Every finger in the room is pointing at me
I got a bowling ball in my stomach
I got a desert in my mouth
Figures that my courage would choose to sell out now
Looking for a savior beneath these dirty sheets
I've been raising up my hands, drive another nail in
Just what God needs, one more victim
I crucify myself and nothing I do is good enough for you
I crucify myself, every day
I crucify myself
My heart is sick of being
I said my heart is sick of being in chains, oh oh oh
Chains, oh oh oh
Really?
First off, I offered Andrew Cuomo praise in 2020. I stand by that praise. At a time when few were speaking, he was. Now apparently he was doing other things -- the whole nursing home scandal. That's part of his record. So is his harassment of women. Glenn Greenwald and others are saying "Everyone knew!" and comparing it to Harvey Weinstein.
Uh, no, everyone didn't know. I didn't know. I did know about Harvey and before Rosanna Arquette told me. I knew about Leslie Moonves from Martin Scorsese. I knew about Charlie Rose, I knew about Matt Lauer and I know about 15 men who may or may not get exposed in the next few months (one is apparently paying off a victim this Friday). I even knew about Bill Gates before Melinda. As I pointed out when offering praise for his television appearances, I don't live in New York. He's not my governor. I don't know his record.
I knew his father who was a phone buddy, we'd run scenarios during various political races. He was an election junkie and very smart. I knew Andrew and Chris through their father. I knew Andrew as someone who was very helpful to my friends when they were in need (that does include Peggy) and that's part of his record too.
I hope he did many nice things for many people. But that doesn't offset or make up for what he did to various women with harassment.
I said he'd make a better nominee for US President than Joe Biden. I said that he or Gavin Newsom would make a better nominee. Gavin now? Absolutely. Andrew now?
Yeah. I would say that today.
'B-b-b-but he harassed women!' And? I'm saying better than Joe. I'm not saying Andrew would be my ideal choice. Andrew finally resigned. That's more than Joe did.
Tara Reade is not the only woman Joe had 'boundary issues' with. (The paperwork for earlier incidents prior to Tara tended to advise the employee protesting touching that they needed to set boundaries -- putting the responsibility on the one being victimized.) I could say more -- a lot more -- but we'll leave it at that.
Andrew did some horrible things and he's resigned. Hopefully, people who suffered have some sort of closure as a result. If Andrew can learn from this defining moment, great. If he can't, it's over for him.
What about Chris?
What. About. Chris.
Chris is irritating as hell on CNN and I have called him out for that here repeatedly -- beginning when he was on CNN's morning talk show, before he got his own.
I find him irritating (and he knows better than to act like that socially). Some found it entertaining at one point or CNN wouldn't have given him a program.
He made multiple mistakes that should have resulted in his being reprimanded. I'm not one to call for firing. If others do, that's their business. But whatever happens next to Chris -- and actions need to be taken -- excuse me, but Chris doesn't own CNN. Meaning he had superiors and they need to be called out and they need to be reprimanded.
And thought not a supervisor, he is a critic, so, yes, Brian Stelter needs to be called out. If he can't police his own home, he has no business offering thoughts on what FOX NEWS or others are doing.
Brian has done a horrible job. If CNN truly wants to 'turn the page,' that would mean finding a new job for Brian and finding someone else to act as the media critic -- clearly, Brian has not been up to the job repeatedly.
Chris broke every ethical rule in the book with his coverage of his brother.
But I know that. You know that. We saw it in real time and called it out and so did many others.
Point?
CNN chose not to act. If his brother wasn't resigning, his actions would not, right now, be an issue to CNN because they were pretty much fine with it when they were taking place.
His advisory role to his brother -- if it was not disclosed to CNN by Chris -- would be an actionable offense -- he could be fired for that. Remember THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reporter who gave her copy to her lover, a government official, to let him proof it and add to it? When that was learned, it didn't matter. She was fired.
And if Chris hid a relationship like that, he should be fired.
But if CNN knew about it before it came out? That's on them. Not on him.
And on firing, Chris could get a lawyer and make the case that CNN tolerated and encouraged his behavior. So if they do move to fire him, they better realize that the people who are immediately over him can't escape unpunished or Chris -- with the right lawyer -- just could end up owning CNN.
Chris owes the public an apology. But his actions were mainly in public and should have been curbed by higher ups at CNN. By tolerating his on air antics, they gave him permission.
Unless you just hate Chris Cuomo, you need to be advocating for something more than 'fire him!' or whatever because Chris is not the entire problem and never was.
It was a conflict of interest all along and we always knew that if Andrew needed to be held accountable on air, Chris was not going to do it.
When Jill Biden was about to become Second Lady, I noted that I would not be writing about her in any way here. I violated that twice. Once she and Michelle Obama cowrote a column on veterans. It was a good column -- and Jill was a true advocate for veterans as Second Lady, it was sincere and it was real. So we quoted from the column. Before Joe became president, I wrote another piece noting that it was not appropriate for Joe -- an incoming president -- to be offering thoughts on the federal investigation into his son Hunter Biden. Jill was part of that s well. Her role in the press is different because the First Lady is supposed to talk about personal things -- we expect it. So I wrote that she was opening a door that she didn't need to be opening. It was fine for her to say she loved Hunter and share good memories of him but if she's going to talk about how he's not guilty or this or that, she needs to be prepared to answer detailed questions about him. The smarter thing is to just note she is his mother (and she is, she raised him) and that she loves him and she's not going to get into other issues. But Joe has only one response and that is: "I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation." That's all he's allowed to say (a fact he frequently forgets). He is the head of the federal government and the Attorney General and the head of the FBI report to him. He's not allowed to comment on a criminal investigation into his son's actions.
I don't cover Jill here. There are many times when I want to applaud her but doing so would mean I would have to call her out if she did something wrong. As I noted in 2009, I don't want to do that. I like Jill. She's a kind person who's always been nice to me. Chris should have understood the basics there and avoided covering his own brother.
Are people crucifying me for my opinions of Andrew in 2020? No. I've had a few e-mails about how my take hasn't aged well. That's fine. That's their opinion. I do, however, argue -- even now -- that he would have been better -- I mean isn't that what we were judging by in 2020?
Less rapes, right? Trump or Biden, go with less rapes. "No rapes is better than one rape. But one rape is less than three rapes. I know who I'm going to choose. That's the guy with less rapes. It's got to be less rapes every time."
I didn't vote for Joe (or Donald), for the record.
But Emma's getting slammed for a comment she made and she says she's like Jesus Christ?
Someone has a complex.
Someone has no sense of perspective.
But, hey, she works with Sam Seder. She's in the sewer. Which reminds me, Ava and my piece -- written Sunday -- will go up this evening. Yes, it does address the ugly reality of Sam Seder -- the real and ugly history of Sam. I felt sorry for Emma when I saw the Tweet -- sorry that she was so ridiculous that she'd compare herself to Christ. I feel sorry for her that she works with Sam Seder.
Pity.
That's what Emma instills.
