Oct 23, 2009 6:14 am US/Eastern
Mayor On Kind Words To Foe: 'Just Being Polite'
Mayoral Opponent Thompson Says Bloomberg's Public Demeanor Is Just A Ruse; Marist Poll Shows 16-Point Spread
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
New York City's 2009 Mayoral Candidates, Michael Bloomberg (left) and William Thompson
CBS
Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed the secrets of campaign etiquette on Thursday, admitting that sometimes you just have to say something nice about your opponent.
Eat his words? Not Bloomberg, who on Thursday became the Miss Manners, the Emily Post, if you will, of political candidates.
"I don't apologize for being polite, and, ah, come on what did you expect me to say?" Bloomberg said to applause.
Yup, Mayor Bloomberg said he was just being polite back in 2007 when he said nice things about Bill Thompson at a Tufts University graduation -- Thompson's alma mater. Those comments are now popping up in Thompson's political commercials.
"Mayor Bloomberg has spent millions of dollars distorting my record, but here's what he really thinks: 'Bill, you should know, has been comptroller of the city of New York for the same length of time I've been mayor and I think he will go down in history as maybe the best comptroller the city has ever had.'"
Having been skewered for months by the mayor's huge ad blitz, Thompson said he does not think the mayor is polite.
"Polite is not one of the words that is usually used to describe the mayor and I don't think there is any New Yorker who would use the word polite," Thompson said.
However, Thompson's attack doesn't seem to be working. A new Marist poll has Mayor Bloomberg ahead by 16 -- 52 percent to 36 percent.
And by the way, the mayor has a tit-for-tat commercial in which the comptroller was apparently also being "polite."
"He's done well and I do think he's been a good mayor of the city, yes I do," the ad says.
Pundits say that in the end the mayoral race may just come down to a question of money. Thompson has spent just a fraction of what Mayor Bloomberg has and he has to raise it. The mayor just dips into his billionaire fortune.
And if Bloomberg wins, he said you won't see the same faces around his administration. He's promising a third term shake up -- 15 of his 40 commissioners will be shown the door. He said he wants fresh ideas along for his next four years.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Police Probe Fatal Shooting Of Teen At NY Party 37 mins ago
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments