Who are we going to blame for the growing calls for Andrew Cuomo to resign?

[brooklynite]

Ten House Democrats from New York — including the chairs of the powerful Oversight Committee and Judiciary Committee — issued statements within minutes of each other on Friday calling for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign in the wake of a sixth sexual harassment allegation.

Why it matters: Pressure for Cuomo to resign is now coming from Congress. 11 of the 19 House Democrats from the New York delegation have now called for his resignation, with the 10 on Friday joining Rep. Kathleen Rice, who called for the governor to step down on March after a third accuser came forward.

The list includes:

House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler
House Oversight chair Carolyn Maloney
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Rep. Jamal Bowman
Rep. Mondaire Jones
Rep. Grace Meng
Rep. Yvette Clark
Rep. Adriano Espaillat
Rep. Nydia Velasquez
Rep. Anthony Delgado

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/breaking-nadler-calls-for-cuomos-resignation/

Clearly we have to identify a scapegoat who's trying to bring down Cuomo for his or her ambition, and Kirsten Gillibrand isn't available.

Should it be Congressman Nadler?
One of the other members of the House delegation?
Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins?
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie?
Mayor Bill De Blasio?
City Comptroller Scott Stringer?

The choices seem endless...

[NurseJackie]

1. Lulz.

and Kirsten Gillibrand isn't available.

[FoxNewsSucks]

2. I'm really disappointed in all of them

for not letting due process play out and see what comes of the investigation.

This seems like someone, or several, want Cuomo gone and maybe a more friendly replacement.

[pandr32]

4. I agree

[qazplm135]

6. Do you really think

The investigation is going to determine that all of these women are lying?

Really?

[FoxNewsSucks]

11. I don't know.

Neither do you, or anyone else. That's the point of an investigation.

Like Franken, the MO and timing are more than suspicious enough to not rush into anything.

[qazplm135]

26. of course we know

name the last time this many different women from different environments came forward and it turned out they were all lying?

[FoxNewsSucks]

27. I didn't say they were all lying. I said we don't know

and we don't. The timing and MO are too suspiciously convenient. I have no confidence at all in any accuser who wants no investigation and refuses to press charges or otherwise pursue any deserved criminal charges.

It really seems like they learned from the railroading of Franken how to be more effective.

I want to see a legitimate investigation, then whatever consequences come from its results.

[qazplm135]

29. what timing would you not find convenient?

I can think of several more "convenient" timings, like in the middle of an election run just after the Dem primary is over and it's too late jumps to mind.

Or maybe back when the coronavirus was kicking off and he was high in popularity.

There's nothing about the timing that indicates anything other than a dam breaking, and if you think at least some of them are telling the truth, then why isn't that enough to say, we don't want this guy in such a privileged position? Or did you just say that? Because what follows is basically, I don't trust that they aren't all lying.

[FoxNewsSucks]

30. The timings you mention are all valid,

but it would also be dependent on the goal. I'm sure republicons had knowledge of John Edwards cheating, and were saving it for the right time. At this time, Cuomo is governor of the state that we all are desperately waiting on to prosecute the tRump crime family. That would likely reveal other republicon's criminal acts. I don't think that's a coincidence.

After four years of no federal prosecutions because of corrupt AG's (remember, racist Sessions ONLY recused himself because of Al Franken's questioning and we know what happened after that) and being told "NY will get him, can't pardon state charges", YES. I am suspicious. I'll need a legitimate investigation and proof before I believe either side.

Here's a good thread, https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215222088 I agree with pretty much the whole thing. I do not ever want to diminish real claims of harassment, or criminal assault. But sometimes circumstances call for something a lot more careful and exact than an immediate throwing under the bus. Because republicons know they can exploit Democrat's tendency to do just that.

[qazplm135]

31. you know how John Edwards beats the cheating?

Don't cheat on your cancer surviving wife. It doesn't matter if Republicans reveal wrongdoing or for what reasons, it's wrong or it's not. Don't do it, they can't get ya.

Trump's prosecution is going to be independent of any of this. So you think the Republicans went and found now 7 and I assume counting women, at least some of them who either worked for him (which means they are Democrats) or are in fact Democrats, somehow turned them Palpatine style so that maybe the next Gov might be a republican and that governor might pardon Trump?

And you think that makes sense? Our side is supposed to be better than that.

You know how you lose a governors race? Standing behind a sex harassing governor out of partisan politics.

[Dem4Life1102]

34. Actually Sessions recused himself

after a NY Times article came out in March that he had met with the Russian ambassador during the election and everyone from from Nancy Pelosi to several Republicans called for him to recuse himself. Franker questioned Sessions over two months earlier and he did lie. While Franken’s questioning did play a role it wasn’t the only reason for Sessions recusing himself.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/democrats-sessions-russia-resignation-call/index.html

[George II]

39. That's why we need an investigation.

[qazplm135]

43. I don't

Dudes clearly not the best we can do, he clearly has done misconduct with these women and there are certainly other strong Dems we can run in his place.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

3. I blame innocent until proven guilty n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Could we at least complete an investigation before we kick him to the curb?

[dsc]

7. I will say I find it problematic when the Chair of the Judiciary Committee shows an apparent

disregard for due process. There is this thing called Impeachment, with a bunch of people who among other things, investigate stuff for a living in charge, why not let them do their thing. I fail to see why we shouldn't use the actual mechanism that is designed for this type of thing.

[George II]

40. He's the biggest surprise, and disappointment. I wonder how much pressure was put on....

....many of those on that list, and how many joined in due to pressure.

[Maru Kitteh]

8. Well what would you have us do?

Blame Cuomo? Unthinkable!

Anna Ruch, 33, said she encountered Mr. Cuomo at a wedding they attended in September 2019 and they began talking about a toast the governor had given. But Mr. Cuomo then put his hand on her bare lower back, she said.

When she removed his hand with her own, the governor remarked that she seemed “aggressive” and placed his hands on her cheeks and asked if he could kiss her. Ms. Ruch said she pulled away as the governor drew closer.

“I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” said Ms. Ruch, whose recollection was corroborated by a friend, contemporaneous text messages and photographs from the event. “I turned my head away and didn’t have words in that moment.”

https://www.nytimes.com/article/cuomo-sexual-harassment-nursing-homes-covid-19.html

[Hugh_Lebowski]

18. Not that this is an excuse ... but that very much sounds like something a drunk-ass person would do

It is at a wedding after all.

To be clear, that doesn't make it okay, but I've been noticing a bit of thread to these allegations, and I'm beginning to suspect Cuomo has a drinking problem, and is one of 'those drunks' who gets overly and annoyingly amorous once they get a few drinks in them.

We all know 'that drunk', everyone's seen one in their lives, most of us more than once.

Admitting he has a drinking problem (and behavior problem while drinking) and stepping down in order to deal with it seems to me like the most graceful 'out' that the man has at this particular moment.

[uponit7771]

9. Disappointed in M$M spending more time on Cuomo before an investigation than HR1

[CentralMass]

10. I don't know enough about the particulars to weigh in but at

a high level in the case of Al Franken you had a professional comedian on a USO tour who made a sophomoric attempt at humor that he paid a price for when he became a Senator. He did get letters from both the female SNL staff and cast member that he worked with for decades as well as his senate staff that he treat them with the utmost respect and dignity.

In the case of Cuomo it seems a bit different. The women who brought the allegations worked for him and the nature of the alleged transgression were very different.

[Dem4Life1102]

12. To be honest

Franken did have 8 other accusers, it wasn’t the photo that brought him down.

[CentralMass]

16. Well it would appear that a judgement has been made in this case as well

[Dem4Life1102]

17. Hopefully not

Cuomo just said that he won’t resign. So let the investigation go forward.

[Dem4Life1102]

13. How about this guy? ;)

[brooklynite]

14. Doesn't vote in NY...

[LisaL]

15. If he refuses to resign, they will have to do more than call.

He already said he won't resign.

[Biophilic]

19. I'm so disappointed and so frustrated with the Democrats for this push for

Cuomo to resign. Whoever yells the loudest is not always right. That why we have a process. Quit bluntly if we don't believe in and support the process what do we believe in? I think we should shut the F up about this and let the investigation proceed. I really do not want to support a group that believes might equals right.

[Vinca]

20. We don't have to blame anyone. It's called a pile on and, like a kid's stack of toy blocks, when

one falls the rest follow. That's what Republicans count on. Notice you never see it happening on their side. For good or bad they remain united. If Cuomo is found to be guilty after an investigation, that's one thing. Piling on is just a sport Democrats seem to relish engaging in when one of their own is accused of something. It's really too bad. How hard is it to wait for an investigation before opining on a situation? No one should be calling for Cuomo to stay or go until the facts are known.

[LakeArenal]

21. NY should decide. Recall or election

[brooklynite]

22. New York doesn't have a recall provision

Waiting until the election is risky.

[LakeArenal]

23. That's my opinion. It isn't worth much.

[leftstreet]

24. Is there an investigation into the nursing home immunity stuff?

I'm wondering if it's been determined by someone somewhere the sexual harassment/assault claims make better optics than killing a bunch of old people

[lapucelle]

25. I blame the politicians themselves who don't have the courage to say,

"I'm waiting for the investigations to play out before I make a judgement."

There are probably other players in this particular drama with unclean hands, specifically potential candidates eying the NY statehouse and donors who couldn't buy access to Cuomo.

[Nixie]

33. Well said again, lapucelle. "Unclean hands" is a perfect

description of what could be happening here. You are familiar with New York politics, and yours is a cogent assessment of motives here.

Who stands to gain from getting rid of Cuomo remains the question.

[roamer65]

28. It's a state office.

Federal office holders have no say in the issue.

They need to STFU and let the state government investigate and handle it.

[MichMan]

32. Should people posting here only criticize politicians in their own districts?

Since I can't vote for anyone outside my state/district, I shouldn't voice an opinion on anyone else ?

They are entitled to their opinion same as everyone else

[Nixie]

35. Here's the juxtaposition to your simpleton question:

Do Republicans or Justice Democrats with the stated goal of primarying or eliminating supposedly Establishment politicians, especially the old white guys, get to deny New York voters their elected official?

[George II]

38. I think you're on the right track.

[Klaralven]

36. It appears to be NYC/Westchester versus the rest of the state, with Delgado as the one exception

[George II]

37. There's a common thread through some of the accusers and some of the first on board calling for....

....his resignation, and many who can profit politically by his resignation.

Too many dots that connect.

[BannonsLiver]

41. Was he unpleasant at a cotillion or cocktail party?

[gulliver]

42. Cuomo's doing us all a favor.

If there's one thing our liberal politics needs, it's to know where sensible limits are. Otherwise, we'll just get opportunistic nitwit leader wannabe's and zealots falling all over themselves to be "more liberal than thou." Those types need to learn that their whims aren't going to be automatically indulged. Their voices will be heard along with everyone else's, and the truth will be tested and found out.

We need a Franken comeback, imo. And these folks calling for Cuomo to resign? Fine. Let's test their point. Cuomo's giving us the chance to have a difficult conversation. We need it.