GOP to NY: Drop Dead

House Speaker Dennis Hastert's recent attack on New York City highlights a pattern of Republicans slamming the Big Apple. As the GOP prepares for its convention there, here are just a few other examples:

WHITE HOUSE ATTACKS NYC AS 'MONEY GRUBBING': New Yorkers "treat [post-9/11 reconstruction funding] as a little money-grubbing game." - White House Budget Director Mitch Daniels, 2/4/02

GOP ATTACKS NEW YORK AS ANTI-AMERICAN: On 3/13/03 Former GOP Congressman and MSNBC talk show host Joe Scarborough said "New York City, the city hit hardest by September 11, now takes a big stand against the war with Saddam. Is the Big Apple sending a bad message to our men and women in uniform?...New York City is the latest city to back war as a final result. Is the Big Apple being anti-American?...New York City, hit the hardest on September 11. Now the very same city is working against the president in his showdown with Saddam...But up next, New York City, ground zero in the attack on America. Now that city's not standing by us in the looming attack on Iraq."

GOP SAYS NYC HAS 'CULTURE OF WASTE': On 9/16/95, House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused New York City of having "a culture of waste for which they expect us to send a check." He claimed New York takes more federal money than it receives – a stat that was untrue when he said it and untrue today. As the New York Metro notes " In 2002, the last year for which data are available, New Yorkers sent $65.9 billion in federal taxes to Washington, and yet the federal government sent only $54.5 billion back. In one year, more than $11 billion was sucked out of New York and redistributed across America by the Republicans in Washington who control the federal budget."

GOP LAMBASTES DEMOCRATS FOR HOLDING CONVENTION IN NYC: On 8/6/90, Newt Gingrich said "I would personally be very comfortable having the Democratic party going to New York City, standing in the middle of the collapse of the welfare state, and explaining that we, too, could resemble New York City."

GOP SAYS GIVING FEDERAL AID TO NYC IS LIKE GIVING IT TO THE MOB: In April 1989, Newt Gingrich said "Congress ought to ask whether we're subsidizing the Cosa Nostra when we aid New York."