Gov. Andrew Cuomo, slayer of the elderly, harasser of the young, says his many unethical and perhaps illegal acts are just him being “playful” and not really knowing, at age 63, how stuff works. Shrug and aw shucks.
New York’s Attorney General is not impressed with the statement. Who would be? Here’s a sample: “At work sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny.”
Yeah we’re all aware of your inappropriate “humor” governor.
As Politico points out, the statement is tailor made to piss off basically everyone everywhere.
A member of a Sexual Harassment Working Group in New York, Erica Vladimer, replied to the governor’s statement in a tweet: “This is an absolutely disgusting, gaslighting response,” she wrote. “No ownership of his actions, blaming his victims for ‘misinterpreting’ his ‘playfulness.’”
The New York Times even allowed this to be printed in their pages:
In a series of interviews with The Times last week, Ms. Bennett said Mr. Cuomo had repeatedly asked her about elements of her sex life, including whether she practiced monogamy and had any interest in older men. She also recounted that Mr. Cuomo told her that he was open to dating women in their 20s and spoke to her in discomfiting ways about her own experience with sexual assault.
She said she believed the governor — who also complained of being lonely and wanting a girlfriend in Albany — was making sexual overtures toward her.
Yeah ha ha great jokes, gov.
Read the pathetic statement below and imagine, AGAIN, if this were a Republican, how the media would be treating it. There’d be a cute nickname for the scandal, custom graphics with sound effects in between endless cable news segments, talk about “final nail” or “beginning of the end.”
They are still BARELY covering this. Which is more than usually happens. Which shows how bad something has to get for the media to say something negative about a Democrat.
Here’s the statement from Andrew Cuomo. “Enjoy.”
Questions have been raised about some of my past interactions with people in the office.
I never intended to offend anyone or cause any harm. I spend most of my life at work and colleagues are often also personal friends.
At work sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny. I do, on occasion, tease people in what I think is a good natured way. I do it in public and in private. You have seen me do it at briefings hundreds of times. I have teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not getting married. I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business.
I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.
To be clear I never inappropriately touched anybody and I never propositioned anybody and I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers to.
That’s why I have asked for an outside, independent review that looks at these allegations.
Separately, my office has heard anecdotally that some people have reached out to Ms. Bennett to express displeasure about her coming forward. My message to anyone doing that is you have misjudged what matters to me and my administration and you should stop now — period.
“I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business.” Yeah that doesn’t fly for anyone else, Fredo’s brother. For once, it might not for you.