Barney Fife Award Nominee- What

Barney Fife Award Nominee- What is it about New York - they keep turning out grade-Z authoritarians like Nelson Rockefeller, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani (who has many redeeming qualities, but is no libertarian) and now Michael Bloomberg. Who just pulled the kind of stunt that earns one a nomination for the coveted Barney Fife award, for overweening, preening, martinetical exercise of petty authority.

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is fuming mad over Rolling Stones members smoking on stage at Madison Square Garden during an nationally televised concert this weekend, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

"The mayor sent cops to issue summonses," one stage source told the DRUDGE REPORT late Saturday. "But the cops watched the show, off stage, by a monitor, instead of stopping the concert."

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HBO cameras captured band members Keith Richards and Ron Wood smoking cigarettes while performing.

"The band raced out of the Garden after they finished their last number, avoiding the police," an insider said. "The music had not even finished playing; and they were in cars already, spinning away. The did not even go to their dressing rooms!"

This is going to be an ongoing thing for me, by the way - Sullivan has his Sontags and Derbyshires and Begalas, I got the Barneys. I'll give out the award next December 31, and email the recipient to announce their award.

So if you have a government figure who is acting drunk with power, send 'em in. When I get through with 'em...well, they'll still be Barney Fifes, but we'll have had our laughs.