NY Gubernatorial candidate: blatant homophobe

[General Zod]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39608685/ns ... ork_times/

The Republican candidate for governor, Carl P. Paladino, told a gathering in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Sunday that children should not be “brainwashed” into thinking that homosexuality was acceptable, and criticized his opponent, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, for marching in a gay pride parade earlier this year.

Addressing Orthodox Jewish leaders, Mr. Paladino described his opposition to same-sex marriage.

“That’s not how God created us,” he said, reading from a prepared address.

“I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don’t want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option — it isn’t.”

And then, to applause at Congregation Shaarei Chaim, he said: “I didn’t march in the gay parade this year — the gay pride parade this year. My opponent did, and that’s not the example we should be showing our children.” Newsday.com reported that Mr. Paladino’s prepared text had included the sentence: “There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual.” But Mr. Paladino omitted the sentence in his speech.

About an hour after Mr. Paladino’s remarks, Mr. Cuomo’s campaign released a statement condemning them.

“Mr. Paladino’s statement displays a stunning homophobia and a glaring disregard for basic equality,” it said. “These comments along with other views he has espoused make it clear that he is way out of the mainstream and is unfit to represent New York.”

Mr. Paladino declined a request to be interviewed after his appearance. His campaign manager, Michael R. Caputo, denied assertions that Mr. Paladino was antigay, and noted that he employed a gay man on his campaign staff.

“Carl Paladino is simply expressing the views that he holds in his heart as a Catholic,” Mr. Caputo said in a telephone interview. “Carl Paladino is not homophobic, and neither is the Catholic Church.”

“The majority of New Yorkers agree with him,” Mr. Caputo added. He said the campaign had done its own polling.

During his appearance at the synagogue, with reporters in attendance, Mr. Paladino said: “Don’t misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way. That would be a dastardly lie.”

A same-sex marriage bill was defeated last year by New York lawmakers. Mr. Paladino has said that, unlike Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, he would veto such a bill if he were governor. But Mr. Caputo said that if the same measure passed in a statewide referendum, Mr. Paladino would uphold the law.

Brian Ellner, head of the marriage initiative for the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, said that the Republican’s remarks were insensitive given a recent swirl of news about suicide in the gay community and antigay violence.
Story: 8 gang suspects arraigned in NYC anti-gay attack

The New York City Police Department announced on Friday that nine men in the Bronx had lured three men they believed were gay and then tortured them, burning them and sodomizing one of them with a small baseball bat. Last month, a student at Rutgers University jumped off the George Washington Bridge after two classmates broadcast his sexual encounter with a man over the Internet.

Mr. Paladino’s statements in Brooklyn were first broadcast by Azi Paybarah, a reporter for WNYC, and Reid Epstein of Newsday, on Twitter.

A recent CNN pollfound that 58 percent of people in New York were in favor of gay marriage.

It's kind of hilarious in a sad way. Especially with the whole "I'm not racist! My housekeeper is black111!!!1" attitude.

[Crossroads Inc.]

So far this man has:
Submitted blatantly racist E-mails and pictures to his "friends"
Got into a screaming match with the NYT
Sent Hardcore Bestiality via e-mail (not something "wrong per-say, bit not exactly something to be done if running for elected office.)
And now, surprise surprise,
Has come out as a blatant Homophobe.

It is people like this that I wish to point too whenever conservatives get uppity claiming "you just call everyone you oppose a racist and homophobe!![/i]"
YES! because there are PLENTY of "Carl Paladino's" in the GOP/

[KlavoHunter]

“That’s not how God created us,” he said, reading from a prepared address.

No, *very* clearly, God *DID* create us this way, idiot...

[Wing Commander MAD]

Not really surprising considering he's a Tea Party farvorite. Crossroads, you have a link to a news story regarding the beastiality stuff? I certainly don't remember hearing about that, and I'd think thats the kind of thing that'd torpedo someone's political career, well entrenched or aspiring in Paladino's case, instantly considering Americas whole puritanical views on sex. Honestly, between beastiality and incest I'm not sure which is considered more taboo in our country, but admitting to either is probably the best way to make oneself a social pariah in the shortest order.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Not really surprising considering he's a Tea Party farvorite. Crossroads, you have a link to a news story regarding the beastiality stuff? I certainly don't remember hearing about that, and I'd think thats the kind of thing that'd torpedo someone's political career, well entrenched or aspiring in Paladino's case, instantly considering Americas whole puritanical views on sex. Honestly, between beastiality and incest I'm not sure which is considered more taboo in our country, but admitting to either is probably the best way to make oneself a social pariah in the shortest order.

Here are a couple of places that mention it.
Newsone
Mediaite.com
Queerty
As YOU say, one would think that in America's sexually repressed world, mailing out stuff like this would be an instant death of any political carrier.
The fact that this was barely touched upon in the "Liberal" main stream media echos just how one-sided and broken things are today. Try to imagine for one moment the reaction from the right if a Democratic candidate was caught with these same e-mails/

[FSTargetDrone]

But.. but.. he'd HIRE gays! For true!

NY GOP gov hopeful Paladino says he'd hire gays

1 hr 22 mins ago

NEW YORK – Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino said Monday that he does not discriminate against gays but thinks young children shouldn't be exposed to gay culture, especially at gay pride parades.

"They wear these little Speedos and they grind against each other and it's just a terrible thing," Paladino said Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "Why would you bring your children to that?"

The candidate said he opposes same-sex marriage but would actively recruit gays to his administration. Mentioning his gay nephew, Paladino said the discrimination he and others face is a "very ugly experience."

His comments came a day after he told Orthodox Jewish leaders he doesn't want children "brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality" is acceptable.

Paladino, who has received tea party support, made the remarks at a synagogue in Brooklyn's Williamsburg section while trying to strike a contrast between himself and his Democratic rival, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Paladino said he chose not to march in this summer's gay pride parade but his opponent did.

"That's not how God created us," Paladino said Sunday of being gay, "and that's not the example that we should be showing our children."

He also told the congregation that children who later in life choose to marry people of the opposite sex and raise families would be "much better off and much more successful."

On ABC's "Good Morning America," he elaborated on that, saying "I only have one problem with homosexuality, and that's their desire to be married, and beyond that I don't have a problem whatsoever."

Asked Monday on ABC if his comments could be seen as insensitive in light of a brutal gay-bashing incident in which two teenage boys and a man were tortured in the Bronx, Paladino said no, adding that he believed his "comments were directed at the confusion that people have had over this issue.

"I wanted to clearly distinguish that my feelings about homosexuality were no different than those of the Catholic Church. I'm a Catholic. ... I wanted to make it clear what my position was and I think I clearly defined it," he added.

On both ABC and NBC, Paladino said he crossed out a line from his prepared text at the synagogue that stated: "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual."

"I did not say that. It's unacceptable. I crossed it out in the car. I did not say it," he said on "Today."

He said he didn't know who included it in a draft of his remarks, but it was not a member of his staff.

On "Good Morning America," he added that even though he chose not to make those comments, someone at the synagogue distributed his original prepared remarks that included that wording.

"I refused to say that because it's not true. It's not how I feel about things," he said.

A message left at the synagogue early Monday was not immediately returned.

(This version corrects Paladino quote on ribald activities at gay pride parades.)

He seems to know quite a lot about what goes on at the gay parades! The grinding, oh, the disturbing, evil, immoral (yet somehow arousing...) grinding! Oh!

[Broomstick]

So far this man has:
Submitted blatantly racist E-mails and pictures to his "friends"
Got into a screaming match with the NYT
Sent Hardcore Bestiality via e-mail (not something "wrong per-say, bit not exactly something to be done if running for elected office.)
And now, surprise surprise,
Has come out as a blatant Homophobe.

You forgot the part about forcing poor people on welfare to live in jail cells. Thread here

[General Zod]

So far this man has:
Submitted blatantly racist E-mails and pictures to his "friends"
Got into a screaming match with the NYT
Sent Hardcore Bestiality via e-mail (not something "wrong per-say, bit not exactly something to be done if running for elected office.)
And now, surprise surprise,
Has come out as a blatant Homophobe.

You forgot the part about forcing poor people on welfare to live in jail cells. Thread here

Oh man I forgot all about that thread. The teabagger assclowns are all so similar it's hard to keep which one says what straight.

[Gil Hamilton]

"They wear these little Speedos and they grind against each other and it's just a terrible thing," Paladino said Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "Why would you bring your children to that?"

This reminds me of the scene in Scrubs where JD goes to stay at The Todd's place and the The Todd insists that he wear a speedo while there.

"There is only one rule if you want to stay at the Casa de Todd... you've got to hammock up."

I had no idea that applied to gay people. This Paladino character has opened my eyes to their perversion!

I also have no idea what Paladino sounds like, but that quote SOUNDS like it should be coming from a handwringing Woody Allen. "Oy, the grinding!"

[Frank Hipper]

Gay Pride Parades are family events in the way that New Orleans' Mardi Gras is a family event; if you want your children shielded from sexually charged parties in the streets, then you don't take them, you fucking brain-dead piece of shit.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

Gay Pride Parades are family events in the way that New Orleans' Mardi Gras is a family event; if you want your children shielded from sexually charged parties in the streets, then you don't take them, you fucking brain-dead piece of shit.

The gay pride parades I've been to seem a lot of a family event than Mardi Gras. I'm seeing a lot of families with their kids out there being more of the norm than scantily-dressed people walking around.

[FSTargetDrone]

Gay Pride Parades are family events in the way that New Orleans' Mardi Gras is a family event; if you want your children shielded from sexually charged parties in the streets, then you don't take them, you fucking brain-dead piece of shit.

Gyrations!

"It wasn't pretty," Mr. Paladino said. "It was a bunch of very extreme-type people in bikini-type outfits grinding at each other and doing these gyrations, and I certainly wouldn't let my young children see that.

"Young children should not be exposed to that at a young age. They don't understand; it's a very difficult thing," said Paladino. "And exposing them to homosexuality, especially at a gay pride parade, and I don't know if you have ever been to one ... and it's just a terrible thing."

No, Mr. Paladino, I don't spend a lot of time at gay parades. Never been. Not my thing. I mean, it's fine, it's cool, but it's just not my scene. You, however, you sir, you seem to be an expert on the matter.

Oh wait, it was an accident! He "stumbled on one." In Toronto. Besides, it's all Cuomo's faut, anyway. Somehow. No, really.

'Crazy Carl' Paladino blames furor over his anti-gay remarks on rival for governor Andrew Cuomo

BY Celeste Katz
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Originally Published:Monday, October 11th 2010, 1:23 PM

Updated: Monday, October 11th 2010, 2:18 PM

Carl Paladino, under fire for making anti-homosexual remarks, blames the whole mess on Democratic frontrunner Andrew Cuomo.
Marino for News

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino got on "Fox & Friends" this morning to address the controversial comments he made about gays during a visit with Orthodox Jewish leaders Monday - and the upshot is that he blames the whole mess on Democratic frontrunner Andrew Cuomo.

Paladino assigns that blame in two ways: One, he says he was responding to Cuomo's having brought his daughters to this summer's NYC Gay Pride parade.

Two, he claims the Cuomo campaign obtained a copy of his prepared remarks that included the phrase "dysfunctional homosexuals," which he scratched out and decided not to say in his speech, and gave it out to reporters.

Additional highlights, via Fox:

On Stance on Homosexuality: "I know the difficulties that homosexuals suffer. I have a nephew and I have employees who work for me who are of that persuasion and we have never had a problem and I say that very clearly, unequivocally. None."

On a Gay Pride Parade he attended: "I stumbled on one in Toronto one time with my wife. We watched this. There were men in speedos grinding and doing things, okay, to each other. I just said, that's not right."

On Gay Education in Schools: "Schools have no business teaching children about moral questions. That's reserved to the parents. Young children should be handled - in their mind should be handled delicately. Homosexuals suffer from a horrible discrimination. It's terrible."

On Opponent Cuomo Leaking Statement to the Media Where Paladino Claims "there is nothing to be proud of being a dysfunctional homosexual": "I don't know who wrote the thing. But somebody did. In the car before I arrived, I scratched out that section. I said, this isn't me. And I scratched it out and I did not repeat it. I didn't say it. I certainly don't feel that way. And then that's what led this whole issue up. Andrew went and took a clean copy of that [statement] and went and sent it out to the press."

On having a 500 page attack plan of background information on Andrew Cuomo: "Our staff has information, our opposition research has information on Andrew Cuomo. [Cuomo] is nervous, very nervous and very much afraid of a Paladino administration. It's going to take away the feeding trough that keeps these guys eating."

He's sure got an eye for details, given that he's so appalled by it.

[FSTargetDrone]

"There is only one rule if you want to stay at the Casa de Todd... you've got to hammock up."

I had no idea that applied to gay people. This Paladino character has opened my eyes to their perversion!

I also have no idea what Paladino sounds like, but that quote SOUNDS like it should be coming from a handwringing Woody Allen. "Oy, the grinding!"

Heh. Well, I can't find any video of this stuff yet, but here's a clip relevant to the OP where he haltingly talks about the pornographers, the per-VERTS and the gays.

[Saxtonite]

Not really surprising considering he's a Tea Party farvorite. Crossroads, you have a link to a news story regarding the beastiality stuff?

Here are a couple of places that mention it.
The fact that this was barely touched upon in the "Liberal" main stream media echos just how one-sided and broken things are today. Try to imagine for one moment the reaction from the right if a Democratic candidate was caught with these same e-mails/

Anderson Cooper 360 touched upon this in his interview of the guy a few weeks ago, well the sending beastiality videos over email. The person responded 'I understand some people may consider it offensive' etc. Honestly I bet many people in NY don't care about sending beastiality vids on the internet, it doesn't deal much with how he'd be governor - and as others pointed out people have stopped being that shallow/focus more on what the candidate does rather than some sex scandal. At least for the 2010 elections in USA. (the same AC360 ep also mentioned other examples of people ignoring scandal in other elections)

The gay pride parades I've been to seem a lot of a family event than Mardi Gras. I'm seeing a lot of families with their kids out there being more of the norm than scantily-dressed people walking around.

Chicago's Pride Parade is similar with there being families & whatnot from the nearby neighborhoods just using that as an excuse to party. There's also the 'scantily clad people' in LGBT parades. But the St. Patrick's Day parades, despite their claim - aren't so 'family friendly' - the south side St. Patrick's Day parade was cancelled this year due to rowdiness and whatnot (or the local alderwomansays...).

(Yes I am comparing LGBT parades with St. Patrick's Day parades as an analogy)

[Saxtonite]

EDIT: AC did also reference the 'racist youtube videos' he sent too, I forgot how he handwaved that away. I'm guessing the whole 'everyone does weird/fun/etc shit on the internet' thing is starting to seep into popular consciousness, saying what someone does OL doesn't deal too well with how they are IRL.

[Patrick Degan]

Gay Pride Parades are family events in the way that New Orleans' Mardi Gras is a family event; if you want your children shielded from sexually charged parties in the streets, then you don't take them, you fucking brain-dead piece of shit.

Actually, Mardi Gras in New Orleans is mostly a family event. The drag queen contests and the flashing for beads is pretty much confined to Bourbon St: the Esplanade-side for the former (since there is a concentrated gay population in that section of the Quarter) and the latter where the bars and strip clubs frequented by idiot out-of-town college boys and their bubble-headed girlfriends are clustered. On Canal St. and St. Charles Ave, it's pretty civil and family-friendly, and further uptown on St. Charles and Napoleon, families have tents and barbecues set up along the parade route. There are some people who walk about in lewd costumes, but locals pretty much shrug it off as no big deal.

Getting back to the subject of Carl Paladino, it's clear this man isn't just a raving homophobe but simply plain dog-nuts.

[FSTargetDrone]

Getting back to the subject of Carl Paladino, it's clear this man isn't just a raving homophobe but simply plain dog-nuts.

Concerning the parade, I was hoping he'd say something along the lines of, "I was only in there to get directions on how to get away from there."

How does one stumble upon a parade, anyhow? Perhaps if he was blind AND deaf, but then he'd not be able to describe the costumes in such detail.

Pornography and the clothing choices of gyrating, grinding gays... For fuck's sake, with all the problems this country has, he sets sights on 2 essentially irrelevant issues. Not that gays are irrelevant, but what they wear or do with each other sure as hell is.

Really, I don't give a fuck what this clown thinks about what anyone else's children should or should not see. All of this zeal from Republicons about getting government out of our lives. Yet they endlessly insist on sticking their noses into the most private parts of people's lives.

[FSTargetDrone]

Bit of a follow-up, Paladino "apologized" for some of his ass-hattery and now one of the rabbis who "helped write" his remarks denouncing the gay lifestyle has now denounced Paladino himself:

October 13, 2010
Rabbi Breaks With Paladino Over Apology
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS

Well, that didn’t last long.

The alliance between the Republican Carl P. Paladino and an Orthodox rabbi from Brooklyn has fallen apart, with the rabbi denouncing Mr. Paladino on Wednesday for his apology over remarks he had made about homosexuality on Sunday.

The rabbi, Yehuda Levin, who helped write those remarks, said Mr. Paladino “folded like a cheap camera” because of the uproar they had set off. And the rabbi said he could no longer support Mr. Paladino’s candidacy for governor of New York.

“Which part of the speech that you gave in Brooklyn to the Orthodox Jewish community are you apologizing for?” Rabbi Levin asked at a news conference in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, on Fifth Avenue. “Will we see you next year with your daughter at that gay pride march?”

Mr. Paladino, during a meeting with a small Orthodox congregation that was arranged by Rabbi Levin, said Sunday that children should not be “brainwashed” into thinking that homosexuality was acceptable, and he criticized his Democratic opponent, Andrew M. Cuomo, for marching with his daughters in New York City’s gay pride parade.

On Tuesday, after broad condemnation, Mr. Paladino apologized for his “poorly chosen words” and said he would “fight for all gay New Yorkers’ rights” if elected.

Rabbi Levin said that he considered the apology a betrayal, and that he pined for the “old Carl” who spoke from his heart rather than bending to political whims.

Rabbi Levin said he was especially upset that Mr. Paladino gave him no notice that he planned to back away from the comments.

“I was in the middle of eating a kosher pastrami sandwich,” Rabbi Levin said. "While I was eating it, they come running and they say, ‘Paladino became gay!’ I said, ‘What?’ And then they showed me the statement. I almost choked on the kosher salami.”

Mr. Paladino, of course, had not become gay, but had announced that he wanted to clarify that he embraced gay rights and opposed discrimination. In explaining his views, Mr. Paladino and his aides noted that he had a gay nephew who worked for the campaign.

That seemed to bother Rabbi Levin as well. He accused Mr. Paladino of deciding to apologize because “his gay nephew or his family told him so.”

“He discovered now he has a gay nephew?” the rabbi said. “Mazel tov! We’ll make a coming-out party!”

Rabbi Levin said he chose to hold his news conference at the cathedral because he hoped Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan would take a stand on the controversy involving Mr. Paladino’s remarks.

Mr. Paladino made two stops in Brooklyn on Sunday, one at a yeshiva and the second at a synagogue in Williamsburg. Rabbi Levin has said that he wrote the first set of remarks and helped shape Mr. Paladino’s comments at the second stop in which he talked about homosexuality. Mr. Paladino’s campaign manager said that he reviewed the remarks, as did the candidate, but that they should have been more sensitive to the language and the furor the comments would create.

Rabbi Levin said Wednesday that Mr. Paladino probably did not write his apology either. He suggested that “militant gays” wrote it and handed it to a naïve Mr. Paladino.

“Believe me, I spoke to Carl Paladino,” Rabbi Levin said. “He doesn’t know half the stuff that has to do with the gay agenda.”

Despite his unhappiness, Rabbi Levin did leave the door open for a reconciliation. “Carl, we’ll leave the light on for you,” he said. “Come back, Carl.”

At a campaign stop at a water-bottling plant in Forestport, N.Y., Mr. Paladino shrugged off Rabbi Levin’s criticism, saying he wanted to stick to the issues.

“We’re on message,” Mr. Paladino said. “That’s it.”

Nicholas Confessore contributed reporting.

This would be funny if it wasn't so wrong.

[Slacker]

I'd be much more concerned if there was any chance that this fruit loop had a chance of winning.

It's a bit frustrating that one of the two parties of government has abandoned the concept of honest intellectual debate, because he does actually one very good idea for improving Long Island's horrifying tax problems that I'm sure is going to be completely ignored, because he's a fucking whack job.

And just think, he wasn't the Tea Party's first choice-until about a month ago Rick Lazio was running on the Conservative ticket. There's a fucking useless Martian if I've ever seen or spoken to one.