8:58 am Jul. 6, 20121
In an editorial about Obama-Romneycare, the New York Times writes, "As he has on so many issues, Mr. Romney caved to Republican conservatives who want him to campaign on the falsehood that the mandate is a vast tax increase on the middle class."
The Romney campaign had seemed at a loss about how to react to the Supreme Court ruling upholding the Obama health care plan, which is more or less a national version of the health care system Mitt Romney put in place as governor in Massachusetts.
At first, a Romney spokesman said that the plan's individual mandate was not a tax, putting the campaign in alignment with the president and against virtually everyone else in the G.O.P., who had immediately seized on John Roberts' opinion (that the mandate is a tax) to run against the Democrats.
Then, reacting to intense criticism from conservatives, the campaign reversed itself, putting Romney in line with his fellow Republicans but against, well, himself.
Also in the Times, on A1, media reporter Jeremy Peters looks at Rupert Murdoch's shots at Romney on Twitter and, indirectly, through the Wall Street Journal. Peters said it was "a stern reminder of Mr. Romney's failure to win the trust of the Republican Party's core conservatives."
Murdoch has urged Romney to purge his current campaign staff and hire "pros."
Will Romney feel obliged at some point to listen to him, too?
Events
Andrew Cuomo is in the New York City area and has no public schedule.
Michael Bloomberg has no public schedule.
9:45 a.m. State Senator Dan Squadron, Councilmen Steve Levin and Brad Lander and Assemblywoman Joan Millman will cut the ribbon on the Brooklyn Bridge Park pool by Pier 2 in the park.
2012
"As he has on so many issues, Mr. Romney caved to Republican conservatives." [New York Times]
"The [Wall Street Journal] editorial was a stern reminder of Mr. Romney’s failure to win the trust of the Republican Party’s core conservatives." [Jeremy Peters]
Romney's campaign "effectively conceded that offshoring is bad but insisted that outsourcing is O.K. as long as the contractor is another American firm. That is, however, a very dubious assertion." [Paul Krugman]
Romney's upcoming trip to Israel this summer is meant, in part, to highlight the fact that Barack Obama hasn't visited the country since becoming president. [Josh Nathan-Kazis]
"Ann Romney turned momma grizzly yesterday." [S.A. Miller]
The White House is expected to announce two more waivers to the No Child Left Behind legislation, "raising the question of whether the decade-old federal program has been essentially nullified." [Motoko RIch]
A local paper takes note of Romney's Long Island fund-raisers. [Dan's Hamptons]
NY-13
Charlie Rangel gained 143 votes and now leads State Senator Adriano Espaillat by 945 votes after one day of counting paper ballots. [Douglas Montero and Sally Goldenberg]
Rangel's lawyer Arthur Greig said it was irresponsible for Adriano Espaillat's lawyer to claim "voter suppression" but not provide any specifics. [Jill Colvin]
Espaillat's campaign wants "carte blanch to inspect the voting machines" argued a lawyer defending the city Board of Elections, Stephen Kitzinger. [Barbara Ross, Alison Gendar, Erin Durkin, Jonathan Lemire]
"As the morning wore on, the monotony of the ballot-opening contrasted with the sharp suspense with which it was watched by reporters and the campaigns’ representatives." [Kate Taylor]
NY-15
"NY political junkies -- Why is Adriano doing this?" [Darren Rigger]
NY-07
"Rep. Nydia Velazquez out for Naomi Rivera's blood." [Bob Kappstatter]
The Velazquez-Dilan race highlighted the fact that there not all Hasidic sects vote as a bloc. [Joseph Berger]
NY-08
A spokesman for Ed Towns said the retiring congressman didn't know he was getting two specially discounted mortgages from Countrywide Financial Corp. [Andy Soltis]
2013
By contrast with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer gave out discretionary funds using an independent panel with input from members of the City Council and community boards. [Erin Durkin]
City Hall
A judge's decision to block Michael Bloomberg from setting prevailing wages for some city workers "could have saved the city millions of dollars a year." The prevailing wages will be set by City Comptroller John Liu, whose office has been in charge of this for years. [David Seifman and Dareh Gregorian]
Demands for summer jobs for young people is high: "[L]ess than a quarter of the 132,000 applicants who applied in a lottery made it through." [David Seifman]
"Mr. Bloomberg and the next mayor will have to push for state and federal help to temper the city’s summer heat." [New York Times]
Councilmembers Brad Lander, Melissa Mark-Viverito and others talk about restorations made in the city budget for tree pruning. [Lisa Foderaro]
The market for bike rentals is ferocious. [Ted Mann]
Albany
New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and other states "are now rushing to impose their own rules" for fracking, but there needs to be one uniform federal standard to oversee this stuff. [Jody Freeman]
Andrew Cuomo and Sandra Lee were at Wyandanch Beach in the Hamptons. [Page Six]
State Senate Minority Leader John Sampson said Republicans "caved" to the Tea Party by not accepting Cuomo's plan to implement parts of Obamacare. [Erik Kriss]
A former legislator says that the State Senate failed to pass a bill that would have prevented the vote-count problems in NY-13. [Michael Benjamin]
State Senators Marty Golden and Brian Kavanagh have a bill to fix some vote-counting problems at the B.O.E. [Celeste Katz]
Cuomo may sign a bill renaming part of I-86 near Jamestown the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Memorial Bridge. [Erik Kriss]
Law Enforcement
Two recent judicial decisions show "how insanely close the city has come to judicially mandated lawlessness." [Daily News]
The guy who stabbed an M.T.A. officer in the eye was mentally disturbed and never should have been allowed out on the street. [Daily News]
Is the building at 35-37 East Broadway a "hive of criminality" or do the activities there "suggest how the norms of life in immigrant enclaves can sometimes clash with those of broader society"? [Kirk Semple and Jeffrey Singer]
Front Pages
We watched for 3 months in 2008 - John McCain acted like he took a hand full of valium before he spoke. He had absolutely zero fire coming out of his mouth. Obama just crushed him at will. Oh boy is looks like Romney has just left the drug store with a bag full of valium. Lets face one fact, Obama is by far the best debater and liar. To top that off - too many uninformed voters believe him.
A suggestion to Romney - throw the bag of valium away. Lite a fire under your hind end and fight with your experience. Remember what Woody Hayes said " Nice Guys Finish Last " Your in a dirty fight. If you want to win (we want you to win) fight fight fight. We can't do it for you. It looks like your top advisers are out of touch trying to go up against Obama and his top advisers.
Ricardo