Christine Quinn is looking for endorsements and voters in the cemetery

Reality Sets In For Quinn, Isay : Early Poll Numbers Are An Illusion.

Greg David: "The idea that Ms. Quinn is the front-runner is a media fallacy." Via @crainsnewyork crainsnewyork.com/article/201302…

— Errol Louis (@errollouis) February 20, 2013

More and more, the Christine Quinn mayoral campaign are acting desperate.

Greg David published an editorial in Crain's New York Business giving everybody a reality check : The early polls portraying that Council Speaker Christine Quinn was an early leader in the crowded Democratic primary field are a fallacy !

Because Josh Isay, Matt Tepper, and Speaker Quinn's other campaign advisers know this, they are pulling out all the stops to maintain a public veneer of being in a leadership position, when in reality they could be further from it.

Earlier today, The New York Times published an article about how Speaker Quinn is now trolling through cemeteries and crematoriums for campaign endorsements. Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign is trying to figure out how to milk the endorsement she received from Ed Koch before he died. (An Endorsement Hard to Pass Up, and Harder to Promote)

''The idea that Ms. Quinn is the front-runner is a media fallacy,'' wrote Mr. David.

How low can Speaker Quinn go, for an endorsement ?

“If I were running against her, what do you say? ‘How low will she go, six feet under, or more?’ ” quipped Kenneth Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College. “The question is, how voters will respond to it, what they will think of a candidate who uses it.”

If Mr. Isay and Mr. Tepper try to push former Mayor Koch's endorsement of Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign, then Speaker Quinn risks triggering a major backlash from LGBT political and healthcare activists.

David France, Ed Koch, and AIDS

David France, whose doc How To Survive A Plague is nominated for Oscar, speaks about former NY mayor Ed Koch, who reviewed the film for a local NY paper and who was not an advocate for Gay NY back in the day.

Closeted Mayor Will Eulogise Another

At tomorrow's funeral service, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to deliver the eulogy for former Mayor Ed Koch, who passed away on Friday at the age of 88.

Mayor Koch has been the subject of harsh criticism on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media Web sites since his death, for what critics see as his damning role in the spread of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980's, while he was mayor.

It's more than just a bit ironic that Mayor Bloomberg, who some say is gay, will eulogise Mayor Koch.

At tomorrow's service for #EdKoch, one #closeted mayor will eulogize another. Or will @mikebloomberg use occasion to finally come out ?

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) February 3, 2013

To distract from his sexual orientation, Mayor Koch made a game of appearing to have had a pretense of a relationship with former Miss America Bess Myerson, whilst Mayor Bloomberg uses Diana Taylor for similar purposes.

No word, yet, as to the subject of Mayor Bloomberg's farewell remarks.

Ed Koch and the AIDS Crisis - A Historical Fact Checking Duel Between NYT and YouTube Videos

In response to the biased "praises" and instant beatification of Ed Koch, I made a YouTube video set to music by Dalida, to help visualise former Mayor Ed Koch's complete failure on the AIDS crisis.

My video was made in response to the video promoted by The New York Times, which whitewashes any responsibility or culpability of the AIDS crisis away from former Mayor Ed Koch :

I'd love to hear what folks think ?

Ed Koch, the Closet, Neoliberalism, and AIDS

From The Nation

The instant beatification of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch has a lot of folks itching to do some grave dancing. Leftists will denounce Koch because he was one of the original neoliberal mayors, ushering in a regime of gentrification and finance-driven inequality that defines the city to this day. Minorities regard him with suspicion because he marginalized the city’s black and Hispanic leadership and inflamed racial fault lines to corner the white vote, presaging the Sister Souljah moments that would come to afflict the national Democratic Party. And yet even there, among the new Democrats, Koch was never a stalwart, breaking with the party to endorse George W. Bush for president in 2004 and flirting with the neocons over Israel late in his life.

All that said, there is a special place reserved for Koch in gay hell—because he was mayor during the onset of the AIDS epidemic, which he is widely seen as failing to do enough about, and because it’s commonly assumed that Koch was a closeted gay man. “I hope he’s burning next to Roy Cohn”—or sentiments quite like it—have appeared frequently on my Facebook feed, especially from vets of ACT UP. ...

Read more : Ed Koch and the Cost of the Closet (The Nation)

Ed Koch dies unforgiven by AIDS activists (except by Christine Quinn, who is turning his death into a crass voter outreach opportunity).

@chriscquinn Don't let history sanitize the past. #EdKoch was silent while 1000's of LGBT NY-ers fought and died from AIDS. @tlrd @joemygod

— ACT UP New York (@actupny) February 2, 2013

From Gay Star News :

After lesbian NYC mayoral candidate Christine C. Quinn released a statement calling Koch a 'great mayor' and a 'great man,' LGBT activists pounced. Among those critical of Quinn is Peter Staley, one of the key members of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) whose activism and innovation is credited with playing a crucial role in HIV-AIDS going from a death sentence to a manageable condition with the help of certain drugs.

'I'm supporting Christine Quinn for mayor, but this mass email she just sent out is completely tone deaf to the generation of gay New Yorkers who worked tirelessly to throw (Koch) out of office (and we succeeded),' Staley writes in a Facebook post. 'We will never forget his contemptible legacy of neglect during the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis.'

Read more : Former New York Mayor Ed Koch dies at 88 unforgiven by AIDS activists. Many say he was closeted gay man who didn’t do anything on AIDS when his constituents were dying of disease.

I'm a supporter, but @chriscquinn's mass email is tone deaf to the gen. of gay NYers who fought Koch's AIDS neglect twitter.com/peterstaley/st…

— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) February 1, 2013

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REALITY CHECK : Christine Quinn is not tone deaf. Instead, she is taking for granted that the LGBT community will vote for her. Therefore, she is taking us for granted. She is playing politics with Mayor Koch's AIDS responsibility in order to appeal to voters in the run-up to this election year. When will people wake up to this fact ?

@chriscquinn I'm a bit shocked by this.Koch is a TRAITOR to New Yorkers and Democrats.He can rot in hell for all I care.

— New Yorker (@vesnawasrobbed) February 1, 2013

Ed Koch, 88, Dies - AIDS Controversy - Memorial Tweets

I'm a supporter, but @chriscquinn's mass email is tone deaf to the gen. of gay NYers who fought Koch's AIDS neglect twitter.com/peterstaley/st…

— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) February 1, 2013

Closeted Former NYC Mayor #EdKoch Reviews @surviveaplague joemygod.blogspot.com/2012/10/closet… #HIV #AIDS @actupny @joemygod twitter.com/stopchrisquinn…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) February 1, 2013

Ed Koch did more to spread HIV/AIDS than Patient Zero. This is a disgusting, abhorrent human being who was granted one thing...(cont)

— Kenny Sullivan (@kennysullivan) February 1, 2013

...he denied thousands if his gay citizens: the gift of time.

— Kenny Sullivan (@kennysullivan) February 1, 2013

Ex Mayor #EdKoch died today.Let tens of thousands die from #AIDS, supported @mikebloomberg, @chriscquinn, #RayKelly, and #stopandfrisk. RIP

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) February 1, 2013

The New York Times obit of Ed Koch has ONE fleeting reference to the AIDS epidemic, and nothing about what he did/didn't do. Pathetic.

— Jake S (@JakeMHS) February 1, 2013

Ed Koch's passing is almost as sad as how he ignored the HIV/AIDS crisis in NYC in the 80's.

— Scot Rose (@ScotRoseYaBoat) February 1, 2013

Ed Koch died. Mixed feelings. Sad for his family's loss. Still some anger over how he refused to deal with AIDS crisis.

— Abby, Queen of All (@abby_queenofall) February 1, 2013

Very curious what longtime #AIDS & #gay rights activist Larry Kramer will say on the passing of former NYC Mayor Ed Koch. @surviveaplague

— Ian Thompson (@iantDC) February 1, 2013

NYT's Free Pass to Richard Socarides on DOMA and DADT

From Michael Petrelis :

''What we're never going to see from the Times is an in-depth examination of the public and private records of exactly what Richard Socarides did in his duties to Clinton when DOMA, HIV travel and immigration bans, and DADT were enacted and codified into federal law harming thousands of LGBT persons and people with AIDS.''

Read More : http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2013/01/nyts-free-pass-to-socarides-on-doma.html

Bloomberg AIDS Protesters Arrested

People with AIDS under attack. What do we do ? Act up, fight back !

Nine protesters were arrested during the morning of December 1 for blocking traffic outside Mayor Michael Bloomberg's World AIDS Day Bagel Breakfast at the Brooklyn Public Library, reported The New York Times.

World AIDS Day Bloomberg Bagel Boycott Protest from Housing Works on Vimeo.