A comment by Bill de Blasio’s wife that appeared to imply Christine Quinn could not relate to woman voters because she doesn’t have children drew ire from Quinn Wednesday - but the de Blasio campaign produced an audio tape showing she was misquoted.
The original article by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, which has since been corrected, quotes Chirlane McCray saying of Quinn, "She’s not the kind of person I feel I can go up to and talk to about issues like taking care of children at a young age and paid sick leave."
An incensed Quinn this morning released a statement blasting McCray - a mother of two - for criticizing her for being childless.
“There are women all across the City who don’t have children for any number of reasons, whether they simply can’t, choose not to, or circumstances don’t afford them the possibility,” Quinn said.
“I have taken a number of shots in this race from the men running against me, and I accept that as par for the course in a political campaign. But to criticize me as not understanding what young families go through because I might not have children, is over the line and I take great personal offense to the comment, as does my wife.”
Shortly after, the de Blasio campaign released a statement of their own, saying the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist got the quote wrong.
They included a transcript of the interview -- and tape to back it up.
Dowd: "What do you think the problem is with women voters, why hasn't she been able to get that Hillary kind of thing going where whatever flaws are involved they're excited to break that barrier?"
McCray: "Well I am a woman, and she is not speaking to the issues I care about and I think a lot of women feel the same way. I don’t see her speaking to the concerns of women who have to take care of children at a young age or send them to school and after school, paid sick days, workplace, she is not speaking to any of those issues. What can I say? And she is not accessible, she is not the kind of person that I feel that you can go up and talk to and have a conversation with about those things, and I suspect that other women feel the same thing I’m feeling."
The Times posted a correction, but the Quinn campaign insisted it stood by its original statement because the essential meaning of the remarks was the same and continued to blast out criticism from surrogates.
Times spokesman Danielle Rhoads said: "Maureen Dowd realized she had truncated the quote and immediately asked her editors to fix it.”
McCray was misquoted, the full transcript proves that she didn't say what the Quinn campaign is saying she said, both the New York Times as an organization and Maureen Dowd as an individual have backed McCray up - but that's not stopping Quinn from playing the victim here.
Clearly desperate to stop de Blasio's momentum, the Quinn campaign will grasp at anything at this point.
But this is just a b.s. gambit by Quinn - especially because McCray's comments are so accurate.
Quinn and her office people have been inaccessible to New Yorkers.
I know, I've called and left messages on education issues and never gotten any response.
Not once.
Inaccessible indeed.
A sleazy move by the Quinn campaign to dodge Quinn's insensitive record on the paid sick leave legislation.
ReplyDeleteThank you for setting the record straight on what was a convenient misquoting of McCray.
Maureen Dowd should be fired. She makes a habit of misquoting people.
DeleteThey even seem to embargo her daily appearances so if you wanted to go to some event it is not publicly announced.
ReplyDeleteYup - her schedule is embargoed every day. Talk about inaccessible!
DeleteThe Daily News the Zuckerman press has endorsed Quinn with the front page exclaiming "She's The One". Correct, she is the one who pissed on democracy with term limits, scandalized the council with the slush fund, and allowed St Vincent's to close to buttress her support within the real estate developers. Her latching on to any morsel against Be Blasio is consistent with her desperation to become mayor.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a surprise that Zuckerman, the real estate mogul in search of the almighty tax break, endorsed her. He expects the Big Payoff if she's elected. He'll get it from Thompson too though if Big Bill wins. Probably from de Blasio too. They're all crooks. At this point in my life, I just try and vote for the least crooked and compromised candidate in every election.
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