Is saying "I was emotional" a good excuse for anything?

Artvoice is a free publication issued weekly in the Buffalo, NY area.  In a year-end wrap-up issue they posed some questions to a number of prominent local residents.  Here are those questions.

1. What would you most like to happen in 2017?

2. What would you like to see go away in 2017?

3. Who would you like to see run for mayor of Buffalo in next year’s election?

4. Should the new $50 million Amtrak station be at Central Terminal or Canal Side?

Carl Paladino is a billionaire who lives in the area and was the co-chair of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in New York was one of those who was sent this short questionnaire.  Here are his answers:

1.  Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford.  He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.

2.  Michelle Obama.  I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.

3. Someone with a brain, a set of balls and a lack of fear who has enough money so as not to owe anyone anything once elected and who believes in a market economy.

4. We need a $50 million dollar train station as much as we need parasitic people like Lou Ciminelli, 80% of the school board and the dizziness of socialistic progressive politicians who never signed the front of a paycheck.  At best 400 people a day take a train.  They are not complaining about exchange or Depew.  We are already the laughingstock of America for having the dumbest elected leaders ever.  Why add to it.

When these answers were published, the backlash was immediate and widespread.  Two of the other respondents to the questions mentioned Mr. Paladino in their answers.  One wanted him to run for Mayor and the other listed him as what he'd most like to see go away.

His response was very Trump-like.  You can read it in its entirety here, but I do want to share a couple of excerpts:

"This is in response to my comments published in Artvoice:

It has nothing to do with race.  That’s the typical stance of the press when they can’t otherwise defend the acts of the person being attacked.

It’s about two progressive elitist ingrates who have hated their country so badly and destroyed its fabric in so many respects in 8 years.his is in response to my comments published in Artvoice:

It has nothing to do with race.  That’s the typical stance of the press when they can’t otherwise defend the acts of the person being attacked.

It’s about two progressive elitist ingrates who have hated their country so badly and destroyed its fabric in so many respects in 8 years."

"Michelle hated America before her husband won.  She then enjoyed all the attention, the multi -million dollar vacations, the huge staff and other benefits.  Then when Hillary lost, she and Barack realized that without Hillary, there was no one to protect the little, if any, legacy he had.  That’s when Michelle came out and said there is no hope for America.  Good, let her leave and go someplace she will be happy.

As for Barack, he’s a yellow-bellied coward who left thousands to die in Syria and especially Aleppo and he gets on TV and says he feels bad he couldn’t do anything about it."

He also issued a 748 word statement about his survey responses that you can read here.  Again, here are excerpts.

"I received Jamie Moses’ emailed survey at an emotional moment after I had just listened to Obama's statement that he regretted the slaughter in Aleppo that, in fact, resulted from his failed and cowardly foreign policy."

" I wanted to say something as sarcastic and hurtful as possible about the people who are totally responsible for the hurt and suffering of so many others. I was wired up, primed to be human and I made a mistake. I could not have made a worse choice in the words I used to express my feelings.
I wanted to say something as sarcastic and hurtful as possible about the people who are totally responsible for the hurt and suffering of so many others. I was wired up, primed to be human and I made a mistake. I could not have made a worse choice in the words I used to express my feelings."

"I filled out the survey to send to a couple friends and forwarded it to them not realizing that I didn't hit “forward” I hit “reply.” All men make mistakes."

* * *

He is right.  All men make mistakes.  But his was not in hitting the reply button.  It was in thinking those were appropriate words to write in any electronic format, even if intended only for a few friends.

He describes them as deprecating humor.  That's nearly as stupid as it was to hit the reply button.  What he wrote was hateful invective, ad not intended to be humorous or funny in any way.

We live in a day and age when nothing one puts in an email can be considered completely secure.  Before you write something in an email, you should consider how anyone other than the intended recipient might view what you write.  That may well happen.

His own comments about how those were the worst possible choice of words prove that he understands this on at least some level in his twisted reality.

He is now finished in politics.  While he is refusing to resign from his post on the school board in Buffalo, he will be booted out in the very near future.

Personally I think he's a scumbag.  But that's just my personal opinion.