Dems Start Sniping Back At "Old Ugly Andy" Cuomo

Here's an interesting piece from Fred Dicker in the Post on how Dems are finally pushing back on Governor Cuomo over his "belittling" of Mayor de Blasio:

Several prominent Democrats said they were “shocked’’ — a word that was repeatedly used — at Cuomo’s criticism of de Blasio for appearing in public with Astorino. The governor cited Astorino’s opposition to abortion, among other things. But that didn’t stop Cuomo from standing with Pope Francis in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in September, despite the pontiff obviously being anti-abortion.

“That was one of the most amazing statements I’ve ever heard,’’ said a prominent Democrat who has known Cuomo for years, noting that the governor in the past has claimed he was committed to cooperating with his political opponents.

“It’s like the old ugly Andrew is back, the way Andrew used to be and had promised after 2002 that he wouldn’t be anymore,’’ the source continued, referring to Cuomo’s repeated pledges of new-found humility after his defeat in the race for governor that year.

Another key Democrat — known to virtually all party activists — said prominent Democrats had become increasingly unhappy with Cuomo’s “belittling’’ of de Blasio.

“Cuomo’s MO of pretending to be high-minded while belittling de Blasio has become a tedious trick,’’ said the source.

“Since [Cuomo’s] sagging polls are in part due to people understanding he’s a nasty piece of work — Astorino’s use of ‘scorpion’ is dead-on — perhaps he should try governing and see if that works.

“De Blasio is tricky in his own way but looks like an alter boy compared to Andrew,’’ the source, who has known Cuomo for years, continued.

Astorino, in the wake of Cuomo’s attack on de Blasio, compared the governor to a “scorpion,’’ saying, “Unless he is angry, unless he is biting somebody, he can’t function.’’

“This guy needs some serious help,” he told Albany’s Talk 1300 AM radio.

Dicker also reports that Cuomo's hand-picked challenge to de Blasio in a primary - Congressman Hakeem Jeffries - is starting to have "second thoughts" about running against de Blasio because his Cuomo connection would be an albatross to him in a Democratic primary.

Dicker has a source say that Jeffries is "starting to resist" Cuomo, trying to distance himself from the governor and appear to be his own man instead of a Cuomo shill.

Quite frankly, that's probably Jeffries or a Jeffries shill trying to change the perception that Jeffries has been completely co-opted by Cuomo.

Nonetheless, it's telling that this stuff ended up in the paper (along with the return of the "Old Ugly Andy" meme from 2002)

It means that some Dems, finally, are pushing back against Cuomo's bullying.

Whether this continues or not when Cuomo pushes back, however, remains to be seen.

But the fact that "Old Ugly Andy" and his governing style keeps popping up in the Silver/Skelos corruption trials surely helps put the spotlight back on his dark side too.