs are weak, where are my rights?

    Voting to change ‘teabagger’ to ‘teajabber’.

  118. 118.

    GN

    August 4, 2010 at 11:59 am

    I didn’t know he had it in him. That was the best speech I’ve ever heard from the normally dispassionate Bloomberg.

  119. 119.

    sparky

    August 4, 2010 at 12:11 pm

    @PurpleGirl: agreed. i still remember my mail being full of Bloomberg media material. that said, he should get credit for saying something that unfortunately should not need to be said.

  120. 120.

    Cereative Anarchy

    August 4, 2010 at 11:38 pm

    @missy2432:

    Sorry, I think you may have misunderstood the term “Liberal”. Generally as it’s defined it doesn’t pertain to Tea Party organizers.

  121. 121.

    Cereative Anarchy

    August 4, 2010 at 11:49 pm

    @jbartelson:
    Nobody is refusing you your right to be afraid. They’re simply telling you that you cannot deprive others of their freedom of religion out of fear. Additionally you can’t perticipate in volent acts or hate speech because you you live in fear of people who are different than you. Take heart, most Muslims I’ve met are much more afraid of American women than vise-versa. At least they can’t suppress your rights out of fear either.

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