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 Never shy in defense of their city, New Yorkers came out swinging
- via social and traditional media - on Friday after the Texas
Republican's comments about "New York values" during a presidential
debate.
Cruz's remarks, aimed as a put-down of campaign rival Donald Trump
during Thursday evening's sour-toned Republican debate, sparked a
backlash from city and upstate dwellers, politicians and ordinary
citizens alike.
James Smith, husband of Moira Smith, a New York police officer who
was killed on 9/11, wrote in a Facebook post: "I invite you to come
to the National 9-11 Memorial and Museum and see for yourself, and
perhaps learn something about, the values of New Yorkers and the
Heroes who defended American values on September 11th, 2001."
One theme emerged in particular as New Yorkers piled in: the idea
that the senator may be less fastidious when it comes to financing
his campaign to be his party's nominee for the November presidential
election.
 "I’m sure Ted Cruz was very negative about New York money," New York
Governor Andrew Cuomo told NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan, calling on Cruz
to apologize to all New Yorkers.
"I’m sure he’s not going to accept any money from any New Yorker.
I’m sure if he has, he’s going to return all of those
contributions," said Cuomo, a Democrat.
Cruz, top challenger to front-runner Trump in the Republican race,
has lately been denouncing "New York values" to try to connect the
real estate mogul to the city's liberalism and to reinforce his own
standing as a conservative.
During Thursday evening's debate, Cruz said on the values issue,
"And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men
and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that
the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or
pro-gay-marriage, focus around money and the media."
Trump responded with an emotional tribute to the resilience his home
city showed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
According to Twitter Inc <TWTR.N> data, that exchange between Cruz
and Trump was the second-most tweeted moment during the debate.
Among tweets shared on Friday was the cover of the New York Daily
News, which curtly told Cruz: "Drop Dead, Ted."
Michael Bruno (@MikeJBruno) tweeted on Friday: “@tedcruz you, sir,
wouldn’t last 2 minutes in New York. We don’t take kindly to people
like you. And that’s our #NewYorkValues.”
Nicholas Dyer (@NicholasDDyer), who identifies himself as a Comedy
Central producer on Twitter, said: "@tedcruz is the kind of guy who
takes his family to the Times Square Applebee's for dinner.
#NewYorkValues." He was referring scathingly to a chain restaurant
that is normally filled with tourists from out of town.
[to top of second column] |
'TOLERANCE, ECCENTRICITY, SLEAZE...'
"My #NewYorkValues: Tolerance, eccentricity, sleaze, pizza, bagels,
dancing, not making eye contact," tweeted Lindsay Goldwert
(@lindsaygoldwert).
Many on Twitter perceived Cruz as having targeted the city's Jewish
and gay communities.
Zack Ford (@ZackFord), the LGBT editor at the progressive blog Think
Progress, tweeted, "So...#NewYorkValues...Do you just pick a state
you know you probably won't win and belittle everyone from it?" He
added, "Cruz knows Trump's not Jewish, right?"
Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) said, "As a Jewish conservative born in
Brooklyn, I proudly have #NewYorkValues.
Some local businesses piggybacked the theme to advertise.
Drama Book Shop, a theater book store in midtown Manhattan, tweeted:
"The #DramaBookShop is proud to have had #NewYorkValues for 99
years."
Others sought to distinguish the politics of the city, which is
liberal and overwhelmingly votes Democratic in presidential
elections, from the rest of the state.
Josephine (@notmyname02) said on Twitter, "Unshackle Upstate New
York. We have nothing to do with New York City values. We have
mid-West values. #NewYorkValues."
To be sure, some thought the backlash against Cruz was not
warranted.
Wesley23 (@50th_President) tweeted: "I still think people are
overreacting to #TedCruz and his #NewYorkValues line. He clearly
meant it was a blue (Democratic) state (and) not very conservative."
It appeared that neither Cruz nor Trump may have benefited from the
exchange.
Overall, conversations about the Republican candidates during the
debate were negative on social media, according to analytics firm
Zoomph.
(Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Dan Burns,
Frances Kerry and Andrew Hay)
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