NYC refudiates Palin.

[Boris Godunov]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100803/ap_on_re_us/us_ground_zero_mosque

NYC panel clears way for mosque near ground zero

By KAREN MATTHEWS and BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writers Karen Matthews And Beth Fouhy, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 49 mins ago
NEW YORK – A city panel Tuesday cleared the way for the construction near ground zero of a mosque that has caused a political uproar over religious freedom and Sept. 11 even as opponents vowed to press their case in court.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to deny landmark status to a building two blocks from the World Trade Center site that developers want to tear down and convert into an Islamic community center and mosque. The panel said the 152-year-old lower Manhattan building isn't distinctive enough to be considered a landmark.

The decision drew praise from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who stepped before cameras on Governor's Island with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop shortly after the panel voted and called the mosque project a key test of Americans' commitment to religious freedom.

"The World Trade Center site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts," said Bloomberg, a Republican turned independent. "But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves, and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans, if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan."

New York to Palin: Go **** yourself.

Bloomberg's speech was pretty moving. I particularly liked how pulled a reverse-Giuliani and said that opposition to the center was an insult to the heroes of 9/11. Nice touch.

[Drake Tungsten]

Giuliani

Bloomberg

[Guynemer]

[Drake Tungsten]

Bloomberg is a ***** and a terrible mayor.

Giuliani was a ***** and a pretty good mayor.

[Boris Godunov]

Giuliani was a pretty mediocre mayor, especially in his last term. His sleazy personal scandal deeply overshadowed him until the 9/11 attacks, and NYers were pretty well sick of him up until then.

[Drake Tungsten]

New Yorkers are sick of Bloomberg, too, only Bloomberg doesn't have the record of accomplishment behind him that Giuliani had.

[Boris Godunov]

What did Giuliani accomplish besides leaving the city with a $4.8 billion deficit (to be fair, $2.8 billion pre-9/11) and taking credit for a drop in crime that was largely mirrored in other urban areas across the country?

Holy ****, his insistence to put the city's crisis command center in the most obvious target imaginable because it was convenient for his extramarital liaisons is reason enough to consign him to the ranks of the city's more incompetent leaders.

I don't know enough about Bloomberg, but he seems to be enjoying reasonable approval ratings lately:

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/mayor_michael_bloombergs_appro.html

Most incumbents would kill for 57% approval rating in this climate.

[Drake Tungsten]

What did Giuliani accomplish besides blah blah not giving Giuliani credit for the very real improvements NYC saw during his time as mayor

He left NYC in far better shape than it was in when he took office. What has Bloomberg done? NYC is a lot worse off now than it was when he first became mayor...

[Boris Godunov]

NYC was in better shape when he left office because of the dot-com boom and the success of Wall Street, not because of anything Giuliani did as mayor. And in spite of said boom, he still left the city's finances in a mess.

Like I said, I don't know enough about and won't defend Bloomberg as mayor. As far as I can see, if he's a ****ty mayor, then he's not much ****tier than Giuliani was.

[Drake Tungsten]

I imagine you don't think Bill Clinton was a ****ty president, even though he had similar sexual foibles to Giuliani and benefited from most of the same economic good luck. I think we all know the reason for this discrepancy.

I, on the other hand, think both Clinton and Giuliani performed well in their respective leadership positions.

[Drake Tungsten]

Gawker Endorsement: Don't Vote for Bloomberg

[giblets]

I imagine you don't think Bill Clinton was a ****ty president, even though he had similar sexual foibles to Giuliani and benefited from most of the same economic good luck. I think we all know the reason for this discrepancy.

I, on the other hand, think both Clinton and Giuliani performed well in their respective leadership positions.

Cool, that logic makes Bush a terrible president. And Obama will most likely be a good president.

[DinoDoc]

"But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves, and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans, if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan."

What does this have to do with building a mosque near Ground Zero?

[DinoDoc]

Also the thread title bugs me. Refudiates? Really?

[Dinner]

You don't get the reference or are you just being a DinoDoc?