Whatever else you may think of the man, Paterson has stood resolutely with the LGBT community

[ruggerson]

He's one of our strongest political advocates. Spitzer was, and Cuomo is, in favor of marriage equality, but Paterson has passionately expressed the desire to have it stand as his legacy. He had two gay "uncles," a couple that he was very close to as a child. He gets it viscerally in the way that very few straight national figures do.

His advocacy for equal rights is heroic.

Maybe this is part of why he has engendered such hostility from certain elements in Washington.



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/09/05/2009-09-05_governor_paterson_aims_to_push_bill_on_gay_marriage_when_legislators_return.html

[babylonsister]

1. Bull hockey. And maybe it's because his 'political standing is dismal.'

Why are you trying to make it about something else? Maybe Dems don't want to lose to a rethug because of a weak Dem.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/19/obama-paterson-should-qui_n_292526.html

President Obama has asked an increasingly embattled Gov. David Paterson to bow out of the 2010 governor's race.

Two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative told the New York Times that Obama and his political advisers sent the request to Gov. Paterson out of fear "that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing." Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, a Queens Democrat, conveyed the message to the governor on behalf of the White House.

[ruggerson]

2. Can we expect more

of the hostile klatch to be following your lead?

[babylonsister]

3. You're the one blaming Patterson's heroic advocacy for gay rights

as a reason the WH doesn't want him to run, not me. That's disingenuous at best, and you know it.

But blame me. :eyes:

[ruggerson]

5. How do you know? Are you telepathically in touch with Rahm's every thought?

It fits a pattern, unfortunately. Which is why I said "maybe" and "part of."

What's sad is the unhinged anger you have towards gay people and gay blogs and media outlets whenever they express anything that doesn't fit your singular agenda.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ruggerson]

11. Aravosis has a viewpoint. As do you.

Because he stands up for gay equality doesn't make him a liar. Your hostility notwithstanding.

[closeupready]

12. Bingo! You hit the nail on the head. I notice this hostility from so many people here.

I laugh when I read people refer to this as a liberal board. Ha. Not like it used to be.

[dsc]

4. He has been a great ally

and it is a total shame that he is in this mess, which is largely not of his own making. He was an accidental governor without an elected mandate and then the State Senate melted down. Frankly I think his steadfast support of gay rights probably helped him more than hurt him but he is about the unluckiest politician ever.

[Walk away]

6. That is great but since Paterson couldn't get his own shadow to follow him,

it not very politically effective support. Washington has a problem with him because he is a weak leader, extremely unpopular and very likely to lose against Giuliani. Losing New York State's governorship would be a disaster but the fallout could effect the Senate race and Congress as well. We aren't talking about Oshkosh, there is a lot of political power at stake for Liberal Democrats.

I sure Rudy has lots of gay friends, he lived with a gay couple while he was divorcing his first wife. Of course he threw them under the bus when he ran for office again and would undoubtedly screw the gay community for his fundie friends. Do you really want to see that as the Governor of N.Y.?

[ruggerson]

7. maybe we should let the voters decide?

isn't that how democracy works?

If Cuomo (or someone else) challenges him and beats him, then New Yorkers have spoken and in all likelihood the primary winner would be a stronger challenger to Rudy.

[Walk away]

9. Maybe...maybe not. No one is forcing him to quit. He's running isn't he?

If he screws it up for the Dems in N.Y. it won't make much of a difference to him as he does not have much of a future in politics and can only stick around to hurt the party.

He isn't running in the primary as a regular candidate. He is running as the sitting Governor even if he isn't well liked or known for having any leadership capabilities. If he wins the repukes will win the election.

On edit I just have to say that I think his support of Gay marriage is the least and possibly not the reason the party has requested that he not run. He has handled every challenge from filling Clinton's Senate seat to the State Senate fiasco so poorly that it would have been better if there was no governor at all.

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. Oddly, ( or not so oddly) so did Dinkins. Is Paterson being "Dinkinized"?

I'll operationally define that as "being subject to a relentlessly negative media-driven pounding" for real and imagined ( mostly "imagined", near as I can tell) transgressions and shortcomings.

>>>>>>>n May 2008, Governor Paterson informed New York State agencies that they were required to recognize same-sex marriage licenses from other jurisdictions for purposes of employee benefits.<66> The governor's directive was purportedly based upon a decision from New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division's Fourth Department.<66> The governor's directive did not receive widespread public attention until weeks after the directive was given.<67> At that time, the governor's decision provoked public reaction on both sides of the issue. While Governor Paterson's directive received widespread approbation from same-sex marriage supporters,<68> it was met with criticism from conservative legislators and from same-sex marriage opponents, one of whom referred to the directive as Governor Paterson's "first major blunder."<6>>>>>>>[br />
"First major blunder." That's kind of become the mantra of M$M media re Paterson, hasn't it? Is it really justified?

If you repeat a lie often enough........


Remember how annoyed the hard core RW ... and the not so hard core RW media and political elite.... became when Dinkins insisted on the inclusion of the NYC Irish lesbian and gay group in the city-sanctioned St. Patrick's Day Parade? The organizers refused to let them in; so Dinkins invited them to march as a group in the mayoral contingent.

Drove the hard RW *NUTS*. The soft RW media started... around the same time.... to question Dinkins' "comptetence".


These things ( i.e. powerful symbolic gestures by mainstream... but minority... pols) tend to resonate on a subliminal level, I'm thinking. So.... how have Paterson's detractors been on GLBT Rights?

How has *Obama* been?

[mitchtv]

13. thanks, Paterson is OK with me

he supports us , he gets an OK from me.Obama is the iffy one

[Bluenorthwest]

14. My first thought was of the 'Faith Based' people who oppose us

within this administration. They want to purge all of us and our allies from the Party to make room for the rest of their congregations.

[Prism]

15. LGBT issues are a symptom of the larger hostility to liberals and progressives

This administration is accumulating a record of knee-capping progressive and liberal Democrats and policies in favor of accomodationist strategies towards corporatists, centrists, and Blue Dogs.

I'm still a little awed by the fact the President's speech before the joint session managed to equate liberal health reform activists with the obstructionist right-wing. And no one seemed to much care. The laurels were aflyin' as the President Sista Souljah'd his way across the most vital reform of our age.

When the administration actively structures its choices between the far right and the center left, the result will inevitably fall somewhere on the Right.

Which it now is on health reform and so many other issues. Patterson is just another victim. They want a centrist, establishment player, which Cuomo undeniably is. Eight months in and this is now the established pattern that we're asked to ignore again and again.

[tbyg52]

17. Canary in the coal mine. First they came for..... nt

[GodlessBiker]

16. He has been wonderful to us and I will always vote for him because of it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

18. i am voting for the man who stands for my rights and dont care for the opinion of the man who doesnt

yes. i also think paterson gets a lot of bad press for choices he had to make because we dont have any money.

he also cant make eye contact, which makes people think he is dishonest. he isnt the worlds most charasmatic person etc. however he stands for my rights, so i stand with him.

[Lyric]

19. Paterson I trust.

The politicians who couldn't stand firm on a principle if their feet were nailed to it? Not so much trust there, no.