Carl Paladino is a prominent Republican developer in Buffalo, New York. He’s a member of the Tea Party and has decided to run for governor. From Paladino’s own website:
Mr. Paladino, 63, delivered a Palinesque populist message to a boisterous group of about 1,000 flag-waving supporters here, denouncing what he said was the government’s deepening encroachment into the lives of ordinary Americans.
“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Mr. Paladino told a roaring crowd that had gathered at the Ellicott Square Building in downtown Buffalo, one of several office complexes in his commercial real estate empire in western New York.
“The government is in shambles, and we’re paying for it in unbearable taxes far, far above the national average,” he added. “Are you mad? Are you gonna take it anymore?”
The headline on Paladino’s website says “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
WNYmedia.com obtained a large batch of emails that Paladino had sent to a large group of people, including many prominent Republicans (the head of the Erie County Republican party, a Republican Congressmen and several Republican members of the state government are included). The emails are extremely racist, sexist and many are pornographic. [The link is NSFW– don’t click at work]
It’s been written countless times that Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino is something of a walking contradiction. But let’s take him at his word that the tragic death of his son Patrick in 2009 caused him to re-assess his life, his past, and his values. He transformed politically from a fence-sitting opportunist to the conservative Republican tea-party-type he holds himself out as today. In his plea to the Conservative Party, seeking their endorsement, he touted his anti-abortion, anti-gay-marriage stances. He’s all about the family values, and even counted Governor Paterson’s admitted affair as evidence of Albany corruption – until the media found out about his own extramarital affair and child birthed out of wedlock.
…
Paladino purports to be the values candidate, but what will values voters say when they discover that he enjoys sending hardcore pornographic and racist emails around town?
Last week, we received a deluge of emails that Carl Paladino had sent to a veritable who’s who of Buffalo-area politicians, media types, hangers-on, hacks, and appointees. Mostly, these are chain emails with a long provenance, including hundreds of email addresses of current and past recipients.
Among the the emails sent around were a video of African dancers titled “Obama Inauguration Rehearsal” which originated on the Stormfront neo-Nazi website, a video of monkeys doing Irish-type dancing titled “Proof the Irish discovered Africa.” He sent some racist pictures as well including a photoshopped picture of the Obamas as a pimp and prostitute:
This is the least offensive image I could find in the Paladino emails. Why do these guys bleat on about family values when it’s obvious they don’t believe in them? Paladino did get at least one complaint about the emails from a recipient and his response was along the lines of I’m not racist, I hate everyone and Stephen Colbert’s “I don’t see color.”