Dirty Tricks

The Daily News notes that City Councilman and mayoral hopeful Gifford Miller is accusing Mayor Michael Bloomberg of being a gay communist “Big diff in Giff riff bared”:

Gifford Miller’s oft-repeated campaign slogan – “We don’t need a red-state mayor in a blue-state city” – has a slightly different meaning in Russian.

Loosely translated, the City Council speaker has declared Mayor Bloomberg both Communist and gay – an unintentional gaffe noted by many of the city’s 300,000 Russian immigrants.

“We see it as a joke,” said an amused Vladimir Chernomorsky, a columnist for Novoye Russkoye Slovo (The New Russian Word), the country’s oldest Russian-language daily.”

Gifford’s campaign is mum on the mistranslation, leading to speculation that the wording was possibly intentional:

Miller’s campaign aides wouldn’t comment on what got lost in translation.

“Here in New York City, it means we have a Republican mayor who is unable or unwilling to stand up to a Republican President and governor to secure the city’s fair share,” Miller’s campaign spokesman Reggie Johnson replied.

OK, I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but wouldn’t it be satisfying if it was? What a perfect way to smear one’s opponent!