Oy Vey! Paladino Anti-Gay Prattle Ploy

Just when you think that Carl Paladino, Republican gubernatorial candidate for NYS Governor, is as far out on the plank as he can get. Just when it seems as though one more step will drop him, flailing, into the tumultuous ocean of his political death, he steps.

Yesterday, his step was anti-gay rhetoric.

Upon first reading on Yahoo! News that the one many call "Crazy Carl" said in a speech that gay people are not "equally valid," I thought he might, indeed, be crazy.

Then, I read a remark scripted in his speech which he did not say. It was, ""There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual." I thought, "Oh yeah, he's gone off the deep end, all right. And he's giving the governorship to his Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo, on a McDonald's food tray."

For a candidate to make remarks that would alienate an entire portion of the voting population and ensure its votes for his opponent is, well, scary.

On second thought, I realized Paladino might actually believe that his archaic comments will make him Governor. In my article, "Paladino's Running with Class for NY Governor , I wrote that he is trying to pit the rich against the non-rich to gain votes. He is playing off the fact that a large majority of the population is not rich.

Now, Mr. P. for Player is pulling the same trick with homosexuality. His people have been spinning all over the media that Paladino speaks without thinking. They say he just blurts out whatever comes into his mind. I say, "Bull-loney!" His anti-gay remarks are premeditated and calculated.

Paladino regurgitated his anti-gay jargon at Jewish synagogues in Brooklyn. "His audience there and at an earlier appearance at a Borough Park synagogue, applauded much of Paladino's anti-gay rhetoric.[ ] In introducing the candidate in Borough Park, Rabbi Yehuda Levin, spokesman on family issues for Rabbinical Alliance of America, praised Paladino's anti-gay-marriage stance," according to the NY Post. There are 1.6 million Jewish people in New York State, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.

In contrast, the gay population of New York State is difficult to estimate. According to an About.com interview with Gary Gates, Senior Research Fellow at The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, "A recent government survey found that 4 percent of adults aged 18-45 identified as "homosexual" or "bisexual". A similar proportion of voters identify as GLB." Four percent of New York State's population of 19,541,453 is 781,658 which is less than half of the Jewish population.

Add to these population figures that the state had over 7 million Catholics as of 2008, according to docstoc, and Paladino's scary way of thinking emerges.

He might actually believe that more New Yorkers than not share his anti-gay sentiments or he might just think that more people with anti-gay sentiment will turn out to vote than people who believe in equality. Either way, it's scary!

Sources:

Associated Press, "NY GOP gov hopeful Paladino makes anti-gay remarks," Yahoo! News
R. Fenton & J. Olshan, "Paladino goes on anti-gay rant, warns against 'brainwashing' The NY Post
Jewish Virtual Library, "Jewish Population of the United States by State"
Ramon Johnson, "Interview with Gary Gates of The Williams Institute," About.com
DocStoc, "US Catholic Population by State"