| I know it's the day after the primary, and everyone's excited (for better or worse) about that, but there's still some action in Albany. Governor Paterson's initial remarks:
Mr. Paterson, a former state senator, uttered the "bloodsuckers" line as he was telling a joke about what he saw as the hypocrisy in the way some of his colleagues treated advocates for groups like the disabled.
"There were legislators who I used to think practiced their own versions of being Count Dracula in that they would be very nice to the advocates when they came to Albany," Mr. Paterson said in a speech to a group of activists for the disabled at an Albany hotel. "By 5 o'clock, the sun would go down, and they'd go back to who they really are: a bunch of bloodsuckers."
And his clarification:
"I didn't say that my colleagues were bloodsuckers. I said that there were certain people who listened to advocates, and as soon as they left and, you know, it got dark, were acting in that way - like Count Dracula - because they really didn't care."
The Daily News takes the Dracula reference and runs with it. They also explore it in an editorial.
Legislators of both parties seem to be very sad that the Governor isn't kind enough to their always-to-be-highly-respected branch. First he calls legislators back into session from "vacation" to address potentially huge fiscal problems. Then he suggests that some legislators might be hypocritical, pretending good will while really just waiting for the advocacy bus to leave Albany.
I don't know, though - despite the choice of metaphor, this doesn't sound remotely Spitzerian to me. (And at least he's not suggesting that the Democrats are for sale.)
Update: And NYCO's take on it is also fun. Duels? Hmmm... Albany's had some interesting times. |
