That "convenient massacre" and "Conservatives have no place here"

While I agree a tiny tiny bit that the SAFE Act is a little overkill (I heard on the news yesterday that you need to register your bullets, which I think is ridiculous), it's sort of needed in this environment where people with serious mental deficiencies have access to them. I should also note that I want to know what Cuomo's initial reaction to the Sandy Hook shooting was. If he was unable to think straight for the rest of that fateful Friday, I can understand why he'd push for a law like the SAFE Act.

But not everyone is happy. Fred Dicker is the dean of the New York political press, and let's just say that he swings to the right. Okay, that's fair, considering that New York is a liberal state. I was first made aware of him when I saw the documentary Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. But on Monday, he had some questionable things to say about the governor:

That was [Governor Andrew Cuomo's] anti-gun legislation, which he had promised not to do, but then he had a little convenient massacre that went on in Newtown, Connecticut, and all of a sudden there was an opportunity for him

I'm not aware of Cuomo's original stance on gun control, but I wouldn't call him an optimist. Some of the things he might have done might have been optimistic, but I think Cuomo is aware that he's not going to get elected President. Dicker had to clarify his statement, but even then he offered no apology. But what's his personal opposition to gun control?

We've taken the lead out of gasoline. That's helped bring down crime. Now let's do other things to make the environment cleaner, and maybe .

And what I mean by that I hope the Supreme Court deals with the second amendment is a ruling that pretty much tells Congress to get its own act together.

But the score kind of is even in regards to Dicker and Cuomo. The governor had his own gaffe late last week in an interview, where he said:

“Who are they? Right to life, pro-assault weapons, anti-gay — if that’s who they are, they have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

Of course I disagree with what he said, as it is offensive, but I agree that it was MORE than taken out of context. Thankfully, the Governor's office clarified what he meant. He probably should have said "Because if that is who they are, and if they are the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the political process here in the state of New York." But who knows, maybe my idea is wrong. More interesting: the few news networks that have picked it up are pro-life newsgroups or have ties to the right. The "mainstream media" (to quote conservatives) has not picked up much on the story.

And bad news for anyone trying to topple an opponent this year, Cuomo's approval is at the best it's been in the last year, and although he's far from perfect, he's been trying to get New York's government in a metaphorical rehab and for the first time in our state's modern history, a governor is trying to fix New York's unfriendly business climate, not patch it up.

My point: we all at times say things we regret. We have a job as people to keep that at a minimum.