King Cuomo Puts on Masterclass in Denial
BUCK: So you had Governor Cuomo there going full sociopath for everybody, not stepping down. Clay, I gotta tell you, man. I knew this guy… Oh, my gosh. He was never going anywhere — doesn’t matter what the evidence, doesn’t matter what the report finds — and now here he is. He did exactly what we were talking about before he came on air live there. He did the whole, “Okay, maybe it was generational, cultural. I kiss people on the neck, on the face, on the nose, on the head!”
CLAY: With photo evidence that they had already prepared for those of us who were watching on television while you were listening, and I know a lot of our listeners weren’t. I gotta be honest with you. This was a masterclass in preparation. Regardless of what you think of politics, they were prepared for all of this report finding. He was reading off of a teleprompter. They were mixing in photos to back up his arguments. When you heard him talk about how he kisses people, male, female, gay, straight.
BUCK: He had a smooch collage ready!
CLAY: They had a collage that was shown on both Fox News and CNN. We’re watching it here in studio. A couple of other things that stood out. He denied everything. This was reminiscent of the Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky incident, for those of you who remember it.
BUCK: He denied most of it.
CLAY: He said, “I never touched anyone inappropriately.”
BUCK: ‘Cause that’s where you cross that bright red line.
CLAY: Right.
BUCK: So he denies all of that.
CLAY: And he said, “That isn’t who I am or have ever been.” He leaned on the fact that he had 40 years in public life. But to me what stands out about this is he was prepared for what this report was gonna find. They had a speech written that I bet he had practiced ’cause it was well delivered. He was reading it off a teleprompter.
Think about the way he closed. He said, “Politics is an ugly business,” which was a quote from his dad, Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York. He then talked about his daughters, just dropped them in, which is intended to be a message. “I have daughters myself! How could I inappropriately treat women?” Whether that’s fair or foul, that’s the message he’s trying to send by mentioning his daughters.
And then what did he close with? Covid!
He talked about all the progress that New York had made with covid. So the speech which started with “I never touched anyone inappropriately” ended with him talking about how great is the progress New Yorkers had made battling covid. I think, regardless of what you think of the politics, that was a masterclass delivery of a denial, which really just kind of sounded like a state-of-the-governorship from Andrew Cuomo when he knew everybody was gonna be watching.
BUCK: Right — and, by the way, he’s not resigning. So I’m right. He’s not resigning. He’s not going anywhere. Everything I said he was going to do he ended up doing. He said that he was a little guilty, but he said he learned. He said that covid was the big response and we need to keep doing it. It is classic Cuomo! This guy is a tyrant, and that’s why it doesn’t matter. Democrat rules, folks. He’s decided he’s gonna stay; so he’s going to stay. We’ll come back into this because it’s just processing right now what we just witnessed.
CLAY: Just live.
BUCK: It’s brazen beyond words in some ways, but it’s very good stuff — a masterclass, as you say — in political misdirection.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
CUOMO: My attorney, who is a nonpolitical former federal prosecutor, has done a response to each allegation. And the facts are much different than what has been portrayed. That document is available on my website. If you are interested, please take the time to read the facts and decide for yourself. First, I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances.
BUCK: Governor Cuomo there saying that the facts are different, which is another way of saying — and welcome back to Clay and Buck show. I am Buck. Clay and I are here, and I gotta tell you, I can’t say I’m a little bit surprised about what just happened because I told you right before Cuomo went on air, he’s not resigning.
He’s gonna do a little bit of the “I’m saving you from covid,” a little bit of the “I’m a better man.” He did this whole thing about he’s an advocate for sexual assault survivors and how he kisses everybody on the cheek or everybody on the wherever, and here we are now hearing from Cuomo. Clay, he’s saying that the women are lying, but he won’t say that.
You can’t say the facts are different here than they say. Either you touched women in places you shouldn’t or you didn’t. I think it’s interesting that he’s trying to play this game. I mean, he is skating all around the edges here. He’s saying some of the accusers are lying, and that should be clear. We should be clear about that.
CLAY: Which is in direct contravention to what he would say if a Republican was involved, like what he said during the Justice Kavanaugh hearings. But big picture here: What he is trying to do is give enough doubt that he has political cover to not have to resign and then, in 2022, allowed the residents, citizens of New York State to render a verdict on whether they believe he is worthy or not of continuing to be governor of this state.
So the general public — and this is always an interesting point. The general public is more forgiving and/or you could also say potentially not paying attention enough that they don’t demand in these situations… Look at what happened with the governor of Virginia and all of that. He was posing in the KKK outfits, everything else. However, we should mention already people are abandoning ship.
And the question is, how many people will? This is the Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins. She said, ” This report highlights unacceptable behavior by Governor Cuomo and his administration. As I said, when these disturbing allegations first came to light, the Governor must resign for the good of the state. Now that the investigation is complete, and the allegations have been substantiated, it should be clear to everyone that he can no longer serve as Governor.
Our highest elected offices must reflect the values and integrity that they profess and New Yorkers hold dear. I thank the Attorney General and her investigators for their thorough investigation. I also wanted to give a special thank you to the courageous women who bravely stepped forward to shed light on this awful situation. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.”
BUCK: This means nothing. She will do nothing. These statements from Democrats are all CYA, “Look at me. I support #MeToo.” I’m telling you, they’re not gonna do anything.
CLAY: You don’t think there’s any way they’ll try to remove him.
BUCK: Not gonna do anything. I told you he wasn’t gonna resign. They’re not gonna do a damn thing, ’cause he’s too important to the Democrat power apparatus. Ultimately, he knows New York state politics better than anybody else in the game. He runs this state with an iron grip. He’s gonna say these things. By the way, your point about the referendum on him is critical.
