Lucky for the Mayor, I am not registered in NYC anymore, because his pointless and (my opinion) ignorant announcement that he opposes confirmation of John Roberts, would have lost him my vote.
Excuse the language, but, who the hell does Bloomberg think he is. The absolute last thing that is at all relevant to a mayoral election anywhere in this country is a Supreme Court nomination. So firstly, the Mayor doesn't even need to take a position on John Roberts, or any other nominee. But he couldn't help himself, even with polls showing he is going to attract large swaths of Democrat voters.
I don't really fault him as much for the opposition - though I think there is every reason to stand behind the choice of the President on this, especially when you want to play on the Republican team and take the party's support to advance yourself. My fault lies in his absolute and utter tunnel vision as to the reason. He is opposing Roberts because he did not show a clear commitment to Roe v. Wade. You read that correctly. One - why is the Mayor choosing his position on a single issue? Two - why is he taking a side based on what he admits is an ambiguity - not enough commitment? What does that mean - apparently the Mayor wanted Roberts to state that he would under no circumstances reconsider the most legally deficient and most regularly criticized legal decision of the Supreme Court. Three - if the Mayor is going to base his decision on a single issue, why is abortion the issue? The Mayor of New York, in fact even the judicial department of the City of New York has exactly zero control over the issue. In fact, even were Roe overturned, I would doubt that a local government would have control of the issue - it would almost certainly be decided by statute at the state level. If a mayor is going to express an opinion about a Supreme Court nominee based on one issue, I would think it should be the issue of federalism - and the nominees willingness to allow state and local government to act according to the best interests and preferences of the municipal electorate.
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