Newt sees Andy runnin'

A story in today's Times.

April 17, 2009

Gingrich Sees Cuomo in Next Race for Governor
by David M. Halbfinger

Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, says New York Republicans should forget about Gov. David A. Paterson and plan for a campaign against a more likely Democratic nominee for governor next year, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

Newt has been trying to raise his profile recently, after keeping low to the ground for quite some time. A couple of weeks ago this thrice-married, twice-divorced former Speaker of the US House of representatives announced he was converting to Catholicism and denounced President Obama for "anti-Catholic" values. Say what, Newt? How does the Church feel about divorce? About divorcing your wife while she's in the hospital, and about having already taken up with another woman? So how does the Church feel about adultery? And hypocrisy? This is one of the water-carriers for the impeachment of President Clinton for, for, well, for having adulterous not-sex with an intern.

Mr. Gingrich’s blunt warning brought into the open speculation that has been rippling through political circles for weeks: that Democrats may decide that Mr. Paterson is too weak to win election next fall, and turn to the popular attorney general to keep the governor’s office in Democratic hands.

Patterson is so lightweight he might float away on a stiff breeze.

“Yes, it’s true, the current governor’s terrible,” Mr. Gingrich told state Republicans on Wednesday night at the Sheraton New York Hotel in Manhattan. “Yes, it’s true, the budget’s indefensible. But let me tell you, if I had to bet money, you’re not going to face the current governor next year. You’re going to face Cuomo. “So you’ve got to design a campaign that beats Cuomo,” he continued. “Because the fact is, Democrats aren’t insane. And when a member of the Democrat Party becomes too weak to re-elect, they tend to cannibalize him before we get to him.”

Well spoken by a former cannibal.

Spokesmen for Mr. Paterson and Mr. Cuomo declined to comment on Thursday.

Who would comment?

Mr. Paterson’s popularity has fallen to low levels, even among blacks, Democrats and city voters, his core constituencies. As the governor has slid, Mr. Cuomo has soared, scoring a 75 percent approval rating in a Quinnipiac University poll last week.

Mr. Gingrich tried to energize the state party’s somewhat anemic annual dinner by conjuring an ideal Republican ticket for 2010 — though his Dream Team amounted to a blast from the past. “To meddle for a half a second, I think if we had Mayor Giuliani for governor, and we had Governor Pataki for senator, we would be a large step toward a tidal wave, which would make 2010 comparable to 1994,” Mr. Gingrich said.

Awmygawd! Guv Rudy and Senator Pataki?

The two dignitaries, not exactly pals, did not jump at the idea. George E. Pataki, who called himself “the former governor who left voluntarily,” mentioned Rudolph W. Giuliani only in promising to do his best for the party by “helping Rudy or whoever for governor.”

A tidal wave? Gimme a break, Newt. Republicans will be lucky to summon a ripple.

Mr. Giuliani said it was way too early to talk about 2010. But he said Democrats were leading the state “in exactly the wrong direction,” and he seemed to present himself as the one city official the party’s rank and file could trust. He said that not only was he the first Republican mayor of New York since the 1960s, “but I have a bigger distinction than that: I’m the first one to remain a Republican in about 60 years.”

Well, what would twice-divorced Rudy say? This is the man who shacked up with another woman while his wife and kids lived in Gracie Mansion. Republicans seems to like adultery.

Absent was his successor, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who quit the Republican Party two years ago to pave the way for an independent presidential run that never materialized. Nonetheless, he has just won the Republican line for his re-election bid.

Another putz. He drops out of a party, then drops back in. C'mon, even Republicans have a few principles they fake believing in.