Mayor Bloomberg able to laugh at himself

Bloomberg during one of his many press conferences assuring the public he was taking steps needed to keep them safe

For those of us subjected to hours of Mayor Michael Bloomberg droning on in front of the television cameras last week, assuring New Yorkers that he was preparing them for the coming hurricane, a lighter moment appeared when he switched to a garbled version of Spanish. Here's a clip:



I wasn't the only one amused. Ms. Levin, a fluent Spanish speaker herself, created an online persona called @ElBloombito, who proceeded to tweet messages to his followers warning them in Spanglish of the dangers ahead. Read the article for details but here are some of the funnier tweets:

“Hola Newo Yorko! El stormo grande is mucho dangeroso!”
“Fill los bathtub con agua por preparando el no agua,”
“Los floodwaters!”

By Sunday morning, @ElBloombito had about 2,000 followers. By Tuesday afternoon, there were nearly 15,000, among them Mr. Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg). Atta-boy Bloomberg! way to not take yourself too seriously.

More tweets:
Saturday night: “Remain in la casa para much rain y lighningo y thundera! El Bang Bang!”
Sunday morning: “Ay Ay Ay! Yo forgoto to evacuato el isla de Rikers!”
Sunday evening: “El FDR es el cerrado por que muy aqua mucho. Necesito un boat de row!”
Monday: “Los trainos y el bussos son muy operation. Go to worko. No excuso.”

On Monday, Mr. Benítez asked Mr. Bloomberg about @ElBloombito at a news conference. The mayor, smiling, said: “Tengo 69 años. Es difícil para aprender un nuevo idioma.” (Translation: I’m 69 years old. It’s difficult to learn a new language.”)