“There is a phrase that we used to use [when I was governor] for staff that acted this way, and it’s called ‘we know better,'†said Paterson. “‘Yeah, Governor Paterson, he knows some things, but we know better.’ ‘Yeah, President Trump has done some good things, but then he acts out, and we know better.’â€
Ouch.
Do you know who else this is a potshot against? Andrew Cuomo. Reminder: in 2009, as Paterson was wrapping up his interim term as Governor after Spitzer resigned, certain figures in the state Democratic Party forced Paterson to drop his election bid for a full term. The polls were fast and furious: Paterson was in danger of losing to a Republican (who turned out to be Carl Paladino), but Cuomo would beat any challenger handily. Yet Cuomo (at the time the attorney general) played coy, refusing to run unless Paterson stepped aside.
Paterson's basically accusing Cuomo of orchestrating his own Machiavellian rise to the top by way of the New York deep state. He's probably right.
