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Cuomo To Believing Catholic New Yorkers: ‘Get Out’

Wow. The Catholic governor of the state of New York says that New Yorkers who believe what his church teaches about abortion and homosexuality have no place in his state: The Republican Party candidates are running against the SAFE Act — it was voted for by moderate Republicans who run the Senate! Their problem is […]

Wow. The Catholic governor of the state of New York says that New Yorkers who believe what his church teaches about abortion and homosexuality have no place in his state:

The Republican Party candidates are running against the SAFE Act — it was voted for by moderate Republicans who run the Senate! Their problem is not me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, 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.

He also believes that New Yorkers who disagree with the SAFE Act — a strong piece of gun control legislation passed in the wake of Newtown — ought to leave. That’s really something. Notice he doesn’t say that they’re wrong and should be opposed — a perfectly defensible position — but that they “have no place in the state of New York.”

Pro-lifers have no place in New York. Traditional marriage supporters have no place in New York. Pack your bags, Cardinal Dolan, your governor doesn’t want you there. And responsible hunters who fear their Second Amendment rights are being violated by the legislation passed in the heat of the Newtown moment — you are not only wrong, you are anathema, says your governor. Leave.

What a nasty piece of work is Andrew Cuomo, the anti-Catholic Catholic governor of New York.

UPDATE: OK, I was hyperbolic in those comments. This, from the combox thread, expresses my meaning. The original comment is from naturalmom:

I dunno njoseph, he sure sounds like he’s saying “extreme conservatives” are not “real” New Yorkers. I despised that kind of rhetoric from Sarah Palin, and I find it no more palatable from Cuomo. You can’t have it both ways.

[NFR: Yes, this was exactly my point! If the governor of my state took exactly the opposite political positions as Cuomo (as he, in fact, does), but said that liberals who believe in gay rights, abortion rights, and gun control, “have no place” in Louisiana, I would find that greatly objectionable. This idea of saying that people are disloyal to their communities because they dissent from a politician’s views, or even the views of the majority, is ugly and destructive, no matter which side uses it. — RD] 

I still think it’s gobsmacking that a governor who was raised Catholic and who identifies as Catholic can take such an extreme position against his own Church and those who are faithful to it. I mean, nobody takes him for a serious Catholic, but still, this is really nasty rhetoric.

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