De Blasio skipping the Puerto Rican Day Parade is an unforgivable insult

You can still change your mind, Mr. Mayor. Blame your staff, blame bad medication, whatever.

Drop your plans to take your presidential campaign to Iowa over the weekend. Stay home and march in Sunday’s Puerto Rican Day Parade, as every mayor has done for decades.

Anything else is an insult not just to that community, but to the whole city. Mayors don’t march just to pay their personal respects: They do it to symbolize all New York’s regard.

This is your job, a commitment you made in running for office. All you have to do is show up, march, smile and wave.

You have no excuse. Boycotting a St. Patrick’s Day Parade over gay rights is an expression of principle. Skipping this year simply because you’d rather chase presidential dreams in Iowa is just jaw-dropping self-indulgence.

The message you send isn’t merely that you can’t be bothered now — but that the only reason you ever marched was purely transactional.

You see no need to repay the support the community has given you in the past. Now that you can’t run for re-election again, you don’t need the votes, so you don’t give a damn.

Which means you never really cared, and you don’t care who knows it.

Congratulations, Bill de Blasio: You’ve finally proven us wrong — because we didn’t think our opinion of you could sink any lower.

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