Bloomberg's radio partner takes a 'ho-hum' approach to Trump's Obama theory

bloombergs-radio-partner-takes-ho-hum-approach-trumps-obama-theory

Briefing: Bloomberg and Gambling. Edward Reed via nyc.gov

8:05 am May. 30, 20121Add a comment

Yesterday, Donald Trump said, again, that he believed Barack Obama was born in Kenya, not America, and is therefore ineligible to be president of the United States. Mitt Romney, who is supported by Trump, softly distanced himself from the comments.

That much seemed necessary, since the "birther" theory has been definitively debunked, and Trump's commentary can only serve as an ugly distraction at a time when Romney's task is to convince the general electorate that he isn't as "severely conservative" as he claimed to be during the primary.

But in New York, of all places, the fringe conspiracy theory has gone a little bit mainstream: John Gambling, the host of a weekday news show on WOR710, who also hosts an hour-long show with Mayor Michael Bloomberg every Friday, said the questions about Obama's origin were worth listening to.

Speaking on "Good Day New York," Gambling said, "There's still a lot of people out there who claim that he is not qualified to be president of the United States. I don't know where I fall on this. I'm kind of ho-hum."

Events

11 a.m. John Liu and labor leaders announce the result of an audit of the city's 911 emergency-call system upgrade in Room 530 at 1 Centre Street.

11:30 a.m. Andrew Cuomo makes an announcement in the Red Room at Albany.

11:30 a.m. Christine Quinn delivers the commencement speech for Baruch College's graduation, at the Jacob Javits Center.

5 p.m. MIchael Bloomberg signs a law allowing transfer of Muni-meter time, at City Hall.

2012

WOR710 host John Gambling is not sure if Obama was born in America. [Good Day New York ]

Obama said "Polish death camps" to refer to Nazi death camps in Poland. [Associated Press]

John Heillemann: "The president is going to run a very negative campaign … They've done a $25 million ad buy that's on his record. And my guess is that is the last dollars we are going to see spent promoting President Obama's record. We're going to see almost every other dollar spent attacking Romney as an unacceptable, disqualified alternative." [Morning Joe]

NY-08

Gary Ackerman denied his endorsement of Grace Meng is connected to her hiring a consultant who works at the newspaper he founded and in which he owns a minority interest. [Grace Rauh]

NY-13

An Adriano Espaillat supporter attacks Rangel for his legislation calling for mandatory military service. [Facebook]

Flashback: In 2007, Rangel said he was doing this so "all of us, from every income group and position in society, must share the burden of war." [House.gov]

The endorsements from Bloomberg and Quinn are highlighted. [NY1]

Bloomberg, Ed Koch and David Dinkins will endorse Rangel at an event together. [David Seifman]

Rangel gave a "rambling but forceful defense" of his record at the Benjamin Franklin Democratic Club in the Bronx, which voted to endorse Espaillat. [Kate Taylor]

2013

Forming a PAC? Recruiting candidates? The Progressive Caucus is looking to grow its role when 19 City Council seats are vacated next year. [Sally Goldenberg]

City Hall

Bloomberg and State Senator Stephen Saland announced new state legislation to make it easier for City Hall to fire teachers accused of sexual misconduct. It won't become law, since it'll probably never make out of the Assembly. [David Chen]

Before Bloomberg's press conference was over, the U.F.T. criticized the proposal. [Lindsey Christ]

The proposal comes after a string of sex scandals involving teachers. [Yasmeen Khan]

A 26-year-old global studies teacher from Manhattan was reassigned after a student allegedly filmed her and another student making out in the park. [Annie Karni and Don Kaplan]

In filing a brief in support of a suit against the Bloomberg taxi plan, Bill de Blasio is arguing that the City Council should have had to send a home-rule message to Albany first. [Pete Donohue]

The City Council may boost fines for delivery cyclists who ride on the sidewalk. [Reuven Blau and Tina Moore]

NYPD

Murray Weiss said there are a lot of problems with the man who confessed to killing Etan Patz. "Suddenly, he kind of turns 33 years of investigative work on its head." [Inside City Hall]

"As many as 10,000 people may be alive today who would’ve been killed had the policies of 1992 remained in place." [John Podhoretz]

Albany

Pay commissioners better. [Democrat and Chronicle]

The state is leaving no-smoking signs up at state parks, even though it's not enforcing the ban. [Erik Kriss]

Janet DiFiore's Nannygate

Instead of "fine tuning" the ethics group DiFiore leads, Cuomo "might be better advised to change the entire orchestra." [New York Post]

DiFiore will lead a J-COPE meeting tomorrow, and "Cuomo is not expected to immediately comment on the probe of his fellow Democrat, a source told the Post." [Chuck Bennett and Fred Dicker]

Headline: "Westchester Probe Could Affect Cuomo" [Jacob Gershman]

Chappaqua

The Clintons really like where they live. Hillary won't miss the Memorial Day parade there, and said, "I’ve had a few crises where I’ve had to take phone calls as I’ve marched." [Peter Applebome]

On Television

John Faso: "The president, with all due respect, has never held a private sector job in his entire life." [Inside City Hall]

Ed Klein: "After my book came out, Hillary told one of my sources that she knew who the person was who leaked the story. Chelsea. Chelsea did not leak to me, but Hillary is of the opinion that whenever there is a meeting in which Chelsea takes place, she goes back and starts texting her friends. She apparently has this desire to tell people what is going on inside the Clinton operation." [Good Day New York]

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