Hardy New Yorkers yesterday scoffed at Vice President Joe Biden for worrying about catching swine flu on the subway, saying they will keep riding the rails despite the veep’s “fear-mongering.”
FLU-FOOL VEEP URGES KIN TO AVOID SUBWAYS AND PLANES
“I don’t think it’s that dangerous,” said Shannon Koob, 40, an actress from Queens, brushing aside Biden’s blowhard comments that he had urged family members to stay off subways, as well as airplanes.
“Politicians are saying the most ridiculous things,” said Koob. “There’s a lot of fear-mongering with this.”
Mary Wozniak, a spry, 72-year-old retired schoolteacher from Brooklyn, also pooh-poohed Biden’s hypochondriacal rhetoric.
“That’s a comment of someone who doesn’t rely on catching the subway. I’m sure he has his cars to get around in,” said Wozniak. “I visit my friends, go shopping, and I couldn’t do that without the subway. The R train is my limousine.
“As long as you’re not jumping up kissing people, there’s no need to be concerned.”
Ruffin Cutler, a 48-year-old messenger waiting to take a downtown 6 train, said, “I’m in the subway all day long . . . If I was scared to ride the subway, I wouldn’t be able to put food on my table. You know what I mean? I’m not going to let anything scare me off.
“We dealt with everything else. We’re going to deal with this.”
The New York Post couldn’t agree more, scolding the veep in a letter (left) — and sending him a MetroCard.
In the Times Square station, Brian Zwolinski was headed to catch a train with his wife, Reenu, 30, who is in a wheelchair.
Biden is “spreading a culture of fear. It’s not a good thing to say. Not much thought went into it. He’s got everyone worried now,” said Zwolinski, 40, a bookseller from Stamford, Conn. “He’s blowing it way out of proportion.”
Elsewhere in the station, newsstand vendor Syed Hossein, 35, said, “Swine flu or not, we have to work here regardless.
“If I see someone in front of me with the flu, then I’ll get worried. Basically, I’m not worried though,” Hossein said. “He shouldn’t say these things, because no one has gotten sick from catching the subway.”
A Long Island man taking the subway said Biden’s remark — which was quickly rebutted by others in the Obama administration — is “typical” of the vice president.
“It goes with his frequent gaffes,” said Robert Gorfe, 38, a law-firm account manager. “It’s way too soon to be talking like that.
“To have the vice president saying this about New York’s subway system is ridiculous. A leader is supposed to say, ‘We’ll get through this.’ We don’t need him scaring people.”