NY Governor Andrew Cuomo Dignifies Attack on Obama by Forgotten Rival Carl Paladino

Carl Paladino, the Republican “competition” for the open seat in 2010 was never considered a serious candidate. He was a laughing stock of New Yorkers – and a reason to guarantee Andrew Cuomo a landslide of 63 percent.

Today, despite being irrelevant, Carl Paladino got into some trouble with the press for making bad remarks about Democrats including Barack Obama. He wished Barack Obama would die of mad cow disease and said first lady Michelle Obama should move to Zimbabwe and live with a “gorilla.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo released the following statement:

Carl Paladino, a Republican Party official from Western New York, made racist, ugly and reprehensible remarks about President Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama.

Paladino has a long history of racist and incendiary comments. While most New Yorkers know Mr. Paladino is not to be taken seriously, as his erratic behavior defies any rational analysis and he has no credibility, his words are still jarring. His remarks do not reflect the sentiments or opinions of any real New Yorker and he has embarrassed the good people of the state with his latest hate-filled rage.

In this holiday season, after months of internal conflict among the people of this great nation, my wish is for peace and unity and that we all stand together against racism and discrimination.

Yes, Carl Paladino has a long history of “incendiary comments.” Yes, New Yorkers knew – but probably forgot – that Carl Paladino has “no credibility.” Yes, his “remarks do not reflect” New Yorkers.

No, New Yorkers would not be “embarrassed” by the statements of one irrelevant person living upstate who lost a landslide election over six years ago.

Nobody needs Governor Andrew Cuomo to throw out the litany of adjectives: racist, ugly, reprehensible. Carl Paladino’s remarks speak for themselves. Anyone who has trouble discerning this probably will not understand by being told so. All that is possible is a backlash – sort of like what happened with Donald Trump. Remember that? (article continues below)

So maybe Carl Paladino should not be given the dignity of mainstream media carpet coverage at all.

Andrew Cuomo, for his own part, was practically appointed to the governor’s seat through a series of events and circumstances.

  1. He won the open seat in the election against the “reprehensible” Carl Paladino – not much of an accomplishment.
  1. In 2010, there was a sitting Democratic incumbent, David Paterson, relatively scandal-free who was forced out by media pressure, giving Andrew Cuomo a clear path to the Governor’s seat.
  1. The prior elected and popular governor Eliot Spitzer was forced to resign after a prostitution scandal, fairly early in his tenure. Eliot Spitzer won a bigger landslide than Andrew Cuomo.
  1. Andrew Cuomo was the son of the beloved three-term governor Mario Cuomo.

Despite all this incredible good luck, Andrew Cuomo faced a Democratic primary challenge in 2014. Fellow Democrat Zephyr Teachout ran in the primary against the sitting governor and received a remarkable one-third of the vote with very little press coverage.

Should Andrew Cuomo go down the path of Hillary Clinton and run for president against Donald Trump in 2020, he will likely find the same outcome — except he could lose the popular vote too.