Cuo: 'I AM the left'
Gov rips claims he’s not ‘progressive’
Gov. Cuomo railed against progressive activists Tuesday — and boldly proclaimed “I am the left!” in New York — when asked if he backed the wrong horse in the contentious Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney.
Cuomo, the de facto head of the state’s Democratic Party, supported establishment candidate Melinda Katz over insurgent Tiffany Cabán, who was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America and lefty firebrand Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez.
“What do you make of this whole thing? Did you bet on the wrong horse? You’ve been saying you’re a progressive for a long time now, does that put you in a bad spot?” asked Alan Chartoc, the host on Albany’s WAMC radio.
“I am, I believe I am the most progressive, or one of the most progressive leaders, in the state. It depends on how you define progressive and that, my friend, should be the discussion in this Democratic presidential primary,” Cuomo shot back.
“What does that mean, progressive? How do you define progressive? By pontification? By rhetoric? By aspirational goals with no realistic plan or knowledge or analysis?” Cuomo continued in a fusillade of rhetorical questions characteristic of the governor.
But when asked if he’s taking shots at other lefty Democrats such as Ocasio-Cortez (DBronx/Queens), Cuomo said, “No, I am the left. I am the left!
“Who says the progressives are more progressive than other progressives?” he asked. “You know what I mean?”
Cabán, who initially declared victory, is now trailing Katz by just 16 votes as the race heads into a full-on recount.
Cuomo’s claim that he is “the left” is in line with other such comments by the three-term governor, who in 2011, his first year in office, crowed, “I am the government.”
Cuomo has been chafing over his progressive bona fides for some time.
He said it wasn’t progressive for leftists including Ocasio-Cortez to campaign against the aborted deal to have Amazon open a campus in Queens.
And he complained that the new Democratic leadership in the state Senate caved in to the anti-Amazon hysteria.
Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio supported the plan because it would have created 25,000 jobs.
He also clashed with left-wingers who backed his opponent Cynthia Nixon in last year’s gubernatorial primary.
A well-financed Cuomo won in a landslide, but Nixon and leftwing activists claimed credit for pushing him to more forcefully support marijuana legislation, back the restoration of felons’ voting rights and endorse a ban on single-use plastic bags.