Andrew Cuomo is in serious shit. The current Governor of New York is facing serious allegations of sexual harassment, bullying, intimidation, and, most notable of all, covering up damning details about his horrendous COVID-19 record. In recent days, as more revelations pore forth in the public domain, the calls for his resignation continue to grow in large numbers.
Most New York-based Democrats, to their credit, are part of that angry chorus. As of now, though, he’s staying put. An investigation has been launched by the Attorney General who, coincidentally, was endorsed by Cuomo during her election campaign. Demands for impeachment are getting louder. (President Biden, facing his own series of sexual harassment accusers, has just announced his support for the AG investigation, without urging Cuomo to step down, which conveniently allows him to not take a side.) (MARCH 16 UPDATE: In a recent interview, Biden stated that if the investigation proves Cuomo’s guilt, he should resign. He also believes if that in fact is the case, it could lead to a criminal prosecution.)
As former allies of the embattled Governor continue to abandon him every day, there’s been much deserved criticism for how he was overly praised for much of last year in spite of rare critical reporting by the likes of David Sirota’s Daily Poster website. As the COVID crisis engulfed America, and with then-President Trump flailing about publicly downplaying its dangerous significance (while telling Bob Woodward the complete opposite), the media and Democratic supporters were desperate for some kind of political daddy figure to reassure them that everything was going to be ok and that everything was under control, at least in some parts of the country.
This led to the extremely cringy “Cuomosexual” phenomenon espoused by the likes of Chelsea Handler and Daily Show host Trevor Noah, two fools who should know better, among many others. While Noah made a self-deprecating remark at his own expense on a recent show once reality could no longer be denied (without him playing his Ellen appearance or any relevant Daily Show clips, the act of a coward), one comedian who has been extraordinarily tight-lipped is Howard Stern.
The longtime New York broadcaster has been a longtime Cuomo sycophant for years. I can’t remember him ever saying anything critical of him. As the bad news started to flow a short time ago, Stern’s only response on his show has been a brief remark vaguely acknowledging the uncomfortable situation but standing by the governor. (He’s also been unwilling to talk about frequent guest Marilyn Manson’s own growing list of victims.)
Last year, Cuomo made two appearances on The Howard Stern Show. The first one was a phone interview that aired on April 13. It is so embarrassingly gushy the full transcript of it can be read and heard on the Governor’s official government website. Here are the most noteworthy quotes that, shall we say, have not aged well:
1. Stern: “I love you. I loved you when you first became Governor and I’ve always talked you up on the air. I particularly appreciate what you are doing during the coronavirus. You are providing real leadership and your whole demeanor is just well, for lack of a better word, a turn on. You are providing great leadership.”
2. Stern: “…why do I get this feeling – I think even if it is just in your demeanor. I get this feeling that you are really in control, that you are doing everything you can, that you are organized.”
3. Stern: “…are you shocked by all this unbelievable outpouring of love for you? The guy just told me you’re now on the cover of Rolling Stone, which is reserved for rock stars and in a sense, what they’re saying is our governor in New York is a rock star. Are you just blown away by this sudden – now you are the sexiest man in America, my own Robin who works with me is thinking of dating you –
Robin Quivers: Well he’s single, Howard.
Stern: Yes, and giving herself to you. You know what it is? Confidence is sexy, is it not?
Quivers: Yes, it’s back.”
4. Stern: “When I ran into you last summer, I said I wish you had run for President. You know, and I know you’re on record as saying you’re a Biden guy and I back Biden, too, I think Biden will be terrific but god you seem like just the right choice right now with the way you speak, it’s attractive and the competence is attractive. I think you would win in a landslide right now, and you know that too. Is there any regret?
Andrew Cuomo: No there’s no regret. There’s no regret. I’m doing – I’m doing what I said I would do. And when you are doing that and you’ve been true to yourself and you are true to the relationships around you, you have no regrets and that’s the most important thing.”
5. Cuomo: “I haven’t changed. I’m doing what I’m doing. The public’s appetite has changed, and their desires have changed. Politics is no longer a celebrity contest. Who you elect to office is no longer a boutique, white wine drinkers cocktail party discussion. We see real life that this matters – the people who are in charge, who are in office, they make decisions that decide life and death, literally.”
6. Stern: “Well I got to tell you, Governor, I was never jaded about politicians. I know some are, who knows what they’re in it for, but I always felt they are people who have a genuine calling for public service, you know? And I think about you and I think about, ‘You know what, if my father had been the governor,’ and you could have gotten a law degree and gone into corporate law and made a killing, you would have made a fortune, you know what I mean? You’d be sitting there with a pile of dough. I always admired that you chose a life of public service. And I do appreciate it. But you know, everyone is so jaded now, ‘Everyone’s in it for the wrong reasons,’ I think there are some that are really into it for the right reasons, we’ve become so jaded.
Cuomo: Yeah but I think there’s a second lens also. Okay, you’re in it for the right reasons. Second, can you do the job? And what is the job? And the job today is life and death. And wow, we haven’t seen that in a longtime. When was the last time government did anything that impacted your life seriously? You’d have to go back to Vietnam War for a generation that was really impacted by government. Well, government matters, and there’s something called government competence and professionalism and leadership and that has been reintroduced to the public.”
7. Stern: “Who do you talk to, I mean the pressure on you right now is just astronomical and I don’t pretend to even understand what your day is like, so when you’re freaking out and you’re seeing some real horror scene here and you’re up close and you know that New York is depending on you, who do you talk to unstress? You got a shrink?
Cuomo: No. I sort of talk to everyone and people fill different needs for me. There is no one person, Howard. I talk to a number of people and it sort of works for me that way. But also I’m more fundamental as a person, especially the older I get. Who is going to help you with a problem that 700 people died yesterday? No one will. No one can help. There is no one who can help you.”
8. Cuomo: “…I’ll tell you by and large one of the real stories of this, why were all the projections wrong? Remember all the projections so far have said many more people would die and many more people would be hospitalized, starting with the White House projections. We’re now entering this revisionist phase where some people say this was a political conspiracy theory, it was never going to be that bad. The White House numbers, McKinsey, Columbia, Cornell University, every study that was done, the Gates funded study, they all said it was going to be much, much worse.”
9. Stern: “Are there things you [k]now about this virus that you haven’t told the public because we aren’t strong enough to handle it? I always had this vision of a government, as governor you know things that I don’t know and there is things that maybe you can’t talk about. Are there things that we’re just not able to handle or is this 100 percent total transparency?
Cuomo: “See I know, or I knew, that you were going to think that because that’s what I would be thinking if I were you. So one of the reasons every morning, I go out there every morning since this started and I know that you’re sitting there thinking that in your head so I go to great pains to say here is every fact I know and here is the worst construction of it, here is the moderate construction, and here is the most acceptable construction, and it’s not me, here are all the experts and here are all the opinions, you decide. You know everything that I know. That’s important that you have to believe, Howard, that you have all the facts that I have because if you start distrusting ballgame is over. Then when I stand up and I say, okay Howard, you have to agree to social distancing, you are going to say I don’t believe you. It’s government come down to credibility. It’s credibility first and then competence but if you don’t have the credibility you don’t get the competence. So everything I know I have told the public.”
10. Cuomo: “Nobody is getting under my skin. I don’t operate on that level now. This is about what I have to do for New York, what’s the best thing I can do for New York, and whoever can help me do that I will work with, and whoever is contrary to that I will oppose – period. There is no ego in this. We don’t have the luxury of ego. I feel, I feel – who cares how I feel? But I can’t have things happen that are mistakes, right?”
11. Stern: “I’ll tell you something – you and your brother [Chris on CNN]. It’s turned into a thing. Even my psychiatrist said to me, ‘God, don’t you love when Governor Cuomo and his brother talk – it’s just so delightful’
Quivers: It’s real.
Stern: Yeah, it’s real, it’s become a thing that actually calms people down…you guys got a little chemistry going –
Quivers: You make it look good.
Stern: Yeah it’s sweet. It’s very sweet.
Cuomo: Well, and it’s also 100 percent genuine.”
12. Cuomo: “…the eulogy of my father’s [former NY Governor Mario] administration was great speaker, but didn’t get enough things done. That was an ugly review, but it’s one that pained him. Together, because he was very much with me at the beginning of my administration also, we were going to fix all of that. We were going to address all the criticism, even if unfair, and learn all the lessons that were fair.
Stern: Yeah, because you know what, you’re right. Because it’s very interesting, the rabbi in you is, you get stuff done. It’s as if you’re the complete opposite of what his image was. He was the guy in the ivory tower who could write speeches, the public thought, but you’re the guy who can get things done. When you’re at those press briefings, people are seeing it and they’re loving it.
Quivers: But he’s also a great speaker too. So he’s…the new and improved.
Stern: You are. You’re just unbelievable. You know, look, I don’t know what to tell you about what our future is. I don’t know a thing. I’m sitting here in my basement doing a broadcast, but I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, I’m thanking God every day for you. I just love what you do.
Quivers: New York. All of New York.
Stern: All of New York. I mean really something. I was going to offer you Robin, as a matter of fact. Who is ready to jump in.
Quivers: Here I am. Sacrificing it.
Stern: You said you wanted the Governor.
Quivers: Well if it’s necessary, I will do it.
Stern: When this is over, Governor, this might be your girlfriend, Robin Quivers, right here. I’m not kidding.
Cuomo: Robin, did Howard tell you I was single?
Quivers: No, he didn’t. I had to find it out on my own. He was going to offer me up regardless.
Stern: Well are you lonely, Governor? Not having a – let’s put it this way, you are single. Are you lonely?
Cuomo: Am I lonely? I’m not. I have my kids with me now, I have a great, great team. I’m too busy to be lonely. But there may come a time.
Stern: Are you on any dating sites where Robin can link up with you? What is your profile on?
Cuomo: Available govs. Look at available govs website.
Stern: Are you on Raya? That’s the one where celebrities go to find other celebrities.”
13. Stern: “Are you drinking at all? Do you have booze at night to unwind a little?
Cuomo: No.
Stern: Nothing?
Cuomo: No drinks. Nothing. Not a drop since this started.
Quivers: Wow.
Cuomo: Nothing, not a beer. This is 24 hours a day and I’m not going to be in a compromised position. I’m at the age where you have a couple of glasses of wine you feel it the next day. I’m not going to be diminished now. I wouldn’t do that.
Howard Stern: I love that answer.
Robin Quivers: Thank you for your selflessness.”
Dennis Earl
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Sunday, March 14, 2021
11:51 p.m.
THE WRITINGS OF DENNIS EARL 
Voting For Democrats
Voting for Democrats increases obstruction
Voting for Democrats guarantees destruction
Voting for Democrats funds the police
Voting for Democrats denies Assange’s release
Voting for Democrats enables distortions
Voting for Democrats outlaws abortions
Voting for Democrats smothers dissent
Voting for Democrats shrinks the tent
Voting for Democrats preserves the status quo
Voting for Democrats leaves open Guantanamo
Voting for Democrats means eroded protections
Voting for Democrats means increased infections
Voting for Democrats means supporting the rich
Voting for Democrats doesn’t flick the switch
Voting for Democrats means a strongly worded letter
Voting for Democrats means Centrists aren’t better
Voting for Democrats institutionalizes oppression
Voting for Democrats guarantees depression
Voting for Democrats means more racist policing
Voting for Democrats allows more fleecing
Voting for Democrats means more unforgiven debt
Voting for Democrats is a risky bet
Voting for Democrats means losing more rights
Voting for Democrats means avoiding big fights
Voting for Democrats assures leftists aren’t invited
Voting for Democrats is clearly shortsighted
Voting for Democrats means more bipartisan misery
Voting for Democrats involves ignoring a failed history
Voting for Democrats means promising than refusing
Voting for Democrats guarantees more losing
Voting for Democrats leads to more violence
Voting for Democrats turns outrage into silence
Voting for Democrats is a useless proposition
Voting for Democrats means no real opposition
Dennis Earl
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Friday, June 24, 2022
9:13 p.m.
- Commentary
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on June 24, 2022 at 9:13 pm Comments (3)