Sunday, February 06, 2005

NYC Mayor Janus

Talk about wanting it all ways, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports same-sex marriage, so much that he authorized the City to fight Friday's court decision permitting it. Huh?

He managed to anger all sides in his effort to face both simultaneously. Many Republican state legislators are against same-sex marriage, and have called him on his ambiguous posture.

First, he gave a very politically clumsy and naive speech Saturday at the Waldorf-Astoria before 1,000 at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. From one face, he said that he wanted to work with the state legislature to enact laws legalizing same-sex wedding. From another face, he said he would fight the recent victory for same-sex marriage license for the City. He got cheers for the first and jeers for the second, reported the City's daily papers.

According to the New York Times version of the story, he fared worse in his second speech to the Lesbian & Gay Pride dinner dance in, if you pardon, Queens. There the crowd derided him as a hypocrite and liar. The Times piece concludes, "Despite the hostility, Mr. Bloomberg did not bolt, taking the time to shake the hand of anyone who was not yelling at him."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

Can't remeber my logon name. Thanks for the message about New York. Agree the northern Republicans try to have it every way. I guess they still think they live in the 19th century before instant communication and a press that will check facts.

Keep on posting. Jasper did note AA and skiing.

Jay

massmarrier said...

New York City loves its Republican mayors, as Massachusetts does its governors. I don't believe these are kept animals, but they do play an odd role of minority party leaders constantly negotiating with more liberal lawmakers. Then they have to please the urban voters too.

As much as I think of Bloomberg as a plutocrat, I appreciate that he'd tough out the hostile crowd. He doesn't seem to need any self-exteem courses.