Third-term disaster Michael Bloomberg is apparently so frustrated by every New Yorker’s determination to ignore him in the waning days of his administration that he took to the pages of New York magazine to weigh in on the current electoral race to be Not Bloomberg. Most of the digital ink being spread on this piece is on Bloomberg’s bizarre charge that current Democratic front-runner Bill deBlasio is being “racist” for, um, marrying a black woman and raising an adorable multi-racial family with her. Not to get all Inigo Montoya, but I do not think this term means what the lame-duck Mayor thinks it means. Which is odd, because I’m pretty sure if you look up the word “racism” in the Oxford English Dictionary, you will find a WSJ-style stipple portrait of hizzoner with a description of the NYPD’s “stop and frisk” program.
But the real red meat of el Bloombito’s interview is his weird, back-handed endorsement of human corporation Christine Quinn:
“Whether you are in favor of Chris Quinn becoming mayor or not, I will tell you this: She did a very good job for seven and a half years of keeping legislation that never should have made it to the floor, that would have been damaging to the city, from ever getting there.”
Earlier this year, Bloomberg called the United Federation of Teachers’ endorsement of Bill Thompson, an utterly decent man who is a wee bit skeptical of shutting down schools and labeling children as “failures,” a “kiss of death.” I’m sure that in the cocktail party circles in which the mayor, Cathie Black and various DFER’s travel an endorsement by the teachers union is a helpful guide for where to not invest your money. But that is hardly the “kiss of death” of a haughty billionaire praising a political hack for preventing an honest up-or-down vote on legislation that would allow hard-working New Yorkers to take a day off without financial penalty if they get sick. I hope Bloomberg Inc. publishes a helpful voter guide. I would like more guidance on whom to not vote for by The. Worst. Mayor. Ever.