No wonder Mayor de Blasio loves it in Iowa — the key presidential caucus state where he’s made three visits in the past three years: He can get away with the kind of outrageous whoppers that would leave a New York audience rolling in the aisles.
Like the one he told the lefty Progress Iowa crowd Tuesday: “We’re not the party of big donors.”Or this: “Sure the donors gave money,” but “I don’t want the money if the money’s going to stand between us and the people.”
Give the mayor credit: He actually kept a straight face. That’s even more impressive than his silly little joke about how he can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Predictably, the yokels ate up de Blasio’s phony populist rhetoric. But then, they probably don’t realize he spent most of his first term under criminal investigation for his aggressive wooing of fat-cat donors (many of them doing business with the city and seeking official favors) and, according to acting US Attorney Joon Kim, intervening with city agencies on behalf of those donors.
But then, that’s not the kind of “economic populism” his audience wanted to hear.
The Iowa activists no doubt loved his backhanded criticism of the Clintons: “We cannot let the last couple of decades cloud our judgment,” he said, complaining that Democrats in 2016 “came up with something that seemed, kind of, maybe, like a message.”
The Iowans likely had no idea that de Blasio spent much of 2016 desperately trying to worm his way into Hillary’s inner circle, promising her top aides he would “have lots of praise for Hillary and her increasingly clear, strong agenda.”
All of which explains why, when the mayor tried hosting a presidential forum in Iowa last year, not one candidate agreed to show up.
New Yorkers, after all, know all about Two-Faced Bill. So welcome back to real life, Mr. Mayor; hope you can find some more convincing material for the home crowd.