NYT goes balls out after young Sandidnista sympatizer de Blasio. Lhota says he has no soul

[cali]

The scruffy young man who arrived in Nicaragua in 1988 stood out.

Bill de Blasio, then 26, went to Nicaragua to help distribute food and medicine in the middle of a war between left and right. But he returned with something else entirely: a vision of the possibilities of an unfettered leftist government.

As he seeks to become the next mayor of New York City, Mr. de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, has spoken only occasionally about his time as a fresh-faced idealist who opposed foreign wars, missile defense systems and apartheid in the late 1980s and early 1990s. References to his early activism have been omitted from his campaign Web site.

But a review of hundreds of pages of records and more than two dozen interviews suggest his time as a young activist was more influential in shaping his ideology than previously known, and far more political than typical humanitarian work.

Mr. de Blasio, who studied Latin American politics at Columbia and was conversational in Spanish, grew to be an admirer of Nicaragua’s ruling Sandinista party, thrusting himself into one of the most polarizing issues in American politics at the time. The Reagan administration denounced the Sandinistas as tyrannical and Communist, while their liberal backers argued that after years of dictatorship, they were building a free society with broad access to education, land and health care.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/nyregion/a-mayoral-hopeful-now-de-blasio-was-once-a-young-leftist.html?ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all&_r=0

Joe Lhota Suggests Bill de Blasio Has ‘No Soul’

Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota pounced on his rival Bill de Blasio today, suggesting his opponent had “no soul” during an endorsement event with Staten Island Borough President Jim Molinaro.

“You’re either for it or against it,” said Mr. Lhota in response to a question about comments made earlier today by Mr. de Blasio regarding a court-appointed monitor for the police department.

In a radio interview this morning, Mr. de Blasio said he believed the monitor–which was ordered as part of Judge Shira Sheindlin’s stop-and-frisk ruling–was “a temporary reality,” arguing that once the city had a new police commissioner and new local oversight in place, the monitor would no longer be necessary. But Mr. Lhota slammed the comments as pure hypocrisy, given Mr. de Blasio’s previous push for added oversight.

“You’re gonna flip-flop like that all in one conversation, it talks about someone who has no soul,” Mr. Lhota charged.

<snip>
http://politicker.com/2013/09/joe-lhota-suggests-bill-de-blasio-has-no-soul/

[jakeXT]

1. Should be Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm in 1988

In 1983, fresh out of New York University, he petitioned a Manhattan judge to formally change his name to Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm, according to legal records.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/de-blasio-names-de-blasio-article-1.1463591

[Capt. Obvious]

2. De Blasio would not be welcome here

[rurallib]

3. i don't think you speak for all of us

[bluestate10]

9. De Blasio is right. He will clean up the discrimatory swamp that Blomberg is leaving.

Get police working right and there won't be a need for a judicial monitor.

[KamaAina]

4. Oh, that's rich. Joe Lhota says someone has no soul.

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/joe-lhota-spokesman-says-don-t-stop-trains-for-kittens-1.5989851

A former chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority and New York City mayoral hopeful says he wouldn't have stopped the subway because two lost kittens were scrambling along the tracks.

A spokesman for Joe Lhota tells the New York Post Friday the candidate doesn't think shutting down subway service for lost cats is appropriate. But he said Lhota believes it wouldn't be the mayor's decision in any case.

[adirondacker]

5. Hard not to see bias. Diggin up dirt for a tight race. nt

[Lawlbringer]

7. Most polls show Lhota trailing by more than 20 pts

Hardly close.


Both guys are hardcore windbags, moreso than the average pol. What's ironic is that John Catsimatidis (who ran against Lhota in the Republican Primaries) is the candidate for the Liberal party. There are no strong/visible third party contenders in this year's race, so it's gonna be a huge mess.

[JaneyVee]

8. Actually it's closer to 40 points. It was 66-22 last poll I saw.

[adirondacker]

10. Interesting info, Thanks! I have to admit that I've only followed the mayor's race loosely and

reading about the ties that de Blasio has with the Clinton's leaves much to speculate. Hopefully he'll be at least a small improvement of the present aristocrat.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

6. I wouldn't actually see that Sandinista stuff as dirt,

but I guess that's just me.

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. I'm sure the emperor's lapdog - the New York Times - will pull out all stops against someone they

see as a threat to their order