Effectively downplaying his fumbled response to the coronavirus outbreak in his state, and ignoring the bipartisan calls from state legislatures to investigate why he put infected patients in nursing homes, CBS Sunday Morning host Jane Pauley spent her segment gushes about Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Not only was she dismissive of his critics, but she also appeared to flirt with him while discussing how he was an eligible, sought after bachelor, and pushed him on running for president in 2024.
Though she admitted that New York had a “staggering death toll of 25,000” coronavirus deaths, the most of any state in the country, Pauley proclaimed “Today, Andrew Cuomo is having a moment.”
At one point in her piece, Pauley (via voiceover) recalled how “Cuomo was married for 15 years to Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy. And until last year, was in a long relationship with author and TV chef Sandra Lee, but he is unattached now.”
In the follow-up clip of their sit-down conversation, Pauley giggled as she playfully teased Cuomo about being single with so much to offer a woman:
PAULEY: You are a bachelor, you've got a nice house here, having a moment, and you can't do a thing with it. Is your social life in a phase one relationship, possibly? Is that an unfortunate set of circumstances?
[Laughter]
CUOMO: Well, I think --
PAULEY: I know you're a bachelor. I know. I know you've talked about being available.
CUOMO: Yeah. The house isn't mine, sort of like a rental. I will move out one day. I can reopen the economy, but dating, that's a whole different thing beyond my control.
PAULEY: Pity, isn't it?
If that wasn’t enough, she followed up by pressing Cuomo on his future political machinations, nudging him to run for president in 2024. “Four years from now, either Donald Trump will not run for re-election, or Joe Biden will be 82 and probably there will be a search for a democratic nominee. And I cannot believe that Andrew Cuomo won't be on that stage,” Pauley poked.
When he said he wasn’t interested in running, Pauley literally threw up her hands and huffed about the Cuomo family’s habit of not running for president. “What is it with the Cuomo’s? The fact that your father never ran for president is still, you know, one of the great mysteries of political life,” she said.
And in covering for Cuomo’s disastrous response to the outbreak, she ignored how New York seeded outbreaks in much of the country and refused to ask him why he packed COVID patients into nursing homes. But she fawned for how he “marshaled New Yorkers” (click “expand”):
PAULEY: Cuomo shut down the state. Some say not soon enough.
CUOMO: The curve is actually increasing.
PAULEY: He marshaled New Yorkers to battle the curve.
CUOMO: The virus rate is solely dependent on what you do.
PAULEY: How high and how steep was in their hands.
CUOMO: We slowed the infection rate by our actions.
PAULEY: Do you have a political jujitsu -- You and a handful of other governors asked people to do hard things and got more popular.
CUOMO: Go figure. [Laughter]
Imagine calling yourself a journalist and conducting yourself as Pauley did. Embarrassing.
Pauley's gross interview was sponsored by advertizing from Blue dog food.
The transcript is below click "expand" to read:
CBS Sunday Morning
June 21, 2020
9:11:09 a.m. Eastern(…)
JANE PAULEY: Today, Andrew Cuomo is having a moment. Despite being the global epicenter of the COVID crisis this spring, suffering a staggering death toll of 25,000 --
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It was a silent explosion that just ripples through society.
PAULEY: New Yorkers give their governor an approval rating of nearly 80 percent.
(…)
PAULEY: Cuomo shut down the state. Some say not soon enough.
CUOMO: The curve is actually increasing.
PAULEY: He marshaled New Yorkers to battle the curve.
CUOMO: The virus rate is solely dependent on what you do.
PAULEY: How high and how steep was in their hands.
CUOMO: We slowed the infection rate by our actions.
PAULEY: Do you have a political jujitsu -- You and a handful of other governors asked people to do hard things and got more popular.
CUOMO: Go figure. [Laughter]
(…)
This was a frightening period. People were afraid for their life, literally. How do I keep my elderly parents safe?
PAULEY: You personally?
CUOMO: I felt that also. And I wanted to connect with the people I was talking to.
PAULEY: And talk he did.
CUOMO: Today is day 56.
PAULEY: From March 2nd until just last Friday.
CUOMO: From worst to first. We car controlling the virus better than any state in the country.
PAULEY: 111 daily briefings kept New Yorkers informed and riveted.
(…)
PAULEY: He called on another New Yorker: President Trump, also from queens. Some say that's where the similarities end.
CUOMO: I said to the President, "There is only one truth: My state needs help, every state needs help. This is a federal crisis, and if you shirk your federal responsibility, I will say that." And I was true to that. The President sent in the army corps of engineers, and we built temporary hospitals all across the state. And he sent in the U.S. Navy Ship Comfort. He did that.
PAULEY: But in Cuomo’s view, could have and should have done more.
(…)
PAULEY: Cuomo was married for 15 years to Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy. And until last year, was in a long relationship with author and TV chef Sandra Lee, but he is unattached now.
You are a bachelor, you've got a nice house here, having a moment, and you can't do a thing with it. Is your social life in a phase one relationship, possibly? Is that an unfortunate set of circumstances?
[Laughter]
CUOMO: Well, I think --
PAULEY: I know you're a bachelor. I know. I know you've talked about being available.
CUOMO: Yeah. The house isn't mine, sort of like a rental. I will move out one day. I can reopen the economy, but dating, that's a whole different thing beyond my control.
PAULEY: Pity, isn't it?
[Laughter]
PAULEY: I find it really hard to accept, after decades in government, you don't have a political agenda in your future that's on the back of your mind. Four years from now, either Donald Trump will not run for re-election, or Joe Biden will be 82 and probably there will be a search for a democratic nominee. And I cannot believe that Andrew Cuomo won't be on that stage.
CUOMO: Joe Biden is going to be the president of the United States, I believe that. I believe Joe Biden will run for a second term.
PAULEY: At 82?
CUOMO: Yes. And I hope to be the governor of the State of New York. I have something to contribute. This is my home. I love it. And I'm happy.
PAULEY: What is it with the Cuomo’s? The fact that your father never ran for president is still, you know, one of the great mysteries of political life. What does your mother say?
CUOMO: We haven't had that conversation.
PAULEY: Really?
CUOMO: Really.
