Andrew Yang, Looking for Endorsement, Offends Gay Democratic Club

Sasha Neha Ahuja, one of Mr. Yang’s two campaign managers — both are gay — said she heard at least one other candidate on the call use the same term, and suggested that some members had gone into the interview process with their minds already made up.

“I hope Andrew continues to have space for folks to listen with an open heart about the experiences of all communities that have been deeply impacted by years of oppression,” she said. “I apologize if folks felt some type of way about it.”

Mr. Yang’s interview was one of nine the club held Wednesday night, before it held its endorsement vote. He was unlikely to win an endorsement, given the club’s longstanding relationship with Mr. Stringer, but Rose Christ, the club’s president, said Mr. Yang could have delivered a performance that avoided the ensuing outcry.

“There were questions and critiques raised about each candidate, but I think it was the tenor with which he addressed the membership that stood out from the other candidates,” Ms. Christ said.

She added that it felt “outdated.”

To some Stonewall attendees, Mr. Yang’s appearance only fueled concerns about whether he can discuss the problems at hand with sufficient depth and seriousness. More broadly, the reaction speaks to how polarizing Mr. Yang’s personality can be — eliciting sincere enthusiasm and disdain in seemingly equal measure.

“When I see a candidate come in just with Michael Scott levels of cringe and insensitivity, it either tells me Andrew Yang is in over his head or is not listening to his staff,” said Alejandra Caraballo, a member of the organization, referring to the character played by Steve Carell on “The Office.” “Those are both radioactive flashing signs that say he is not prepared to be mayor of New York.”

Ms. Christ said members were offended that Mr. Yang chose to focus on bars, parades and his gay staff members.

“Those are not the substantive issues that our membership cares about and it came off poorly,” Ms. Christ said.

Yang is the far left liberal wet dream already crashing and burning. He has said other things to upset the working class when he talked about how hard it is to live in a luxury 2 bedroom apartment during a pandemic and then hightailed it out of the city to his country house. Yang is an egotistical Idiot, jerk, and loser. If this is what a far left liberal personified, thanks, but I will stay with a moderate Dem like Scott Stringer. He isn't sexy or exciting, but will do the work to keep the city safe and economically sound.

I don’t care what he said, I just hope New York is smart and say “no” to this guy. Enough with the business people and the billionaires looking for fame and viral tweets in politics.

R2- Would you rather have that ANGRY BLACK MAN from Brooklyn or a DeBlasio 2 for mayor.

His only qualifications seem to be he’s on TV a lot and that he’s friends with Joe and Kamala.

The angry black man has my attention.

Somebody check De Blasio and his wife’s suitcases as they leave.

R7- ESPECIALLY his wife's

I see New York City still hasn’t learned its lesson about voting democrat.

[QUOTE] His only qualifications seem to be he’s on TV a lot and that he’s friends with Joe and Kamala.

Neither Mighty Joe or Kamala consider Andrew Yang to be their friend.

And is a media hungry attention whore... no thanks! I will not even include him in my ranked voting.

Scott Stringer is not a pretty face, but he is certainly competent and not nearly as corrupt as Maya Wiley or anyone out of the DeBlasio orbit. Mr. Stringer reminds me of the tortoise from the tortoise and hare fable.....he is plodding along to the finish line and just might win! He is a true workhorse and not a show pony like the others.

GO SCOTT STRINGER. People will soon start to love you.

Yang is such a dick.

Stringer has the most experience and in my humble opinion is the best candidate for the job but he has zero charm or personality. Also, identity politics will probably fuck him over in the end.

[quote]“You’re so human and beautiful .... you all are frankly in, like, leadership roles all over the Democratic Party .... We have, like, this incredible secret weapon .... It’s like, we should win everything because we have you all.”

I hear this in Shaggy's voice.

Yang is a dumb asshole. He refers to upscale boutique grocery stores as bodegas.

[quote] Sasha Neha Ahuja, one of Mr. Yang’s two campaign managers — both are gay — said she heard at least one other candidate on the call use the same term, and suggested that some members had gone into the interview process with their minds already made up.

Obviously. It wouldn’t have mattered what he said. SDNYC was always going to pick the white guy over the Asian.

Yang also thinks NYC should become a major cryptocurrency hub. Great idea - let's put even more strain on the NYC electrical grid!!

Stonewall Democrats did a hit job on Yang--they don't like that Yang, who has zero political experience is outshining the crew of dull political hacks they're willing to support.

They forget of course that a good leader can hire all sorts of competent people to run things, but someone who is merely very competent can't hire someone to act like a leader.

[quote]They forget of course that a good leader can hire all sorts of competent people to run things...

Then why don’t the “competent people” run? Can’t everyone be competent? Enough with narcissistic business people.

And I WW’d R19 by accident.

R19

Did you read what he actually said? Terrible.

The competent people run, R20

It's just that no one votes for them because they're bland and boring and Americans like politicians they'd want to hang out with.

That’s so false R23.

He uses “like” a lot.

“Like... I was all like...like for sure.”

I’d vote for him

Yang Gang !!

[quote]“Gay, gay, gay. Wow,” one person wrote in the chat accompanying the forum, which was later shared with The New York Times. “More to us than just that.”

Sounds like the Trannies were upset that they weren't the ones being pandered to.

Bingo r19.

He's socially awkward, probably because he has a small penis, so what? Read his bio, he's fucking brilliant. It's time for innovation.

Am here to tell you that unless something big happens by primary day, it's going to be BdeB all over again. Yang still commands high enough polling numbers that will take the democratic primary (first using ranked choice voting), and if that happens then he is in all but name next mayor of NYC.

Those running for mayor on GOP side are all jokes, and don't represent any serious threat to any democrat who wins primary. New Yorkers still don't get it, and is why we ended up with BdeB and cast of other elected official horrors, it is the primary election that matters in both state and local races.

OTOH you want to feel sorry for Mike Bloomberg, yet again he's pouring money into what seems like a losing race. Shaun Donovan on the outset seemed to show promise and just the sort of mayor city needs (well by left, liberal, socialist democrat standards anyway). But ranked choice voting combined with huge numbers of term limited out city politicians hunting around for new jobs has made what would be normally a crowded field packed.

Only good news out of all this is that the Quinn woman dropped out early, as did Cory James. The latter is running for comptroller which find a joke since the man has nil education, experience or background for the job. But having declined to run for mayor in 2021 suppose he's looking at some sort of bench warmer job on city payroll that will tide him over until 2026 or whenever.

R28

No, you idiot. They were pointing out his awful speech and how it was really only surface level and didn’t dive into the important issues that gay people are disproportionately facing.

Gay bars, Pride, and his gay staff members...doesn’t seem like he addressed any important policies. Gay people care about much more than this.

His speech didn’t even sound like it would be suitable for class president in high school. This is really who has the most support? Embarrassing.

Everything I've heard about Andrew Yang taken together suggests he doesn't have the slightest idea how any of this shit works. Not a New Yorker, but would hope none of them are dumb enough to buy the hype.

Right now, I think my line is Morales->Garcia->Stringer. I might, MIGHT put Wiley 4th, if it would help stop Yang.

R31 ummm he can’t run again, what are you talking about?

Wiley means more DeBlasio bullshit. BOYCOTT her.

What happened? He used to be hot!

Stringer is the best person for the job, but seeing as he has the personality of clumpy oatmeal, I think he’ll face an uphill battle.

Wiley sucks. She’d be BdeB 2.0.

I like Yang.

[quote]Am here to tell you that unless something big happens by primary day, it's going to be BdeB all over again.

What do you mean? Yang is nothing like DdeB.

R39

The literal worst person on this forum likes Yang. That says so much.

2nd for Yang.

I think it’s hilarious how the “liberal media” has successfully typecast the person who literally put UBI on the map as “not left enough.” How the f does that happen and what kind of woke bullshit is that?

[quote]Wiley sucks. She’d be BdeB 2.0.

I'd rather that than Yang.

Yang, who wanted to change the city flag because they're Dutch colors and that's bad for...reasons.

pquote]Yang, who wanted to change the city flag because they're Dutch colors and that's bad for...reasons.

that's a lie. he said it's cause it's "old" not Dutch.

and it wasn't his idea, it was Cory Johnson's. he just agreed with it.

[quote] met with a prominent L.G.B.T. Democratic political organization

And that was the problem. Everyone knows those are anti-gay groups.

LGBT = Homophobes

I hate that Yang did this. I really, really don't want Eric Adams to win, so if Yang fizzles out, we have to push up either Scott Stringer or Dianne Morales to win.

They’re all pretty terrible but I’ll take anybody over Wiley. She’s a racist and she wants to abolish the cops and the justice system. Just think of her as the third DeBlasio term but on steroids and female.

I like Andrew Yang. And Andrew thinks boys should remain intact. He has my vote.

I don't see any of what he said as being offensive. And both his campaign managers are gay — that's a big deal.

I think they intentionally set him up for rejection. He could have said anything and they would have rejected him.

R45, wow, the media are really scraping for stories now. Nothing's working.

I don’t like him.

At this point, the media just need to go all-out birther on him. Every angle they've tried hasn't brought him down yet.

The media demand Wiley. They get what they want. The media are all-powerful in NYC.

It's going to be Wiley.

I like him

Sum Ting Wong

WTF did he say that was so horrible??!

[quote] Its members, she said, are politically “sophisticated.”

THIS isn’t offensive?!

It’s obvious that this is your typical garden variety far Left commie group of today which wants Wiley. These are the idiots going on and on about pronouns, sex changes for trans criminals in prison, fighting over who’s more oppressed, micro aggressions, critical race theory, etc. They are wackos.

Im still waiting to read what he said that was offensive. They might as well complained that he didn’t agree to fuck a mtf. These groups should be ostracized.

[quote] No, you idiot. They were pointing out his awful speech and how it was really only surface level and didn’t dive into the important issues that gay people are disproportionately facing.

Honey, that’s what all politicians do. They want him to agree to shit like trans prisons getting their dicks chopped off on the taxpayers’ dime and getting rid of the police. No politician should speak to any gay group. They’re fucking insane.

Oh, these are sophisticated people, unlike normal people? And she wonders why she lost.

Whoever wins the democratic primary will be the best mayor. Yang has the momentum in the final weeks leading up to the primary.

If Wiley gets the nom then I prayer the Republican wins. NY cannot take another far Left wing idiot.

This kind of petty, spiteful stuff from insiders and the media makes me like him more.

This was a last ditch smear campaign from Wiley. Here’s why.

Wow, the Yang trolls in this thread. Straight up crazy. And they’re actually attacking gay people in this thread.

R67

They ripped the mask right off. They are anti-gay and don’t give a fuck. No gay person should support this idiot after reading that crap he said. I know children who could deliver better than that.

He’s not fit for this. I’m not surprised the Trump supporters are the main ones on this forum promoting him.

His lead is only because of name recognition,

That will change. He has no management experience and we think he can run the largest city?

He will get eaten alive as the campaign progresses.

Yang wants all people who choose not to work to have a comfortable life with government benefits. Only suckers who go to work everyday will regret voting for Yang but they are too busy working and paying taxes to realize this.

Universal Basic Income would be a yearly trillion-dollar drain on the budget. Think several times the size of the recent pandemic relief, every year, and all for just $1000 more a month, which doesn't do that much. More fundamentally, Yang's whole idea that automation has increased economic inequality is only partially right at best; in the last two decades the driving force for inequality has been plutocratic power grabs like massive tax cuts for high income and hostility to labor—he doesn't address those changes. He wants to see things in terms of inevitable change rather than political terms, and his solution is futile.

I'm seeing a lot of ad hominems on this thread, like "they just didn't like him because he's not one of their political hacks." Actually it sounds like his speech failed to address—or even notice—the fundamental bread-and-butter problems, and his solutions are glitzy technocratic buzz-speak that don't grapple with the facts on the ground.

He's a Phony. Don't forget when the pandemic hit, Yang, wife and Kid moved to their home in New Paltz, while millions with kids stayed here. A campaign promo showed him on the "A" train on the way to the Bronx. The "A" doesn't go to the Bronx. When he visited an uptown supermarket he called it a "bodega," which for out-of-towners is a small grocery store in Hispanic neighborhoods.

To pay for UBI, the city would have to divert money from social services programs, on the theory that UBI would reduce the need for them. Yeah...

I’m not listening to any more progressive nonsense. Defund, reparations, bail reform — that’s it. The coddling has to stop.

The Club is correct. Constituents want policy details and clarity on one's agenda. They don't want to hear about visiting a lesbian bar and then being referred to as "your community".

Yang speaks in abstract generalities rather than saying he's going to do x, y, and z, to affirmatively address an issue.

All the cunts here want a perfect mayor. No one is perfect and you are simply stupid to pick on little things. Step back and look at the big picture, you idiots

[quote]Yang speaks in abstract generalities rather than saying he's going to do x, y, and z, to affirmatively address an issue.

The majority of the voting public is very stupid. They want to hear simple generalities.

R77: People have and that's why they're not voting for this trifling dilettante.

What pisses me off is that certain pundits are now accusing the club of being far-left and just complaining for no reason because they just hate poor Andrew, is proving his center credentials by doing this. I guess being gay is just a far-left position now. Getting real sick of this type of "analysis".

[quote] A campaign promo showed him on the "A" train on the way to the Bronx. The "A" doesn't go to the Bronx. When he visited an uptown supermarket he called it a "bodega," which for out-of-towners is a small grocery store in Hispanic neighborhoods.

And in your mind, that’s what makes him equivalent to Hitler?

If he wins—that’s terrible.

R80

Wow, you’re an idiot.

This site lets know where candidates stand on issues.

Andrew Yang will be the next mayor of New York City and he'll be possibly the best one ever.

R84: One year into his mayoralty and you're gonna WISH DeBlasio was back in charge.

As crime continues to get worse, you'll beg for Rudy Guiliani to return. He cleaned up New York,.

r78

r80

61 they invert them, dear.

He should have used the f-word.

I personally think he will be an exceptional mayor. He’s a very intelligent man and has new great ideas. He’s not perfect but is much far better than the rest

[quote]Andrew Yang will be the next mayor of New York City and he'll be possibly the best one ever.

Oh, my sides!

R91: Based on what? And don't tell me UBI or any of his glib tech crap. Which specific ideas concerning urban policy and quality of life does he have that is better that Scott Stringer or Maya Wiley or any of the other candidates running?

Yang’s base isn’t old white people who are brainwashed by the media and like corrupt political dynasties like the Cuomo’s.

He will win.

During the Democratic primary, I noticed his biggest supporters on twitter also supported Tulsi Gabbard and Assange who were being promoted by the Russians. How odd.

R94: Old white people vote more reliably than other demographics. Even if your pretentious garbage was true, it still does not bode well for your candidate. And let the thread note, when asked for specifics, we just get a bunch of "brainwashed white people, media, best mayor EVAH" as the response. It's a campaign built on nothing.

r62 Exactly. We should turn the magnifying glass onto THIS group of self-proclaimed gold standard *sophisticated* LGBTs. "NYC's leading LGBT club." Huh? They sound like 25-year-old non-binary SJWs from Bushwick whose parents work at the NY Times. I'll bet they introduced themselves with pronouns, then never once used said pronouns during their face-to-face conversation.

[quote]failed to pay sufficient heed to ... homelessness and affordable housing,

Hmm, he wasn't there to meet with NYC's most sophisticated leading homelessness club, was he? OR are you saying it was his literally violent decision to NOT guess the most *intersectional* issues? What about RACISM? Did they talk about Asian-American hate crimes in NYC, or is that too far removed from the LGBT spectrum of relevant and sophisticated topics?

NYC is smart enough to see through the name recognition and political theater. If he is elected, it's because he's the best one for the job.

I don’t think what Yang said was that offensive? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Wiley and most of the other dems are FOR "non-citizens" (green card holders) being allowed to vote in local elections,

Diana Morales thinks even undocumented (illegal) should be able to vote.

Garcia says "NO" to letting them vote (I agree!)

Yang-wisely-has not responded to this.

R97: I love you straight trolls who come up in here and think you're making a point with right wing talking points and trans-phobic bigotry. And you think we won't see it for what it is. Youth homelessness is a MAJOR issue for LGBT people because heartless cretins throw their kids out on the street when they come out or are forcibly outed. But you don't know anything about that because you're not GLBT. You're a bought and paid for troll, a digital hooker who is so fucking STUPID that you think coming onto a GAY site and attacking this club over their very real concern about homelessness is somehow an own. Get off this site, you stupid pig.

R100 it's sad how there are stupid gay people like you. Straight people and trolls are not infiltrating DL.

And gay people are diverse. Not everyone just believes what they are told to be their "leaders."

[quote]They sound like 25-year-old non-binary SJWs from Bushwick whose parents work at the NY Times.

The Stonewall Democrats are the furthest thing from that. Fucking Christine Quinn, who is as establishment as it gets, is on the board. And they endorsed Stringer, who's as middle of the road as they come.

They also didn't back the WFP candidate in my Council district that I'm still voting for.

Just heard of a great new scam by one of my Puerto Rican friends who has relatives living in Puerto Rico but come to NYC twice a year to apply for food stamps and other benefits using a relative's address. The amount of food stamps and other NYC benefits are MUCH MUCH better than back in PR. They then return to their casita (which they own with no mortgage) and use the food stamps in Walmart which accepts out of state benefit cards. They also collect disability and unemployment enhanced benefits and are living very well in PR, just got a new Honda Accord as well.

Only the suckers work these days and pay taxes so DeBlasio and his liberal friends can give it all away, thinking they are progressive Santa Clauses. When was the last time NYC prosecuted individual food stamp or Medicaid fraud, they only go after the pharmacies it seems. If they also focused on the individual it would be a deterrent and also save millions.

R102: Because you're talking to a troll, a retard really. He just has talking points, conjuring words, and mindless bullshit that means nothing. These are the Yang campaign's online surrogates, people. This is who they are.

He seems repulsive.

[quote]I love you straight trolls who come up in here and think you're making a point with right wing talking points and trans-phobic bigotry. And you think we won't see it for what it is. Youth homelessness is a MAJOR issue for LGBT people because heartless cretins throw their kids out on the street when they come out or are forcibly outed.

“Youth homelessness” is not a MAJOR issue that the majority of gay voters want to hear about. It might rank slightly above preferred pronouns in the average gay voter’s list of legislative priorities.

[quote]“Youth homelessness” is not a MAJOR issue

Well, it certainly ranks above "I like that lesbian bar" and "I have gay staffers" when it comes to basic kitchen-table issues. Again, the posters defending Yang here don't seem to be able to get past "he's great and old people don't understand him." The straw man claim that his critics are far-left paragons of wokeness isn't cutting it; they're asking for concrete answers and he's not giving them.

[quote]Yang-wisely-has not responded to this.

He'd be wise to evade all straightforward policy questions as long as his policies are as poorly founded as UBI.

Yang is a tool and should take a seat. He would be an awful mayor. Hillary Clinton would be a better choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What politician gives concrete answers to anything?

Any candidate who wants to defund the police will not get my vote. Black and brown residents want more police protection, not less. Thanks to the no bail policy, why should cops do their job when the perp is back on the street in a few hours. Judges have been stripped of ability to impose sentences. deBlasio doesn't want anyone in jail.

R110- I agree , and any candidate who want to give illegal immigrants the right to vote is FULL OF SHIT too.

AOC and the squad all want to abolish to police but somehow they get re-elected. Unfortunately their hateful often anti-white and anti law and order sentiments get used to paint moderate Dems as out of touch in their swing districts and they tend to lose their seats. This will eventually put the Dems back in the minority position which will hopefully teach the party an important lesson.

I don’t understand the purpose for having a gay Democratic club. Why would you deliberately segregate yourself? If your main interest is general political issues, then why not join a regular political club? No wonder Yang was confused.

Unsurprisingly we clearly have members of Stonewall Democrats posting in this thread.

The funniest bit is they keep trying to make it sound as if Yang was speaking to a random group of gay people and not to a very powerful group of gay political hacks whom his own gay advisors informed him going in were going to be hostile as they were backing other candidates.

[quote] They sound like 25-year-old non-binary SJWs from Bushwick whose parents work at the NY Times. I'll bet they introduced themselves with pronouns, then never once used said pronouns during their face-to-face conversation.

No.

They are Eldergays, many of whom were originally AIDS activists and have been hovering around the periphery of NYC politics for the past 40 years.

NOT ROCKET SCIENCE: They want people like Stringer because HE OWES THEM SOMETHING. They've been helping him get elected for years, turning out the vote and all, and have been counting on him being mayor and reaping the rewards.

Yang throws a spanner into their plans as they have zero leverage over him. The article was an attempt to get some leverage but has clearly backfired.

Welp.

I can’t wait for the far Left to go nuts over loser Wiley coming in last place.

I wish Bloomberg would run again.

Yang is also the favorite second choice for voters in the latest poll.

The way Yang was treated reminds me of the same way Pete Buttigieg was treated by New York elites during the primary. I wish they could put their preferences for other candidates aside and give everyone a fair shake.

Remember the New York Times editorial board interview where Pete was confronted by The Warren-supporting board members for fixing bread prices which occoured while Pete was in high school?

Just like they were by Pete, they are threatened by Yang.

Is Yang a native New Yorker, or is he a carpetbagger?

r122, unlike Hillary, he was born and raised in the state.

Y’all need to stop supporting candidates that the media And the banks tell you to support. That’s how you end up with Giulianis.

I'm still not seeing any defenses of Yang here that aren't just ad hominem disparagement of the Stonewall Democrats. Whether or not they're just a bunch of biased, superannuated political hacks, he doesn't seem to have offered anything beyond misdirected bromides.

In crises New Yorkers turn to non-machine politicians. Stringer, Adams are products of the Democratic machine in the city and cannot therefore innovate. Wiley is DeBlasio 2.1. Yang is a crap shoot but that's all we got.

I'm voting Yang and not listing a second choice. If it's not Yang in the end I'll give thd Republican candidate a look. If they are a socially liberal Republican (some still exist in NYC) I might vote for them. Anything outside the box. The city needs to take the risk. Innovation is necessary at this time.

And I agree this was a set up job with the Stonewall Democratic Club assisted by the New York Times. Stonewall probably wants Stringer since he part of the Manhatten Democratic machine. Yang could have been critized for saying "Hello". " How dare he!" It comes across as petty and a hit piece. Lambda Democratic Club in Brooklyn will endorse Adams as he is a Brooklyn Democrat and the NYT will go with Wiley probably as the most left wing although maybe Adams as the person of acceptable color. No Asians need apply.

Kathryn Garcia is at 2% which is sad but if it’s not going to be her then hopefully it’s Adams. Elect someone who’s worked in government for years and years.

He looks unstoppable.

If Yang wins I imagine things will not be good for Democrats in 22. They may lose the House and some governors, (Whitmer, possibly Cuomo). The Trump Republicans will strike back.

R130, what is the connection? Are the anti-Yangs throwing anything at him now? Yang will lead to Trump's reelection?

I should add that by "leverage" I don't mean "to ensure that the new mayor will pass important pro-gay legislation."

I mean leverage as in "he will make sure our friends and family get high paying/low effort city jobs"

[quote]what is the connection?

Not voting for moderates. People see these celebrity (Yang isn’t even a celebrity, he’s more of a meme; a billionaire who bought his way in) as winning, and these extremist/celebrity personalities on the right and left continue to dominate.

[quote]I'm still not seeing any defenses of Yang here that aren't just ad hominem disparagement of the Stonewall Democrats. Whether or not they're just a bunch of biased, superannuated political hacks, he doesn't seem to have offered anything beyond misdirected bromides.

Wrong. If you actually read Yang's views (you can use the Meet Your Mayor site) you'll see his is against "Defund the police" and he has not said he would give illegal aliens the right to vote.r

Precisely R132. My point also. People outside New York don't know how this works. Tammany never died. The low level functionaries in those clubs! Creepy actually.

It’ll be sad if he wins but he’s the type who will this decade, either right or left. People who have worked in government will be ignored for the most part.

Not even close to a billionaire, R133. Please try harder. If the WSJ is correct, many DLers have a higher net worth.

[quote] Media outlets have provided several estimates of Yang's net worth: $1 million according to Forbes,[74] between $834,000 and $2.4 million according to The Wall Street Journal,[75] and between $3 million and $4 million according to Newsweek.[76]

I don’t need to try—he’s not a politician but that’s what people want, and that’s whats fucking up our country. Business people have no place in government.

I liked his basic income ideas during the presidential run, and I appreciated that they at least got a little bit of a hearing while he was running. At the same time, he was hopelessly unqualified to be president and never even considered voting for him.

It seems odd that he's running for mayor of new york, and really odd that he's winning. But I do hope he gets to try out some of his income ideas. I'm not sure how they'll work out exactly, but I guess that is the point of trying something in a city rather than nationwide.

R133 a BILLIONAIRE???!? Hahahaha. They all decamped to their “manses” in New Paltz during the pandemic too. What else can can throw at him in the hopes that it will stick?

So he’s not a billionaire, who cares. And you’re not a “xennial”—you’re an old Gen X who thinks he’s younger than he actually is. Yang has no business being in politics.

It's Yang's father who's filthy rich. He sent little Andrew to Philips Exeter and Brown to hobnob with the elite.

I always thought Yang was a stalking horse for the Club for Growth. His free money plan could have been the ideal Trojan Horse for the Kochs to get rid of 'entitlements': pitch a bunch of bone-idle slackers against people who actually need government assistance and ultimately replace Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare with UBI - which is basically a tax cut for most people.

Yang will elect Trump! Yang is a covert Club for Growther! Yang hates the gays!

Smells of desperation.

High odds there is an email out to Stonewall Democrats with a link to this thread.

Yang's father was a researcher at IBM. He's now retired. He was not a billionaire.

Spin, little Stonewallers!! SPIN SPIN SPIN

There’s a lot of animosity towards “gay men” and “stonewall” today. The “queers” won’t have either.

“Little stonewallers”.

I’m assuming R146 is Marsha P Johnson.

R145 rather.

Yang Gang!

Yang Gang Bang!

Yang Gang Bang Gang!

Yang comes from a very highly educated family. Wtf

“ Yang was born on January 13, 1975, in Schenectady, New York.[23] His parents, Taiwanese Americans, emigrated from Taiwan to the U.S. in the 1960s[24] and met in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley.[25] His father graduated with a Ph.D. in physics and worked in the research labs of IBM and General Electric, generating over 50 patents in his career.[26][25] His mother graduated with a master's degree in statistics[27] before becoming a systems administrator at a university,[28][29] and later an artist.[30] Yang has an older brother, Lawrence,[28][31] who is a psychology professor at New York University.[29][30] Yang's father, uncle, and cousin also became professors.[30]

Yang grew up in Somers in Westchester County, New York.[24][30] He has described being bullied and called racial slurs by classmates while attending public school, in part because he was one of the smaller children in his class after skipping a grade.[30][26] In The War on Normal People (2018), he wrote, "Perhaps as a result, I've always taken pride in relating to the underdog or little guy or gal."[32] When he was 12 years old, Yang scored a 1220 out of 1600 on the SAT, qualifying him to attend the Center for Talented Youth, a summer program for gifted children run by Johns Hopkins University, which he attended for the next five summers.[30] He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire.[33][34] Yang was part of the 1992 U.S. national debate team, which competed at the world championships in London.[30] After graduating from Exeter in 1992, he enrolled at Brown University,[35] where he majored in economics and political science, graduating in 1996.[36] He then attended Columbia Law School, earning a Juris Doctor in 1999.[23]”

Maya Wiley will most likely block all criminal and civil inquries into the DeBlasios, particularly Mrs. DeBlasio and her unelected position as first lady to somehow manage and misappropriate more than $600 million tax payer dollars for mental health. She has zero qualifications and refuses to provide details of how the money has been spent and whose pockets she filled with cash. People should protest this massive corruption but for some reason give them both a pass.

AOC must know she's not well-liked. Report said she spends $3,000 a month for personal security. Watch your back, gurl!

R152, that's actually an issue for Congresspeople of both parties, due to the rightwingers' resort to violent threats.

"Sixteen days after her vote to impeach then-President Donald Trump, Rep. Liz Cheney’s campaign office logged a $22,000 expense for personal security. Two days before his vote to convict Trump, Sen. Mitt Romney’s campaign team recorded $43,000 spent for his safety."

Is Cheney’s life worth that much?

Initially, I was excited about Yang and thought I'd likely support him, but he has proven himself a doofus. I wasn't really offended by anything he said about gay people; I just thought it was silly and demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of what might be important to a gay voter. As r32 said, the speech wasn't even suitable for someone running for high school class president, but that's kind of what it sounded like: "Awww, gays, I love you, man ... gonna be so awesome to have you on my side."

And unfortunately, his understanding of and ideas for addressing many other issues seem equally dopey and shallow. I guess I will probably end up voting for Eric Adams (who was fine as BK borough president but didn't really bring anything special to the table) or Scott Stringer (who'd be perfectly competent but as everyone has noted is so boring and white bread that he's probably going nowhere).

I don't get the backlash towards him for this. He may not be deeply up to date in LGBT issues, but for fucks sake, taking some first steps to reach out to us is a good thing. If he want's to visit a gay bar and speak to us, don't slam the door in his face before he tries to walk in. I've not read or heard of him saying or doing anything homophobic in his past.

R151- She'll be a DeBlasio 2

Some of the commenters on her sound like they're about to throw a brick at him. Good grief. Simmer down.

^here

Miley's campaign sends out an infinite number of email solicitations. I have about 20 marked as junk in my yahoo account. I assume the political club I belong to (Democratic, lgbtq but not Stonewall) sold my email address to her campaign as I've contacted her. I will not vote for her in the primary on those grounds alone although there's others. She's at the bottom of my list. Oddly I like her as a human being when she used to appear on hawt Ari Melber's show. Not now tho.

Not contacted her ^

R77 The big picture is something you don't grasp. Details and specifics matter in constituting the "the whole". You don't know "the Gestalt" of it.

Poor Andrew, he is just running to prove to his tiger mom that he can do anything!

R163 he has to make up for the fact that he had to go to Brown instead of Harvard.

Still 100x smarter than anyone else running.

The Stonewall Democrats have a history of picking real winners.

I'm not a yang bro douchebag but i hope he wins because NYC needs a shakeup. The rest of the candidates are buisness as usual.

[quote]he has to make up for the fact that he had to go to Brown instead of Harvard.

Dear Lord, that's a tragedy. Does he realize no one can ever take him quite seriously?

I like this.

r168 I doubt he believes in anything, which can be appealing to some people.

Shut up, Maya Wiley at R169

R165, yeah that says everything. The Working Party speaking to the Stonewall Democrats. The Working Party is a separate party, a decent one, union oriented, but not the Democratic Party. A member saying "I like her because she sits down with activists." Well you need to get elected to do anything and activists could not elect Warren. Ugh, they endorsed Warren in the primary. Of course they did.

He would do better than that obnoxious de Blasio. Of course, that's a low bar.

Stonewall democrats only endorse intersectional candidates.

Yang usually has good intentions, but his execution typically misses the mark. He's not cut out to lead NYC.

He reminds me of Elon Musk, huge ego and when you scratch the surface it's all hot air. I bet Yang is a closeted right winger, like all far leftist cosplay socialists are.

Andrew Yang is the candidate that appeals to complete douchebags.

We’ll have to wait to see if Mayor Yang is magnanimous to those who attacked him while he was running for office.

I'm asking this will all sincerity: can one of the Yang Gang explain to my WHY I should vote for him? Aside from the UBI (which will never happen and is inadequate for NYC anyway), what policies does he have that are so transcendent?

Why don't you go to his website, asshole?

For one he supports cops living in the city. He supports funding the police, not defunding them.

He has a pretty unique idea for a public/private partnership to create financial/banking opportunities for the unbanked.

UBI.

He has policies that some might consider "left" and some "right" which of course makes all of you "limited" pseudo-liberals' heads explode.

[quote]He supports funding the police, not defunding them.

....and I'm out..

R179 - that was Yang's problem in the primaries. He puts up a website claiming to support this, that and the other. He has no record of supporting or opposing anything. He can print up any bullshit he wants to.

During the primaries, all the candidates come under scrutiny about their actual record as opposed to what they were claiming to support. Mayor Pete claimed to be a progressive yet his policies as mayor were gentrification, bulldozing homeless camps and supporting a racist police force. Republican. Julian Castro claimed to be a flaming progressive, running to be Liz Warren's VP. Yet as mayor of San Antonio (and note to non-Texans: Texas mayors have no real power, County Judges and City Managers do) he spent his time sucking up to real estate developers. During his 2 year stint as head of HUD, he did favors for Dallas real estate developers and sold mortgages for pennies on the dollar to Wall Street.

Who knows what Yang would actually do as he's never done anything? And running for President when you are a nobody is such a flagrant red flag for narcissism.

This club is made up of Yass Karen’s who endorsed Elizabeth Warren. The same woman that claimed to be for the “little guy” yet spent decades as a Republican using her law degree to protect corporations from paying damages to people they gave cancer to.

They have no credibility.

[quote]The same woman that claimed to be for the “little guy” yet spent decades as a Republican using her law degree to protect corporations from paying damages to people they gave cancer to.

Are you talking about Elizabeth Warren, the decades-long advocate for bankruptcy reform and consumer protection, who spearheaded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the face of opposition from the banks and Republicans? She was a conservative in her younger years but I'm not sure what your reference is to; she used her law degree to teach law and to research utilities and bankruptcy law.

I don't understand the article - what did he say exactly that was so upsetting? He mentioned going to the Cubbyhole - ok.

What's the context and what else?

Sounds like one person is pissed off at something - I don't get it.

I don't completely dismiss his UBI proposal. If we want to compete with China and bring manufacturing back at lower costs, the only solution is automation, bc China with its slave labor tactics will always be able to produce cheaper. And the competition with China seems to be one of the biggest and important challenges for the US and other western countries in the next decades.

Yang's background is Taiwanese, so I don't think he's very fond of China. Some of his ideas deserve consideration. The biggest problem I have with him is his off putting frat boy personality and everything that goes along with it. And no, he shouldn't be representing NYC. He may be good as an economic advisor, but he's not a man of the people, at all.

[quote]Mayor Pete claimed to be a progressive yet his policies as mayor were gentrification, bulldozing homeless camps and supporting a racist police force.

This is such bullshit. He was not "supporting a racist police force." Go back to LSA.

UBI always sounded to me like an attempt to get rid of 'entitlements' and so I figured Yang was the stalking horse for the Club for Growth. They'd been unable to get enough support to get rid of entitlements and they've been trying for decades.

So, you propose UBI, get all the slackers on your side, then you eliminate entitlements and UBI basically turns into a tax cut.

R187 doesn't understand UBI.

R188 oh, but I do! The Libertarians have been peddling the idea since the days of Ron Paul - substituting UBI for entitlements which go to people who really need the money whereas UBI would go to every millionaire. With UBI they could finally get enough support from enough dumb people to get them to grab the UBI and shut the fuck up when they cancelled entitlements.

Maya Wiley pussy stinks.

Scott Stringer, creepy sex pest.

Forgot the link:

The idea of an UBI payment goes back to the 19th century, even before that, R189.

Sheesh. We are indeed our own worst enemies. So he’s not being supported for being tone deaf? At this time when we need to come together in the face of immense danger? Sheesh, I say.

“Yang met Wednesday night with the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City to be interviewed as the club considered who to endorse for mayor, but he delivered remarks that members viewed as “pandering and tone deaf,” The New York Times reports.”

That’s it??

Let's be honest here, gays only vote for men with big ____________.

R194 "immense danger" that unqualified Yang can only solve by being mayor of NYC?

^^^ It certainly won’t be solved by shooting each other down on our own team. Pointless bitchery is fine here but not for the more important things.

“Can we talk about poppers? And good china? Because I love those things, you know.”

R197 he's not "on our team". Libertarians are Republican-lite. And there are other more qualified actual Democratic candidates running for NYC mayor. Yang is popular because he ran for President, also a job he's unqualified for. I'm glad he at least is trying to start with a lesser role now than jumping from "CEO" to President, albeit the mayor of one of the most important states in the union.

R194, how is that not ENOUGH for you?

Yes, really... being a pandering tone-deaf clown is disqualifying from such a position. It proves he has no qualifications or experience for the job.

He's way better than Maya-Deblasio 2.0--Wiley.

He's really not.

Shaun Donovan is starting to look good here.

Wow - this article should completely disqualify Andrew Yang from serving as mayor.

“He couldn’t be bothered to actually focus on the details.”

The whole job of mayor is details. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

R204 from the ever woke NYT - quelle surprise.

From the Times article:

[quote]A self-described “numbers guy,” Mr. Yang left the group’s budget depleted, tax filings show. In 2017, when he left to run for president, the nonprofit spent $2.6 million more than it raised, ending the year with only about a month’s worth of cash in reserves.

And another pointless ad hominem at R205. Wonder why it is that Yang's fanboys never address the realities, just throw accusations at his critics.

Yang's superfans (like the YangGang member insulting and calling everyone assholes in this thread) are obnoxious as hell and think they can bully people into voting for him. You win more people over with honey than with vinegar.

I do want to see him try UBI, or something like it. I am honestly curious how that work in a big city like New York.

I’m all for having the first gay Asian NYC mayor, but there’s no way he can do that and SNL at the same time and he’s one of the few highlights of the current chaotic not ready for prime time players. Loved his iceberg character!

That New York Times hit piece was a ridiculous fail. They know they have nothing substantial on this guy. The fact is, he started an organization that is still in operation that has helped people start businesses and create jobs. Many businesses, something like 90% of them, fail. Yang cannot be held accountable for that.

More misdirection at R210, who is trusting us not to have actually read the article. It clearly documents that there's very little success that Yang can be "held accountable for."

[quote]The review found that of the nearly 1,000 alumni, about 200 said they had started businesses. But about half of those ventures quickly failed, which is not uncommon among start-ups. Many of the others have no employees other than their founders. And most of those that have survived have moved away from the cities where they began .... Several founders said they actually started their businesses before joining the group .... none of the fellows live in Detroit today. Only one founded a business that got off the ground: Banza, a chickpea pasta manufacturer that is Venture for America’s biggest success story. It produces its pasta in California.

I don’t trust anyone that excited by Math, and I say that in regards to him being to much of an analytics guy who just looks at and crunches numbers to come to a conclusion and doesn’t balance out with the emotional aspect. Emotional keeps it human.

R212, he is very much aware of the human aspect. Do you know anything about his platform? He ran on UBI, giving all Americans $1,000 a month to improve people's lives. "Human value trumps economic value" is one of his direct quotes from his Presidential campaign.

R211, and? That's exactly what I said, most businesses fail. The fact that Yang even had the ambition and the desire to start an organization like Venture for America shows his true colors: he strove to help others realize their dreams. Even if most of those startups failed (as they generally do), it was still worth the effort to get them off the ground.

Yang's experiences fostering startups and running businesses as an executive (including one sold for millions, the test prep company) will be invaluable as New York mayor. He will invest a lot in NYC business and the city economy.

Ugh, he’s involved in test prep companies? That does bode well for NYC schools, they are already exploited by that fallacy already.

R213

$1000 is not sufficient enough for his message. People WILL lose benefits only for a measly 1000. Plus, it’s not enough to hold over the former middle class who lost their job due to the pandemic or technology. Dumb people are supporting him because they want $ but don’t realize it will come with a cost and also it’s not even enough to pay the bills for most people.

R213 Universal Basic Income is a Libertarian policy.

Andrew Yang's primary problem is that he has a few things be is narrowly good at and he assumes this means he is good at everything else as well.

His stated policies are mostly pretty vague and he doesn't have answers when he is pressed for specifics. He attracts a lot of obsessive Bernie Bro-types which explains his weird cult following.

Despite his ideas not being all that progressive.

When the best they can do about his appeal is "Read his website!"...

Eric Adams is only"off key" for actually criticizing gay elder housing in Brooklyn. The man warns against gay seniors moving into the neighborhood. Let's see what Stonewall and the New York Times does with that.

Oh yeah and a serious percentage of those elder gays were elder gays of color.

r219 did you actually read the article? Slanted as it was, his remarks essentially boiled down to "it's nice that these outsiders came into Brooklyn and built their own place, but maybe they should be improving what's already here that isn't narrowly focused on LGBTQ people". He seemed to be wanting there to be nice affordable housing for the residents of Brooklyn that were living in slums rather than affordable housing just for LGBTQ. I think he didn't make his point well, at least that's how it's being spun.

Yang is going to be mayor of NYC and there is nothing y'all can do about it,

R221 okay, Y'all Troll.

Yang will make the gays pay for all those years of "No Fats. No Fems. No Asians."

[Quote] Andrew Yang's primary problem is that he has a few things be is narrowly good at and he assumes this means he is good at everything else as well

Where has he ever expressed such an assumption?

He's repeatedly said that he'd consult with experts on all complex matters. He always talks about how he values expertise and data.

You're mistaking him for a typical mediocre white male politician who thinks he's going to be great at everything because life's been smooth sailing and so dismisses experts. Yang is very much the opposite.

No, he's not, R224.

It's really freaky the way people actually defend this unqualified fraud.

R224 funny, that's exactly what people said about Trump. And interesting how you bring race into it.

By virtue of him running for office and thinking HE can fix all these complex problems, is an example of the "thinks he is more qualified than/as qualified as the experts". He hasn't even held political office before and thinks he could actually navigate NYC's complex political ecosystem and improve things.

He has... Confidence, I'll give him that.

He has arrogance and he's clearly a narcissist.

R227, he doesn't give me the vibes of a narcissist. He is pretty genuine and doesn't talk about himself often.

(rolling eyes at the cluelessly gullible tools like R228)

He's totally unqualified for this job.

R230 there was a story in NYT or similar recently that quoted someone who spoke glowingly of his being a "blank slate" and that was one of his special features because he didn't know how anything worked, wasn't beholden to lobbyists, would figure it out on the job, and this was somehow a desirable thing.

Truly a "death of expertise" situation. Why trust people with skills and experience when you can just figure it out on the fly? It's not that hard to run a city the size of New York City!

[quote] Truly a "death of expertise" situation.

Oh Dear.

Did you mean "Dearth?"

R232 nope.

Established Knowledge has caused so many problems the last few decades that people are sick of it.

R234 I suggest you read the book. It sounds like you need it.

r235, a book by an apologist extolling the virtues of elitism? Yeah, no.

So he’s basically going to create a huge welfare state which will also benefit fat cats furthering the economic divide. He’s basically worse than DeBlasio with better packaging but you can’t call him out because that’d be racist.

R236, care to explain how you equate "expertise" with "elitism"?

[quote]but you can’t call him out because that’d be racist.

This thread is gratifyingly full of people calling him out. The focus is rightly on his ideas, not on his race.

It’s the death of specialization. Everyone wants to be everything to everybody now.

R234, can you name two?

Do you think a “fat cat” really gives a fuck if he gets an extra $1000 a month? Even if it goes to everyone, it affects the life of someone who is poor disproportionately. Someone who’s rich or even comfortable isn’t going to vote for someone for an amount of money that makes basically no difference to them. But someone who is genuinely struggling WILL.

[quote]But someone who is genuinely struggling WILL.

Without rent control legislation to go with it, all this is going to jack up housing prices even higher.

R242 is dumb and obviously doesn’t comprehend that no one is talking about giving welfare checks to millionaires but rather the tax breaks and “investment” programs that they use to enrich themselves.

R236 an apologist for what?

You do realize part of the reason Republicans vote for such yahoos is because they rail on "elites" and their standard test for a representative is "someone you'd want to have a beer with".

Here's the synopsis of that book, by the way:

Technology and increasing levels of education have exposed people to more information than ever before. These societal gains, however, have also helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues.

Today, everyone knows everything: with only a quick trip through WebMD or Wikipedia, average citizens believe themselves to be on an equal intellectual footing with doctors and diplomats. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism.

Tom Nichols' The Death of Expertise shows how this rejection of experts has occurred: the openness of the internet, the emergence of a customer service model in higher education, and the transformation of the news industry into a 24-hour entertainment machine, among other reasons.

Paradoxically, the increasingly democratic dissemination of information, rather than producing an educated public, has instead created an army of ill-informed and angry citizens who denounce intellectual achievement. When ordinary citizens believe that no one knows more than anyone else, democratic institutions themselves are in danger of falling either to populism or to technocracy or, in the worst case, a combination of both.

R236, part of the reasons Republicans continually vote for yahoos is because they have tried to make expertise into a four-letter word. "Elites" implies you are intimidated by intelligent people and would prefer "someone you can have a beer with", which is how we got George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

Here's the synopsis of that book. Seems familiar:

Technology and increasing levels of education have exposed people to more information than ever before. These societal gains, however, have also helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues.

Today, everyone knows everything: with only a quick trip through WebMD or Wikipedia, average citizens believe themselves to be on an equal intellectual footing with doctors and diplomats. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism.

Tom Nichols' The Death of Expertise shows how this rejection of experts has occurred: the openness of the internet, the emergence of a customer service model in higher education, and the transformation of the news industry into a 24-hour entertainment machine, among other reasons.

Paradoxically, the increasingly democratic dissemination of information, rather than producing an educated public, has instead created an army of ill-informed and angry citizens who denounce intellectual achievement. When ordinary citizens believe that no one knows more than anyone else, democratic institutions themselves are in danger of falling either to populism or to technocracy or, in the worst case, a combination of both.

(Sorry for the double post, it didn't look like it had gone through).

[quote] (Sorry for the double post, it didn't look like it had gone through).

That’s okay, experts and elites often make mistakes, although with much worse consequences than just a double posting.

Whenever I think about how pathetic it is that anyone could support Trump, or Bernie, I look at the gullible pathetic idiots who support Yang...

r248 Clever! Let's just have morons in charge of everything then. Good plan!

r249 you can tell they think they're hot shit, too. Very smug, like they imagine their "THE ELITES" boogeyman is.