Thursday, February 17, 2011

Where were you all for the past 10 years?

From the NY Observer:

That the city's political press corps is now answering a mayor who has thrown verbal brickbats their way (he called an Observer reporter a "disgrace"; embarrassed a disabled reporter who was unable to reach a tape recorder which had gone off during a press conference) for close to 10 years with some brickbats of their own is something of a new development. For two terms the Bloomberg administration enjoyed, even seasoned reporters acknowledge, a relatively easy go of it in the press, and an even easier time among the editorial boards.

No longer.

"There has been a demarcation," said one reporter. "There is a certain sense that Mike Bloomberg's string has run out."

The clearest evidence of this, political observers say, is the suddenly negative coverage the mayor has received from two columnists perceived as newsroom weather vanes: Clyde Haberman of The New York Times and Bob McManus of the New York Post. Over the past several years, Mr. Haberman has written various upbeat stories, including "Bloomberg Travels to the Old World In Search of New Ideas" and "Scenes from the Blue Room: A More Flexible Tone is Heard," but last month, the columnist openly wondered whether or not the whiz kids at City Hall were capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. Mr. McManus meanwhile wrote recently that the mayor was guilty "of a spectacular failure of field leadership."And the editorial pages of both papers, which cheered the mayor when he overturned term limits two years ago, have likewise begun to sing a new tune.

"Nobody likes Mike these days," wrote the Post, and The Times called the mayor's recent initiative to ban smoking in parks "a civic disaster."

The sharpened tone has been seen in the news pages as well. A few years ago, if the mayor was out of town during a snowstorm, the press would have pestered him about it, and then, after some stonewalling, moved on.

"Editors sent the signal that they would not back you in a fight with City Hall," said one local political hack. "It became less about getting them and more about getting handouts, and Bloomberg was really effective at getting the press corps to play who likes me best. I think now reporters feel betrayed by their papers."

"Every reporter was freaked out by the term-limit thing, and they got much more critical after that," said one political reporter.


Well that's funny because we were freaked out by it, too. If you had covered it the way you should have instead of acting like he was entitled to it, we all would have avoided the extended suffering. You failed at your jobs and every single one of you who participated are a disgrace to journalism.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

" Well that's funny because we were freaked out by it, too. If you had covered it the way you should have instead of acting like he was entitled to it, we all would have avoided the extended suffering. You failed at your jobs and every single one of you who participated are a disgrace to journalism. "

...and should be fired.

Anonymous said...

Lying scumbag!

Anonymous said...

And sadly after all of this, and all of the damage to the city Bloomidiot did, people would still vote for him if he ran for a fourth term.

Anonymous said...

"And sadly after all of this, and all of the damage to the city Bloomidiot did, people would still vote for him if he ran for a fourth term."

Because there were no other "Viable" Candidates. Thompson? give me a break, Avella? Nice guy but it's not going to happen for him.

Queens Crapper said...

There were no other viable candidates because Bloomberg ran for a third term. Incumbency is king, not to mention billionaire spending. Why is that so hard to understand?

Anonymous said...

all true!

Reporting has been down the crapper 'round here for years.

Anonymous said...

Reporting has been down the crapper 'round here for years.

Reporting has been on the Crapper (so to speak).

georgetheatheist said...

Greg Mocker is the new Jack Newfield.

georgetheatheist said...

Not.

Anonymous said...

Greg Mocker is the new Jack Newfield.

And George is the new Clark Kunt.

Queens Crapper said...

He's more like Jimmy Olsen or Peter Parker.

Anonymous said...

It's a sad day when even the press, supposed to be the last bastion to protect democracy, have shown a wide yellow streak running down their backs!

You've sucked Bloomberg's joint for so long...now you can swallow his load!

georgetheatheist said...

Hey, I like Greg Mocker. I'm with it. He's a real cool Daddy-o. The bee's knees. But face it folks, he'll be even better IMHO if he pokes a mic into the Mayor's puss just like he does with potholes in the Iron Triangle and bus stops in the Bronx. That's the problem around here; no journalist dogs Bloomie.

Anonymous said...

I never voted for the man! He is arrogant and loves to buy people off. Some of us cannot be bought. Cathie Black is turning into a disaster. I heard he met her at a dinner party! The qualification for a Bloomberg appointee: meet at a nifty dinner party. His overturning term limits because we "need" him is the height of arrogance. His refusal to state that he was in Bermuda during the snow storm shows how out of touch he truly is. The man is a gross parvenue.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the golden rule: never trust a man who puts ice in his beer.

Anonymous said...

Yeah! That little icehole!!!

Anonymous said...

"I put ice in my beer. Not many people do that"

Yeah, bloomshit, there's a real good reason for it.

Anonymous said...

TAX THE FUCK OUT OF THE RICH.

AND WATCH ALL OF THIS COUNTRY'S TROUBLES GO AWAY IN A HEARTBEAT.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it Bloomberg that said "We don't need the City Council, the media in New York does a great job keeping the government open", or something to that effect? Wonder if he would say that now.

Also, we in New York should be ashamed of ourselves, we allow these politicians to do as they please and when push comes to shove, we allow them to be reelected.

Have your flatscreen tv, your 100+ channels and all is good with the world mentality is destroying our City and our Country. All this ranting at the water cooler is absurd, get off your rear ends and do something about it.

We are in a sad state of affairs my friends and it is only going to get worse, unless we wake up and stop it.

The media was scared of Bloomberg LLC and treated him with kid gloves, now they are speaking out? Shame on them and shame on us for allowing it to happen.

The American Revolution started over a Tea Tariff, and yet look at us today. We need to get up, get out, and vote. When a politician does not do what is in the best interest of the community he represents, we get up, get out, and vote him out. It really is not that difficult, we have that power. Our God given right under the Constitution, in this great country, Our Right, Our Freedom, and we are allowing it to be taken away from us.

Alfredo

Anonymous said...

"There were no other viable candidates because Bloomberg ran for a third term. Incumbency is king, not to mention billionaire spending. Why is that so hard to understand?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
How true! when an incumbent ran, there is only token opposition.
Reminds me of Jim Gennaro: when he ran against Padavan, as he was term-limited, there were six candidates vying for his Council seat. After he lost to Padavan, and term-limits were extended, Gennaro ran once more for Council, raised $$ almost overnight, and the other announced candidates quickly dropped out.

Anonymous said...

"every single one of you who participated are a disgrace to journalism."

BRAVO Crappy - you are spot on.

The REAL question is though - why now? What is the REAL story as to why the newspaper owners are letting the reporters do their job?

Maybe you buy the line that they have only just now realized how bad Bloomberg is for the city, I don't.

The people 'on top' are such a bunch of elitists, I would not doubt this happened because Bloomberg's daughter didn't put Rupert Murdoch's daughter on the guest list of some fund raiser or some such BS.

Anonymous said...

RE: tax the F--- out of the rich..... and watch them leave n.y.c.,as they are already doing.

your welfare state poverty pimps can then pay for your pension benefits, health insurance,sick leave, and undeserved high salaries, that are now UNSUSTAINABLE .

RE; Cathy Black,she kept Hearst Publications a profitable business operation for many many years.
she is well regarded for her competence as a c.e.o.

she stepped into a hornets nest with the uft/education complex loaded with socialist agendas.

no chancellor has been able to correct this socialist failure in n.y.c., in 60 years. $21,000,000,000,.00 a year of your taxes down the sewer of progressivism.

Anonymous said...

Anon Feb 19th:

Any rich person worried about taxes going up to what they had been in Ronald Reagan's day already took their business our of New York long ago - providing lots and lots of jobs....to people in China.

In other words, these are primarily people making their billions off of under-paying overseas workers, flipping real estate to other rich people, or using stimulus money to give themselves bonuses instead of creating jobs like they are supposed to.

Only suckers buy into that old 'oh, if we tax the rich they will leave!' BS.

Anonymous said...

do your bike delivery jockeys on the U.E.S have to kick back part of their tips to you?

have you bought accident insurance for them yet? or are the taxpayers subsidizing your life style, by paying taxes to pay for emergency room aid (medicaaid/welfare )for the jockeys and pedestrians hurt?

have you sent your check for $20,000.00 (cost of one public school anchor baby for one year) to the d.o.e. for all your illegal alien jockeys ?

Anonymous said...

your welfare state poverty pimps can then pay for your pension benefits, health insurance,sick leave, and undeserved high salaries, that are now UNSUSTAINABLE .


And YOUR million dollar salary from Wall Street id=s warranted?

You fucking hippocrit!