Paladino and Justification of Party
By Michael Boyajian
One of the original rationales for political parties was that they would serve to screen out undesirable candidates putting forward the best and brightest of their ranks for the coming election. This axiom no longer seems to apply to the Republican Party and nowhere is it more apparent than in New York where Republican Gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has seemingly threatened the life of Albany super reporter, Fred Dicker of the New York Post. Though some would argue that Paladino’s threat, “I am going to take you out,” was not a death threat it must be recalled that John Gotti went to prison for saying nothing less than that.
Paladino has likewise sent out highly offensive emails indicating a racist bend reminiscent of something that Wall Street boneheads may have jokingly faxed around the circuit a generation ago. Paladino has also made false statements about his opponent, Empire State sheriff, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Accusations that more readily apply to Paladino himself. He even claims to be an Albany outsider yet profits from tax breaks and taxpayer funded leases of his properties that have created according to the Daily News a mere score of jobs if any at all. It doesn’t stop there either with his idea for hygiene classes for poor people to be held in prisons something out of the Mainland China playbook from oh so long ago.
So Paladino has breached the wall erected by his party to keep people like himself off the ballot in November. The question then becomes what purpose does the party now serve if not to filter out residents of the fever swamps? Certainly Paladino could run independently of the party using his own finances.
What has happened is that national Republicans have swung so far to the extreme that moderate GOPers have left the party creating a vacuum which once served to screen candidates. In fact a reverse screening seems to be in place now in New York that would effectively block the likes of giants like Theodore Roosevelt and Nelson Rockefeller while leaving the toll gate up for the likes of Paladino giving rise to those remaining reasoned personages of the state GOP to say will the last one out please shut out the lights.
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