Image by azipaybarah via FlickrAs I reported over the weekend, GOP candidate for governor of New York, Carl Paladino made some outrageously hateful statements about the gays in his speech on Sunday to a group of Othodox Jews. Paladino has been facing a shit storm of criticism since he told the Brooklyn group, "I just think my children, and your children, will be much better off, and much more successful getting married and raising a family. And I don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn't."Paladino seems to have been left flapping in the breeze by his party. Interestingly, the GOP has not jumped to Paladino's defense. In fact, they are following the lead of GOProud on this one. GOProud Chairman Christopher Barron called Paladino "an embarrassment" on Tuesday, adding, "If he's going to act like a buffoon, he should be treated by the party and the conservative movement as a buffoon."
When word of his homophobic remarks got out, Paladino first he said was was owed an apology, then we came out with a half-hearted apology, possibly because of this little hidden tidbit in his past. Paladino owns a lot of commercial real estate and two of his properties were gay night clubs. The Huffington Post reported on Wednesday:
State liquor license records show that New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino had once collected rent from two gay clubs located in buildings he owned in downtown Buffalo, according to a published report.Huff Po says that one of the bars, Cobalt, was run by Paladino's son William in 2004 and '05. That might help explain a lot.
The report in the Daily News on Wednesday comes just after Paladino told a group of Orthodox Jewish leaders that he opposed schools for what he called "brainwashing" of students into thinking that being gay is just another choice and "not the way God created us."
It seems that mouthy 'mophobe does have one supporter in the Ann Coulter, fresh off her stint as key note speaker at HOMOCON last month. The icy icon of the neocons claims the gubernatorial hopeful was just playing the game and telling the audience what they wanted to hear. Huff Po reported it this way:
Speaking to Bill O'Reilly on Fox News Monday, Coulter said she felt the need to come to the Republican's defense after it seemed everyone else had stopped backing him.These statements say more about Coulter than Paladino. I've long suspected that she's doing an act when she spews her venom. She'll do anything and say anything for a buck and it's worked out very well for her. The more outrageous she is, the more the right-wing nut jobs lap it up.
"I think someone on this network should [defend him]," she said, calling Paladino a "great warrior" who wants to lower taxes.
Asked about the specifics of the speech — in which Paladino warned against letting children be "brainwashed" into thinking homosexuality is an "equally valid or successful option" — Coulter said the candidate was just giving his socially conservative audience the red meat it wanted.
"He's speaking to Hasidim...it's like being in Chicago. You say, 'Go Cubs,'" she said.
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