Text Size

Email Post

Print Post

Comments (12)

Save Article

New York, NY - Mayor Michael Bloomberg predicted that the controversy swirling around the proposal to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero will end after the midterm elections because it’s driven by politicians intent on polarizing voters.

“This whole issue, I think, will go away right after the next election,” Bloomberg said Thursday evening during an interview on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

“This is plain and simple people trying to stir up things to get publicity and trying to polarize people so that they can get some votes,” Bloomberg added. “And I don’t think that most of these people who are yelling and screaming really care one way or another.”

In his first appearance on the show in eight years, the mayor spent much of the interview earnestly defending the planned mosque and Islamic cultural center two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “Whether you like the mosque or don’t like the mosque, you don’t have to go,” he said. “There’s already another mosque down there within four block of the World Trade Center. There’s porno places, there’s fast-food places. It’s a vibrant community. It’s New York.”

Stewart praised the mayor for his eloquent remarks but asked, “Why did you have to look at me when you said porno places?

Bloomberg replied, “I wanted to make it relevant.”

Stewart, thinking outside the box, floated a proposal of his own for a new religious institution. The funnyman said he wanted to build a reform synagogue inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“If you talk to the archbishop he might be amenable to that,” Bloomberg said. “He said that he wants to bring people together.”

Stewart opened his questioning of the mayor with what he described as an “emotional super-charged issue that everyone in the city is talking about.”

The proposed mosque? Nope. The sliced bagel tax.

As The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week, state officials have begun to ramp up enforcement of sales taxes on bagels. The tax is only applied to bagels that are sliced, prepared with toppings, or eaten in the store.

Stewart said the law is “anti-Semitic” and he suggested it unfairly penalizes downstate residents, who eat lots of bagels.

“You can’t even get a bagel upstate,” the mayor joked, before promising to move this issue involving bagels to the top of his third-term policy agenda.

The show is scheduled to air in New York at 11 p.m. Thursday. A video of the show will be available online at the Daily Show’s website early Friday morning.

In the meantime, here’s a rough transcript of Stewart’s interview with the mayor:

Stewart: Nice to see you.

Bloomberg: Thank you for having me.

Stewart: We’re honored. As a matter of fact, you know, I don’t get a lot of sitting dignitaries. If you don’t mind, I just want to get just a quick autograph.

Bloomberg: Sure.

Stewart: Right on the line there. That would be great. I really appreciate that.

(Bloomberg is seen signing something)

Stewart: That’s terrific. That’s terrific. That will be great. Don’t worry – I’ll put my name on it.

(The gimmick is Stewart is getting the mayor to sign a parking pass. A piece of paper flashes quickly across the screen that says something about an all access five borough parking pass.)

Stewart: Thank YOU!

Bloomberg: Did you see what name I put on it?

Stewart: What did you put on it?

Bloomberg: Jon Stewart.

Stewart: Bloomberg! I thought I had you on that one. Damn it.

Bloomberg: What else did you want?

Stewart (looking resigned): Nothing.

Stewart: I want to wade in, let’s wade in immediately on what is obviously an emotional super-charged issue that everyone in the city is talking about: this sliced bagel tax.

(laughter)

Stewart: Apparently, New York State has passed an 8 cent tax. If you get a bagel regular…

Bloomberg: With a schmear…

Stewart: But if you get it sliced, they add 9 cents, 8 cents, 9 cents. What if, how can that be?

Bloomberg: That’s the state legislature, they can do anything…(mayor suggests it’s not the craziest thing they’ve done….)

Stewart: But this is clearly A, anti-Semitic?

(laughter)

Stewart: Who likes bagels more than us? And, B, they’re penalizing in a terrible way downstate New York. Upstate New York, the bagels…

Bloomberg: You can’t even get a bagel upstate.

Stewart: That’s what I’m talking about.

Bloomberg: That’s why they didn’t tax them upstate. They only taxed ‘em down here.

Stewart: Can you fight?

Bloomberg: This is one of the causes I’m going to work on for my next three-and-a-half years. (laughter) One of the big things I’m taking on.

Stewart: Obviously, the mosque, the Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan has caused an awful lot of kerfuffle, for lack of a better word. You have spoken out very eloquently in favor of people being able to do what they’re able to do on private property. Is that your feeling?

Bloomberg: When I went to school, I, we studied the constitution. It says you have a right to say what you want to say, which means pray to whomever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. And it’s just not the government’s business to tell you what to say. You went on and on about Glen Beck. (The opening of the show focused on Beck.) He has a right to say anything he wants. That’s what great about America. And people say, well, in Saudi Arabia you can’t build a church. Yes. That’s the difference (between) being in Saudi Arabia and America. And I, it’s just plain and simple that. Whether you like the mosque or don’t like the mosque, you don’t have to go. There’s already another mosque down there within four block of the World Trade Center. There’s porno places, there’s fast-food places. It’s a vibrant community. It’s New York. (applause)

Stewart: Why did you have to look at me when you said porno places?

(laughter)

Stewart: I thought it was a very eloquent defense and, then, suddenly you looked up, like…

Bloomberg: Well, I wanted to make it relevant. (laughter)

Stewart: Because I was thinking and, again, I don’t know if you’re going to support this or not. I would like to build a synagogue, reform, in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. (laughter)

Bloomberg: I think if you talk to the archbishop he might be amenable to that. He said that he wants to bring people together. He wants to find another place for the mosque.

Stewart: All right.

Bloomberg: Maybe he would find another place for your temple.

Stewart: Did this tick you off right now, the sensitivities about that site. Everyone knows - the emotions run so high, the families of victims, the people that were traumatized throughout it. Everyone in New York, the people in the country, how do you bridge that emotional gap? How do you be sensitive to people who feel that site is protected and yet still abide by?

Bloomberg: Well, number one, The New York Times wrote about this mosque a year ago. Laura Ingram did a show about it, or mentioned it on one of her shows, and said she was in favor of it. This mosque has been operating for over a year. There is nothing new year. The difference is we’re in an election season. And this whole issue, I think, will go away right after the next election. This is plain and simple people trying to stir up things to get publicity and trying to polarize people so that they can get some votes. And I don’t think that most of these people who are yelling and screaming really care one way or another. The family members, they do care. And the family members that I’ve talked to, and I’m chairman of the board of The World Trade Center Memorial, 100% in favor of saying these people who want to build a mosque, can build a mosque, that the lives of our loved ones were taken because the right to build a mosque or to say what you want to say was so threatening to people. In fact, my girlfriend and I were having dinner last week, and this guy comes up to me…a big hulking okay. And I said, ‘OK, I don’t need this.”

Stewart: Comparatively….He’s like 5 9” (laughter)

Bloomberg: And he said, ‘I want to talk about the mosque.’ And I’m thinking it’s going to ruin my hamburger. I got a hamburger and a pickle and a potato chip or something. And he said, ‘Let me just tell you. I just got back from two tours fighting overseas for America. This is what we were all fighting for. You go and keep at it.’

(applause)

Stewart: Unfortunately, I’m sure, there are veterans who fought over there who feel we shouldn’t. I’m sure there are family members, maybe you haven’t heard of them, who feel we shouldn’t.

Bloomberg: Absolutely.

Stewart: Unfortunately, you have to divorce emotion from principle, to some extent, and that can’t always be an easy job for an elected official. If you were running for reelection would you feel that you were in a different position?

Bloomberg: I think I should speak out even more if I were running for re-election because I think the public wants people that, they want people to say, candidates to do, is say what they believe. They want people to be genuine, even if they don’t agree with them. And I think, you know, saying one thing today and a different thing tomorrow is not exactly a great ways to build a career and certainly not good government.

Stewart: …it was first about the sensitivities of the spot, now it’s moved to where’s the financing coming from, who are the people behind this operation.

Bloomberg: We would not ask that if somebody was trying to build a temple or a church. Plain and simple.

Stewart: Illegality is illegality. If people are on a terrorist list, they’re..

Bloomberg: Plain and simple.

Stewart: Whether they want to build a mosque or a video arcade.

Bloomberg: Look, there are a lot of people who’ve said things that I don’t agree with. But if I want to be able to say what I believe, I’ve got to let you say what you believe, even if I violently disagree with them, even if I find it despicable.

Stewart: Again, I thought you looked at me, which I thought was interesting.

Bloomberg: Eh, most of your stuff’s fine. (laughter) Your writers are good anyway…(I’d) question the delivery.

(crosstalk…didn’t get…)

Stewart: Well, I appreciate you doing it. And I’m looking forward, we’re having a dinner for your foundation, coming up.

Bloomberg: Good.

Stewart: You didn’t know that?’

Bloomberg: I did not know that.

Stewart: You’re the chairman of the dinner.

Bloomberg: Well, yes, you’re doing this for us.

Stewart: I know!

Bloomberg: I want you to know something. You know, how much I know about this?

Stewart: (can’t make out…cross talk)

Bloomberg: Time out. You are so popular, it’s been sold out.

Stewart: Is that true?

Bloomberg: Absolutely. We don’t have any more tables, which means we underpriced them.

Stewart: Underpriced them.

Bloomberg: No, we’re going to raise a lot of money that night. It’s going to be great.

Stewart: Sir, thank you so much..

Bloomberg: All the best.

Stewart: for coming by. Really appreciate

Bloomberg: And thank you for standing up for what’s right.

Stewart: Thank you, Sir. Mayor Michael Bloomberg