Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) dramatically walked back his previous defense of the New York Police Department during a press conference Friday, admitting that video evidence documenting the excessive use of force to contain protests is verifiable and “undeniable.”
Wouldn’t want to have to build a fence around the governor’s mansion.
What’re you gonna DO about your incompetent, corrupt staties?
Big New York Times mea culpa energy being emanated.
Some leaders confess their errors, others never do. Discuss!!
“These are undeniable situations,” adding that he had spoken to the mayor of Buffalo and they agreed the officers involved should be immediately suspended.
You call this “a dramatic walkback”?! He didn’t say a word about being wrong on NYC Sturmtruppen wailing on peaceful citizens with batons. That ain’t no stinkin’ walkback, @zarichards.
“The polling is in, Andy.”
Yeah. His editor hadn’t read his lying rant before he gave it.
Not in this case.
Where would we be without cell phones and video.
Undeniable situations indeed.
Props to Cuomo. Now when is Bill “Only I am woke enough to fix it” DeBlasio going to resign?
Cuomo should also admit he was far too kind speaking about Trump.
He should be saying Trump is a dickhead.
We have had multiple protests here in Pasadena, some of which have extended after curfew. The police have not intervened, have not tried to stop the protestors or break them up, and in fact have done their best to support the protests and not do anything to inflame them. That includes a minimal police presence, mainly motorcycle cops to keep traffic away (necessary after a couple incidents of cars driving through the protests) and using a helicopter for monitoring. The police here are doing their duty as part of the community, and keeping people safe…and they understand the protestors and looters are not the same people.
And then there are all the scenes like Seattle, Buffalo, DC, and Los Angeles…places where the police met protests with violence and aggressively went after people, or pushed/hit someone who was in no way a threat. The police can easily become a mob, and we see that happening all over…the only difference today is that all of it is being documented, and there are clear cases of police doing things they should not be doing. Some government officials are holding them accountable this time, but not enough…that needs to change.
What I see here is how policing should work…it’s still not perfect, and it never can be, but it’s a far sight better than police assuming a bunch of people yelling for justice is a mob that they need to put down.
The NYT can’t even get a mea culpa right. The issue was that Tom Cotton was not providing a reasoned evidence based view of interest to readers, it was that Tom Cotton was lying and using lies to support his arguement (i.e. that it was all “Antifa” and they had taken over the protests).
That was a lie, still is a lie, and the NYT’s own reporting shows it was a lie.
Ed/Ops are only of value if they contribute to a fact based discussion, or show a point of view that people need to know exists, not peddle lies. Cotton was allowed to peddle lies in the nation’s paper of record, which gives them crediblity.
Put another way, had Cotton said “look, violence of any sort is not ok, and these protests have drawn right wing militants (Bugalo, Proud Boys) and some people of unknown affiliation, and resulted in rioting and some violence towards cops around the edges, and the value of free speech is not worth upsetting the existing order, so send in the military” it would have been shocking, but I would have been ok with publishing it.
But what Cotton was allowed to do was hide his true views under a purported justification that is a lie and does/did not exist.
There can be no “both sides” as to “views” that are based upon lies.
# Cuomo Now Admits He Was Wrong To Downplay NYPD’s Excessive Use Of Force
I guess Andy’s gotta clearer idea of where the chips are falling.
Unfortunately, after the last week, I can’t say much more for his principles.
ETA: In all fairness, I do have to give him cred for refusing to send NY national guard to Donnie’s aid; but, otherwise, he’s generally been too much of a ‘centrist’ for my taste.
OT
The Twitterverse has duly noted that the new White(s Only) House perimeter fence resembles a baby gate, suitable, perhaps, for a Bunker Baby.
And thus, the #BabyGate hilarity ensues.
Bunker Boy, Bunker Boy, what you gonna do? What you gonna do when we come for you?
I’d prefer if they were using it to keep him in.
Other measures would have to be taken to prevent his twitting, but not necessarily so fast.
He’s doing too good of a job at immolating what’s left of his standing.
To be more charitable to Cuomo, depending upon what you were looking at, there was a huge amount of looting and random destruction in NYC in the preceding days, and Cuomo was under a lot of pressure to stop the looting.
What happened last night was that there was little looting AND the police brutality was front and center, and got all of the coverage.
Cuomo’s walk back was the result of probably several things (a) protesters got their end to the extent possible more under control as things cooled down, (b) some of the looters got scared, and (c) the videos were really bad, particularly the Buffalo one, and that it was a 75 yo white dude made it all the worse from a PR perspective.
What is happening is that people are staring to see that police brutality is not just limited to minorities and young people and petty criminals, it is just random and directed at anyone in range. That scares the middle of the electorate, and any politician who does not get that right now (see party of Trump/Wallace) is on the wrong side of public opinion.
and P.s. before I get jumped on, I am not saying it is right that it got more coverage as it was a 75 yo white man, I am just saying that this is indisputably a FACT, and one that probably has more impact than any of us would like to see.
His defense of the police, along with De Blasio’s and the NY Supreme Court justices who said that protestors can be held in indefinite detention show that there is some deep, deep rot in New York, despite its liberal reputation.
Best thing about all these on-the-spot videos is: they appear online in almost real-time, sometimes with multiple views of the same incidents, many times posted by actual journalists.
They form a good record. It’s sickening.