Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Bill De Blasio Hits Bill Thompson Over Stop And Frisk

Public Advocate Bill De Blasio received the endorsement of Harry Belafonte today and took the opportunity to hit Bill Thompson for the stop and frisk speech he gave a couple of days ago:

Mr. de Blasio also took a whack at rival Bill Thompson, the only African-American candidate in the race, for his impassioned speech last Sunday criticizing stop-and-frisk as racial profiling while simultaneously opposing the City Council’s controversial bill to strengthen the city’s racial profiling laws.

“Racial profiling happened in Florida. Racial profiling is happening here. It’s unacceptable in both places,” Mr. de Blasio told Politicker, his voice rising. “The incidents were different, but the reality is the same. If you believe that then take the next step and be in favor of a ban on racial profiling.”

According to Politicker, De Blasio spoke to one of his largest crowds of the campaign today, a crowd that began to chant "Hypocrite! Hypocrite!" at Bill Thompson when De Blasio talked about Thompson's stop and frisk speech.

De Blasio was also endorsed by Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, but Belafonte was the star of this show:

“I am pleased and honored to stand before you today endorsing Bill de Blasio for the next mayor of the City of New York,” Ms. Clarke, who is of Jamaican descent, declared. “Bill de Blasio literally stands tall in this race among peers for the mayor of the city of New York.”

“We are on the side of Bill de Blasio,” Mr. Belafonte added, referring to the batch of de Blasio supporters waving signs behind them. “We encourage all of our citizens to pay attention and put him in as our next mayor."

De Blasio went on MSNBC's Morning Joe today to get some national exposure and as Politicker notes, received good notices at both Salon and in the NY Times.  There was also a positive article about his family in the Daily News yesterday.

With de Blasio getting some good press, with his poll numbers looking up, with some high profile endorsements rolling in and with his crowd numbers growing, Bill De Blasio is starting to look like the real thing.

It was great to see the crowd chant  "Hypocrite! Hypocrite!" at Bill Thompson when Thompson's name was mentioned.

That's exactly what that Trayvon Martin/stop and frisk speech was - a desperate, hypocritical move by candidate looking to shore up his support in the black community.

If he cared about these issues, he would have been out there talking about them before Sunday.

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