NYC Democrats : A vote for Michael Bloomberg is a Vote for George Bush
So the Quinnipiac University | Polling Results are in and the numbers are not looking good for any of the Democrats running for mayor:
July 19, 2005 - Bloomberg, With 60% Approval, Thumps All Dems, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Miller Up, Fields Down In Dem Primary Pack
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a 60 percent approval among New York City voters and now tops all Democratic challengers by 15 percentage points or more, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.Even Democrats approve 58 - 32 percent of Mayor Bloomberg, while Republicans approve 72 - 23 percent and independent voters approve 60 - 28 percent. Black voters approve 59 - 27 percent, while white voters approve 66 - 27 percent and Hispanic voters approve 50 - 40 percent.
The Mayor is now over the 50 percent mark when matched against any Democratic contender, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds:
* 52 - 36 percent over Fernando Ferrer
* 55 - 29 percent over Manhattan Borough President
C. Virginia Fields;
* 55 - 30 percent over City Council Speaker
Gifford Miller;
* 54 - 28 percent over U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner.Bloomberg beats Fields, Miller and Weiner among Democrats and trails Ferrer 47 - 42 percent. Independent voters back Bloomberg over any Democrat by more than 2 -1.
I hate polls because, like in this particular case, they are not looking for specifics. They are looking for soundbytes. Look at the heart of this poll, Question #11. If they wanted to actually qualify Bloomberg's popularity, they would have broken down the poll into questions that engaged people truthfully with their specific opinions about Bloomberg :
11. In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in New York City today? Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied?
Tot Rep Dem Ind Wht Blk Hisp
Very satisfied 11% 23% 7% 12% 17% 3% 8%
Smwht satisfied 55 56 56 54 57 58 46
Smwht dissatisfied 22 12 23 23 19 25 27
Very dissatisfied 10 5 12 10 6 13 17
DK/NA 2 4 1 2 2 1 2
Brnx Kngs Man Qns StIsl Men Wom
Very satisfied 8% 9% 13% 11% 20% 15% 8%
Smwht satisfied 50 55 57 56 54 57 52
Smwht dissatisf. 28 24 18 23 18 19 25
Very dissatisfied 12 11 11 9 7 6 13
DK/NA 3 2 2 1 1 2 1
Somewhat is the qualifying word in this poll. Somewhat satisfied. Somewhat dissatisfied. Why Somewhat? Could someone please ask the questions? What if Somewhat has a lot to do with the political climate in this city, in this country, after September 11? What if that is Somewhat?
This is what is missing in the message of all the Democrat mayoral candidates. NYC Democrats like me do not want to hear platitudes about potholes and the lack of toilet paper in public schools. Yes, those things are important, but everything changed for me after I saw, from my apartment building rooftop, the Twin Tower collapse in front of my very eyes. New York City changed for me after my son, then 3 year-old witnessed this with me and screamed : "Mommy, are we going to be next".
It is amazing to me that after all the ways the Bush administration has used New York City to push an agenda of war through lies, corruption and deceit; there is not one mayoral candidate making the connections between the extremists in Capitol Hill and Michael Bloomberg.
So let me break it down for y'all :
The first Democrat Mayoral Candidate to say in New York City : A vote for Michael Bloomberg is a vote for George Bush and the Extremist Republican corruption machine, will win this election.
So take some of that hard fundraised money and go get a poll going of your own. Ask voter how they would feel if a vote for Michael Bloomberg would mean four more years of Republicans in Capitol Hill? Because this is what progressive, liberals and Democrats in New York City want to hear:
A vote for Michael Bloomberg is a vote for George Bush
But has Fernando Ferrer, Virginia Fields, Gifford Miller or Anthony Wiener said this? No. And this is why there is such dissatisfaction among Democrats in the city, especially the grassroots.
I may be a blogging diva, but I spend more time on the ground than what a lot of people may want to believe. Yeah, I blog in my pajamas but I work at all times of the day. Because I homeschool my kids, we are out in the city a lot. And we talk to everybody. Now, I do not intend to paint myself as a one woman polling machine, but because I have connections with influencers of all walks of life in the city : from artists, to PTA moms (yeah, they're my friends too), to assistant district attorneys to campaign organizers, from investment bankers to union organizers, I can tell you confidently that this is the buzz in NYC among people who are either registered Democrats or have voted traditionally on the blue ticket.
In other words, you're not just boring us to death; you're throwing away the opportunity of a lifetime. Why? Because Koch is right when he says :
New York Daily News - Home - Ed Koch: Dreamin' big]:
There was a time when the Democratic primary was an arena for the party's icons. In 1977, when I was elected to my first term, my competitors for the mayoral nomination were Bella Abzug, Mario Cuomo, Herman Badillo, Percy Sutton and the incumbent, Abe Beame. But what a generation ago was a clash of titans has become an ordinary race, principally punctuated by campaign blunders.
[...]
In New York, Democrats Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general, and Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and Republicans Gov. Pataki and Rep. Peter King (L.I.) deserve everyone's respect.
What is the common thread that puts them at the top? Integrity, along with the fact that they are not perceived as ideologues.
McCain is probably the most ideological of the lot. Some believe he is more conservative than President Bush. Yet McCain's candor, integrity and genuine war hero status have caused voters of both parties to conclude they would support him, even when they disagree with his social positions. They long for someone they believe can rise above the political scene. McCain is so admired that in the last presidential election Democratic candidate John Kerry offered him the vice presidential position on his ticket, knowing McCain's popularity would hugely enhance Kerry's chances for success.
Future candidates for mayor of New York, take heed. Two qualities will get you to City Hall: proven integrity and a sense of being above the fray.
He calls it "having integrity and being above the fray". Those are abstract qualities that have a different meaning for everybody. Look at McCain : A man who may be a straight shooter when he talks but completely lost a lot of Democrats, myself included, when he paraded himself as George Bush's #1 cheerleader during the 2004 Presidential campaign; and not long after Karl Rove had publicly humiliated him and his wife with all sorts of sordid lies, but for the benefit of his Texas Yankee master.
Still, Koch is right to point at how our Democratic candidates are playing little. Where Koch is awfully wrong --but then again, Koch and Lieberman might as well pull a Zell Miller and join the Republican party-- is in supporting Michael Bloomberg.
58% of the state went to Kerry in last year's presidential election. An overwhelming 74% of New York City voters voted against George Bush in last year's elections.
A vote for Michael Bloomberg is a vote for the Republican extremist machine that has taken over Capitol Hill. We don't need to make up stories about them, they've tied their own noose : The Downing Street Memos, PlameGate, WhoreGate, the littany of constitutional amendments to push the United States into a theocracy. Do we also need to remind our mayoral candidates of how Michael Bloomberg has stalled the reconstruction of the World Trade Center area for the sake of his now failed Olympic Stadium? Do we need to remind them how that stadium and the way it was pushed has left a sour taste in New Yorkers mouths? What else is there for me to say about this man?
A vote for Michael Bloomberg is a vote for the corrupt Republican extremists that have taken over this country.
Period.
End of story.
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2005 Elections | 9/11 | Corruption | Terrorism | War | Anthony Wiener | Democratic Party | George Pataki | George W. Bush | Gifford Miller | Michael Bloomberg | Virginia Fields
Blooberg is NOT the best thing for this city.
Submitted by mole333 on 19 July 2005 - 8:53pm.
Not by a long shot. He may not be the same as Bush, though he sure has not stood up for this city against the abuse we have taken from the Bush administration. But one thing he has NOT done is improve this city in any major way. I think the city is declining on his watch in several key ways. We are losing some very unique neighborhoods if his development plans are going through. We are losing our civil rights. Our schools have not gotten better, just more filled with tests. He is closing our fire houses so that not all areas are properly covered. He doesn't like giving our teachers, nurses, cops or firefighters fair contracts...in some cases any contract at all. Bottom line is he is at best barely adequate as a mayor. He is far, far far from the best thing for this city. We are selling ourselves short if we let him buy another election.
your comments sell liberals short
Submitted by abraham on 21 July 2005 - 2:11pm.
1) Neighborhoods are lost and change under every mayor's watch. I have lived here all my life and the city has always changed. Can you tell me about unique neighborhoods that have been lost because of the mayor?
2) We have never lost our civil rights in New York. Nor have we ever come close to loosing our rights. ever. To say that "we are loosing our civil rights" is an insult to people truly fighting for their rights through out the world and in this country. That was an ignorant comment, to be blunt.
3) How would we ever know if students and schools are getting better wihtout tests? School reform is a process with many steps.
4) Fire houses? Do you have documentation of this claim? If so, please post. I like reading.
5) The police already have a contract that their union agreed upon. (Do you read the news?) In the news this week (Post, Sun) there are reports that the UFT (teacher's union) contract is going to be settled before the school year with a "significant" pay raise for teachers.
Try using facts, not fictions
Submitted by mole333 on 22 July 2005 - 8:38am.
Okay, at first I was wondering how ANYONE could be so misinformed and disingeneous, but then I noticed that you are citing the Sun and Post. So you give yourself away. Relying on the Sun and Post for info is like relying on Fox News--all you get are lies, damned lies and Republican propoganda.
So here goes.
1. Neighborhoods change. Sure. But New York had hundreds of historic neighborhoods that retain a unique character. THey have been like that for a hundred years in some cases. Development plans underway and under consideration throughout the city, and supported very aggressively by Bloomberg will largely destroy neighborhoods. Replacing a chunk of Brooklyn with 13+ skyskrapers is to replace Brooklyn with Manhattan. The scale of development projects throughout NYC are practically unprecedented. This issue has been pretty big in the news, yet you seem to miss it. Oh, yeah...you read the Sun and Post. Bloomberg wants to use OUR tax money to help devlopers build huge projects and the return for the city is vague and marginal at best. He further advocates a misuse of eminent domain, wanting to force people to sell their homes so a private developer can build the giant scale projects he wants.
2. Again, the ignorance you show is your own. Are you suggesting that if we aren't being physically abused and denied our voting rights we have no cause to object to infringements on our rights? If so, then you are setting a VERY LOW standard for America and are selling America short. Apparantly you paid no attention to the illegal detentions during the Republican Convention. People were routinely held beyond the legal time limit. And the city probably will have to pay damages for that (confirming that civil rights were violated). Critical Mass has been harrassed by the cops ever since they took part in the anti-RNC protests. They are being arrested routinely in Manhattan. What is worse, Bloomberg has made it a crime to even PUBLICIZE a Critical Mass event. So, it is legal to publicize a neo-Nazi meeting but not a Critical Mass protest? If I tell you when and where to meet for a Critical Mass protest, not only will I be committing a crime in NYC but this website could be prosecuted as well. That is a violation of our civil rights last time I read the Constitution. And then Bloomberg wants to prevent protests in Central Park. Funny, as I recall some of the biggest protests in American history have been held there. So Bloomberg is reducing our freedom of assembly. I guess the Sun and the Post have a different take on these things, if they even cover them at all.
3. Ummm...who said we shouldn't test? I guess you can't counter my real arguement so you set up a straw man. My comment was that more testing is not the solution to the problems in schools. Testing is important. Very important. But if there are major discrepancies in the quality of schools and some schools have no money even for toilet paper, TESTING WON'T SOLVE THAT PROBLEM. School reform is a process with many steps. They all cost money. THat is what Bloomberg (like Bush) seems to ignore.
4. WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN??????????? Bloomberg's closing of firehouses was HUGE news a couple of years ago. The FDNY hate Bloomberg because of it (and contract disputes). In my neighborhood we had to fight tooth and nail to keep our fire house open even though they were one of the elite units that was first to respond to 9/11 from outside of Manhattan. here is the City Coucil's response to Bloomberg's proposed closings. here is a story on the results of one such closure. There is more of course. Next time you want to accuse someone of ignorance or of not having facts, please try reading up on the subject first...and you might consider getting your news from somewhere other than two of the worst propoganda rags in the nation.
5. And HOW LONG DID IT TAKE to get the cops a contract. Technically they DON'T have an up-to-date contract. The recent contract agreement covers the contract they didn't get years back. They still need to negotiate a current contract. So the negotiations are BEHIND, not up-to-date. But I guess that wasn't covered in the Sun or the Post. The cops don't like Bloomberg because of how he dicked them around. I know a Republican ex-cop who detests Bloomberg partly because of that (as well as his threatened use of eminent domain). The teachers are on the verge of a contract. Again, how long were they without? Your arguement is completely BS because you ignore how long Bloomberg has drawn out the process, leaving cops, fire fighters, nurses (do they have a contract yet???) and teachers without contracts for years. He is showing the backbone of our city--cops, fire fighters, nurses and teachers--that he doesn't care about them.
At least most of those on this site who back Bloomberg have a grasp of the facts, they simply weigh those facts differently from those that oppose Bloomberg. THere is a basis for debate. You seem to be either ignorant of the facts, completely misinformed (hmmmm...from the Sun and Post???) or willfully ignorant. Your failure to know that the police contract is not current but covers a PAST missed contract and the fact that fire houses were actually closed over considerable neighborhood protests shows your failure to grasp the facts. You either are ignorant of or discount the civil rights violations that Bloomberg's administration has perpetrated. You ignore the unprecedented scale of the development plans that Bloomberg is supporting, his proposed extensive use of tax money to support such private development, and his proposed misuse of eminent domain. And you misrepresent my arguement regarding testing in schools--you portray my claim that they aren't enough with opposition to testing.
So if you want to come here and make such statements, maybe you should read more than just the Sun and the Post because clearly they misinform people just as much as Fox News does.
the widening gap between liberals and outerboro dems
Submitted by abraham on 25 July 2005 - 5:01pm.
The UFT contract comments were also on NY1 and CBS Kirtzman and Co.
I see that you are completely entrenched in a mindset such that you will not entertain even the slightest chalenge via debate.
Is this a blog where we can post ideas and challenge assumptions? or is this merely a support group for those who only agree with what you say?
I wonder.
You make assumptions
Submitted by mole333 on 25 July 2005 - 9:00pm.
First off, you are making assumptions. I AM an outer borrough Dem. In fact I am a King's County Democratic County Committee member and most of the people I know politically are Brooklyn or Queens cetered.
Second, you also seem so entrenched that you won't budge. You were DEAD WRONG regarding the fire house closings. Yet you don't even admit that. That was a real factual error you made yet you are so entrenched you can't say so.
As to what this blog is, as far as I know no one has prevented you from saying your piece. Or me mine. So, yes we can post our ideas and challenge assumptions. What's your beef with the blog? Does my challenging YOUR assumptions (like the fire house closings not happening) somehow make it too difficult for you to participate here? If so, well, if you can't take the heat and all... Are Bloomberg supporters really that sensitive to challenge?
I wonder.
The reason
The reason no one is making that argument is because it is not true. Voting for Bloomberg is not voting for Bush.
You hate Bush, I hate Bush too, but the reality of the matter is that Bloomberg is the best thing for this city. And according to that recent Q. poll 60% of the city agrees with me.
I'll leave you with this one question:
What does it say that NYC, the homebase of new deal urban liberalism, can't even produce a momentum building candidate against a Republican when we Dems outnumber them 5:1?