Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have called on GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz to apologize to New Yorkers for his remarks about “New York values.”
“If he had any class, he would apologize to the people of New York,” Cuomo said in a phone interview with NY1 Friday. “Not that I believe they need it or they want it.”
In an impromptu news conference with reporters, de Blasio agreed.
“I am disgusted at the insult that Ted Cruz threw at this city and its people,” he said.
Cruz criticized what he calls “New York values” in an attempt to distinguish himself from his Republican opponent Donald Trump, who was born in Queens, by saying the real estate mogul “embodies New York values.”
At the sixth GOP debate Thursday night, Cruz clarified what he meant by those values.
“Everyone understands that the values of New York City are socially liberal, are pro-abortion, are pro-gay marriage, focus around money and the media,” Cruz said. “Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan.”
Cuomo and de Blasio did not take the statement lightly.
“In one 30 second sound bite, the man offended gays, he was offensive to women, he offended 18 million New Yorkers,” Cuomo said.
He added that Cruz’s background should help him understand what real New York values are.
“This is a man from Canada of Spanish, Irish descent. In many ways he represents or should have represented the beauty of New York and the acceptance of New York, the capital of immigration,” he said. “We do believe in immigration, we do believe in acceptance. We do believe in community. We do believe in E Pluribus Unum, out of many one, and his rhetoric is the exact opposite.”
De Blasio, who has condemned Trump in the past, admitted that he stands by Trump’s response to Cruz.
“The bottom line is [Cruz] does not understand in the least New York values. I find myself for once in agreement with Donald Trump.”
Trump defended New Yorkers in the debate, speaking passionately about how they were admired after their response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“We rebuilt downtown Manhattan and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers, and I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made,” Trump said at the debate.
Cuomo and de Blasio also pointed out the irony that Cruz has accepted campaign donations from New Yorkers, including a loan from Goldman Sachs, a firm based in New York.
