Today was primary day, and without looking at any of the exit polls or whatever I expect de Blasio to win. I haven't been paying much attention to the campaign so far because I'm not registered for any party and just need to weigh between the Democrat and Republican (and one Independent) candidates, but from what I've gleaned is quite a bit of hostility toward Bloomberg. I'm surprised because I didn't realize so many people hated him so much. Yeah, okay, I have a lot of issues with several of his policies, but I feel overall he helped the city, ran it well, and was a good mayor. I'm trying to figure out if the candidates are just demonizing Bloomberg because it's necessary to show how they'd do things differently or if the majority of the city disagrees with me.

Okay, the biggest strike against Bloomberg is term limits, which apparently is why everyone hates Quinn because she facilitated him ignoring that rule. Other reasons people have thrown out there is she's Bloomberg's crony or she'll be just like him. To say something like that means that you dislike him. Okay, he's done some stupid shit like the banning coke, trying to put a stadium in Manhattan, and I'm still on the fence about what's he's been doing to Times Square and Harald Square, but I think his good deeds have overridden it. The city is definitely a better place than it was when he first started in 2002, and he was organized and calm during his biggest crisis, Hurricane Sandy. (And I think Irene too if it were bigger.)

What I'm willing to admit may generate this hostility is the stop-and-frisk policy, which I am against. His staunch defense of it in the face of antagonistic public opinion is a negative mark in my book. I can see his standpoint, but the policy is so open to abuse and is particularly grating toward poorer communities that in his position I would look into modifying its use or other methods. In his defense the crime rate has reduced so much that we're one of the safest cities in the United States, and stop-and-frisk may have contributed to it. I don't know; I haven't read the literature. But if you're upsetting so many of the people you're supposedly representing, you're supposed to do something about it.

Is it because I'm from Manhattan? Bloomberg is probably like Koch in a way and Manhattan-centric, so maybe I've only seen the good side whilst the outer boroughs decay. But I don't know. I feel Bloomberg doesn't deserve all this vitriol regardless of his policies. As he's going out, I can definitely say I liked him more than Giuliani. No doubt about it.

Man, I didn't realize McGruder explained it so well, right down to the type of guns.