Weiner Stands Tall in Face of Obama, Is Not Impressed with Quinn's Reforms

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By Azi Paybarah

May 9, 2008 | 1:34 p.m

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Representative Anthony Weiner, a devout Hillary Clinton supporter, recalls for News Forum host Jay DeDapper what it was like meeting Barack Obama on the floor of Congress the other day:

From a transcript sent over by the studio:

Weiner: He—we had a funny circumstance. I was right in the back of the room as he walked in, and I have—I've developed something of a reputation for being a Hillary partisan on the floor. And so some of my buddies said, 'Hey, we got someone you want to meet,' and brought him over to say hello, and he—we exchange—I told him I was like that skinny Chinese kid in Tiananmen Square standing in front of the tank, I might be the last one.

On a different topic later in the interview, Weiner said he wasn’t impressed with the budget reforms introduced by his likely mayoral rival, Christine Quinn.

When asked if her reforms are “good enough,” Weiner said, “I think, frankly, that they’re not,” adding that he thinks the money should be doled out not by council members, but rather through “some other mechanism.”

What mechanism?

Weiner suggests money should allocated “through mayoral agencies” with “the advice of the City Council.”

Weiner, a former councilman, seems to be making the argument that The New York Times editorial board wants to hear, which is one way to curry favor with the paper after opposing congestion pricing, a favorite topic at the Times.