Why did the Democrats tell Andrew Cuomo en masse to resign when daily allegations were loosed upon the press proclaiming he was guilty of sexual predation and he wasn't even charged criminally? The blitzkreig against the former governor was a "free-for-all" led by media outlets attempting to top each other with salacious Cuomo details, that were questionable and leveled by women with credibility problems. Only, the press didn't bother to look at the mammoth ice formation under the surface in roiling, divisive political waters. The allegations were not scrutinized. They were designed to maximize shock and disgust and to uplift the intimidating #metoo power. At best, the near two week "revelations" were a tragic rush to judgment. Recently Rita Glavin, Cuomo's attorney has delivered a comprehensive, well-reasoned response on YouTube which all the media, even conservative media should pick up.
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Enough with the smear campaign against the former governor. James was forced to give over witness transcripts that she had been holding to allow the memory of "what Beverly Cammisso said he did," to percolate into voters' disgust, hurt and frustration. To her credit, Rita Glavin unravels the events that occurred from the beginning of Lindsey Boylan's attack on former Governor Cuomo and finalizes the crass reasons why James delivered such a shoddy, lop-sided report of an investigation which had the end result codified before credible evidence was revealed. The result was to make the allegations and reporting of them so loathsome that the former governor would be forced to resign after Democrats told him to.
Reasons why AG James did this was so she could run for office in a craven, self-serving, Donald Trumpish, Republican move that is reprehensible...all in the middle of the pandemic (which the former governor led the state brilliantly through). James did not give over all the witness transcripts. But based on what James selected to hand over, Attorney Rita Glavin points out the lies of omission and commission, the twisted contradictions and the patent lack of credibility of: Lindsey Boylan, Charlotte Bennett and B. Cammissio (the woman who stated with contradictory dates that the former governor groped her).
How James and others could have stooped toward such machinations and falsehoods with the intent of character assassination during a pandemic when the state was in jeopardy, the nation in jeopardy, is beyond demeaning to the #metoo movement. The negligence and a dereliction of duty by the legislature in not even reading the report and the transcripts out of fear that they, too, might be found guilty of a harassment 30 years ago in their lives is tragic.
The #metoo movement lacks probity and credibility when fear vitiates scrutiny, ironically, a Democratic problem, not a Republican one. Republicans en masse from Trump to Gaetz ignore accusations. Steve Bannon, the Leninist destroyer of Democratic principles (while using the principles of the Bill of Rights hypocritically to fund raise) refers to #metoo laughably as "feminazis." Democrats take women seriously, even when Republicans use the movement for disreputable smear campaigns that Democrats feel forced to pick up to appear sanctified (Al Franken's smear taken up by Kristen Gillibrand).
Under the guise of purity, the #metoo movement is being used as a weapon of revenge, political warfare and more. This discredits all women, especially those who have been abused and violated and who, if the violator (like Trump) is Republican, are ignored, paid off or rendered invisible.
Attorney Glavin states that women's allegations must be heard, but they must also be scrutinized. Why wasn't Charlotte Bennett, the demure, shy, posturing innocent presented in the media not scrutinized? Her background shows she was part of a smear campaign that had a Hamilton student kicked out for "sexual harassment," a charge she later recanted after the student sued Hamilton College. Glavin points out that counting her accusations against the former governor, Bennett is a three time serial sex accuser. And the press didn't see fit to read her transcripts for a more in-depth look at her or check into her background at Hamilton College?
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| Charlotte Bennett (courtesy of the site) |
Attorney Glavin shows in her video on YouTube (see links below) that Charlotte Bennett in angry texts referred to the former governor about his comment that her hair was in a bun; his comment does not rise to sexual harassment. She stated in a text to the effect that...the former governor "has no idea of the web that he stepped into." What web? Who are the spiders? Why that metaphor? Checking Bennett's two past accusations of male students at Hamilton College that she later said were false, she demonstrates a lack of credibility and maliciousness. There is nothing of this in the AG's report of the Governor which is a rosy, shining "he is guilty" kind of treatise backing up the women's allegations, indeed, fictional, unsupported.
I am appalled if this is what AG James thinks is just and right. I am more appalled that the Democrats told former Governor Cuomo to resign when they didn't bother to scrutinize the testimony or read the report where there are glaring contradictions and there is obvious bias. James initially revealed 41 transcripts out of 179 transcripts in total. Attorney Glavin has yet to receive the entire trove of 138 transcripts from witnesses who challenged the credibility of Lindsey Boylan, Charlotte Bennett, Cammisso, McGrath and others. (October-December)
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| Attorney Glavin in an announcement with power point presentation defending former Governor Cuomo (courtesy of the Cuomo team) |
That some members of the Democratic legislature of New York couldn't support the former governor in probity, and ran like scared rabbits, for fear of being targeted by #metoo guns, the Republicans/RNC (who encouraged the take-down of the former governor in the media) is hypocritical and weak. The Democrats' penchant to sanctimoniously sacrifice their own to Republicans baying for blood has to stop. Democrats embolden craven, unscrupulous, self-serving Republicans, reminding them of the benefits of standing together in a WALL against weak, fragmented, divided Democrats who cannot get bills passed to stand on solid ground together.
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| Kirsten Gillibrand told Al Franken to resign over a joke, an act applauded by the Republicans as Franken, a strong progressive resigned his senate seat. (courtesy of the site) |
The Democratic House and the Democratic Senate must be in one accord, in support of all members. First, they must scrutinize carefully any allegations, instead of swallowing them whole, anxious to appear pristine. Appearing pure is disingenuous in a game of power which both parties play; it is as if Democrats forget they are currently the key game in town having won both House and Senate.
Democrats' sanctimonious clap trap using #metoo must stop. It demeans the women who have legitimate cause to speak out, women, who, under scrutiny, are credible. To support women employing a well-funded smear campaign against a powerful Democratic progressive is beyond stupid. It's all of a self-hating Democratic piece, a tragic one. Democrats must change, especially the women in the party, or they, more than ever, will let Republican fascism and racism dominate our landscape and undermine justice. They especially must educate women about #metoo and not allow the movement to be bastardized by Republicans or craven women looking to feather their own nests.
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| New York AG Letitia James (courtesy Roy Rochlin/Getty) |
This is especially so of AG James who, if she had any fitness for the job of AG, would never have released such a partisan, flawed and one-sided report which even a child could see was self-serving. Indeed, she fund-raised on Long Island in the hope of running for governor as the biased transcripts of the women were strategically revealed one by one to the media. The "brilliant" campaign was gleefully received by Red Media and NY Republicans like unfit Lee Zeldin and Elise Stefanik (QAnon believer and January 6th insurrectionist that the former governor called out). And after Cuomo resigned, in prepping the populace for her campaign she later unlawfully leaked Sheriff Apple's charges (the alleged lie of "groping" of Ms. Cammisso) against the former governor. Only days later she announced her run for governor.
There was a backlash to this announcement on Social Media. And indeed, it reveals her unsound judgment. This is not the behavior of someone I would vote for as governor, AG, or any political office. It stinks of Trumpist tactics. It has the whiff of toxicity, of dark, underhanded political machinations. Unless AG James apologizes and corrects the report adding the backgrounds of the women and their lack of credibility, she is proving herself unfit for office.
Finally, the #metoo movement must not be used as a political bludgeon. That in itself demeans every women who has been credibly attacked, raped, molested. The fastest way to discredit #metoo is what happened to Al Franken, the former Governor Cuomo and others. Without time and scrutiny, #metoo becomes reactionary, not progressive. As a bludgeon it is not a challenge to paternalism, but it is an attempt to make an equivalent. Equivalence is not justice to correct wrongs that have amassed for centuries. There should be an elimination of power games. There must be a consensus that neither men nor women must abuse and use sex for the purposes of character assassination and career lynching. #metoo is not the answer to the abuses of paternalism. Sound reasoning and education is the beginning of an answer which will take continuous, diligent effort to produce.
Attorney Rita Glavin discussing the flawed, shoddy AG investigation on video.
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