Gov. Kathy Hochul greets lunch patrons at Common Roots' Albany Outpost brew pub in Quackenbush Square on May 21, 2025.

Hochul screwed ya … Hochul screwed ya … Hochul screwed ya …

Hochul screwwwwwwwwd yaaa…

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— to the tune of the Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"

As she listened to members of the Albany press corps skewer her before hundreds of insiders at the annual Legislative Correspondents Association show, Gov. Kathy Hochul seemed to force a laugh here, a smile there. But Mona Lisa-like, she betrayed little else.

Was she really tickled or royally ticked off at a parody that aimed to capture the anger of swing suburban voters over congestion pricing? Was Hochul thinking that she’s screwed — as so many reporters, pundits and political operatives openly believe?

I doubt it. With a self-assurance seen more and more frequently, Hochul didn’t betray anything approaching political concern that night. If anything, she seemed almost aggressively confident in her thickened skin.

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When she took the podium for her formal rebuttal, she was literally carrying a baseball bat as she embraced the role of the authoritarian Wizard in the musical “Wicked.”

“Some things stay the same,” she deadpanned. “The budget? Still late. Your show? Still sucks. Mike Lawler? Still not going to be governor.”

The Republican congressman (and supposed gubernatorial wannabe) was hardly the only........

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