NYC Mayor, Bill de Blasio, refuses to take Stephanopoulus Bait on Eric Garner GJ Decision

[sabrina 1]

What is wrong with George Stephanopoulus? Why was he baiting Mayor de Blasio who has refused, rightfully, to endorse the Eric Garner GJ Decision?

He sounds more like one of those Right Wing talk show hosts playing 'gotcha' with one of NYC's best Progressive Mayors in a long time?



New York Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at the podium during a press conference on Thursday to discuss the retraining of police. Photograph: UPI/Landov/Barcroft Media

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio Refuses to endorse Eric Garner GJ Decision

Appearing on ABC, de Blasio three times refused to respond to the question of whether he respected the decision by a grand jury not to bring charges against Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who put Staten Island resident Eric Garner in a chokehold during an arrest attempt. The decision led to large-scale protests in the city and across the country, which on Sunday continued into a fifth day. On Saturday night, violence broke out at one such demonstration, in California.

After de Blasio had deflected the question, saying “as an executive in public service” he respected “the judicial process, but …” host George Stephanopoulos interrupted to ask: “So you respect the grand jury’s decision?”

De Blasio replied, with emphasis on the last word: “I respect the process.” He went on to talk about initiating a “systemic” retraining of police officers in New York, in order to “fix the relationship between the police and the community”.

Stephanopoulos countered: “So you respect the process but not the decision?”De Blasio gave the hint of a smile but did not reply.

Who need Rush Limbaugh with supposedly liberal hosts like this?

The Police Union has been attacking de Blasio for his comments about the decision which were honest and very personal to him. He is the father of a son who is Black and he expressed his and his wife's concerns over HIS safety every time he goes out.

The Cops are not used to a NYC Mayor not being totally on their side. I guess they have to learn the new rules, which are, when something is so blatantly WRONG sometimes you get a Mayor who has the guts to say so.

Bloomberg would have completely defended his 'army'. Giuliani always defended their crimes.

Now we have a Mayor who is actually doing his job.

Not only has he not backed down, he repeated the comments he made that have caused the cops to have apoplexy even more strongly on several other shows.

I am very proud of him for not backing down.

These bullies thought they OWNED NYC. And they did, getting away with murder literally.

The Police Union Chief whined that the Mayor had 'thrown the police under the bus'.

What bus would that be? His cops have been abusing their power for so long now it is hard to recall a time when they didn't, especially wrt to minorities.

Mayor de Blasio has all the right people upset. I hope he gets all the support he needs to finally reign in these cops which is long overdue.

Where did the notion come from that City Mayors only represent Cops btw?

[BrotherIvan]

1. I used to live in Tribeca by Bouley

Every Wednesday was Guiliani's day to come for lunch. For hours, there would be cops in uniform shoveling the street so his limo could get in if there was snow. It snowed a lot one winter and they started shoveling at dawn. I was shocked the first time I saw it. They were his personal army. I'm sure that Bloomberg enjoyed those same perks.

de Blasio isn't doings the way they've always been done in NY, with lots of corruption and graft. He is trying to work for the people of New York, what he was elected to do, and they hate that. They're afraid the pipeline of dirty money and protection for one of the most infamous police forces in the country (maybe LAPD is worse?) to shake it down.

A pox on all of them.

[sabrina 1]

4. Giuliani was one of the worst bullies I ever remember. He bullied the press, he defended murderous

cops over and over again, he abused the homeless and was one of the most arrogant fools to ever hold that position.

I'm not at all surprised to learn that he used the cops as his very own army.

Bloomberg actually CALLED them his army.

The last good progressive of NYC was Mayor Dinkins and the cops hated him too. They rioted airc, and I may be wrong, but I believe it was Giuliani who encouraged them. The bigotry that was aimed at Mayor Dinkins was despicable.

I am sure they hate de Blasio so he will have to watch his back. These cops are ANGRY and will do everything they can to thwart any effort he makes to straighten out that crooked police dept.

I don't envy him frankly, but the least people can, and that includes his party, is to support him strongly, to shout down these criminals, and many of them are, and finally teach them to watch how THEY behave because at last, they are in the spotlight and not in a way they want to be.

Too many TV shows glorifying these thugs. They badly need to be reigned in, and put in their place.

[BrotherIvan]

13. It is the perfect time to get people to come together

I know living in urban areas, under both NYPD and LAPD rule, that MOST people pretty well hate the cops. With these recent tragic instances, that hatred is even stronger. Maybe people can come together and support someone like de Blasio and others who are trying to reform the police. The only ones who want things to stay the same are those that think they don't need to fear the police, or they buy a gun. Both stupid ideas.

[sabrina 1]

14. Yes, it is a good time and I think they have alienated so many people

with their arrogance, what they did during OWS hasn't been forgotten either, that they have made many enemies.

And they ARE worried, they are whining and throwing temper tantrums like the cowardly babies they are. If there are good cops, now would be the time to speak out also imo.

Bratton thinks/hopes the protests will die down. I hope not, and I don't think so.

[BrotherIvan]

15. I hope they don't die down either

There is so much dissatisfaction in this country for so many reasons, it's good to finally feel like the bubbles are rising to the top. OWS was the shot across the bow. This is another uprising. I really do hope we can come together and do something. The arrogance of these prosecutors not even to let the officers go to trial is particularly surprising.

[99Forever]

2. Kudos to Mayor de Blasio for taking the MORAL side of this.

And to you Sabrina for your strong voice always speaking truth to power.

[sabrina 1]

8. Yes, it really takes guts to stand up to the NYPD. I hope he gets all the support he needs

because the NYPD aren't going to take this lightly.

I appreciate your kind words, 99 however I know I would not have the courage de Blasio had to go up against that corrupt department. Which is why the least we can do is to support him as much as possible.

[mountain grammy]

3. Stephanopoulos has zero credibility after the Wilson interview

where he practically had the man sitting in his lap. Go on to fox, George, they'll pay you well as their "resident liberal."

[sabrina 1]

6. I only saw excerpts from that interview and that was enough. His badgering of de Blasio

was unconscionable imo.

He sounds like an internet trolls trying to get someone banned 'SO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS' trying to rile him into saying something that he will get credit for 'see, I got it out of him'.

A shameful spectacle from a supposed Dem.

de Blasio has been very clear about his feelings regarding this. I watched his statement after the GJ decision and was amazed he was saying the things he said. All of them true, but we're not used to NYC mayors speaking the truth like that. We are used to them totally protecting the cops no matter what they do.

He is definitely no journalist, just another boring TV 'host' whose job is to create sensationalism. Tabloid journalism at best.

[Mr.Bill]

9. He had zero credibility

after working on the Dukakis campaign as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who worked on that train wreck should be no where near any political discussion, much less leading one on a major TV network.

[mountain grammy]

12. agree! He was at zero a long time ago.

[QED]

5. He works for the network that paid Wilson $500,000 for his story.

That's why. And ABC hired Laura Ingraham as a contributor.

http://www.alternet.org/abc-reportedly-paid-darren-wilson-six-figure-fee-interview

[JDPriestly]

7. This paragraph shocked me:

Meanwhile an opinion poll issued by Bloomberg Politics concluded that more than half of Americans think race relations have deteriorated under the administration of Barack Obama, the first African American president.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/07/bill-de-blasio-refuses-endorse-eric-garner-grand-jury-decision?CMP=edit_2221

Race relations have always been horrible in America. They have improved since my childhood in the 1940s and 1950s -- at least in terms of the law. But the underlying fear that so many white people have of people of color is still very much there.

I think of how often, when waiting for public transportation, a male African-American sits alone on the one bench available for people waiting to board. When I sit down beside that one, lone, black male, the person almost looks at me with gratitude. What African-Americans don't understand is that a lot of those nasty white people are just afraid.

Some are afraid to violate an unwritten code.

Some really imagine that people of color will somehow hurt them just because they are white.

Some actually believe that non-whites are dangerous or inferior.

All of those fears and beliefs are unfounded.

Utterly unfounded.
But they did not just suddenly appear over the past six or seven years. Those fears have been here a long time. We just swept them under the rug in our country over the past fifty years or so.

[sabrina 1]

10. I remember, before 9/11, right wingers had to be careful, finally, about being overtly

racist. At least it had become far less acceptable to use racist language in public.

But when 9/11 happened and the blame was placed on 'Muslims', all of a sudden they let loose with their real feelings. Now they could use the most racist epithets against ALL Muslims, 'camel jockeys' among other utterly ignorant and disgusting terminology.

I was on a mixed forum at the time and was disgusted that this was permissible and said so many times. I accused them of being racists, which they denied, claiming that 'lieberals' were unpatriotic and trying to defend America's enemies.

It seemed to me that the 'war on terror' unleashed all the pent up hatred they had been suppressing in the name of 'patriotism'.

And they haven't stopped since. So I'm not sure there is any one factor, such as Obama's election eg, that outed them, clearly it was there under the surface all the time, but new laws forced them to keep it to themselves, for a while.

Even Bush airc, had to try to tone down his supporters stating that all Muslims were 'terrorists' etc. He reaped what he sewed he unleashed the hatred that had been boiling under the surface for a long time. His wealthy ME friends were probably not too happy to know that they too were included in the hateful attacks.

As for PDs, they seem to attract racists, especially in major cities.

Iow, I think that 9/11 allowed them to express what they always felt, that 'muslims/black people' ARE the enemy.

[JDPriestly]

11. Yes to all you say!

We have to continue to work on this in our country. But at this point, it has to be worked on person by person. The laws that can be passed are, with few exceptions, in place. The work to be done is in education and experience and human relations.

[Aerows]

16. I respect Mayor de Blasio more every day

He doesn't mouth words, he says what he means, even in a tough political environment - even by saying nothing.

And P.S. Sabrina1, thank you for all that you do to keep this place aware of the things that we must do to change our nation. You inspire me

[sabrina 1]

17. I really liked him in the campaign, he is a breath of fresh air after Giuliani and Bloomberg.

But I try not to get my hopes up too much anymore!

However, he is really making me feel that he is the real thing, that he has the courage needed to face down these corrupt elements that have controlled the city for so long, and terrorized minority communities.

He went in saying he wanted to start working on more equality, Bloomberg and Giuliani made NYC affordable only for the extremely wealthy.

Watching him that night I was afraid he was going to do what we have come to expect, utter a few platitudes but basically support the cops. He didn't.

I hope he is able to stand up against the powerful forces that are going to work against him, but with the people behind him, he has a chance.

Thank you for that very nice compliment, coming from you it means a lot Aerows as I feel the same way about you.

[JEB]

18. K&R&bookmark

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204465200742994