He's Back

For John, BLUF:  Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned over allegations of sexual abuse.  But, at 66, he has time for one more term in public office.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Andrew Cuomo plots comeback with border attacks on Biden

From The New York Post, by Columnist Bob McManus, 26 January 2024, 5:17 p.m. ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

Here he comes.  To save the day?

Andrew Cuomo, always intrusive and never in doubt, just tucked into Joe Biden and the Democratic Party on America’s self-inflicted border-hopper crisis.

“The migrant issue is creating mayhem across the country and showing the ineffectiveness and schisms in the Democratic Party,” writes ex-Gov. Bigfoot for The Hill — a policy-wonk-centric, Washington-based venue.

That is to say, a site watched closely by political pros from sea to shining sea: Cuomo sent a message not likely to be missed — on two levels.

“President Biden’s administration has not been able to solve the migrant problem,” he continued, “primarily because of the divided opinion within our own party.”

This is an opinion piece and as such, it is a little tart about former Governor Cuomo.  Plus, the Newspaper itself is not in the Progressive Camp.

The above notwithstanding, I am not surprised that Governor Cuomo is making a bid to come back.  And, he couldn't have picked a better topic.  Given the apparent lack of depth on the Democratic Bench, he is, in my mind, a possible replacement for President Biden some time before the November Election.

For sure illegal immigration is a major issue at this time.  Further, the Administration is not using the authority available to it to solve the problem.  I am very doubtful that the mystery bill♠ being developed on Capitol Hill will provide the relief teh American People are looking for.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Here is a take by NPR.  However NPR does not present up front the concerns about rumored high number of illegal immigrants required to trigger action.

The President Slides Away

For John, BLUF:  The President has taken a tentative step toward saying Governor Andrew Cuomo must go.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Biden Says Cuomo Should Resign if Harassment Allegations Confirmed:  ‘He’ll Probably End Up Being Prosecuted Too’

From Mediaite, by Reporter Aidan McLaughlin, 16 March 2021, 8:40 pm.

Here is the lede plus two:

President Joe Biden said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo should resign if an investigation confirms the multiple sexual harassment allegations made against him by former aides.

“I know you said you want the investigation to continue,” ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos told Biden in an ABC News interview airing this week.  “If the investigation confirms the claims of the women, should he resign?”

“Yes,” Biden replied.  “I think he’ll probably end up being prosecuted, too.”

It was carefully couched, but it says that Governor Cuomo is in trouble.

We may be looking at Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul fleeting up soon.

Regards  —  Cliff

New US Attorney for the Rest of New York

For John, BLUF:  .The stories coming out of New York State with regard to COVID-19 have been conflicting and confusing and often not believable.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Prosecutor noted for white-collar work named U.S. attorney in Albany

Here is the sub-headline:

Antoinette Bacon expected to take Albany post as predecessor is sworn in as judge

From the Albany, New York, newspaper The Times Union, by Reporter Brendan J. Lyons, 2 September 2020.

Here is the lede plus four:

Antoinette T. Bacon, an associate deputy attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice, has been named acting U.S. attorney for New York's Northern District, according to multiple sources briefed on the matter.

Bacon will become the first female U.S. attorney in the district, which encompasses 32 counties stretching from Kingston to the Canadian border and west to Syracuse.

She was at the federal courthouse in Albany on Wednesday afternoon as her predecessor in the position, Grant C. Jaquith, was sworn into his new post as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims. U.S. District Chief Judge Glenn T. Suddaby swore in Jaquith during the brief ceremony.

Jaquith, who led the Northern District office beginning in July 2017, will serve a 15-year term as one of the seven judges on the veterans' court. President Donald J. Trump nominated Jaquith, a former Army colonel, for the judgeship a year ago.

According to her professional biography, Bacon, who is from Cleveland, Ohio, is the Justice Department's national elder justice coordinator and previously served as the national white collar crime coordinator at the executive office for U.S. attorneys.

And here is the DOJ Press Announcement.  The Press Release, from Thursday, 3 September 2020, was titled "ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM P. BARR ANNOUNCES THE DESIGNATION OF ANTOINETTE T. BACON AS ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK".

Here are the first three paragraphs of the Press Release:

Attorney General William P. Barr announced today that Antoinette T. Bacon has been designated as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(3).  Bacon will replace U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, who announced his resignation upon his appointment as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. “I am pleased that the President has designated Toni Bacon as Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York,” said Attorney General William P. Barr.  “Her contributions to the initiatives she oversaw while working for the Office of the Deputy Attorney General are a testament to her relentless commitment to protect and serve all Americans.  I know the Northern District will find Toni to be an exceptional prosecutor and dedicated leader.”

The area Ms Antoinette Bacon worked previously was, as noted, elder abuse.  Notwithstanding the fact that the Governor, Andrew Cuomo, is a blowhard on the issue of the elderly, it is an area that badly needs to be looked into in New York, particularly with regard to Winnie the Flu.  I am not expecting revelations to come flowing out, but rather, the kind of slow, careful, investigations the Barr Department of Justice is known for.

Good luck to the ordinary Citizens of New York.

Regards  —  Cliff

Cuomo Rising

For John, BLUF:  Up until now the Democrat Apparatchiks had no alternative to Vice President Joe Biden.  The Coronavirus has given them New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Andrew Cuomo may be the single most popular politician in America right now

From CNN, by CNN News Editor Chris Cillizza,♠ 1 May 2020.

Here is the lede plus two:

Thrust into the national spotlight by his state's status as the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States,  New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has rapidly become one of -- if not the -- single most popular politician in the country for his handling of the pandemic.

Cuomo's poll numbers are, literally, unbelievable.  A new Siena College poll released this week showed Cuomo's overall favorability among New Yorkers at 77% while 71% approved of the job he is doing for the state.  Asked who they trusted more to make the right decision about when to reopen New York, 78% chose Cuomo while 16% opted for President Donald Trump.

In each episode of his weekly YouTube show, Chris Cillizza will delve a little deeper into the surreal world of politics.  Cuomo's stratospheric numbers are driven by remarkable bipartisan support.  Yes, 90% of Democrats view him favorably.  But 73% of independents say the same as do a majority (53%!) of Republicans.

This does not bode well for well for Vice President Biden's campaign for the Democratic Party nomination.

This year the primary isn't over until it is over, and Vice President Biden seems to be on soft soil at this time.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  When did Reporter Chris Cillizza leave The Washington Post?  I am not keeping up.

Setting High Standards

For John, BLUF:  These accusations against former Senator Joe Biden are old, but they are old and ignored.  This is an area where the Republicans need to tread carefully, but, so too do the Democrats.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Grabby Joe Biden’s Achilles Hand

From The American Conservative, by Columnist Rod Dreher, 29 April 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

Damon Linker says that there’s more confirmable substance to Tara Reade’s accusations against Joe Biden than Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations against Brett Kavanaugh — and that’s very bad news for the presumptive Democratic nominee.  Linker says that Biden can probably still have the nomination if he wants it, because even if these allegations are true, he’s still going to have the support of the party’s base.  But it will be a great gift to Team Trump.  Linker writes:

On substance, Trump will have zero moral ground to stand on.  But he won’t be taking a stand in the name of treating women with respect.  Neither will he be accusing Biden of being a sexual predator.  Instead, he and the entire Republican noise machine will constantly, relentlessly hammer Biden, leading Democrats, and the media for flagrant hypocrisy and double standards.  The moral content of the issue won’t matter one bit.  What will matter is that Biden has set himself up as a moral arbiter on issues of sexual harassment and violence, insisting we must “believe all women,” and that in the fall of 2018 he and many other members of his party sought to destroy the reputation of Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh for allegations of sexual assault that were less convincingly corroborated than those Reade has lodged against Biden.

The Democratic nominee for president and his party are ruthless political operators who seek above all else to destroy their enemies and help themselves, all the while setting themselves up as impartial moral authorities.  This will be the message, driven home over and over again: that claims of purity and impartiality are pretense, transparent fakes.  Democrats might posture like they’re better than Republicans, including the president, but they aren’t.  They’re every bit as bad.  They’re just more dishonest about it.

Read the whole thing. Linker mentions Tara Reade’s mother calling Larry King, and he mentions her friend (a self-described “strong Democrat”) going public to say that Tara told her about Biden’s alleged sexual assault at the time.  I had heard about those, but until seeing Linker’s column, I had not heard about the 2008 Alexander Cockburn column in the left-wing web journal CounterPunch mentioning Biden’s reputation.

The Democrats have run up a box canyon with their mantra of "Believe all women" and with their condemnation of the antics of Candidate Trump.  They set a pretty high standard and now it appears they can't meet it themselves.

In defense of then Senator Joe Biden, in late 1980s by Cousin, an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel stationed in the Pentagon, told me her female Air Force contacts on the Hill told her there were three Senators to not get into an Elevator with alone.  None of the three was Senator Biden.  That is not direct evidence, but it might be an escape.

On the other hand, there is more information than we got during the Kavanaugh hearings.  More believable information.

Here is how Columnist Dreher points his examination:

So, let me throw it to the room:  if Biden is persuaded to step down before the Democratic convention, who should replace him? Who will replace him?

From a strictly strategic point of view, I think Andrew Cuomo should replace him, and probably will, as long as he chooses Elizabeth Warren as his veep.

Pretty insightful.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Whither the Democrats?

For John, BLUF:  This election year has been one of the more interesting, and not in a good way.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Will the Democrats junk Joe?

Here is the sub-headline:

Amid the coronavirus crisis, Democrats have found a new Great Left Hope in Andrew Cuomo

From The Spectator, Columnist John Fund, 1 April 2020.

Here is the lede plus four:

Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee.  Yet many Democrats have ‘buyers’ remorse’ as the COVID virus has driven Biden off centerstage and into a hastily-built basement studio in his Delaware home.

Biden has tried to remain relevant to the public through TV broadcasts, but those appearances have been gaffe-prone and interspersed with lapses in lucidity.  Last Friday, he announced on CNN that ‘I speak to all five of my grandkids,’ which must make his very much alive sixth grandchild feel a little neglected.  Dave Catanese of McClatchy found his interview last Monday painful to watch:  ‘Joe Biden struggled mightily at the top of his MSNBC interview where he looked to be reading from notes to answer a question.’

Democrats openly worry about the lack of enthusiasm for Biden.  A new Washington Post/ABC poll found 86 percent of Trump supporters enthusiastic about their choice.  Only 74 percent of Biden backers said the same thing.  Most ominously, the poll found that 15 percent of Democrats who still back Bernie Sanders say they’d vote for Trump, not Biden, in November.  That’s more than the 12 percent of Sanders voters who plumped for Trump in 2016.

The fear that Biden could buckle before a relentless GOP negative campaign or Trump’s bullying in debates is palpable among many Democrats.  Lloyd Constantine, a former senior policy adviser to New York governor Eliot Spitzer from 2007 to 2008, is unsparing:  ‘Biden is a melting ice cube.  Those of us who have closely watched as time ravaged the once sharp or even brilliant minds of loved ones and colleagues, recognize what is happening to the good soldier Joe.’

Constantine and others have found a new Great Left Hope.  New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo has caused many pundits to swoon with his blunt no-nonsense daily briefings on the virus.  Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post concluded ‘The governor’s in-charge demeanor and straight talk remind us of what a leader looks like and acts like.’  Last week, cable news networks even skipped covering a speech by Biden to cover a Cuomo news conference.

My wife noted the attraction of Governor Andrew Cuomo when Fox News first started televising his daily news briefings.  I am thinking Governor Cuomo is a real threat to the nomination of former Veep Joe Biden.  It is a long way to the convention, 13-16 July 2020.  Even further to November and the election.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

It Is a Long Time Until the Fat Lady Sings in Milwaukee

For John, BLUF:  This seems to be a volatile year, politically.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Andrea Mitchell Fears ‘Skyrocketing’ Approval for Trump Amid Pandemic

From News Busters, by Reporter Kyle Drennen, 25 March 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

During her 12:00 p.m. ET hour show on Wednesday, MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell revealed her greatest fear amid the coronavirus pandemic – Donald Trump’s approval ratings going up.  She fretted over likely Democratic nominee Joe Biden “having difficulty” getting his message out during the crisis and support for the President “skyrocketing.”

Turning to former Obama administration official Jim Messina, Mitchell anxiously noted:  “There is politics involved.  We’ve heard very little from, for instance, the more likely, most likely nominee of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden.  He’s having difficulty getting – projecting through this crisis as the campaign goes totally on hold.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the MSNBC host referenced positive poll numbers for Trump:

The President is polling 60% over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Granted, the half-life of a political memory in the United States is 90 days.

And there is now talk about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo stepping up in the event of a brokered convention.

I am thinking things are going to be politically bumpy for the next few months.  As Lowell Girl made good, Betty Davis, said:  "Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride."

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff