MAYOR "CRAZY MOUTH" BLOOMBERG

Any friend of the Horny Wordsmith knows my disdain for Michael Bloomberg having been employed in his gulag on Park Avenue (a story for another time). Lately, it appears the old blowhard has been running his mouth off. For one thing, he has been going around accusing the New York State Senate of trying destroy the city schools, and in fact used the term "destroy us," which is a bit of an over-statement of what the buffoons of Albany seem to be accomplishing.

Yet the worst of his tyranny was seen a few weeks ago on May 28, 2009. The mayor reacted quite sorely to a legitimate question from a member of the press. The City Room blog has a transcript:

At a press conference in Queens on Thursday, Mr. Bloomberg was asked if an economic turnaround would undermine his initial reasoning for rewriting the city’s term limits law and seeking a third term, which was that a city in financial turmoil needed his steady hand and business background.

Mr. Bloomberg interrupted the question, from the New York Observer reporter Azi Paybarah, having deemed it unworthy of his time, and even called the reporter “a disgrace.”

Here’s how the exchange began:

Mr. Paybarah: If the economy is turning around, as you said, does that mean that the rationale for extending term limits–

Mr. Bloomberg: I don’t know why … why don’t we just get serious questions here …

At this point, Mr. Paybarah tried to finish his question, but he was cut off by the mayor.

Mr. Bloomberg: The rationale for extending term limits is, the City Council passed it and the public’s going to have a chance on Nov. 3 to say what they want. And I don’t think we have to keep coming back to that. When you have a serious question about the economy I will be happy to answer it. Anything else?

After that, the mayor concluded his press conference, looked directly at Mr. Paybarah and said, “You are a disgrace.”

Mr. Paybarah asked a legitimate question, and certainly did not deserve to be classified as a disgrace. My theory as to why this question elicited such an angry, despicable answer from the mayor is thus: the mayor has never demonstrated that he is better at dealing with the economy in the city than any other politician, and this truth is the greatest threat to the mayor's continued grip on the city. The fact is that New York City's government has been in a financial decline since 2001, and the mayor has yet to prove he can turn circumstances around. Year after year city agencies struggled with budget problems, including such important agencies as the New York Police Department and the District Attorneys in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The real disgrace is the mayor, who for whatever reason maintains he is the economic savior of this city all the while allowing his beloved town to slip into decline. His only luck is that there is no suitable contender to replace him, and frankly this situation is more a disgrace than anything else.