February 1, 2013

"Vote for Cuomo, not the homo."

A campaign slogan from 1978. Noted in the new documentary "Koch," which opens today, the day Ed Koch died.
[Filmmaker Neil] Barsky... doesn’t varnish Koch’s shift rightward in 1978 against mayoral opponents like Mario Cuomo. But he does make you sympathize with Koch’s 1978 beard-and-pony show, in which he held hands with Bess Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America, and broadly hinted at a marriage announcement after the election. Flyers reading “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo” had been plastered all over the place...

Barsky poses the right questions to Koch but doesn’t bother asking them a second, third, or fourth time. He knows there are places the man won’t — or can’t — go. Bess Myerson was Koch’s good friend, and there was never anything more! Whether he’s gay or not is no one’s damn business! It would have been easier to cave in to pressure from the African-American community — maybe he should have — but he stuck to his principles! Blah blah blah....

44 comments:

madAsHell said...

I think the link is broken.

edutcher said...

And Andy's the big one on same sex marriage. If he can buy the votes.

Funny that.

PS If he was friends (or something) with Bess Myerson, it just shows the changing demographics (and attitudes) in Gotham.

Anonymous said...

It looks as if NYC's next mayor will be a lesbian.

Peter

Anonymous said...

And that fine work of an open-minded Democrat came from Andrew Cuomo.

Nomennovum said...

I don't think Koch was gay. My hypothesis is that is was a wise man.

Nonapod said...

And that fine work of an open-minded Democrat came from Andrew Cuomo.

Well not Andy, his pop Mario, who was a disaster of a gov in the 80s and early 90s in my state.

Cody Jarrett said...

Ed Koch was gay?

You mean...I watched him and listened to him all these years and my eyeballs never melted from the gayness, and I never lost a moment of time contemplating his sexuality, I just liked the things he said that made sense to me and disregarded the things that didn't (like his support for the magic negro, even though he disagreed with pretty much everything the magic negro stood for)?

Holy crap.

Funny. I'd have assumed as a straight, libertarian/conservative male my skin would've crawled and I'd have been forced to run away screaming, my ears clamped tightly around my ears.

At least, according to Althouse and the other usual suspects.


And Andy Cuomo is a horrid little person.

Nothing against actual little people. Mostly little people are quite amazing. The actress that was on Boston Legal was quite attractive.

But not Andy. Oh no.

Cody Jarrett said...

Would the commenters here opining as to the lack of character shown by the good (but minor) deomcrat clan of Cuomo be an example of how stupid republicans are about gay this and gay that?

I'm just trying to keep my scorecard straight in case there's a tie in the 9th inning and we need someone to kick field goal. Or something.

traditionalguy said...

I never knew Koch was gay. But I still loved him. Does this mean that I have evolved?

Nomennovum said...

"It looks as if NYC's next mayor will be a lesbian."

Not gonna happen. Justin Bieber is Canadian.

chickelit said...

Isn't Andy Cuomo the same guy now trying to take away people's guns in New York?

Seriously, what do his supporters see in him?

RIP, Ed Koch. You seemed like a decent man.

Scott said...

Ed Koch... Herb Kohl...

If Manti Te'o were smart, he would just announce that he was running for office as a Democrat. No need to mess with stories about fake girlfriends. The press would leave him alone.

test said...

traditionalguy said...
I never knew Koch was gay. But I still loved him. Does this mean that I have evolved?


No. When you consider gayness a qualification you'll have evolved.

Scott said...

were = was

(My ability to write English was temporarily overwhelmed by my dill and onion refrigerator pickles.)

YoungHegelian said...

If Google is to be trusted, this is a working link.

MadisonMan said...

Mario Cuomo. Not Andy.

Stop trying to drag me out of the 80s and into the 10s.

Sorun said...

Now I can't get the jingle, "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo" out of my head. Goddamn Dems and their cleverness.

Tank said...

Anyone remember Mario's radio show?

No.

YoungHegelian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
YoungHegelian said...

From the article at the link:

It wasn’t Koch’s fault that New York was broke, that incoming president Ronald Reagan slashed aid to the poor and flooded the streets with the homeless mentally ill, that a mysterious illness — a “gay plague” — appeared seemingly from nowhere and quickly killed thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers, that a new, smokable form of cocaine had devastatingly addictive properties that would ravage entire communities.

I love Edelstein's revisionist history.

NYC was broke because of scandalous management by liberal machine politics. Reagan may have slashed aid to the poor, but the crazies were on the street thanks more to the ACLU than to RR.

And of course AIDS & crack were just natural disasters, like Sandy. No human agency was involved. None at all.

This is much how the Japanese discuss Hiroshima. It "happened".

Hagar said...

@Scott,
I don't know what the grammatical term is, but "if he were smart ..." is quite correct English.

Now, I have real problems with singular and plural verbs because I grew up speaking Norwegian, which does not differentiate based on numbers.

ricpic said...

To this day the jury's out on whether Vote Cuomo Not The Homo was a Cuomo or Koch ploy. After all, Koch's campaign understood that in Manhattan at least the blowback against an anti-homosexual slogan would probably be greater than the approval.

bleh said...

Andrew Cuomo is still doing penance for that outrageous attack. In fairness, he was very young at the time and can perhaps be forgiven for such a vicious slander. His persistent public denial of responsibility is understandable, but I imagine he privately knows it was wrong.

Still, more damning is his father's trust in him. Mario knew his young son would resort to something this low, or at least he should have expected it. It's on him.

Hagar said...

The term is "subjunctive."

Scott said...

@Hagar: I think people who learn English as a second language have a better grasp of the mechanics of English than do those of use who learned it natively. I just write whatever sounds good.

Scott said...

(It was my first shot at refrigerator pickles. Julienne a large onion. Sprinkle some salt on the onions and let them sit for a half hour. Sprinkle on some sugar and some dried dill; toss. Pour in red wine vinegar. Let it macerate for at least a few hours before serving. The flavor gets better over subsequent days.)

Baron Zemo said...

If you think Andrew Cuomo is sorry he did that you have another thing coming.

He would do anything to win.

He is one of the worst most immoral politicans in America. And that is saying something.

Baron Zemo said...

His new abortion law is an abomination.

sakredkow said...

I just write whatever sounds good.

That should be, "whatever sounds well," dear.

chickelit said...

Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen.

Scott said...

Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.

chickelit said...

I'd rather fight than switch.

campy said...

If you think Andrew Cuomo is sorry he did that you have another thing coming.

He would do anything to win.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Dust Bunny Queen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
campy said...

I remember how the Albany (NY) NPR station I used to listen to just about worshipped Mario Cuomo during the 80s. I swear, if Barack Obama ever heard the way WAMC used to cover governor Cuomo père, he'd be envious.

mccullough said...

Koch did his best trying to run New York, which was a cess-pool back then. He didn't cave to the race hustlers.

CatherineM said...

The Cuomo they are referring to is Andrew's dad - MARIO.

What I remember about Koch as Mayor was his visit to Tompkins Square Park where all of the squatters hung out in the daylight (they would live in abandoned buildings that NYC was littered with then) and offered them all jobs. They all claimed they couldn't find jobs and he went there to prove they were bums, not some disadvantaged youths. That's my kind of democrat.

PaulV said...

CatherineM,
Andrew was the bigot running his daddy's campaign

PaulV said...

CatherineM,
Andrew was the bigot running his daddy's campaign

Ctmom4 said...

R.I.P. Mr. Mayor - I thought you done pretty good. ( No grammar police please - I'm from Brooklyn.) And, Andrew Cuomo is pond scum.

Sydney said...

Anyone remember Mario's radio show?

Oh, God, yes. I had to switch off the radio whenever it came on, he was so nauseating. So was the general media love affair with him. He is the sole reason I left New York state after I completed my training.

Known Unknown said...

I'd vote for the homo.

test said...

mccullough said...
Koch did his best trying to run New York, which was a cess-pool back then. He didn't cave to the race hustlers.


Caving to race hustlers was the good old days. Now the politicians are the race hustlers.

MarkD said...

He was a better man than either Cuomo. That is not saying much, but as much as I'll say.