Spin Cycle

We posted an item yesterday with a video clip of Mayor Bloomberg cutting off, fairly abruptly, Newsday reporter Michael Frazier, who had the temerity to start a question by noting that "you maintain that you kept a dialogue open with Sean Bell ..."

The mayor apparently believed the reporter was insinuating that he was lying about keeping a dialogue open because he used the word "maintain." Apparently it is impermissible for anyone to believe that Bloomberg would lie. Today's Newsday recounts the incident, with press secretary Stu Loeser's (left) defense of his boss:

"The mayor is entitled to not answer questions from people who he believes are insulting him and calling him a liar."

The mayor, of course, is entitled to do anything he wants -- even behave rudely and fly off the handle. The question is whether there is any rational basis for contending that the word "maintain" was an accusatory one -- as opposed to a neutral one, that neither affirmed nor disputed Bloomberg's assertion.

So here's something that would be more useful than flying off the handle, insulting a reporter's professionalism without cause, and then defending the insult:

Why don't Bloomberg/Loeser find a single dictionary that says the word "maintain" insinuates a lie? And if they can't, why don't they apologize? Instead of pretending that a loss of temper was an act of principle?

Here's the video, if you missed it: