Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / WOR weekend host and former Westchester County executive Rob Astorino interview

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WOR weekend host and former Westchester County executive Rob Astorino interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Rob Bassarino, our colleague on the line, you can hear
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: him here at 710 WOR, Saturdays 4 to 5, and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I know a lot of what he's going to be
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  Speaker 1: talking about. We'll deal with the little hors d'oeuvres that
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  Speaker 1: we give him now, Larry. Rob, first up, back-to-back, belly-to-belly,
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  Speaker 1: two polls that reflected on the gubernatorial race between Bruce
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  Speaker 1: Blakeman and Governor Hochul.
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  Speaker 2: One, I thought was very good, Sienna.
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  Speaker 1: The second, from Larry's former alumni, Quinnipiac, that's where he went,
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  Speaker 1: not so good. When you pulled out the tabs and
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  Speaker 1: you looked at all the analytics, what conclusions did you
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  Speaker 1: come to?
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  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, let's throw the Quinnipiac poll out.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, it was a garbage poll, never should
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  Speaker 3: have even been published. And why?
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  Speaker 1: Why?
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  Speaker 3: Because they vastly undersampled Republicans. They had 21% of their
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  Speaker 3: respondents are Republicans across the state. That is not a
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: gubernatorial turnout for Republicans. It's up in the upper 20s.
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  Speaker 3: And that's exactly where Siena was. So they have a
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  Speaker 3: better snapshot. And I send my money to Quinnipiac. My
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  Speaker 3: daughter goes there. I should demand a refund if this
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  Speaker 3: is what they're doing. But anyway, so I'm not even
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  Speaker 3: going to touch the Q poll because I think it
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  Speaker 3: is garbage. The Siena poll, I think, is a lot
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  Speaker 3: more likely. And there's a lot of good news in
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  Speaker 3: there for Bruce Blakeman. The people in this state think
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  Speaker 3: we are going in the wrong direction in this state.
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  Speaker 3: And that has nothing to do with nationally. They just
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  Speaker 3: think the state's going in the wrong direction. And that's
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  Speaker 3: even worse for Hopewell than it was in August. So
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  Speaker 3: that's very, very helpful because that's always a big indicator.
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  Speaker 3: And the suburbs and upstate especially think we're going in
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  Speaker 3: the wrong direction. So that's helpful to Blakeman. When you
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  Speaker 3: look at the numbers, Hochul is doing very, very well.
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  Speaker 3: It's what's propping her up with women. She's up 23
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  Speaker 3: points with women. So that's an area that Blakeman's got
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: to cut into. And if he does, I think he's
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  Speaker 3: sitting in a good spot because he's up with independence.
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  Speaker 3: He's getting about 27% right now in New York City.
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  Speaker 3: He's got to climb to about 30, a little over 30.
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  Speaker 3: And he's in a great spot to win. Here's the thing, though.
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  Speaker 3: This is what drives me nuts about people in New York.
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  Speaker 3: Affordability is their number one issue. And they think Hochul
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  Speaker 3: and the Democrats who have given us the unaffordability would
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: do a better job.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's insane.
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  Speaker 3: So the messaging for Blakeman has to keep pounding on
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  Speaker 3: this is the woman who has made it completely unaffordable
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  Speaker 3: for us. We'll keep going that way if you reelect her.
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  Speaker 3: I'm the guy. I mean, that's got to be the
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  Speaker 3: message because that's really the biggest issue here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's on point right now.
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  Speaker 4: I thought that he wobbled when he first came out,
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  Speaker 4: but man, he's really on point now. I've watched a
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: few interviews with him and he's doing exactly what you said.
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  Speaker 4: You know, anytime they bring up anything, AI databases, the
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  Speaker 4: war in Iran, he goes back to taxes and utility bills,
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  Speaker 4: taxes and utility bills. So he's really on message right now.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know if you were a part of that,
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  Speaker 4: but he's been impressive now for like the last week.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if his polls inspired him or what.
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  Speaker 2: Do you agree?
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  Speaker 3: Totally. And, you know, I remember when I was running
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  Speaker 3: in 2009 in Westchester, which is a very Democratic county,
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  Speaker 3: and they just kept hitting me on abortion. And I
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: was told, you need message.
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  Speaker 2: Discipline, okay?
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  Speaker 3: Okay. Because you have to get enough Democrats to cross over.
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  Speaker 3: And that's not what they want to do, but you
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  Speaker 3: have to make them do it. So when they hit
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  Speaker 3: you over the head with abortion, you talk taxes. Same thing.
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  Speaker 3: When they hit you over the head with, in this case, Iran,
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  Speaker 3: you talk taxes. And that's exactly what people feel. And,
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  Speaker 3: you know, so they don't need to be convinced that
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  Speaker 3: things are unaffordable or taxes are high.
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  Speaker 2: They know it.
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  Speaker 3: You just got to tell them that's the person who
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  Speaker 3: did it in Hochul. And I'm going to do X, Y,
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  Speaker 3: and Z about it.
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  Speaker 2: What do you have that dog on your lap?
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  Speaker 3: She completely agrees with what I'm saying.
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  Speaker 2: That's right.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Rob Astorino, Republicans.
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  Speaker 3: He doesn't like dogs.
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  Speaker 2: No, no.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to rescue beagles up in Marshall, New York,
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  Speaker 1: fighting the Northeast. You know Republicans in many districts have
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: a tough run in New York State, and they're out there, dude.
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  Speaker 1: They're going door-knocking, giving out lit. They've raised the money.
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  Speaker 1: This time, first time statewide, you can get matching funds,
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  Speaker 1: and it all has Zorhan Mantam... Zoran Mondami attached like
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  Speaker 1: a hydra to Kathy Hochul. And I see the president
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  Speaker 1: has his first ad Wednesday night.
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  Speaker 2: He's looking in the camera.
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  Speaker 1: He goes, together we will defeat communism, socialism, and Marxism. Rob,
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  Speaker 1: this was a great week for communists and Trump, starting
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  Speaker 1: with Zoran on Monday at Gracie Mansion and President Xi
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: at the White House on Friday.
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  Speaker 2: It's a conflicting message.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the Xi thing, okay, I would have had him
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  Speaker 3: like later in November, but obviously coming across the globe,
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  Speaker 3: Xi was probably like, hey, I'm going to be there
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  Speaker 3: for the General Assembly. Can I just stop by? Maybe
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  Speaker 3: we could do it then. I think you have to
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: talk to China. I mean, honestly, the two leaders of
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  Speaker 3: the superpowers have to get together. I have no problem
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  Speaker 3: with that. And he's not the first president to do it.
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  Speaker 3: Stopping by and meeting with Mamdami at Gracie Mansion and,
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  Speaker 3: you know, saying nice words, I don't think that's helpful.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, Mamdami is the boogeyman that Blakeman needs. Mamdami
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  Speaker 3: is the boogeyman and a face like El-Sayed and others
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  Speaker 3: that Republicans around the country are painting as these are
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  Speaker 3: the guys that need to be stopped. So I don't
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  Speaker 3: know if I would have sat there with a smiling
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  Speaker 3: bearded one.
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  Speaker 2: But remember, he's very handsome.
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  Speaker 1: What is it with the president always saying he's a
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  Speaker 1: handsome man?
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  Speaker 2: What does that mean, Rob?
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  Speaker 3: I think it kind of– it's like I like him.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: That's his like– I don't know why he does that
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  Speaker 3: all the time yet.
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  Speaker 2: He's straight out of central casting.
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  Speaker 4: Hey, listen, every week I have this talk me off
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  Speaker 4: a ledge moment and you haven't done it yet. And,
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: and certainly the polls haven't done it. I mean, look,
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  Speaker 4: Florida now, Florida, we already had Ohio, North Carolina and Texas, Florida.
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  Speaker 3: No, that's bull. See, these polls are all over the place.
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  Speaker 3: And what happens like the Q poll, for instance, The
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  Speaker 3: Quinnipiac poll was so distorted and it's going to get
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  Speaker 3: thrown into the bloodstream and hell, you got other polls
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  Speaker 3: like that, which are for specifically for candidates or super
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: PACs for a candidate that are skewed, that get thrown
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: into the bloodstream. There is no way in God's green
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  Speaker 3: earth that Byron Daniels is going to lose the governor's
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  Speaker 3: race or Ashley Moody is going to lose the Senate
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  Speaker 3: race in Florida. It's just not happening, period.
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  Speaker 2: But it's not just him. It's some of the congressional
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  Speaker 2: seats in Florida that were considered safe.
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  Speaker 3: Again, there's just no way that's happening. There are some
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  Speaker 3: congressional seats that might be in play because, you know,
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  Speaker 3: they might lean Republican to begin with. But no, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: but but but Larry, I'm not going to talk you
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  Speaker 3: off the ledge yet because it's still bad. You know,
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  Speaker 3: you've got these Midwestern states like Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas that
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: are in play right now. And that's that's tariffs. You know,
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  Speaker 3: that's unfortunate. But those are issues in these kind of states.
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  Speaker 3: Do I think they're all going to turn blue? No.
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  Speaker 3: They're going to be a lot closer than they should be.
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  Speaker 3: And that means Republican money has to go there instead
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  Speaker 3: of other places.
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  Speaker 2: Remember the guy in the Titanic that said, everything's okay.
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  Speaker 2: Don't worry. Go ahead back to your state rooms. That's Rob.
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  Speaker 2: That's Rob. That's Speedo.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 3: What iceberg? What iceberg?
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  Speaker 2: I don't see it. That's right. You're panicking for nothing.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Thanks a lot, Rob.
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  Speaker 4: Rob, host of the Rob Astorino Show on WOR, Saturdays
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  Speaker 4: from 4 to 5, host of Saturday Agenda 1 to
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  Speaker 4: 3 on Newsmax, and the former Westchester County Executive.