The Political Spectrum

Every time I hang my head in sorrow after I contemplate just how incompetent the fine folks in charge of DC are, I read a few things about the man running the city of my birth, and it just doesn't see as bad. It seems Mayor Bloomberg (RINO-Limousine)has opened his yap again just in time to criticize the social security reform proposals of President Bush.

I never thought that privatizing Social Security made a lot of sense. I think what you'll see is that some people would invest unwisely and the government still would have to [step in]. You don't want anyone to go without," Bloomberg told reporters.

"These are not monies that people should be speculating with. So fundamentally, I want to see the details, but I've never thought this was a great idea," the billionaire mayor added.

Ah, it's good to see the Democrat in Republican's clothing shine as always. TSL at Geek Soap Box has a good takedown of the Mayor.

You know that it must be an election year in perhaps the most radically liberal city in the United States when our esteemed Republican mayor starts to verbally rip his fellow Republican, the president. Of course, in his haste to get out there and get his face before the cameras to record his "bold" and "courageous" stand, Mayor Mike seems to have not read or watched the State of the Union very closely. I have the attention span of a caffeinated chihuahua, and even I noted that W. was clear that the investment options to be potentially offered in Social Security private investment accounts would be extremely conservative and mostly bond-based. We aren't talking about throwing your life savings into penny stocks here. Heck, a quick scan of his own party's website could have given him all the details he'd ever need.

Meanwhile, Instapundit has the scoop on one of Mayor Mike's schemes backfiring, noting this Walter Olson story.

In January, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed a bill passed by the City Council making gun makers and dealers liable for crimes perpetrated with their products unless they adopt a "code of conduct" that, among other things, would limit the number of handguns they can sell to one person and require background checks on prospective buyers at gun shows. The strange thing about this new law is that it applies not only to sales within New York City, but also to sales in other states and cities.

This new law is too clever by half and it's also shortsighted. It insults the right to democratic self-governance of the 273 million Americans who don't live in New York City. Moreover, it may have a consequence that Mayor Bloomberg and other gun-control advocates have not foreseen: it could be further impetus for a bill in Congress, nearly enacted last year, which would pre-empt local efforts at gun-control through litigation.

Well, we New Yorkers, ex and current alike, do have a tendency to think we know what everyone else ought to be doing. Unfortunately Mayor Mike has decided that he has uniquely discovered how everyone else ought to live their lives. From the ridiculous smoking ban in bars to this attempt at legislating for the rest of the country, the Nanny Mayor continues to push an agenda that borders nearer and nearer to the sort of totalitarianism that Bush critics repeatedly holler about. Well, here it is in the enlightened haven of New Yawk, a city I miss less and less every day.

And the scary thing is, this guy is the best alternative in the upcoming election.