When the story of Andrew M. Cuomo’s political career and downfall is written, two h-words should factor in extensively: hubris and hypocrisy. 

The first big problem with Cuomo’s defense — and what ultimately made it untenable, just not for the reasons he laid out — was the standard Cuomo set for himself.


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On Tuesday he suggested, as he has before, that he was a victim of generational and cultural differences.

He indicated that the culture of the second floor, where Cuomo has his office, included “abuse and mind games.”

The combined picture is one in which Cuomo was undone by exactly the things he perpetuated and furthered, and in perhaps unsurprisingly spectacular fashion.

Politicians are no strangers to hypocrisy and hubris, but Cuomo was hoist with his own petard more than almost any politician in modern history.