Renegade Democrats keep NY state Senate in GOP hands, Cuomo complicit

All aboard the STOP CUOMO bandwagon! Imagine that in some alternate universe, in 2010, President Barack Obama had encouraged Sens. Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln, and Mark Pryor to create an "Independent Democratic Caucus" that would caucus with Republicans and deprive the majority of control of the Senate?

How angry would that make you? Well, that's exactly the sort of thing you could expect from a President Andrew Cuomo, considering he's doing just that in New York today.

[New York Senate] candidates with a "(D)" after their names won 33 seats this November, while Republicans only won 30. But the five members of the IDC, as well as a sixth conservative Democrat (Simcha Felder), have all elected to side with the GOP, even though I doubt that's what they were elected for [...]

And let's not forget the blame supposedly Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo bears here, too. Cuomo not only endorsed Republican senators for re-election but he also refused to say which party he preferred to see control the Senate'even after Dems won a surprise majority on election day. And a report in Crain's even claims (according to an unnamed source) that [co-conspirator turncoat Democratic Sen.] Klein "has been running ideas past Mr. Cuomo before moving forward." I certainly believe it.

This is the sort of thing that gets the No Labels and America Elects crowd all excited, but if you're looking for a successor to Obama who will be a strong Democrat who will fight for Democratic ideals and his or her party, don't be looking at Cuomo. Point to his record on marriage equality all you want. The only thing that "he's with us more than he's against us" argument proves is that Cuomo is a worthy successor to the legacy of Joe Lieberman.

That'll make him popular with the Sunday morning talk shows. It should make him persona non grata in a Democratic presidential primary.