Does Andrew Cuomo Really Want Conservatives Out Of New York?

“Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right to life, pro-assault weapons, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that's who they are and they're the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that's not who New Yorkers are.”

So said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo the other day on talk radio. You don't have to be a pro-life gun owner who's opposed to gay marriage to find those words unsettling. For the governor's bold claim would be just as alarming if it were focused on those who support legalized abortion, gay marriage and stricter gun control laws.

Some are now saying Cuomo's words were misconstrued, but it's hard to see how. In fact, the governor isn't really backing down from them. His office actually released a statement in the wake of this madness saying the governor thinks “it is fine” to be pro-life and pro-second amendment.” Great. But does he think “it is fine” to publicly and actively express those views in the Empire State?

The fact that the aforementioned statement came from an administration as polished and nuanced as Cuomo's tells you what the answer probably is. If Cuomo wanted open and activist conservatives around, he'd have most likely made sure everyone knew it unequivocally by this point. He hasn't let people know it unequivocally, though. I'm guessing that's because he truly may not want open and activist conservatives in his state. I could be wrong, of course. Time will tell.

If Cuomo really does want a conservative-free New York, however, I applaud him for his honesty. Seriously, I do. At least he's letting people know who and what he really is without backing down. No one can accuse him of hypocrisy. They can accuse him of being intolerant, perhaps even fascist. They can't accuse him of hypocrisy, though, and that's unusual for a contemporary politician.

Everyone knows the American political scene is filled with creeps and nutcases. They can be found on the right and the left as well as in the middle. Too many times we voters end up shaking our heads, wishing we had only known, really known, the people we had cast our ballots for before we went ahead and cast our ballots for them.

So long as Cuomo sticks by his apparent conviction that at least some “extreme conservatives” don't belong in New York (“extreme conservatives” are, I'm guessing, anyone to the right of, say, John Kerry) this election season, he will at least have let the buyer beware. If only other candidates were as open with the public about where their hearts and minds truly are. Voter remorse might not then become a thing of the past, but the number of acute cases would surely drop exponentially.