A few months ago, New York State gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino was caught sending extremely racist and pornographic emails to some kind of large mailing list. I had assumed that was the end for Paladino, but apparently it wasn’t. Paladino just picked up a key endorsement and the panel on “Capital Tonight” (an excellent show on New York State politics) is saying that he has a chance in the Republican primary in September.
This is New York State so he will lose by 20-35 points in the general if he wings the primary. But I really can’t believe he has a chance of being the nominee.
Glenn Beck's Chalkboard
Nice way to quash our fantasies, Dood.
WereBear
Dramatic evidence that they are completely full of organic byproducts.
I mean, for freak’s sake!
eric
dood….not as if he was a mooslim….
MTmofo
There’s a gunfight involved? He’s supposed to “wing the primary”?
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@WereBear: He is a freak. He was busted for something … well maybe you’ll get the hint from this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xat1GVnl8-k
anthrosciguy
No chance? Of course not, the GOP would never have a moral degenerate stand for election in their party. Would they, Mr. Vitter? Mr. Foley?
sistermoon
Chris Collins is hardly a key endorsement. Mr. Collins’ “Playboy mouth” (to take a phrase from Lady Gaga) probably crushed his own gubenatorial dreams.
He had a bit of a problem with offensive remarks about women, and referred to Sheldon Silver as a Nazi. He considers the city of Buffalo a drain on Erie County because it has so many poor people. He’s a (slightly) more polished version of Paladino.
I think that the prospect of a Paladino campaign will scare the Rethug establishment so badly that Lazio’s campaign coffers will soon be overflowing.
PaulW
The Republican Party can withstand their candidates being racist adultering dickwads. What the Republican Party cannot stand is anyone who says “You know, Obama’s not THAT bad.”
Breitbart Delendus Est.
JCT
Wow, the Republicans seem to be having a hell of a time finding non-whackjob candidates.
Maybe thoughtful Republican politicians are truly extinct.
gizmo
The Republicans excel at expanding the boundaries of what is possible. Just when you think they have pushed things out to the edge, they manage to go a little further.
Sly
Lazio is still gonna take it. Steve Levy was a far more potent challenger, and Lazio ripped him to shreds at the state convention. Levy would have gone on to force a primary except for a little known rule that prohibits recent party switchers from running in primaries.
Levy, for those who don’t know, is the current County Executive for Suffolk County, was originally a Democrat, and will always be a race-baiting douchebag.
Paladino is simply running in the primary because he doesn’t need the party’s permission. He got 8% of the vote at the state convention. Levy git 28%. Lazio got 59%. Lazio also has the backing of the Conservative Party. The absolute best case scenario is that Paladino, through his more obvious wingnuttiness, coaxes the inner wingnut out of Lazio. Which more than likely won’t happen.
RD
Do not underestimate the neo-fascist, white supremacist vote that Carl Paladino is courting across NYS. Cuomo will squash him, no doubt. But he just got the endorsement of Erie County’s County Executive, Chris “run govt like a business” Collins and that will have coattails in the WNY region, if not state-wide given the combined wealth of both assholes.
That and Lazio is lousy on the campaign trail. Really, it’s like milquetoast went on vacation and asked Lazio to fill in.
Spiffy McBang
The kinds of winners my hometown cranks out… *sigh*
TomG
If I vote, it will be for the slate of Libertarian candidates running. They don’t have a chance, but the election laws in NY are so screwy that third parties need as much support as they can get.
Unless, of course, I discover that Warren Redlich is as awful a candidate as Wayne Allen Root was (for president) 2 years ago.
TomG
I’m sure Lazio will end up with the Republican nod, but he’s got at least one heavy millstone – his years working at JPMorgan bank, on Wall Street. Good luck trying to explain how that helps him to identify with the average New Yorker and dig us out of the huge budget crisis we have.
Hmmm, how interesting ! Somebody removed that reference from Wikipedia. Wonder why….
(A quick search indicates that he’s on unpaid leave from JPMorgan. sourced below)
NY Daily News article
gelfling545
Collins is no great endorsement. He is intensely disliked in my particular corner of Erie County. The problem with running the government “like a business” is …it’s not. As for Paladino, a few local businesses put up his signs. The signs are mostly gone now as people stopped patronizing the shops, not wanting the money they spent to support a looney.
Paladino is one of those people who causes me to ponder life ruefully. Apparently you can be crazy as a backhouse rat and still make a lot of money. Go figure.
toujoursdan
I see that hammering against that building that “giant” mosque (which is actually just a reno of an existing building) near the WTC is a key plank in the campaign.
Wouldn’t it be nice if a Republican could run on something that isn’t based on fear?