Paladino and Dicker

I don't like Fred Dicker, and I don't like the New York Post. The fact that Carl Paladino called the Post his favorite newspaper is, as far as I'm concerned, yet another point against him. I agree with what Paladino's aide said during the attack (for want of a better term for it) about Dicker being a “terrible reporter.” To this I will add that Dicker is also a terrible writer and (at best) a second-rate intellect.

OK, now that we got that out of the way, let's make a few assumptions favorable to Carl Paladino, in order to better frame the incident between Paladino, Paladino's aide, and Dicker.

Let's assume, first of all, that Fred Dicker and the Post did send a “goon” photographer “after” the daughter Carl Paladino had with his mistress. Let's say the photographer took a picture of her, or tired to, through a window, thus making the girl upset, and frightened, and making her cry. Assume it happened just the way the candidate says it did. For the moment, never mind that there's no particular reason to believe this. Some reason might emerge later.

Let's further assume that his daughter's welfare is Carl Paladino's true concern. Never mind, for now, that Paladino seemed friendly to Dicker until Dicker asked a tough question, and only became hostile after the question was asked. Never mind that Paladino's daughter's existence is not a secret. Never mind that Paladino and his aide spent more of their time accusing Dicker of being biased against Paladino and in favor of Andrew Cuomo than they did expressing anger over what might've happened to Paladino's daughter. Never mind that Paladino has, as I've discussed elsewhere, tried very hard to simultaneously make himself into the “conservative values” candidate and deliberately project an image of dangerously aggressive sexuality, this in effect opening up his own bedroom, and the potential products of what goes on in there, to public scrutiny.

Let's go a little further. Let's assume that Carl Paladino has a moral right to seek some kind of retribution against Dicker, assuming all the above-stated facts are true. (And, I stress again, at the moment there's no particular reason to believe they are.) Not a legal right, which is a separate concept. But let's for now assume that he has that moral right.

I am in brief giving Paladino every benefit of the doubt, for argument's sake.

Then, New York, let me ask you this: Do you want a Governor who capable of behaving in such a volatile, thuggish manner in public and on camera? Comparisons with Senator Kevin Parker, similarly volatile and often accused of being thuggish, are easily made. Does anyone think Kevin Parker should be Governor? Probably not.

Do you like this idea, New York? Or, maybe, have you maybe gotten tired of Governors who make such obvious errors in judgment and make themselves look stupid?

Sadly, thuggery is, always has been, and always will be part of New York State's grand political tradition. Theodore Roosevelt admitted that his first election to the State Assembly was in part due to thuggery. I'm not asking for an end to political thuggery in the State of New York. I know that's, sadly, too much to ask. But, does New York want a Governor who drags such things out into the open, then further boasts of it and defends his right to do it? When Roosevelt wrote about the political thuggery undertaken on his behalf it was years after the fact and was spoken of with a sad regret, not with a swagger. For Theodore Roosevelt, perhaps the King of Swagger, to not swagger over something is I think significant.

What happens to someone else, to just a regular everyday person, who given a similar set of circumstances responds similarly to how Paladino did? That person would probably be in jail. I've seen people go to jail for a lot less.

Personally, I like the thought of a Governor of New York State who is capable of showing enough discretion to take revenge privately, if he does it at all.

This, to me, can be seen as a matter of judgment. Sure it can be a moral or legal issue too. But let's give Paladino the benefit of every doubt and focus on the incident solely as a matter of executive judgment and discretion. Let's perform the most cynical analysis possible. When you do this Paladino still comes out in the wrong.

If candidate Paladino reacts this way toward Fred Dicker, a mere reporter with no power (per statements made by Paladino's own aide), how will a Governor Paladino react to legislative leaders? Legislative leaders do have power. They have the power to persuade their members to pass a budget that is not the Governor's, and then to get their members to override the Governor's vetoes. And they may not, after this campaign, be inclined to enact Governor Paladino's proposals should he win.

How will Paladino react to someone who accidentally hits his gubernatorial SUV in traffic, as once happened once to George Pataki? How will he behave at press conferences? (Remember that, even if we assume Carl Paladino's primary concern is with his daughter's well-being, he didn't react angrily until he was asked a tough question. I think that's telling.)

What good has New York done for itself if it elects a Governor who's arrested for assault while in office? Was Eliot Spitzer not enough?

I'm not naive I'm not asking for a New York Governor who is any kind of saint. There are no saints in politics, not anymore, if there ever were.

But the Governorship of New York State is important enough that it warrants someone who can keep his temper in check in public.

That really isn't too much to ask. We all have to do it.