Imagine if affairs in Iraq took a negative turn, or -- the worst case scenario -- there was a threat, or even attack, here at home, and President Bush announced that since he's the best "War President" we've got, he thought we should postpone the elections until things got better.
What would we do? We'd laugh him out of office faster than New Yorkers turned on "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani, when he suggested delaying the '01 elections shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
Defying a twice-passed popular referendum establishing term limits; buying off the past chief supporter of term limits by offering him a seat on the reform committee; co-opting legislative support from a City Council that wants to keep their own jobs; and, oh yeah, claiming that it's because in these economic times, he is who we need.
If Bloomberg and his allies made an honest argument against term limits, that would be one thing; but to claim that this crisis compels them to serve is absurd. And...it required an absurd response.
That's why we're glad to see the Billionaires for Bush (and creators of Lobbyists for McCain) getting into the action: Billionaires for Bloomberg. They joined Council Speaker Christine Quinn (at a press conference her own Democratic colleagues didn't attend) to remind the world that billionaires are in favor of giving Bloomberg what he wants...and, through the laughter, challenging us to realize maybe it's not in all of our best interests.
Bloomberg is popular and many people may want him to keep serving; but City Council overturning a popular referendum, based on pretty thin, disingenuous arguments, isn't the way to do it. And sometimes it takes humor to cut through the groupthink.
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