Tuesday night, Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino defeated Rick Lazio for the Republican nomination for New York State governor. Despite the GOP's support of Lazio, Paladino won by appealing to those who, like him, were "mad as hell."
After such an enormous and unexpected victory, can he really still be that mad? Also, what about all of the people who are now "mad as hell" that they have to hear about Paladino for another at least another two months?
Paladino, who has aligned himself with the grassroots Tea Party movement, has vowed to clean up the state government, which is currently in economic shambles. He will do so by purging the established politicians, which will allow for new ideas to come about.
Interestingly, Paladino has also promised to cut taxes, a move that will make eliminating the deficit even tougher. He plans to take a hard line against labor unions, welfare recipients, the Native American reservations and those under Medicare plans.
Paladino's supporters have pointed to the efficiency with which he runs his numerous business ventures and hope that his tactics will work just as well for the state government.
We agree that New York State is in dire need of fresh ideologies and better money management, but we do not feel that Carl Paladino is the right man for the job.
Paladino is a troubling candidate for numerous reasons. First, and most importantly, he has shown signs of prejudice and bigotry throughout his career and campaign.
Paladino was found to have sent a multitude of racist and pornographic e-mails in a scandal earlier this year. Many of the racist messages mocked Barack Obama during and after his 2008 presidential campaign.
Paladino has also referred to Jewish Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver with Nazi terms and used anti-Muslim sentiments in arguing against the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York City.
Additionally, he has talked of welfare recipients as if they are barnyard animals, insulting them by saying that they need to be taught personal hygiene. It looks to us like Paladino, a multi-millionaire, does not have any compassion for those who happen to be less fortunate than he.
Paladino won the Republican nomination for a couple of reasons. First, opponent Rick Lazio ran a weak campaign and did not take Paladino seriously enough. Second, Paladino was able to successfully inspire anger and instill fear in a pool of voters who felt disenfranchised and alienated by the old-line Republicans.
Now that Paladino must take on Democrat and current New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in the general election, it will be tough for him to survive. His murky past will be more fully exposed and he will not be able to get away with resorting to controversial social topics such as the Islamic center to win voters over.
Though we do not support Paladino as a candidate for governor, we do acknowledge that he has gotten voters talking and involved in a way that we haven't seen in quite some time. That, if anything, is a positive development.
