Gov. Cuomo is under attack from Donald Trump, Rob Astorino and other leading Republicans for his jaw-dropping claim that conservatives who oppose abortion and gay rights and favor traditional gun ownership “have no place in the state of New York."



Trump, who says he’ll decide about entering the governor’s race next month, called the comments “a terrible statement, an unfortunate statement.”

“It’s hard to believe that he really believes that," continued Trump, when reached for comment by The Post at his home in Palm Beach, Fla.

Westchester County Executive Astorino, who has also promised an announcement next month on whether he’ll run for governor, called Cuomo’s comments “just the kind of intolerance that is directly opposite to what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached.”

“New York already leads the nation in chasing away its own citizens because of extraordinary high taxes, so does Cuomo really want to bully millions more away?" Astorino said.

“New York’s greatness comes from accepting people of differing points of view. What Andrew Cuomo has revealed by these statements is his true self, because we see just how angry and radical his views are."

... state GOP Chairman Ed Cox plans to publicly urge Cuomo to apologize for his comments.

“I will call on Gov. Cuomo to apologize to all New Yorkers for poisoning New York’s politics with divisive rhetoric at a time when New York needs to be united to address its continuing economic problems,’’ Cox said.

Cuomo made his breathtaking remarks during a radio interview Friday as he discussed the widening Republican rift between moderates, whose support he’s seeking in his re-election campaign, and conservatives, whom he characterized as anti-abortion, anti-gay rights and pro-traditional gun ownership.

As we approach the political season we expect the campaign dialogue to become more heated on both sides. We understand the New York Post is an opinionated newspaper and that Fred Dicker is an extreme conservative. [1] However responsibility must not be forsaken. [2]

Dicker's story that the Governor said Conservatives have no place in New York is unfair, false [3] and the exact opposite of what his tenure as Attorney General and his state administration has been all about.

The Governor has never demonized the opposition to his gun law nor stance on protecting choice nor marriage equality. [4] The Governor is a gun owner and a Catholic. His faith is very important to him and he respects the Second Amendment. [5] I have been party to many of these discussions over the years and while opinions are firm, the entire discussion on these different views has been tempered and respectful. The Governor's main principle for New York State is tolerance of different opinions, races, sexual orientation, and religion.

Fred Dicker has angered many with what has been reported as "hateful" comments [6] but the Governor would be the first to defend Dicker's right to express his views and believes the diversity of opinion is one of New York State's greatest assets.

The Governor was making the point that he makes often: New York is a politically moderate state and an extremist agenda is not politically viable statewide. [7] New York has a long history of electing Democrats and Republicans statewide who are moderate rather than on the extreme ends of the political spectrum. That is an inarguable fact.

Let's discuss relevant issues rationally. [8] Or at least attempt to do so.

... The era when one reporter could dominate the news has given way to a modern media culture saturated with blogging, posting on Twitter and stories with millisecond shelf lives. But New York can be more old-fashioned. And here Mr. Dicker’s radio show and weekly op-ed column in The Post remain a potent cocktail in state politics.

Walk through the marbled corridors of the State Capitol, and you will hear radios tuned to 1300 AM, where Mr. Dicker holds court every weekday morning. Aides are assigned to take notes and file reports to their bosses about what he said.

He pummels politicians with such bipartisan brutality that people seem unable to turn away. His take on three governors — Eliot Spitzer: “ A consummate hypocrite.” David A. Paterson: “ Liar, liar, pants on fire!” George E. Pataki: “ A selfish cynic.”

So far he has been gentle with Governor Cuomo in columns that extol, not excoriate. He has compared the governor’s leadership style with Theodore Roosevelt’s, admired his “fierce work ethic” and even lent credence to wild speculation that Mr. Cuomo could replace Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as President Obama’s running mate.

Admiration tends to come before scorn. ...

Mr. Cuomo has made Mr. Dicker’s show his only regular media stop, appearing on it five times since being inaugurated in January — more than he has sat down for formal interviews with any other media outlet.

Mr. Dicker’s distinctive brand of journalism — old-school beat reporting, searing commentary and a sizable dose of showmanship — has helped him endure for more than three decades in Albany. He has managed to persevere even as the press corps around him has shrunk from budget cuts.

... Capitol events are often planned around the radio show, at times to accommodate Mr. Dicker and at times to avoid him.

... Mr. Dicker grew up in the Bronx, the son of a federal housing lawyer and a librarian’s assistant. Though his generally conservative and libertarian politics today might suggest otherwise, he harbored leftish sympathies as a young man.

Gov. Cuomo’s thin skin

Is it just us, or is Andrew Cuomo being awfully touchy?

On Monday, the governor’s counsel denounced The Post’s Fredric U. Dicker as an “extreme conservative” in an open letter. This follows an open letter from the Gov. Cuomo’s office on the same subject — remarks by the governor he complains have been taken out of context.

These remarks came from his radio interview Friday. On air, the governor called some Republican conservatives “extremists” who “have no place in the state of ­New York.”

In a free society, the way to resolve polarizing issues is by debating them openly and trying to persuade your fellow citizens you are right. It’s not to suggest people keep their views to themselves. American history, moreover, is replete with causes — civil rights, for one — that initially were unpopular but ended up prevailing.

The governor takes offense because he says his views have been mischaracterized. We wonder how those on the receiving end feel about his characterizations.

Is it fair, for example, to label those who have doubts about gun control as “pro-assault-weapon”? Does favoring traditional marriage mean you are “anti-gay”? And are pro-lifers trying to impose a “religious belief,” or might their position reflect their conclusion about when human life begins?

If these conservatives find Gov. Cuomo’s language about having no place in New York politics troubling, maybe it’s because it comes at a time when other Americans likewise tagged as “extremists” for their politics found themselves singled out for special treatment by the IRS.

... (the Governor) indulged in cheap caricatures meant to advance a truly self-serving and noxious argument: that anyone who disagrees with Andrew Cuomo on these issues must be an extremist.

Andrew Cuomo silences the opposition

... Cuomo does not deign to argue with New Yorkers who oppose abortion, support a maximalist interpretation of the Second Amendment or defend the position on gay marriage held by Barack Obama when he was first elected president. These extreme views, according to Cuomo, are fundamentally illiberal and foreign to the values of his state. Such positions are not to be engaged with and refuted; they are to be marginalized.

We are accustomed to this approach within the gates of certain colleges and universities that have vague, open-ended speech codes intended to stigmatize certain viewpoints. This is often taken by ideologues as implicit permission to shout down differing opinions. The power to define the boundaries of acceptable discourse is the power to intimidate.

Academic liberals tend to regard universities as “our place,” in which others may stay as long as they behave. Now Cuomo has applied this attitude to the whole of the Empire State. From a provost, this is a violation of academic freedom. From a government official, it is an attack on genuine pluralism.