Monday, October 4, 2010

Bad News for Paladino

On Friday, Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro, a Conservative, endorsed Andrew Cuomo for governor.

Staten Island is a must win for Paladino if he's to have any chance, so we view this as a serious blow.   Would the Borough President have taken this step if Paladino hadn't gone overboard in that encounter with NY Post reporter Fred Dicker?   We'll never know, but it sure couldn't have helped.

4 comments:

Andreas Rau said...

The answer is quite simple: the Conservatives never wanted Paladino in the first place. Just because Lazio stepped down after winning the Conservative line in the primary, but losing the Republican slot, does not mean that Paladino became acceptable to all Conservatives, or even all Republicans for that matter.
It is similar to Rochester's mayoral campaign of 2005: many Republicans worked for Duffy rather than for Republican John Parrinello because Parrinello was seen as being too shrill and too offensive for their taste.
Which is exactly how some Republicans and Conservatives are seeing Carl Paladino.

repoman said...

Does this suggest that Andrew Cuomo is more to Conservative's "tastes"?

I find it odd that many Republicans and Conservatives are distancing themselves from Mr. Paladino, because he's "offensive". How many times did some of those same people yield their conservative principles and vote for RINO's over the years? Was it because those candidates were dignified and sophisticated? Maybe, but what do we have to show for it?

The "go along, get along" guys did nothing for us. Yes, Paladino is un-polished, he shoots from the hip, and he appears prone to intemperate statements, but I have seen no evidence that he is incapable of being Governor, particularly of this disfunctional State.

At least he would try to break the tax and spend mentality that defines Albany.

Anonymous said...

Andreas, au contraire. You clearly do not understand Staten Island (and generally, NYS) Conservative Party politics. Their backing of candidates never, ever has anything to do with whether they are conservative (witness: Pataki, Lazio, most of the senate Republicans they cross-endorse...all flaming liberals by most measures of fiscal sanity). The name of the game is, "whataya gonna do for me" and the highest bidder wins. Tom Cook plays the game here in Monroe County, Mike Long statewide, and Staten Island is just following suit.

Philbrick said...

We agree with you, Repoman.

Paladino has to control blowing his cool, as in the Dicker episode, but he speaks in the idiom of the ordinary person -- the way people talk to each other in their own living rooms and kitchens. This represents a unique appeal.

Cuomo has no intention of changing anything that matters; it will all be a lot of drama focused on issues superficially relevant, but actually peripheral to New York's real problems.