Joe Battenfeld: Creepy Cuomo has got to go

Creepy Andrew Cuomo needs to go away.

The New York governor’s once promising career is self-destructing before our eyes in one of the quickest flame outs in modern political history. He cannot survive sexual harassment and COVID-19 nursing home deaths scandals, which are now under federal investigation.

Just a year ago, Cuomo was hailed as a heartthrob hero by some in the media for his handling of the early coronavirus pandemic in New York. His riveting daily press briefings were must-see moments. He was once married to a Kennedy.

Now people are getting sick seeing photographic and video evidence of him making unwanted advances toward women, some of whom are coming forward and speaking publicly.

Cuomo may not even last the week. Even top Democrats and their cheerleading media are abandoning him. The scandals following Cuomo, especially the nursing home investigation, is never going to go away.

It’s only a matter of time before Cuomo turns into the next Al Franken, the former Minnesota senator and comic who had to step down in the midst of the “me too” movement for his interaction with women.

Poor Franken just disappeared, and can’t even get a gig now reprising Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live.

Cuomo would become the second New York governor to resign in disgrace after Eliiot Spitzer. Remember him?

New York Democrats are already looking past Cuomo, pumping up Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who if she assumes Cuomo’s job would become the state’s first female governor.

It’s so bad that CNN is actually starting to cover the Cuomo affair. Hopefully this also means the end of the governor’s obnoxious brother Chris’s CNN career.

Cuomo has offered a halfhearted apology to anyone offended by his behavior but has denied any misconduct.

That won’t work anymore.

People were already talking about impeaching Cuomo for the nursing home scandal before the sexual harassment claims hit the media. Hiding the deaths of thousands of elderly COVID-19 victims is tough to recover from.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have put one of the final daggers in Cuomo this week, knowing she has to distance herself from the fellow Democrat.

“These stories are difficult to read, and the allegations brought forth raise serious questions that the women who have come forward and all New Yorkers deserve answers to,” Clinton said in a statement. “I’m glad to see that there will be a full, independent and thorough investigation.”

Glad? Ouch.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also joined the chorus of pols supporting the investigation into Cuomo, calling the allegations “credible.”

It’s only a matter of time before the blowback from the Cuomo scandals hits President Joe Biden, who has had his own past behavior with women scrutinized.

And even though Hochul would take over Cuomo’s term in Albany, there’s bound to be a lively and crowded gubernatorial race in 2022.

Can you say Gov. Hillary Clinton?

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3bb7nAI