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Governor Cuomo: I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable. It was unintentional, and I truly and deeply apologize for it.

Brian Lehrer: That obviously, was Governor Cuomo yesterday, apologizing for making women in his office and elsewhere uncomfortable with his words and actions. He said he would not resign, but with voice cracking, as you could hear, that he was embarrassed. He denied claims that he ever touched anyone inappropriately, and pleaded with New Yorkers to wait for the Attorney General's investigation before making any judgments on his fate.

Now, this week since this all started to break, on the phones, we've been inviting any of your comments or questions from any point of view on this matter. For the most part, we've gotten calls from older listeners, and it's been very revealing because usually in talk radio, the people who tend to call in the most are the people who are angry about something that's going on that they want to stop, and it's been the case with this, too. It's our older listeners who have really shown up on the phones, and shown themselves to be most eager to call in and say, "Slow this whole thing down. It's unfair to Cuomo to go too fast."

Many of you have called in, have been more than just protective of someone who you respect, and wanting due process, you've been ticked off. Most of our callers so far have been defending the governor pretty vociferously, or at least saying he should not be removed from office. Stop this. Don't let the Republicans get over on you, all kinds of things. Like this caller Lina, from Monday, who said though she didn't like the alleged behaviors, it's not a good idea to impeach.

Lina: There is an old Spanish saying, which I believe is Arab, that says that when you are crossing the river, you don't change your horse.

Brian Lehrer: She was talking about the river of COVID in this respect, when you are crossing a river, don't change your horse, that old Spanish saying, as she put it. Then there were those of you who felt that the accusations themselves were not a big deal, and that some women today are too sensitive.

Female Caller 1: Listen, you're young, you're attractive. It's a compliment, get over it.

Brian Lehrer: Get over it. Some of you who felt angry like these accusers thought they were coming for your governor who brought you peace and solace over the past few tumultuous months.

Female Caller 2: He's innocent until proven guilty. I feel a deep sense of debt and gratitude to Andrew Cuomo for his competent management of the crisis, the COVID crisis, when no one else was competent and kept me safe and sane.

Brian Lehrer: There's three clips, all of women, important. It represents something that many people in our listening audience, and in the state as a whole are thinking. I was talking to somebody from one of the TV stations the other day, and telling him what our calls have been like, and he says, "Boy, that's a better focus group than I can get just about anywhere," but here's the wrinkle. There is a common way of thinking about this, that older and younger generations have different opinions when it comes to these kinds of issues right now.

Older men and women in general, definitely including women as we've been hearing, might feel similarly to those callers, that the Me Too movement has usurped due process in too many cases, or that younger women today are too sensitive, or that a couple of unsolicited kisses are not worth destroying a whole, otherwise good man's career over, if that's how they perceive the governor.

Now we want to do something a little different, and that is open the phones, instead of to whoever shows up, specifically to younger callers, and hear what kinds of conversations you're having. Let's draw the line at 40. It's arbitrary, I realize, but let's say if you're under 40, how are you thinking about the accusations against Governor Cuomo? Do you accept his apology? What do you think he should do, or the legislature should do with respect to him? 646-435-7280. All right, you got it?

Older folks, sit this one out, and listen to the younger callers. If you're under 40, what are you thinking about the Cuomo situation? Do you think he should resign, or be impeached? What kinds of conversations are you having with your peers, or maybe with your parents, or other older people that you know? Give us a sense of whether this is, as the conventional thinking goes, a generational divide on Andrew Cuomo. Is it true? You know I always say when we do call-ins, it's an informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific call-in poll on anything, but maybe we get some inkling of something, some sense of the conversations that are taking out, taking place out there.

That, of course, is the whole point of the show to reflect what people are thinking, to give you voice from all kinds of different demographics, and in this case, it's age. 646-435-7280. What kinds of conversations are you having with your peers in terms of age, or with your parents, or anybody from older generations? Is there a generational divide on how to perceive Governor Cuomo right now? Sarah in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Sarah, thanks a lot for calling it.

Sarah: Good morning. Thanks for having me. Monday's commentary, for example the, "You don't change your horse while you're fording a river." That, to me, sounded like callers to a Sean Hannity show or to Rush Limbaugh. As long as you think your candidate is bringing home the political bacon, you brush aside any allegation of misconduct as beside the point. Callers to this show criticized Trump supporters' groupthink for four years, but are now doing the same kind of pre-emptive partisan pardoning that we all criticized.

The other problem with this is that it really abdicates democratic responsibilities, saying that Cuomo alone can fix this COVID crisis. There are three branches of state governments, only one of them is currently embroiled in a scandal, for not only mismanaging the crisis, but trying to cover it up, basically committing fraud to get exactly the misplaced hyper loyalty that's protecting him right now. We have to move forward from this, we really have to.

Brian: Do you find a generational divide? Are you talking to people of different generations?

Sarah: I've spoken to my parents about this, who recognize that it has weakened Cuomo. I think that there is a general generational divide in how seriously people view the misconduct alleged, but it's not uniform. My mother, for example, told me, "This kind of crap is what we were experiencing 30 years ago, and I can't believe that we have to have it now, particularly from the governor."

Brian: Sarah, thank you for calling in. Appreciate it. Nicole in Union County, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nicole.

Nicole: Hi, good morning, Brian, thank you for having me. I just wanted to tell-- I was telling your screener that I'm 39, but when I was getting out of college, this type of behavior was always by our female superiors, told us to never really be brought to the attention of anyone, really. I can say now almost 20 years later, it's really changed where I can never imagine saying that to someone that's just coming out of college to never address this or allow it to occur. Number one, that's changed just so much for me, in my career.

The other thing I was telling as far as the generational divide, I'm raising three boys, and I saw his apology on television. To me, it seems sincere, but I just wanted to tell my son who watched it, my 10-year-old specifically, what the governor actually said, that if I thought I was doing something inappropriate, or I'm sorry, if the person received it as inappropriate, I should never have done it. That's what I tried to tell them. I said, you should never assume that because you think what you did or said was okay, that the person receiving it felt the same way, because that was never-- even though it wasn't his intention, you should never do that.

Brian: Definitely a good lesson for your sons.

Nicole: Yes.

Brian: Given that the governor said that, doesn't make you more inclined to accept his apology?

Nicole: Personally, I don't follow. I have to say I don't really follow his political journey. I know he's been in the news and scrutinized for all sorts of different things and allegations, but he's in a position of power. I really don't care even though I am a registered Democrat, I don't care if you're Republican or Democratic or independent, I'm not going to align with you when you did something that broke the law.

To that extent, I think it should be equally, it should be pursued. It should be discussed, and whoever it is, should apologize. At least, I find that it's stunning to me that Republicans don't really get to apologize as frequently as Democrats, I would say that. I think they certainly are demonized just as equally, but seem to have to apologize for--

Brian: Well, accepting his apology in this case means not calling for him to resign. Are you there, you don't have an opinion that much one way or another?

Nicole: Yes. I don't really have an opinion either way. Like you had said in your intro, to destroy someone's political career, I don't know how far you take that, but I'm glad that discussions are being had.

Brian: Nicole, thank you very much. Laurel on Twitter writes, "Thank God Brian Lehrer's having a call in about Cuomo dedicated to callers under 40. These old ladies telling me to get over harassment are making me lose my goddamn mind." That's Laurel on Twitter expressing one of the comments that that we've been hearing from some younger women. How about George in Nassau County. George, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in.

George: Hi there, Brian. Thanks for taking me. I've been listening to you for a long time. I moved back to New York a few years ago, and I drive a lot, and I started listening to you guys when it was the peak of the Me Too stuff. You've always been a very pro-woman station. Things are always through a woman's lens, and very supportive in a certain direction. It just blew my mind yesterday that you guys allowed or even got this caller coming in saying that women just need to get over it, and it's a compliment, when you would have never accepted this from a Republican, you would have never accepted this from any other segments, or anything I've been listening to the last few years.

The fact that we're even having this conversation blows my mind a little bit because in all the years that Trump was president, every day, not even just your show, other shows on the station were all just saying how misogynistic he was and how bad he was. We never had a conversation to sit here and say, "Oh, well, what's the other side? Do we think that he's actually okay?" Not as terrible as we think, and right now we're debating something that shouldn't really be a debate if we're doing it based on the moral that this whole station preached for the last five--

Brian: Right. Just so I hear what you're critiquing clearly. You're not saying that we should have been easier on Trump, or presented more points of view when Trump seemed to be doing misogynist things, you're saying we shouldn't have given so much respect to some of these Democratic women who've been calling in and saying to go easy on Cuomo. Am I hearing you right?

George: Yes. It's just more that we should go hard on everybody that does something wrong. If the stance has always been no tolerance, it's a compliment, she just looked pretty, these were all things that we've discouraged, and now we're having a conversation. Is it okay when it just-- [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Well, even to accept it as a legitimate debate is something that you're criticizing. Do you find it generational in your experience though? I see you're 27. Do you find it generational? Have you had been having conversations with your peers and with older people, and do you think there is a big generational divide here among Democrats?

George: I think that, especially living in New York, and I'm gay, so everyone always veers more on the left. I think the conversations have always been that it's not okay. This whole thing with Cuomo right now, it doesn't really seem that anyone that I've spoken to is even having the conversation as much as when we were saying how disgusting everything Trump was doing. It's not even really a conversation being had enough.

Brian: George, I'm going to leave it there and get some other folks in. I really appreciate it. Call us again. Nicole in Westchester, you're on WNYC. Hi, Nicole.

Nicole: Hi. I just wanted to say that I was so appalled when I heard yesterday's comments with women saying, just get over it. I feel like if you read the details of these allegations, they're completely disturbing. I feel like a few years ago, women marched around the world in record numbers because we were so angry with the things that Trump was doing. I don't understand why it's different for a Democrat. I don't understand why we should just get over it now, why wouldn't we keep fighting? I'm pregnant right now, and I don't want my kid to grow up in a world where we have to keep fighting against, even women who are in the same party, telling us to get over. It's really mind boggling me.

Brian: Do you think it's generational?

Nicole: I think it is a bit generational. I don't think it's always is, I've talked to my mom about this, and she thinks it's really outrageous, too. I'm much more outraged than she is, so maybe it is generational, but I think that even if it is, the generation before me should recognize that we have to keep fighting. There's so many programs, like I just watched the Amend program on Netflix. It shows that you have to keep fighting for women's rights, and you don't just give up, you don't just say get over it. I don't understand why women that are older would think that this was okay.

Brian: What does it mean to you that he apologized in the way that he did yesterday? Thinking about our last caller, drawing the distinction between people's reactions to Trump and people's reactions to Cuomo. I think we have to acknowledge how different their own approach was. One of the callers said Republicans don't tend to apologize as easily as Democrats do.

Whether that's true as a generalization or not, certainly Trump, when he was accused of sexually harassing women, he would say things like, "Oh, with her? I don't think so." Which is obviously so outrageous. Here is Cuomo saying, "I didn't intend to offend anybody." He denies inappropriate touching, and apologizing and saying he will learn from this and change his behavior in the future. How far does that go for you?

Nicole: I think it's fine. I think it's important to apologize, but I don't think that means that we don't have a full investigation. Apology, it's like, I feel like the thing that really stuck out to me in one of these allegations is that he knew that this woman was a sexual assault survivor, and allegedly he brought this up and continued to pursue her. To me it's like, that you knew what you were doing. I feel like when you're a person in power, you don't do things like that, especially when you work in government. I think the apology is fine, but we still have to have a full investigation. We have to hold people accountable, no matter what party they align themselves with.

Brian: You'll wait for the investigation. You wouldn't join a call for him to resign today over what we already know?

Nicole: No, I think that with what we already know, it makes me outraged, but I think that there definitely has to be a full investigation. I think that people are owed that. Yes, that's how I feel about that.

Brian: Thank you very much. One more. Alyssa in Ulster County, we've got about 30 seconds for you. I'm going to have to keep you short, but you get the last word today.

Alyssa: Hi. I just wanted to say that for those who are telling women to ignore harassment, women leave their field because of harassment. Harassment actually reshapes who holds power, who are the future leaders in their fields. I unfortunately, have experienced harassment and abuse in a toxic workplace setting, and I left my position because of it. While I was fortunately able to stay in the field of my choice at another organization, the abusive toxic environment that I was a part of did reshape the course of my career. For those who are telling women to ignore harassment, they are wrong.

Brian: Real briefly, do you find this to be a generational divide? Have you spoken to older women?

Alyssa: In my personal experience, I have been a part of abusive toxic workplace settings in a number of different organizations, and it is always the older people who are telling you that that is just the way it goes, and if you want to succeed and stay where you are, it is something you need to accept.

Brian: Alyssa, thank you so much. I think we heard some evidence of a generational divide on the phones there. Obviously, we will continue to cover this from many points of view. Thank you for calling. Thank you for listening today and listeners, I'll be back tonight at eight o'clock for this week's edition of our national Thursday night call-in series for the first 100 days of the Biden administration America, Are We Ready, tonight on Native American issues, talk to you then.

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