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Patterson's not been good for NY. The Kennedy thing , handled badly, but not a career killer. Appointing Guilibrand, the Republican in Dem clothing, and new and oh so absurd taxes on an already taxed to death state...that does it for me.

Patterson and Guiliani...there isn't even a "lesser of two evils there. NY is going to come up with something better, America...relax.

Hmmmm, I see...at least he can't see it, LOL!! Ouch, I even felt that...

Put me down for a 100 on a member of the Green Party or the Hulk Party...I put down a 100 on one over here, LOL!!! Trust me, I'm gonna lose, LOL!!

The one thing that could help Gov. Patterson is if he stops Bloomberg and the MTA from increasing the fares....

Big Papa, Paterson knows that his days in the NY State Executive Mansion are FINISHED, I predict that he will NOT run for a full term as governor as the NY State Dems pressure him to retire and let Cuomo have the governorship in 2010.

Maybe President Obama can give Paterson some position in the administration.

Don't New yorkers remember that Rudy was a joke in their state pre- 9/11? there was a reason he did not challenge Clinton of rthe Senate and why he was a nothing politically until 9/11.
Had he done his job properly as mayor, he might have not lost as many NYC workers on 9/11 .
Whose decision was it to tell people the bulidings were safe and that evacuation was not necessary? Who had the Emergency response dept in the same building thta was a known target of threats and terrorists? Your man Rudy.

Hellloooooooo...democrat...what do you expect?

slp:

A rich man's chances of entering heaven are what again?

I recall Jesus saying something about it, but since he was a conservative and a big supporter of capital gains and hedge funds, well...

You might want to check out the Church of Satan's official position on helping the poor. It's much more in line with the second part of your post.

Democratic Governors will always lead you down this path

He affected the life of a wonderful person – Caroline Kennedy – in a negative way. Throughout all of the Kennedy tragedies, she has maintained her privacy while "giving to the world" at the same time. She would have made a wonderful senator.

There are people who are poor due to circumstances out of their control, then there are people who don't want anymore than what the government gives them at the expense of hard working tax payers. Hard work is valued by God and is substantiated by His word. For example, the Apostle Paul would always work for his food and a place to sleep when he was in a town on his missionary journeys. 2 Thessalonians 3:7-8 says "7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; 8 Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you.
In other words, each of us is responsible for making our own way. Yes we are to help those who have have stumbled on unfortunate events. Jesus did that. However, he always held people accountable for their actions and the way they lived their lives. Jesus was not a liberal. He was about as conservative as you can get. We should help those less fortunate than us in a way that helps them get back up and makes them stronger. I do not believe that it is wrong to let someone go hungry if they are lazy and won't work. Our current government doesn't want to impower people. They want to keep people down and dependent in order to maintain their power. All I can say is that each one will be held accountable to God one day for the way they have governed.

To Typical White Person:

Thank you, there are too few people who even care to know the truth in this county any more...you give me faith.

I am a Democrat, and I for one will not be voting for Gov. Paterson. He is making big cuts to healthcare, cutting state employee's wages this year (by quite a bit!), as well as implementing layoffs statewide. Meanwhile, he gives his top aides pay raises and refuses to cut the many programs that are wasteful. It's looking like the green party is getting my vote this election cycle here in NY.

Gov. Paterson will win the coming election hands down. Mark my words. He is better than any sensible republican. Therefore, forget about the useless ones like Rush's type. Gov Parterson is doing his work professionally and I like that.

Even a blind man could see that!

NO CREDIBILITY. NEEDS A SHAVE. NEEDS TO GO.

Thank you Rich, the only person who seems to have a clue about what goes on in New York.

Everyone else spouting anything off about Caroline Kennedy, one way or the other, needs to get educated.

Patterson is being realistic. When asked to give ideas, the NY legislators sat silent. NY was labeled "the most dysfunctional" state government a few years ago (50th place) and is working to maintain that honor.

Like most states, no one wants more taxes, and if spending must be cut, it should be other programs – certainly Not Mine!

The only popular NY governor would be the one that ignored the fiscal crises. Patterson isn't willing to do that! Easier to complain than to come up with real solutions so his numbers are down. Which is why I don't live in NY anymore!

I used to be a big supporter of Gov. Patterson, but he lost much of my respect when he was not transparent with the senate nomination process and when he disrespected Caroline Kennedy regardless of whether he chose her or not. She's not, "A celebrity", but the daughter of a slain President. She was born in New York City and contributed a lot to NY as a citizen. Since when did people have to be career politicians or vote in every election to be a Senator? I'd rather a regular kind and caring citizen who has chosen to focus on education for much of her life, to serve as my Senator, especially if she's from a family that had literally committed their lives to the service of America.

Governor Patterson should have shown a little more understanding that this is not a woman who – as one representative said 'needed to attend county fairs to milk cows' or to 'donate to the Democratic party", or a 'celebrity like J-LO'. Let's get one thing straight, this is a woman who gave her father and her uncle- JFK and RFK (RIP) to this country's service. And she doesn't have to give any greater donation than that.

Governor Patterson has a tough job these days, and it's respectable that he is doing his best as a politician who many never have become Gov but for a major scandal. And I give him a lot of credit for the role-model he is to those with disabilities. But I am very much willing to consider another candidate for governor in the next election.

As a person from "upstate" New York (I mean closer to Montreal, Canada than NYC) I don't know what to think. Paterson seems intent on taxing us to death. Look around...we cannot hop on a subway to get where we need to go. There are no commuter trains and very few buses....in other words very limited public transportation. We do not have an "abundance" of hospitals .... very lucky if we have one every 50 miles. Unfortunately I don't see where Rudy would be any better. Now we do have wide open spaces...unfortunately there are being filled with prisons to take care of the criminals....

ANother major poll came today from Pennsylvania, where things look tough for Senator Arlen Specter, especially among his own party's voters.

Caroline Kennedy destroyed herself.

She proved herself to be uninformed, unimpressive and unqualified to replace the political legend of Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton impressed New Yorkers with her strength, knowledge and work ethic. Caroline had NONE of these skills and clearly was unqualified.

Gov. Paterson has nothing done for corrupt Wall St. The only thing he
has done spendthrift was how delusional Caroline Kennedy made have the NY Senator seat replaced Hillary. However it failed, too.
NY needs such as Gov. who is strongly available to reform corrupt Wall St., to increase revenue and jobs as well as to cut taxes.
The NY Gov. should enhance such tax-frauder, Charles Rangel(D-Rep. NY, my distric) to handle fairly in NY. So many NYker have struggled to pay taxes, however, they made it. NO MORE EXECUSE AND MERCY ON TAX-BLUNDER. GO Rudy Giuliani/2010

Doesn't matter who the next governor will be as long as it is NOT Paterson. He is not fit for the office and it showed him in the poorest of light during the Caroline saga. He and Blago and Burris belong to the same group and they should all have a get-together and write a book!

Oh my goodness. HIs poll numbers are lower than Bushes or the Democrats, yet he didn't borrow 4 trillion dollars to spend on pork and call stimulus, he didn't get us into an expensive war, he didn't fail to help Katrina victums, he didn't hire a prostitute and he paid his taxes. I can't figure this state of New York out.

Return that $52K rug, Gov Patterson!!!! And while we're at it, return that $200 toaster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is the price Paterson will pay for stepping on the toes of a living legend Kennedy!

he should have known better, but he felt the governor sit he acquired by default gave him enough political capital to crap all over an establishment democrat!

this will be a lesson learned for an up start politician that you dont mess with the power brokers!!!!!

The Night Manager> Are you serious? Rudy is AWFUL.

Good. I hope CK runs and wins.

Funny how the bashers are quick to condemn President Obama, and call him a failure, in less than 2 months. But there was not a peek out of them for 8 long years. Bush was throwing billions away, cooking the books, and who knows what else, yet none had a word to say against him. That means that President Obama is doing something right.

Haters only hate out of jealousy and fear. They are jealous of the total package that the man brings to the political table: confidence, intelligence, wisdom, and genuine concern for the American people.
They fear the downfall of politics as usual, and the success of President Obama, which will automatically usher him into office for a second term. Those seeking failure, are themselves losers and failures. The chip never falls too far from the block.

It's Rudy time.

Rich, very well put and very well evaluated. I don't agree necessarily with all of your editorial comments but you've brought the data forward and have that data to back you up. Too bad you aren't a democrat discussing policy with a moderate republican on TV. It would be a much less shrill, much more informative discusson.

And with that, no further comment!

Just another corrupt democRAT.

Yeah, of course Rudy would like to be Gov. so he can run with as many Call Girls as Spitz.

Well, Mr. Paterson, you just happened to be in line when Spitzer misbehaved and decamped the governor's mansion. You could not have taken over at a worse time Despite your handicap you tried your best. Perhaps it would be a god-send (for you) if you are relieved of your duties on the sinking ship! That aside, Rudy Giuliani's iron fisted rule reminds me of the GESTAPO. Criminals on all levels of the economic strata had better start praying. LOL!!!

New Yorkers can do a lot better than Rudy Giuliani, the guy's a defective politician.

Cuomo needs to primary this guy big time.

David Paterson has not had much of a chance to show what he can do as Gov. and what he has done is pretty awful. Don't want to see a GOP in there...but who else?

Brunswick,MB

Vote for Guiliani!!!

Is anyone surprised?

Paterson better watch out, Michael Steele is planning to pour a lot of money into New York and Paterson has a big target on his back. If Giuliani can do for the state what he did for the city, New York will be back on top.

This man let Caroline Kennedy be made a mockery of....and that we do not forget.

Paterson has been the worst governor. Initially, we thought he might be somebody, first blind governor and first African American for NY. Now hes a total joke. I hope Cuomo runs but if not, Giuliani did good for NYC. He was a good leader and got us through 9/11. I'm sure the economy in NY upstate will fare better with Giuliani than Cuomo though.

Patterson has proven himself to be an inept political hack who is incapable of leadership. Time for Patterson to go. By the way, of the 3 major political offices (Governor, Comptroller and Attorney General) elected by New Yorkers in the last statewide election, the winner of only one (Democrat Andrew Cuomo) is still in that office. Democrats Alan Hevesi and Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace. In fact, Hevesi never even took office and resigned before he was even seated. What does that say for New York voters?

O.K. let's say his numbers are so low good ol' rudy wants to run.......
will he be in a dress/wig?...........................just a thought.

Raymond March 3rd, 2009 3:24 pm ET

I wonder if Patterson can see the writing on the wall??

Oops!!
_________________________________________________

Wow! That was pretty low...I'm not too fond of him but I didn't think that was funny.

@ The Libertarian of Liverpool:
Just an FYI, NYC is the economic engine of the state. WE support the North. Still, I agree with you that we need better choices.

If elected, Giuliani will be 68 when he is inaugurated. At the end of his first term, he'd be 72. He may be a bit too old for the job. Lazio sounds fine. I don't think the next governor will be a democrat.

Polls, polls and more polls! But nobody seems to ask me anything. Where are they conducting these polls Mars?????

Wow. His numbers are starting to bottom out around your average Republican numbers.

ITS GIULIANI TIME! I mean, can you imagine doing the "Rudy!" chant, and be referring to your governor? What a wonderful time it will be for New York!

He screwed up on Caroline Kennedy's appointment and he never shaves.... what's to like? Bring back Eliot Spitzer!

David Paterson is not well liked because for one thing, he was never elected governor, he just got the job after Eliot Spitzer resigned in scandal. Secondly, David Paterson has only really dealt with 2 major things as governor: a huge budget crisis and appointing a senator to replace Hillary Clinton. With regard to the huge budget crisis, he (despite a reputation for being a liberal Democrat prior to being governor) has very conservative ideas, wanting to drastically cut spending in many areas including those that various liberal interest groups really like spending in. So those interest groups, representing education, health care, and stuff like that, have run TV ads against him for cutting spending (this makes sense because the people their groups represent would face layoffs if the cuts went through). Furthermore, our governor has been and remains a staunch opponent of raising taxes on the wealthy, even though the wealthy pay the same state rate on their state income taxes as someone making $20,000 a year, so his ideas on taxes and spending are very conservative. With regard to the Senate vacancy, that probably got more coverage than anything else so far in his tenure, and he mishandled that by sending mixed signals, and in the end his aides viciously insulted Caroline Kennedy and he chose Kirsten Gillibrand to be senator, despite the fact that pretty much nobody outside her congressional district had ever heard of her. Kirsten Gillibrand was, by the way, the most conservative Democrat representing New York State in the U.S. Congress at the time. So David Paterson is really revealing himself to be quite the conservative, which is unpopular with all the liberal activist groups. Thus he is attacked by liberals and Republicans alike, and there is nobody to defend him. The real objective of liberals is to replace David Paterson with some other Democrat, and this means getting his personal popularity very low. I think this poll shows that this is working, although I would hate to have the right-wing buffoon Rudy Giuliani in charge of anything, since his presidential campaign was the biggest epic fail in history, and all he ever talks about is how he failed to defend his city from the 9/11 attacks when he was mayor. Rudy Giuliani did not win a single state in the Republican primaries and caucuses last year, and there is a reason for that: he is an idiot and even Republicans saw through his nonsense. Our next governor will probably be Andrew Cuomo, our excellent attorney general who is doing a fantastic job for our state.

New York: Think about this...

Do you want a republican as governor?

Arnold is driving California into foreclosure (yes, I said that the way I meant it), Barbour is helping destroy what's left of Mississippi, and Jindal the Page is making sure poor people lose the help they desperately need (after Katrina...something his president simultaneously let happen and still left in ruins) in order to look like a good repubican.

I guess everybody in New York is rich and white...

@ just another opinion from NY......

WOW.....lol. I didn't realize he was so bad.

While Paterson may not be the man for the job, surely, the people of N.Y. will not put Giuliani in his place. I hope they have more sense than that.

Govenor Paterson will not be relected if he continues on this path.

I am sure he has a lot to contribute but he is not inspiring confidence as a Governor. Rather he comes across as petty in his approach to government. His appointment was a huge opportunity to move ahead and deliver to New York.

.......The Kennedy Debacle........
........Health Care Cuts Public Relations Nightmare......whether the campaign is accurate or not .....where is the leadership.....

OH JUST ANOTHER DEMOCRAT WHO HAS NO IDEA OF WHAT HE IS DOING.

TIme for a republican to take back control. Pataki did a fine job, as governor. Pataki will make a great senator when he wins Clintons former seat.

wow- a democrat in office telling his constituents they need to tighten thier belts because the massive spending and welfare programs have bankrupt this state?

i know- he's terrible....

time to take responsibility for your own actions- even though you'll be taxed to pay for those who are irresponsible.

Can I comment on my own state CNN?
Neither of these choices are good for NY, maybe NYC but it is the rest of us who have to support the city with our taxes. The citizens upstate are hoping for an upstate candidate.

Poor guy was just a puppet.

PATERSON IS DONE LIKE DINNER. HE'S A LOST MAN SINCE THE KENNEDY FIASCO.

Go Paterson!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let us hope we don't get Giuliani, that is all I ask New Yorkers!!!!!

Does this man ever clean up? Shave, perhaps. Geez, he looks so bad, hardly presentable, and as governor, the State should be ashamed of him.

Another patsy bites the dust.

New York is already willing to go Republican. Way to go NY.

governor Pattersons biggest problem is the overwhelming media campaign against him. You cannot turn on any thing electronic without seeing an ad against the governor.

what he needs to do is get out and explain, explain , explain his agenda in terms we understand to gain support

Gee, this reminds me of another democrat politician that was recently elected and has been a total failure.

Cuomo is the one!

I swear to god he looks like Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles...does he have a coat that says GOV on back?

He caved in when it came to appointing Caroline Kennedy to Hillary's Senate seat. He "(P)unked Out". Now he's FINISHED in New York.

I live in New York and I certainly will NOT vote for that idiot. He is a deep embarrassment to all new yorkers.

Nationally, he lost a lot of credibility with the Kennedy flip-flop/fiasco.

Nationally, he lost a lost of credibility with the Kennedy flip-flop/fiasco.

I wonder if Patterson can see the writing on the wall??

Oops!!

Patterson is one of the worst governors ever. a total epic fail. I would trade him for Blago any day.

Forget about it this guy's finished.

Since CNN won't tell you, I will:

The man suspected of killing Chandra Levy, Ingmar Guandique, is in this country ILLEGALLY!

After the ICE raid in Washington state last week, HUNDREDS of American citizens lines up for the jobs that had been vacated.

Our director of Homeland Security is investigating ICE for enforcing the law and conducting the raid.

What happened to my country and my free press that is supposed to be the watchdog of my government?!

that's ok, he never intended to be governor

He blew it with his handling of the Caroline Kennedy thing...

...he deserves to go...

He never saw it coming.

Ah – the day to day trials and tribulations of political folks. No wonder ethical people stay away.