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Paterson Accuses Media Critics of Racism in Trying to Push Him Out
By
Billy Parker
Published Aug 22, 2009
Modified Aug 22, 2009
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By
Billy Parker
Published Aug 22, 2009
Modified Aug 22, 2009
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With sources saying that Governor Paterson is having his first real doubts about whether he will actually go through with an election campaign next year despite such abysmal poll numbers, the governor lashed out at how he's been lambasted in the press, claiming that the movement to push him out has been "orchestrated" and is racially motivated.
Paterson spoke yesterday in a radio interview with Errol Louis of the Daily News. Paterson said:
"We’re not in the postracial period...My feeling is it’s being orchestrated, it’s a game, and people who pay attention know that...I submit that the same kind of treatment that (Governor) Deval Patrick is receiving right now in Massachusetts, and I’m receiving...that we're not in a post-racial period...And the reality is that the next victim on the list - and you see it coming - is President Barack Obama...Even our own reporters from our own community buy the public line, which is, ‘We’re going to get rid of David Paterson.’...The fact is that this state is alive and well, will balance its budget in September and will be around a lot longer than their outlets are."
that Paterson seemed "hurt and frustrated" and was expressing "a growing dismay and isolation as his poll numbers remain perilously low." A source tells them that it's "the first time he's begun to wonder" about whether his low numbers make a run to remain governor worth it next year. During the radio program though, he did not express any such doubts saying, "Even if it didn’t work out, what is the shame of running for re-election and losing?... There’s no shame in losing. The shame is that you don’t fight."
Paterson did not have an easy time finding support for yesterday's remarks. Spokespeople for neither Governor Patrick nor President Obama had any response and already the local papers are jumping on the governor for playing the race card—including an editorial from Errol Louis himself. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries acknowledged that there certainly is media bias while adding, “But the governor’s problems are very complex and cannot be attributed to any one particular issue.”
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Albany
election 2010
errol louis
governor paterson
president obama
race matters
Billy Parker
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