Gov. David Paterson, who is legally blind, used his response to last night's LCA show to hit back at an 1199/GNYHA TV ad released during the budget battle that featured a blind man in a wheelchair slamming the governor's proposed healthcare spending cuts.Three thoughts:
1) While the audio is bad and hard to hear in parts, it's clear that the skit is a 5 minute whinefest by an unpopular politician.
2) It's one thing to skewer critics using humor. It's quite another to do so in a way that's demeaning to yourself and others.
3) In a state in which Wall Street billionaires pay the same rate in state taxes as the very poor, is it really funny to mock the disabled worried about cuts in healthcare funding?
On the plus side, Paterson did a funny impersonation of Sheldon Silvers--and the folks in the jaded Capitol reporters in the room laughed throughout the monologue.
The question though is, were they laughing with the governor, or at him?
Gov. Paterson's Skit
Healthcare Cuts Ad
