Gov. Andrew Cuomo may be grappling over budget issues with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio but he jumped to the defense of the city and the entire state Friday after Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz took a shot at the Big Apple during Thursday night’s debate in SC.
Advertisement
Hizzoner described Cruz’s recent critique of Donald Trump’s “New York values” as “hypocritical” and “disgusting” given all the fundraising the Republican does in the Empire State.
The escalated feud follows Cruz’s attack on Trump for having “New York values” in a speech in Iowa on Tuesday.
Cruz, who is an extreme opponent of LGBT rights, lashed out at Trump by releasing a clip of Trump on Meet the Press in 1999 – when he signalled he had no issue with gay people serving in the military.
“I find it very ironic that Ted Cruz has no trouble taking money from New York City but is quick to insult our people and values”, de Blasio said.
Saturday night’s episode of “SNL” mocked the candidate’s thinly veiled dig at NY stereotypes, with Cruz, played by Taran Killam, describing “New York values” as scenes from the 1990’s sitcom “Seinfeld”. “I apologize to the millions of New Yorkers who have been let down by the liberal politicians in that state”.
Trump quickly fired back at Cruz calling his remark a ‘very insulting statement’.
Trump, for his part, backed off from his criticisms of Cruz that he had broadcast loudly all day on Saturday.
“If someone tells you they’re tea party, you can’t be tea party and at the same time have supported TARP”, Cruz said, using an acronym for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a controversial Wall Street bailout program. Many New Yorkers of all political persuasions were outraged, and the Daily News ran a cover depicting the Statue of Liberty flipping the Texas senator the bird.
The famously aggressive NY media have gone full bore against Cruz.
But, Trump said, “I thought it was disgraceful that he brought that up….”
‘I, and some of the other widows, would love to give him a tour and talk to him about how NY came together and America came together, ‘ he told ABC News. “In New York, people don’t say ‘Hi” to their neighbors, they say, ‘Hello, Newman”.
Advertisement
Not a lot of New Yorkers have given money to Cruz’s bid for the White House. It has allowed the Cruz campaign to resurface Trump’s old liberal positions in a way that doesn’t seem stale and like something the media has covered before. De Blasio, a liberal Democrat, also noted that “I find myself, for once, in agreement with Donald Trump”.
