Yes, we know, but it’s worth asking whether CNN’s usual viewing audience knows it from their coverage of Bill de Blasio over the last four years. Just after the ball dropped in Times Square last night, Andy Cohen took a shot of liquid courage and went on a rant about de Blasio’s tenure as New York City’s mayor. His co-host Anderson Cooper tried to rein in Cohen by asking him not to go on a rant, but an undaunted Cohen offered a “sayonara, sucka” to Hizzoner.

This raises a question — hasn’t CNN learned yet to keep its New Years Eve hosts from drinking during the broadcasts?

Andy Cohen takes a shot, then opens fire on Bill de Blasio. "The only thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on is what a horrible mayor he has been! So, sayonara sucka!" https://t.co/OBhoGAqSL9 pic.twitter.com/pb8QBzzgJG

— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) January 1, 2022

My friend Caleb Howe transcribes the clip at Mediaite:

Let me tell you something. Watching Mayor De Blasio do his ‘victory lap’ dance after four years of the crappiest job as the mayor of New York! The only thing that the Democrats and the Republicans can agree on is what a horrible mayor he has been, so sayonara sucka! 2022! It’s a new year. ‘Cause guess what? I have a feeling I’m going to be standing right here next year, and you know what I’m not going to be looking at, dancing as the city comes apart? You!

The drinking apparently started at least a couple of hours before this moment. CNN’s transcript captured this exchange at the top of the 10 pm ET hour:

COOPER: What is this?

COHEN: That’s the big one. This is De-Nada tequila.

COOPER: Oh, gosh. COHEN: OK. Cheers.

COOPER: That last thing —

COHEN: De-Nada, sweetie.

COOPER: Bruce’s —

COHEN: I know the Mugen really got you. Here you go.

COOPER: It’s like water and you drink it, and you don’t realize.

COHEN: And you got no hangover.

COOPER: And now I’m just like —

COHEN: Cheers.

COOPER: I mean, this is not a good idea. I’m just saying that now. I’m just making it clear.

COHEN: Wow!

COOPER: I don’t think this is a good idea.

COHEN: OK. Bring it down. Bring it home, babe. Do it for America. America wants this. Honestly, we’ve had a crap year.

Cohen wasn’t the only New Yorker shouting a sayonara to de Blasio last night. Jazz found this amusing disclaimer from de Blasio’s successor:

Subtle https://t.co/vZVfJuU0Bl

— Jazz Shaw (@JazzShaw) January 1, 2022

That doesn’t exactly scream continuity, does it? Nor should it, given de Blasio’s current standing with New Yorkers. Even a couple of months ago, before the latest surge in COVID-19 cases that has emerged despite de Blasio’s heavy-handed policies, his unpopularity even within his own party was notable:

De Blasio, who’s term as mayor will end this December, hasn’t formally announced a run for governor yet, but has been testing the waters for months now, and on Tuesday, he once again appeared to be leaning toward a mounting a campaign.

“I have seen polls like that literally every time I’ve run for office. If I worried about stuff like that I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair right now, literally. If I had been daunted and overawed by early polling, I wouldn’t have bothered to keep forging ahead — and I’m glad I forged ahead,” he said. “We’re talking about polling that’s over the years gotten less and less reliable. So we’ll see what the future brings.”

The poll in question — which was released by Siena College on Tuesday morning — showed incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul outperforming other possible contenders by between 14 and 19 points in three hypothetical scenarios in next June’s Democratic primary.

In one of those, Hochul scored 31% support, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo notching 17%, Attorney General Letitia James winning 14%, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams reaching 7%, and de Blasio coming in last with 6%.

Another scenario laid out by the pollsters — this one did not include Cuomo in the primary picture — showed Hochul winning 39% of projected votes, James with 20%, de Blasio winning 10% and Williams with 8%.

One would think that being the mayor of New York City would give a candidate a big leg up for statewide office, given that almost a third of the state’s voters are in the five boroughs. Even if the mayor didn’t lead polling, there’s at least an expectation of being competitive, especially someone who ran for the presidential nomination to expand his national recognition. The Siena poll instead showed de Blasio potentially polling worse than none of the above. Just to remind everyone, Letitia James had twice as much support in this poll and pulled out anyway to run again as AG instead.

So yes, we all know what a horrible job de Blasio did as mayor. The question will be whether CNN covers other Democratic politicians with this level of scrutiny in 2022 without healthy doses of De Nada Tequila. Maybe we should ship a few more cases to their studios just in case.

Anyway, the new mayor’s already on the clean-up job. Good luck!

⁦@NYCMayor⁩ calls 911 to report an assault in progress as he awaits a train from Brooklyn to City Hall. He does not identify himself as the new mayor pic.twitter.com/ebHyPNX7dt

— Julia Marsh (@juliakmarsh) January 1, 2022