major Republican figure in the state also attacks him.
Carl takes pop-shot at Andy
By FREDRIC U. DICKER in Albany and DAVID SEIFMAN and LEONARD GREENE in New York
October 12, 2010
Carl Paladino got back to the pressing issues facing the state yesterday—like accusing gubernatorial rival Andrew Cuomo of being a bad father for taking his daughters to the Gay Pride Parade.
Paladino, who has insisted that a candidate’s kids—including his own 10-year-old daughter out of wedlock—should be off limits in political contests, attacked Cuomo for taking his young girls to the city’s gay parade last summer.
“Why would you bring your children to that?” Paladino said. [LA writes: that’s a damned good question, and he should keep asking it.]
Andrew Cuomo walking in this year’s
Gay Pride Parade with his daughters
The Republican candidate said Democrat Cuomo “has already displayed his lack of interest in being a good father.”
“I mean, for God’s sakes, he exposed his children to that nonsense of extremists in the Gay Pride Parade,” he said.
At the Columbus Day Parade yesterday, Cuomo bluntly responded that he didn’t need parenting tips from Paladino, saying, “He’s probably the last person I’ll take advice from on how to raise my daughters.”
Meanwhile, Paladino was blasted yesterday by his own running mates and the man he beat in the GOP primary for anti-gay comments he made over the weekend.
Speaking before a Brooklyn Hasidic congregation on Sunday, Paladino had said children shouldn’t be “brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option.”
Yesterday, he trashed gay-pride parades, complaining that participants “wear these little Speedos, and they grind against each other, and it’s just a terrible thing.”
Cuomo called the Buffalo businessman’s comments “reckless and divisive” in light of several recent gay-bashing incidents in the city.
The Republican attacks on Paladino came from attorney-general hopeful Dan Donovan and state comptroller candidate Harry Wilson.
“Any statements of this nature are offensive,” said Donovan, the Staten Island district attorney. “We should be fostering a dialogue on tolerance. These statements do not achieve that, and I do not agree with them.”
Wilson declared, “I do not condone intolerance of any kind and categorically reject these hurtful statements.”
[LA replies: Donovan and Wilson just lost my vote.]
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is campaigning for Republican candidates in California, called on Paladino to apologize.
“At a time when the state and nation are facing massive deficits, irresponsible overspending, job-killing taxes and an ongoing war of terrorism against us, all candidates should be focused on solutions to our problems and not the personal lives of our fellow citizens,” Giuliani said, according to Politico.com. [LA replies: How moronic. How liberal. Paladino wasn’t talking about anyone’s personal life. He was talking about society’s systematic normalization of homosexuality—a normalization which includes attacking anyone who criticizes homosexuality, as these Republicans are doing now to Paladino.]
Former US Rep. Rick Lazio, defeated by Paladino in the primary last month, said, “New Yorkers can’t find jobs and pay their bills, and attacks on sexual orientation are both counterproductive and an embarrassment.” [LA replies: No, Mr. Lazio, you’re the embarrassment, because instead of standing up for your party’s candidate against this politically correct hit mob, you’re joining with it.]
Mayor Bloomberg denounced Paladino’s comments as “not what America stands for, and it’s not what New York stands for.” [LA replies: You mean, America stands for homosexual pride parades where men grind against each other in public. You mean, America stands for taking one’s children to such parades.]
Paladino appeared to be in no mood to back down, as he made several appearances on national TV shows and marched in the Columbus Day Parade.
He insisted in interviews that he was an “unequivocal” supporter of gay rights, short of backing same-sex marriages. He said he was only following the teachings of his Catholic faith.
fredric.dicker@nypost.com