Andrew Cuomo says "America was never that great" Do you agree?

[Rookie Yinzer]

Where were the lies?

[adrac]

This is enough to cost him the election in November.  It's possible now.

His Presidential campaign will never get off the ground now.  The big donors will not see him as a winner.  And, again, that's assuming he's re-elected.

It was a comment more dumb than Gerald Ford saying, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe." during the second debate with Carter.

Thankfully, it's 2018, and no "gaffe," real or perceived, is ever going to cost someone an election again.

And for the record, I agree. America has an above average, but still deeply flawed, problematic, and misunderstood, history.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Absolutely not , America is the greatest country in history

[SN2903]

Absolutely not , America is the greatest country in history

Yes it is. Cuomo is finished politically after this.

[PSOL]

The adoption of a “golden age” is cancerous, just an excuse to take current fears and go back to when certain elites had power. A nation must go forward, adapting to the times. America of the past was terrible, this era less so, and we must strive to make the country less as time goes by. Only then will we survive as a nation, as an inability to do nothing but go back is sure to fail.

[DrScholl]

If you choose to ignore numerous human rights abuses that started before independence and lasted until about 1965 then you probably do have model for a really great country, but you can't rewrite history and reality has to be accepted.

Slavery 1619-1865
Displacement of Native Americans 1600s-1800s
Jim Crow 1870s-1965
Asian immigrants expelled from California towns (1880s)
Lynching 1882-1964 (up until 1935 there were lynchings in the double digits)
Japanese Internment (1940s)
Legal citizens deported in Operation Wetback (1950s)

That is a terrible human rights record for a first world nation even if it is in the past. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that the country is not perfect and has become better over the past few decades. Cuomo is not even going to come remotely close to losing over this and his presidential campaign probably won't go anywhere but that is because he hasn't been as liberal as some Democrats would like.

[OSR stands with Israel]

America was at its peak from 1983-2000

[Mr. Morden]

Trump has responded:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1029911186949767168

[CookieDamage]

If you choose to ignore numerous human rights abuses that started before independence and lasted until about 1965 then you probably do have model for a really great country, but you can't rewrite history and reality has to be accepted.

Slavery 1619-1865
Displacement of Native Americans 1600s-1800s
Jim Crow 1870s-1965
Asian immigrants expelled from California towns (1880s)
Lynching 1882-1964 (up until 1935 there were lynchings in the double digits)
Japanese Internment (1940s)
Legal citizens deported in Operation Wetback (1950s)

That is a terrible human rights record for a first world nation even if it is in the past. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that the country is not perfect and has become better over the past few decades. Cuomo is not even going to come remotely close to losing over this and his presidential campaign probably won't go anywhere but that is because he hasn't been as liberal as some Democrats would like.

[foxh8er]

If you choose to ignore numerous human rights abuses that started before independence and lasted until about 1965 then you probably do have model for a really great country, but you can't rewrite history and reality has to be accepted.

Slavery 1619-1865
Displacement of Native Americans 1600s-1800s
Jim Crow 1870s-1965
Asian immigrants expelled from California towns (1880s)
Lynching 1882-1964 (up until 1935 there were lynchings in the double digits)
Japanese Internment (1940s)
Legal citizens deported in Operation Wetback (1950s)

That is a terrible human rights record for a first world nation even if it is in the past. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that the country is not perfect and has become better over the past few decades. Cuomo is not even going to come remotely close to losing over this and his presidential campaign probably won't go anywhere but that is because he hasn't been as liberal as some Democrats would like.

Jeez, this is why the term "liberal" got tarnished over the last 40 years. It's not even incorrect, but it is a strain of pessimism and lack of respect for the uniqueness of the American experience - the bad and the good - that turns off even moderates (and liberals like me).

Obama made the case for American exceptionalism better than anybody else in modern history.

From his convention speech in 2016:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[PSOL]

If you choose to ignore numerous human rights abuses that started before independence and lasted until about 1965 then you probably do have model for a really great country, but you can't rewrite history and reality has to be accepted.

Slavery 1619-1865
Displacement of Native Americans 1600s-1800s
Jim Crow 1870s-1965
Asian immigrants expelled from California towns (1880s)
Lynching 1882-1964 (up until 1935 there were lynchings in the double digits)
Japanese Internment (1940s)
Legal citizens deported in Operation Wetback (1950s)

That is a terrible human rights record for a first world nation even if it is in the past. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that the country is not perfect and has become better over the past few decades. Cuomo is not even going to come remotely close to losing over this and his presidential campaign probably won't go anywhere but that is because he hasn't been as liberal as some Democrats would like.

Jeez, this is why the term "liberal" got tarnished over the last 40 years. It's not even incorrect, but it is a strain of pessimism and lack of respect for the uniqueness of the American experience - the bad and the good - that turns off even moderates (and liberals like me).

Obama made the case for American exceptionalism better than anybody else in modern history.

From his convention speech in 2016:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Obama stressed that America changed, as it moved in the right direction, not that the past was all peachy.

[Sir Mohamed]

Well, his point is not false when he suggests there were always great problems. With race relations, discrimination and equality in particular. Poor wording though. Very poor wording and a gift for the orange clown.

Trump has responded:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1029911186949767168

Highest taxed state? LOL. I though CA was the highest taxed state. Or is it whoever TRUMP decides on a daily basis?

[Hammy]

Dumb statement but with luck it'll sink any chance of Cuomo's nomination in 2020.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Where were the lies?

America has been, and is, a GREAT nation.  I do agree that its struggles is to be a GOOD nation.

I believe it has been both, and remains so, especially by the standards of the world.  Cuomo's statement illustrates that difference between telling lies and giving false information.

And it's GOING to hurt him.  I saw the video clip; it is going to be one of those "gifts that keep on giving".  Cuomo damaged Democrats' chances with his comments.  I never thought that it would be ANDREW CUOMO that would be so tone deaf as to do this.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Where were the lies?

America has been, and is, a GREAT nation.  I do agree that its struggles is to be a GOOD nation.

I believe it has been both, and remains so, especially by the standards of the world.  Cuomo's statement illustrates that difference between telling lies and giving false information.

And it's GOING to hurt him.  I saw the video clip; it is going to be one of those "gifts that keep on giving".  Cuomo damaged Democrats' chances with his comments.  I never thought that it would be ANDREW CUOMO that would be so tone deaf as to do this.

How did Cuomo damage Democrats chances? Like what the hell are you even talking about?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Where were the lies?

America has been, and is, a GREAT nation.  I do agree that its struggles is to be a GOOD nation.

I believe it has been both, and remains so, especially by the standards of the world.  Cuomo's statement illustrates that difference between telling lies and giving false information.

And it's GOING to hurt him.  I saw the video clip; it is going to be one of those "gifts that keep on giving".  Cuomo damaged Democrats' chances with his comments.  I never thought that it would be ANDREW CUOMO that would be so tone deaf as to do this.

How did Cuomo damage Democrats chances? Like what the hell are you even talking about?

After the Democrats are hit with a flurry of soundbites of this comment, you'll know.

The Democratic Party of my day was less ideological, and sensitive to the more conservative views of moderate independents and independent Republicans.  Today's Democratic Party lives in this leftist bubble, acting as if no one but the current audience is actually listening.

Cuomo made a statement like this as a sop to the far left, whom he has to keep happy, but he didn't have to do THAT to keep them happy.  The Democratic Party has had to work to convince Americans that they really do have a sense of "My Country, right or wrong . . ." and all that comes after it.  And they get a foil like Trump who, at some levels, helps the rehabbing of that aspect of their image.  Then, a guy like Cuomo, flatly says "America was never that great , , ,"  People today don't get what was so bad about a Presidential candidate saying that he took a trip to Vietnam and got a "brainwashing" by the Generals, and it's too bad George Romney isn't still alive to give them a lesson in semantics.

[Dr. Arch]

If you choose to ignore numerous human rights abuses that started before independence and lasted until about 1965 then you probably do have model for a really great country, but you can't rewrite history and reality has to be accepted.

Slavery 1619-1865
Displacement of Native Americans 1600s-1800s
Jim Crow 1870s-1965
Asian immigrants expelled from California towns (1880s)
Lynching 1882-1964 (up until 1935 there were lynchings in the double digits)
Japanese Internment (1940s)
Legal citizens deported in Operation Wetback (1950s)

That is a terrible human rights record for a first world nation even if it is in the past. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that the country is not perfect and has become better over the past few decades. Cuomo is not even going to come remotely close to losing over this and his presidential campaign probably won't go anywhere but that is because he hasn't been as liberal as some Democrats would like.

Don't forget all the uninformed and previously untested drug trials on Puerto Ricans, the bombing practices on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques (a municipality still suffering from contaminated fields and elevated cancer rates), the Flint water poisoning, the disastrous (and very much intentional) response to the María catastrophe, the constant foreign intervention causing power vacuums and breeding terrorist cells, the constant state of war, the carelessness for its citizens' health (see the healthcare debate vs. practically any other first-worst country), etc. etc.

This country is great (in the sense that exceptionalism constantly pushes) only if you're a member of certain subgroups and/or incredibly wealthy or well off. I'll change my mind once I see it change.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Where were the lies?

America has been, and is, a GREAT nation.  I do agree that its struggles is to be a GOOD nation.

I believe it has been both, and remains so, especially by the standards of the world.  Cuomo's statement illustrates that difference between telling lies and giving false information.

And it's GOING to hurt him.  I saw the video clip; it is going to be one of those "gifts that keep on giving".  Cuomo damaged Democrats' chances with his comments.  I never thought that it would be ANDREW CUOMO that would be so tone deaf as to do this.

How did Cuomo damage Democrats chances? Like what the hell are you even talking about?

After the Democrats are hit with a flurry of soundbites of this comment, you'll know.

The Democratic Party of my day was less ideological, and sensitive to the more conservative views of moderate independents and independent Republicans.  Today's Democratic Party lives in this leftist bubble, acting as if no one but the current audience is actually listening.

Cuomo made a statement like this as a sop to the far left, whom he has to keep happy, but he didn't have to do THAT to keep them happy.  The Democratic Party has had to work to convince Americans that they really do have a sense of "My Country, right or wrong . . ." and all that comes after it.  And they get a foil like Trump who, at some levels, helps the rehabbing of that aspect of their image.  Then, a guy like Cuomo, flatly says "America was never that great , , ,"  People today don't get what was so bad about a Presidential candidate saying that he took a trip to Vietnam and got a "brainwashing" by the Generals, and it's too bad George Romney isn't still alive to give them a lesson in semantics.

This entire post is just rambling.

Anyways, Cuomo's quote was taken out of context. But if you think that this somehow means "doom" for Democrats then whatever.

[Rookie Yinzer]

America has never been great. The genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement and subsequent second class citizenship applied to African-Americans are not the actions of a great nation. Everyone doesn’t see the country through the prism of white nationalist propaganda.

[Beet]

It is true that the United States of America has committed sins in the past, and, perhaps commits sins today, and, will commit sins in the future. I, for one, dispute the liberal historiography that says that our history is a moral march upward. People today are not any more enlightened than they were in the 1700s. It is only that we live in a different cultural environment made possible by materially easier circumstances.

However, the United States of America is what we have. It is the political entity that defends and makes possible your rights and mine. It is the political entity that defends, and made possible, the election that made Andrew Cuomo the Governor of New York, and allows him to call himself by that title. It is the entity that made possible his political career. And his political career is the only reason why his opinion is any more important than any poster on this message board. Without the United States of America, the names of politicians like Andrew Cuomo mean nothing to me, and nor do the Democratic or Republican parties. Nor does any stranger on the street. Therefore, politicians should not denounce the United States of America per se but embrace its virtues where these exist and work to correct its flaws.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

This is the worst thing to say as a politician from New York on almost the eve of 9/11. But, then again, Andrew Cuomo only has the Governorship to sit upon, and wants a higher level position.

He should be smart again, as should of said what Dems have been saying all along, Make America, Great Again, doesn't mean turning back the clock, to the bad ol' days.

[President Johnson]

I always felt that America was great ever since childhood. He should have used different words, but the point he's making is not totally wrong. I do not question Cuomo's patriotism and his commitment to justice and equality because his record as governor is pretty solid.

[DrScholl]

If you choose to ignore numerous human rights abuses that started before independence and lasted until about 1965 then you probably do have model for a really great country, but you can't rewrite history and reality has to be accepted.

Slavery 1619-1865
Displacement of Native Americans 1600s-1800s
Jim Crow 1870s-1965
Asian immigrants expelled from California towns (1880s)
Lynching 1882-1964 (up until 1935 there were lynchings in the double digits)
Japanese Internment (1940s)
Legal citizens deported in Operation Wetback (1950s)

That is a terrible human rights record for a first world nation even if it is in the past. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that the country is not perfect and has become better over the past few decades. Cuomo is not even going to come remotely close to losing over this and his presidential campaign probably won't go anywhere but that is because he hasn't been as liberal as some Democrats would like.

Jeez, this is why the term "liberal" got tarnished over the last 40 years. It's not even incorrect, but it is a strain of pessimism and lack of respect for the uniqueness of the American experience - the bad and the good - that turns off even moderates (and liberals like me).

Obama made the case for American exceptionalism better than anybody else in modern history.

From his convention speech in 2016:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The truth is the truth and I hardly think respecting the most negative aspects of history is necessary. Embracing happy-go-lucky platitudes and idealism over realism does no good.

[Fuzzy Bear]

This is the worst thing to say as a politician from New York on almost the eve of 9/11. But, then again, Andrew Cuomo only has the Governorship to sit upon, and wants a higher level position.

He should be smart again, as should of said what Dems have been saying all along, Make America, Great Again, doesn't mean turning back the clock, to the bad ol' days.

This is, actually, a surprisingly refreshing view.

[cvparty]

yes. but i would say that for pretty much every other country in the world too lol