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George Pataki | Former Governor of New York Previews Tonight's Only Blakeman vs. Hochul Gubernatorial Debate · Sid & Friends In The Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: Governor, the great governor, the best governor, George Pataki and
0:03
Speaker 1: his wife, and pretty much put the whole thing together.
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Speaker 1: And he joins me again here on Sid and Friends
0:08
Speaker 1: in the morning. It's a pleasure to have him.
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Speaker 2: Mr.
0:10
Speaker 1: Governor, welcome back. How are you, my friend?
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Speaker 3: Good morning, Sid. I'm doing great. It's great to be
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Speaker 3: on with you again.
0:17
Speaker 1: It's so nice to have you back here and seeing
0:19
Speaker 1: you and your beautiful wife a couple of weeks ago
0:21
Speaker 1: was great, too. Let me start with this because it
0:23
Speaker 1: was made very, very public that You may have come
0:26
Speaker 1: down with something being down by the towers on 9-11.
0:30
Speaker 1: You weren't feeling very well. So how are you feeling?
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Speaker 3: I'm feeling pretty good. You know, I have lung issues
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Speaker 3: from ground zero and 99 percent of the time they
0:41
Speaker 3: don't bother me at all at all. But in the fall,
0:44
Speaker 3: you know, when the climate changes.
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Speaker 2: There.
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Speaker 3: This is nothing. So I'm really just lucky to be
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Speaker 3: as healthy as I am and lucky to be a
0:57
Speaker 3: New Yorker and an American.
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Speaker 1: God bless you. Let me rewind the clock to last month, 9-11.
1:02
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about it on this show every
1:04
Speaker 1: day for months. I did the best I could to
1:06
Speaker 1: keep the mayor away from that site that day. I'm
1:08
Speaker 1: sorry I couldn't get it done, Mr. Governor. But at
1:11
Speaker 1: any rate, you were there. When you're standing there and
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Speaker 1: you're looking at the Freedom Tower and you're hearing the
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Speaker 1: The names of all these beautiful New Yorkers that perished
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Speaker 1: that day. Did you go, wait a second, 25 years?
1:27
Speaker 1: This still feels like yesterday.
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Speaker 3: You know, absolutely, Sid. You know, it just does feel
1:32
Speaker 3: like yesterday. And I think for all of us who
1:34
Speaker 3: were there that day, that'll be that way. And not
1:38
Speaker 3: just 25 years later, 55 years later, we're going to
1:41
Speaker 3: feel that way. You know, it was just such a
1:43
Speaker 3: horrific event. And you just had such... a sense of
1:48
Speaker 3: pain for those who lost their loved ones. Seeing the
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Speaker 3: family members there, and most of them have been there
1:54
Speaker 3: 25 straight years. And for them, that sense of loss
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Speaker 3: will never go away. You don't forget your son or
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Speaker 3: your daughter, your mother, your father. It's just something that
2:05
Speaker 3: will live with you forever. And so, yeah, it's 25
2:08
Speaker 3: years later, but it sure doesn't seem like it.
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Speaker 1: One of the great love stories, I think, in the
2:12
Speaker 1: history of politics is you and Rudy. I'm not breaking
2:15
Speaker 1: any secrets here. You guys don't like each other very much, okay?
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Speaker 1: But you were adults, and after 9-11, you knew that
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Speaker 1: for New York to come back, the governor and the mayor...
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Speaker 1: Had to get along. I wish de Blasio and Adams
2:30
Speaker 1: and Cuomo and de Blasio, all these other people I
2:32
Speaker 1: should say, Cuomo and de Blasio, they did the same
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Speaker 1: thing during COVID. They didn't, okay? But you guys did.
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Speaker 1: You guys did. And now you guys love each other.
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Speaker 1: I see you there with Rudy on 9-11. It's a
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Speaker 1: great love story, no?
2:46
Speaker 3: Well, absolutely. And what you said, I think, is so critical.
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Speaker 3: It doesn't matter what your personal feelings are or what
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Speaker 3: your politics are. When you're in the midst of a crisis,
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Speaker 3: you just put everything aside and focus on dealing with
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Speaker 3: whoever you have to to get that crisis behind you.
3:03
Speaker 3: And that's what Rudy and I did. And I don't
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Speaker 3: think anyone could have put together a better response in
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Speaker 3: those horrible times than we did. And New Yorkers... uh
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Speaker 3: should be proud and i think americans should be proud
3:15
Speaker 3: too and you know you mentioned de brazio and cuomo
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Speaker 3: and i was watching the covid disaster and they just
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Speaker 3: wouldn't even talk to each other they'd say the opposite
3:24
Speaker 3: thing an hour apart one would say up the other
3:27
Speaker 3: one would say down and in a crisis you just
3:30
Speaker 3: don't do that you know you don't have to like
3:32
Speaker 3: each other but you're leaders and a leader has to
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Speaker 3: understand the responsibilities to solve the problem not to hold
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Speaker 3: a grudge and uh Sadly, with COVID, we didn't see that.
3:42
Speaker 3: But with Rudy and I and with President Bush at
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Speaker 3: the time, it was all just we're going to do
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Speaker 3: what we have to do. And that's the way government
3:49
Speaker 3: should function literally every day. But sadly, it doesn't.
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Speaker 1: No, it doesn't. So there's a new documentary coming out.
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Speaker 1: And thank you for the invite. Danielle and I are
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Speaker 1: very happy that you did. It's called Out of the Darkness.
4:01
Speaker 1: And tell folks all about that and what they can
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Speaker 1: expect to see when they see that.
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Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you, it's the story of how Ground
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Speaker 3: Zero got rebuilt. And you mentioned, you know, standing there
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Speaker 3: September 11th and looking around and seeing the Freedom Tower. And,
4:14
Speaker 3: you know, people take for granted that, oh, you know,
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Speaker 3: this is what was going to get built after September 11th.
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Speaker 3: It didn't work that way. It was obviously the most
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Speaker 3: emotional sight in the world. And millions of people not
4:29
Speaker 3: just had an opinion, they had a very strong opinion.
4:31
Speaker 3: There were a lot of just competing ideals. And so
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Speaker 3: this tells the story of how we ended up doing
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Speaker 3: what we did, particularly the Levis Master Site Plan, which has...
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Speaker 3: The park, the mall, the voids, the Freedom Tower, the
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Speaker 3: rising buildings, the museum, all those elements that were a
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Speaker 3: critical part of Leviskin's master site plan. And it's an
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Speaker 3: interesting story because the group that I had created to
5:01
Speaker 3: decide what was going to be built down there were
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Speaker 3: picking a different plan. And it would have been a catastrophe.
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Speaker 3: They had two giant skeletons where the towers had stood.
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Speaker 3: And I just went down that morning and said, hey,
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Speaker 3: you can't do this. You know, this is a disaster.
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Speaker 3: And to their credit, even though I'd given them the
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Speaker 3: authority to decide, they just set aside their own views
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Speaker 3: and said, okay, we're going to go with your idea.
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Speaker 3: And that's what we have at Ground Zero. And this
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Speaker 3: is what that documentary tells the story of.
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Speaker 1: Wow, that is unbelievable. And wasn't there a time... When
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Speaker 1: they were going to build a big mosque down there. Now, listen,
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Speaker 1: I'm not going after the Muslim people.
5:39
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
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Speaker 1: But they knocked down the buildings.
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Speaker 3: I don't feel bad, Seth. I think he was a
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Speaker 3: radical Islamist who wanted to build a mosque right across
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Speaker 3: the street. And actually, Mayor Bloomberg wasn't against it, but
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Speaker 3: I just thought it was nuts and said so out
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Speaker 3: loud that this is ridiculous. And ultimately, the whole idea
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Speaker 3: fell apart. And we don't have a mosque, but we
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Speaker 3: have St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which had been there
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Speaker 3: and had been destroyed on September 11th. And it's been rebuilt.
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Speaker 3: And it's just a wonderful place and it's open to
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Speaker 3: people of all faiths or no faith to just go
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Speaker 3: in and reflect on that day and on the beauty
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Speaker 3: of the world we live in. So it turned out
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Speaker 3: the right way. It wasn't always going to be that,
6:28
Speaker 3: but it turned out the right way.
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Speaker 1: One more on 9-11, Mr. Governor George Pataki. What a
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Speaker 1: wonderful man this guy is. You know, if I would
6:35
Speaker 1: have told you 25 years ago that Mamdani would be
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Speaker 1: the mayor, not because he's Muslim, necessarily, necessarily. but certainly
6:42
Speaker 1: because he's radical Islam, okay? And he's got friends who
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Speaker 1: are co-conspirators, alleged co-conspirators in the 93 World Trade Center bombing.
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Speaker 1: He's buddies with Hassan Piker, who did say America deserved 9-11.
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Speaker 1: I don't care that he apologized since. It means nothing
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Speaker 1: to me. He said what he meant. A couple of
7:01
Speaker 1: years ago, I can run down the whole list. Chevalier,
7:04
Speaker 1: who he endorsed, she hates America. All these people. If
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Speaker 1: I would have said to you 25 years ago, Mamdani
7:10
Speaker 1: was going to be the mayor, I hate the guy's guts.
7:13
Speaker 1: You said don't feel bad, Sid, moments ago. I don't
7:15
Speaker 1: feel bad about that. I hate the guy's guts. He's
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Speaker 1: the last person in the world that should be our mayor.
7:21
Speaker 1: Do you feel any differently?
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Speaker 3: No, I really don't. And forget his religion. It's his politics,
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Speaker 3: his belief. First, I think he's anti-Semitic. And I think
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Speaker 3: he doesn't go out of his way to hide that.
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Speaker 3: And that is just outrageous when we see anti-Semitism spreading
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Speaker 3: across not just New York, but the country and the world.
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Speaker 3: So that's strike number one. Two, his view, his friends
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Speaker 3: hate America. It's not like they want to change America.
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Speaker 3: They want America to be fundamentally changed from the freedom-loving
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Speaker 3: country that we grew up in and that people died
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Speaker 3: to protect to a country where they tell us how
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Speaker 3: to live our lives and live us in a neo-Marxist,
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Speaker 3: communist way. And so I think it's just very sad
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Speaker 3: for New York and America. I just hope that enough
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Speaker 3: people stand up to him in government, not just those
8:20
Speaker 3: of us who are outside government, and say, look, this
8:22
Speaker 3: is too much. We can't do this. And, you know,
8:26
Speaker 3: now there's a controversy about Police Commissioner Tisch. She is
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Speaker 3: the one thing standing between us and chaos on the
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Speaker 3: streets of New York, in my view. And thank God
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Speaker 3: she is there.
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Speaker 1: I agree. I love her. And the DSA want him
8:39
Speaker 1: to fire her because... You know, she's not going out
8:42
Speaker 1: there and trying to keep ice out of every building.
8:45
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you got performers like this kid,
8:48
Speaker 1: Harry Styles, at Madison Square Garden, dedicating one of his
8:52
Speaker 1: most popular songs to Oscar Belgal. Now, I know I
8:56
Speaker 1: shot him, okay? And I don't know what happened before
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Speaker 1: that that led to that. And there was a kid
9:00
Speaker 1: in the car. I don't love that. But the truth is,
9:03
Speaker 1: how about the fact that this guy is an illegal
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Speaker 1: with a long rap sheet, part of a violent gang?
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Speaker 1: Why would you dedicate a song to that creep?
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Speaker 3: You know, I think it's just anti-Americanism. And really what
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Speaker 3: it is is that, you know.
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Speaker 1: We have.
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Speaker 3: almost a generation of young people who went to college
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Speaker 3: where they were taught by their professors what a horrible
9:26
Speaker 3: country this is. And you just saw it the other
9:28
Speaker 3: day with Columbus Day. You know, I mean, Columbus changed
9:32
Speaker 3: the world by opening up the Western Hemisphere to European influences.
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Speaker 3: And look what was created from that. Yet all of
9:43
Speaker 3: a sudden, you know, hey, you can't even mention his name,
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Speaker 3: let alone have a statue. And this is just, part
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Speaker 3: of a sad trend where for a generation we've had
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Speaker 3: universities brainwashing Americans that this is a horrible country. It's not.
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Speaker 3: This is a great country. There's never been a country
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Speaker 3: that has achieved what we have, the freedoms we have,
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Speaker 3: the diversity we have, the economic growth we have, and
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Speaker 3: yet they just see everything bad about America. And the
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Speaker 3: point man for this whole thing, in my view, is Mondami,
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Speaker 3: who thinks... and wants others to believe that this is
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Speaker 3: a terrible country. It's not. We have our problems, but
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Speaker 3: this is the greatest country this world has ever seen. Agreed.
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Speaker 1: I think you're right, too. Here's the point, man. So
10:27
Speaker 1: the last time we had a great governor in our
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Speaker 1: state was you. I mean, I'm not patronizing you because
10:33
Speaker 1: you're on the phone right now. You know, I love you.
10:35
Speaker 1: And I don't think it's a coincidence, George Pataki, that
10:38
Speaker 1: you were Republican. We haven't had a Republican governor since.
10:43
Speaker 1: and it's been one disaster after another. Lately, Cuomo and Hochul,
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Speaker 1: I mean, really, two huge disasters. So I say to people,
10:51
Speaker 1: Bruce Flakeman can win. Look, I just spoke to Bob Holden, Democrat,
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Speaker 1: city council, voting for Bruce. Bonnie Lautenberg, Frank Lautenberg, famous
11:01
Speaker 1: Democrat politician, she's voting for Bruce. The actress, Deborah Messing,
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Speaker 1: hates Trump, she's voting for Bruce. So maybe, just maybe,
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Speaker 1: even Democrats who vote for Bruce in big numbers, George,
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Speaker 1: in Nassau County, maybe they're starting to figure out this
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Speaker 1: Democrat leadership is not getting it done. What do you think?
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Speaker 3: I totally agree. You just made what to me is
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Speaker 3: the critical point for Bruce's campaign, and that is Democrats.
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Speaker 3: And there's the debate tonight. And if I'm Bruce, I
11:32
Speaker 3: make a blatant appeal to Democratic voters. You can't win
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Speaker 3: in New York with Republican voters alone. You have to
11:38
Speaker 3: get over a million Democrats to say, hey, I'm willing
11:42
Speaker 3: to give a Republican a chance. And Bruce has the
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Speaker 3: record as Nassau County executive. He's not just some legislator
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Speaker 3: who says things. He's an executive who's done things. And
11:53
Speaker 3: done a tremendous job. Nassau County is the safest county
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Speaker 3: in America, I believe. And it's doing very well. And
11:58
Speaker 3: he hasn't allowed him to raise taxes. So tonight, if
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Speaker 3: I were Bruce, I'd just blatantly appeal to Democrats and say, hey, look,
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Speaker 3: you're a Democrat. You're inclined to vote Democrat. But look
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Speaker 3: what has happened in this state. Our taxes are too high.
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Speaker 3: Our energy bills, our utility bills that you get every
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Speaker 3: month are through the roof. You know, we have mentally
12:16
Speaker 3: ill homeless out on the street, you know, with horrible
12:20
Speaker 3: consequences to people who just want to go about living
12:23
Speaker 3: their lives. And we have to change and we're not
12:26
Speaker 3: going to change unless you give me a chance. So
12:28
Speaker 3: hopefully the voters and particularly Democrats will take a look
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Speaker 3: and say, let's give them a chance.
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Speaker 1: And he's got that success already. Nassau County, mostly Democrat.
12:37
Speaker 1: He wins easily. Mike Lawler, mostly Democrat, as you know.
12:41
Speaker 1: Governor Pataki, he won a couple times in a row
12:43
Speaker 1: in Rockland County. When you last ran and won, I
12:47
Speaker 1: would imagine you were kind of in the same boat, yes? Well, sure.
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Speaker 3: I had to get way over a million Democrats to
12:53
Speaker 3: vote for me just to win by one vote.
12:55
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you then, how did you do that?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, just what I'm saying that Bruce should be doing,
13:02
Speaker 3: and that's to appeal to Democrats on the issues, not
13:05
Speaker 3: by changing your policies, not by changing your philosophy. You know,
13:08
Speaker 3: who wants higher taxes?
13:10
Speaker 1: Nobody.
13:11
Speaker 3: Democrats or Republicans. Bruce is going to lower taxes. Who
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Speaker 3: cannot take a look at their electric bill every month
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Speaker 3: and say, this is ridiculous? And it is. And Bruce
13:19
Speaker 3: has said he's going to lower the electric bill. You
13:22
Speaker 3: see these horrible incidents where in the middle of the day,
13:26
Speaker 3: a young woman who has a child and a career
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Speaker 3: gets stabbed to death in Times Square. We need to
13:32
Speaker 3: get the mentally ill homeless off the streets. These are
13:35
Speaker 3: not Republican or Democratic issues. These are common sense issues.
13:39
Speaker 3: And you focus on those and get enough Democrats to say,
13:43
Speaker 3: you know, he's right. And just one last thing. You
13:47
Speaker 3: know who runs the Democratic Party in New York State?
13:50
Speaker 3: It's not the state party chairman. It's not Governor Hochul.
13:54
Speaker 3: It's Mondami. He is the– I mean, he's not going
13:58
Speaker 3: to claim that title, but if Albany is the same
14:03
Speaker 3: come November– he's going to come out of his hiding
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Speaker 3: and demand all sorts of radical changes that will hurt
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Speaker 3: this state. You know, he's not doing it before the
14:13
Speaker 3: election because he's smart enough to know that the people
14:16
Speaker 3: don't want higher taxes, don't want to drive more people
14:19
Speaker 3: out of this state. But come November, if things don't change,
14:22
Speaker 3: Mondemi's going to be up there making demands. And the
14:25
Speaker 3: Democratic legislators just don't have the strength to stand up.
14:29
Speaker 3: And they're going to give him what he wants if
14:30
Speaker 3: we don't get to change things in November.
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Speaker 1: I agree with you. So just to build on that,
14:34
Speaker 1: then we'll call it quits here. You've been amazing as always, George.
14:37
Speaker 1: When you run against any Democrat in this, for example,
14:41
Speaker 1: Michael Petri, he's running against Tom Suozzi. Well, he's running
14:44
Speaker 1: against Suozzi and Mamdani, even though it's Long Islander. You know,
14:47
Speaker 1: Bruce Blakeman is running against Hochul and Mamdani. But what
14:51
Speaker 1: Bruce is going to find out tonight is, is that
14:54
Speaker 1: all Governor Hochul cares about is Trump. Every time she
15:00
Speaker 1: can't win an argument, because I just saw Letitia James
15:03
Speaker 1: do this against Siritha a couple nights ago. Anytime she
15:06
Speaker 1: can't win an argument, she's going to bring up President Trump.
15:09
Speaker 1: I'm sure Bruce Blakeman is ready for that. What do
15:13
Speaker 1: you think?
15:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're absolutely right. All across the country, you see
15:18
Speaker 3: these horrible Democratic candidates who have nothing to run on.
15:22
Speaker 3: And all they do is say, you're Trump. And what
15:26
Speaker 3: I would say is, Bruce, this isn't about Donald Trump.
15:29
Speaker 3: This is about New York State. And you're using this
15:31
Speaker 3: to try to hide behind the fact that, look at
15:35
Speaker 3: the record of what's happened over the last four years,
15:37
Speaker 3: and look at your vision for the next four years.
15:39
Speaker 1: What have you.
15:40
Speaker 3: Outlined you're going to do for New York over the
15:42
Speaker 3: next four years? Think about it for a minute.
15:45
Speaker 1: No, nothing.
15:45
Speaker 3: And so this isn't about, it's not about Donald Trump.
15:49
Speaker 3: It's about New York state. And that's the message that
15:52
Speaker 3: if I were Bruce, I would respond to those attacks.
15:55
Speaker 1: But Nick, he will do that. Absolutely. Listen, you're a
15:57
Speaker 1: great man. And we love Libby too. And it's great
16:00
Speaker 1: seeing you a couple of weeks ago and a great
16:02
Speaker 1: job on this program today. Please keep coming back. George Pataki,
16:06
Speaker 1: you are the best. God bless you.
16:08
Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Sid. Thanks for having me on.
16:10
Speaker 1: Come on. It's an honor. It's an honor. What a
16:13
Speaker 1: great man that is right there, folks. That's a governor.
16:15
Speaker 1: That's a governor right there. George Pataki here on Sid
16:20
Speaker 1: and Friends in the morning.
16:22
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16:25
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16:27
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16:50
Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here?