Dear Commons Community,
Maureen Dowd compares the two leading NYC Democratic mayoral candidates (Bill de Blasio and Christine Quinn) in her New York Times column today. Based on an interview with de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, she has several provocative things to say about both candidates. She examines their spouses, their lifestyles both past and present taking time to discuss gay issues and the fact that de Blasio is a diehard Boston Red Sox fan (ouch!). Here is an excerpt:
“Last spring, McCray did an interview with Essence magazine about her feelings about being a black lesbian who fell in love with a white heterosexual, back in 1991, when she worked for the New York Commission on Human Rights and wore African clothing and a nose ring and he was an aide to then-Mayor David Dinkins. With her husband, she was also interviewed by the press in December and was asked if she was no longer a lesbian, and she answered ambiguously: “I am married. I have two children. Sexuality is a fluid thing, and it’s personal. I don’t even understand the question, quite frankly…”
…de Blasio has spent the last few days surrounded by the liberal glitterati of New York: Cynthia Nixon and her wife; “Boardwalk Empire” king Steve Buscemi; and ping-pong queen Susan Sarandon, who said she decided not to support Quinn because “you can’t just vote your vagina.”
And on Mayor Michael Bloomberg:
“Quinn’s message has been anodyne and poll-tested; the speaker of the City Council has somehow managed to reap the downside of her partnership with Bloomberg but not capitalize on the upside; she has left many people confused about where she stands and irritated with her role as lackey to Bloomberg’s nanny.
“What she did giving Bloomberg a third term in a back-room deal was morally and politically unacceptable,” de Blasio said.
De Blasio, in contrast to Quinn, has a consistent and strong, if hard left, message: If you didn’t like the last 12 years of New York as a luxury product, elect me.”
He has presented himself as a strong candidate and right now (putting aside the Boston Red Sox) is in a good position to win the Democratic primary.
Tony
