Bloomberg's New York -- Leaves a Lot Out

So, Mayor Bloomberg blew it when he opened his mouth at the Republican National Convention, telling delegates that he and Governor Pataki had laid the "tombstone" rather than the "cornerstone" at Ground Zero. But, grim though it was, it was hardly Bloomie's major gaffe.

Bloomberg treated the Republicans to a sanitized history of New York, telling tales of a young Theodore Roosevelt (not mentioning his greatest accomplishment -- using government regulations to curtail out of control monopoly corporations) and mentioning that the Bill of Rights was written here, but not mentioning that our fair city gave a warm (though sometimes raucous and downright dangerous) home to the 20th century civil rights movement, the labor movement and the gay rights movement. You'd think our guests would like to know that.

He mentioned that New York is headquarters to more major corporations than any other city in the country without pointing out that a good number of those Benedict Arnolds fled to New Jersey after 9-11, leaving the city with a sky-high unemployment rate. Well, that kind of stuff would spoil the party, wouldn't it?

Also glad to see Bloomberg be so supportive of Bush. I guess Bloomberg forgot how reluctant the Feds were to release money to the city post 9-11. I guess Bloomberg doesn't mind that the cost of city services went up for all New Yorkers in the form of increased utility bills due to the rising commodity prices that were the inevitable result of Bush's foreign policy and the hike in subway and bus fares after the Feds wouldn't kick in enough to support New York's public transportation agencies. I guess as New York's mayor, Bloomberg doesn't feel at all odd about palling around with a President who's done nothing for this city.