Bloomberg Stays on Offense

The New York Post reports:

Mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson sat by silently as a guest at a campaign event loudly called City Council Speaker Christine Quinn a "whore" who could "kiss my ass," The Post has learned.

The slur was made by Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, the co-owner of the restaurant Tea and Sympathy, at a public campaign event for Thompson held at the eatery on Wednesday morning, according to audiotape of the event and the recollections of two witnesses.

The tape, which was provided by Mayor Bloomberg's re-election campaign, reveals British expatriate Kavanagh-Dowsett and his wife, Nicky Perry, discussing the perils for small businesses along with other Village entrepreneurs.

It will be interesting to see how the New York Times reports this story, if the paper reports it at all. Last time Bloomberg went after his opponent -- Anthony Weiner before he walked away from the campaign -- the Times gave that opponent space to accuse Bloomberg of "a well-orchestrated smear campaign that can be traced to the re-election bid of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg." Now the Bloomberg campaign isn't even asking for anonymity as it pushes oppo to the Post.