Paterson's Laughable Denials

The accidental governor has a lot to learn. It's one thing to issue a mealy-mouthed denial that you said something a reporter picked up on.

But when you're one of the original sources for the story itself, trying to deny it is beyond amateurish.

Yet that is what David Paterson is trying to accomplish. Good luck with that.

The laughable nature of Gov. Paterson's half-hearted denials that he called Mayor Bloomberg a tantrum-prone liar wouldn't be significant if New York's accidental governor hadn't vowed from the start to be different from other politicians and tell New Yorkers the truth.

His denials were made all the more ridiculous by the fact that only a few people know the source for the story - and Paterson is one of them.

That's right, the governor knows where - as we say in the media business - the story came from.

He knows the source is someone who, if their identity were revealed, would be seen as unassailably authoritative on Paterson's political views.

In a front-page story, The Post reported yesterday that Paterson had privately referred to Bloomberg as a nasty, tantrum-prone liar who has "little use" for average New Yorkers.

"You can't trust him," The Post quoted Paterson as having said of Bloomberg.

The governor also compared Bloomberg's anger to that of disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

The Post's report was based on a source "with firsthand knowledge of Paterson's comments."

Let's see, how many people could that be?

Paterson himself? Perhaps Michelle Paterson, the governor's wife, or Charles O'Byrne, the governor's chief of staff? Another possibility is Communications Director Risa Heller. You get the point.

Experienced and tested journalists don't make up stories like this - they don't make up stories at all.

They're also prepared to reveal to their top editors who the source of a story is when their own, and their newspaper's, credibility is questioned.

Paterson left most reporters at his press conference unconvinced of his denials.

He repeatedly refused to say why he wasn't calling on The Post to retract the explosive story.

At one point, he insisted, "Why would I demand a retraction?"

You demand a retraction if you know a story is false, that's why.

The governor didn't demand one because he knows the source.

Ouch.

Previously.