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National Rifle Association (NRA) President David Keene on Thursday promised that gun owners would do "whatever's necessary" to "get rid of those in public office" that they viewed as working to erode the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Speaking at a rally of about 7,000 people protesting New York gun laws in Albany, Keene promised that the NRA would "soon have five million members" because of a surge of interest after lawmakers passed laws in response to the shooting of 20 elementary school children in Connecticut.

"Because of the fact that we, as believers in the Second Amendment, are willing to do something that most people in this country are not willing to do, which is not just to stand up for our rights, but to support those people who stand with us and work to get rid of those in public office who do not," the NRA president told the crowd.

"So we're with you," Keene added. "We'll help you defeat the politicians that would deprive you of your rights. We'll help you overcome these statutes in court. We'll do whatever's necessary to make certain the Second Amendment rights that we have had passed down to us are are going to be passed down to future generations."

Earlier this year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law to expand the state's assault weapons ban, ban high-capacity magazines and address gun ownership by those who have mental illnesses.

But if Thursday's demonstration is any indication, some gun owners in New York are going to go along with the new law quietly.

Chants at the rally in Albany included, "Cuomo's got to go" and "We will not comply."

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It's not often we see someone in the progressive media blast an establishment Democrat, and one with national aspirations, as completely and as thoroughly as Chris Hayes did this weelend with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

CHRIS HAYES: So what do we know that we didn’t know last week? We now know that Democrats cannot count on New York’s supposedly Democratic governor as an ally and every Democratic primary voter in the country should know that too. We already knew that in the run up to the election, Andrew Cuomo, whose aspirations for national office are well-known, did essentially nothing to aid the Democratic Party in its quest to take back the the State Senate from Republicans.

Hayes then lists some reasons to be wary of Cuomo, who he believes is putting his personal ambitions above his constituents wishes. The strange case of Simcha Felder, elected to the New York Senate as a Democrat but who recently announced he would caucus with Republicans instead, is for Hayes more damning evidence.

Despite the fact that he’s the leader of the Democratic Party in the state, and wishes someday to be the Democratic nominee for President, Cuomo has refused to intervene with Felder, saying he won’t insert himself into the controversy. Watching all this unfold, one can’t help but suspect Andrew Cuomo actually does not want a Democratic majority in the State Senate because a Republican majority gives him more of an opportunity to burnish his bipartisan compromiser bona fides before launching his presidential campaign. And much, much, much more insidiously, we suspect he doesn’t want a Democratic majority because said majority stands ready to pass a whole raft of incredibly important, ground-breaking progressive legislation, including public financing for elections, marijuana decriminalization and a minimum wage hike, among others. The governor says he favors all those policies, but in this case, he sure is not acting like it. We’re almost entirely sure that very soon Andrew Cuomo will be coming before many of the people watching this show, asking for your support in a Democratic primary race to be the next president. You should remember this remarkably cynical display when he does.

(h/t Politicker for the transcript.)

If, as expected, Cuomo does run in 2016 for the Democratic nomination he would likely be the leading candidate if Hillary Clinton doesn't run. He would also be able to raise a ton of money, far more than anyone else. And if Republicans can no longer win the presidency a moderate, business-friendly Democrat might suit them just fine.

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After thanking everyone from the politicians, to first responders in what he dubbed "A Daily Show Tribute to Institutional Competence" for the response to Hurricane Sandy which as we all know, just ravaged the east coast, Jon Stewart had a bit of fun with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his change of heart towards his new best friend, President Barack Obama.

After showing a clip of Christie from twelve days ago showing the governor saying President Obama was fumbling around in the dark "clutching for the light switch of leadership," followed by Christie thanking the President over and over for his great leadership after the hurricane hit, Stewart quipped, "Yeah, I guess he found that f**king light switch, huh?"

As Stewart noted, Christie had time to "climb down from Bulls**t Mountain and deal with this Obama (the real Obama) not this Obama (Clint Eastwood talking to a chair). Not everybody got the memo.

Cue the knuckleheads over at Fox & Friends asking Christie when he's going to bring in Romney for a photo op which we covered here.

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised New York as a beacon for social justice after the passage of their same sex marriage bill and expressed his hopes that his state's actions tonight would help to promote the message of equal rights for the LGBT community across the country.

CUOMO: [A]nd what we accomplished with marriage equality, really in some ways brings it all home, because this state, when it is at its finest, is a beacon for social justice. The legacy of this state was that we were the progressive capitol of the nation. And when you look back at so many of the great progressive movements that were birthed here in New York, the women's rights movement was birthed here in New York. The environmental rights movement was birthed here in New York, Storm King on the Hudson.

The workers' rights movement was birthed here in New York after the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. All these great progressive movements, the gay rights movement was birthed at Stonewall. And what this state said today brings this discussion of marriage equality to a new plane. That's the power and the beauty of New York.

The other states look to New York for the progressive direction. And what we said today is you look to New York once again, because New York made a powerful statement, not just to the people of New York, but to people all across this nation.

We reached a new level of social justice this evening, marriage equality. I said to the legislators, you look at the first word, marriage, it's really about the second word, equality. It's really about New Yorkers, our brothers and sisters, looking at us and saying, we want equality. We want equality in society, equality in our relationships, equality in our love, equality in our families. We want full recognition, marriage equality, and we did it today.

Cuomo went on to praise the legislature for being willing to work together and for showing the courage to “respond to their better angels” and their hopes and not their fears. I guess time will tell whether Gov. Cuomo is right and we see more of the rest of the country follow New York and the five other states along with Washington D.C. in recognizing the equal rights of our fellow citizens in the LGBT community.

As Think Progress noted, "Cuomo just announced that he will sign the bill this evening."

Carl Paladino speaking Sunday at Borough Park at the Karlsberg Synagogue on 53rd Street and later at Kohel Adas Kasho On Ross Street in Williamsburg. From the Ny Daily News:

Speaking to a group of Orthodox Jewish leaders in Borough Park, Paladino noted how he boycotted the Gay Pride parade Democratic foe Andrew Cuomo marched in, along with his daughters, this summer.

"There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homoxsexual," he said. "That's not how G-d created us, and that's not the example that we should be showing our children -- and certainly not in our schools."

Not suprisingly, Paladino said he would veto any legislation that seeks to legalize gay marriage in New York.

"I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don't want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option," he said. "It isn't."

Calling himself the "religious values candidate," he said "I will not support immoral legislation."

The Cuomo campaign released a statement on Paladino's obvious homophobia:

Mr. Paladino's statement displays a stunning homophobia and a glaring disregard for basic equality. These comments along with other views he has espoused make it clear that he is way out of the mainstream and is unfit to represent New York.

Edit: There's been some walkback by Paladino that he didn't ever say "dysfunctional homosexuals", as he left that out of his prepared remarks. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo tries to make sense of it all, which is probably an impossible task with the crazy campaign of Carl Paladino.

To a significant degree, this does back up Paladino's claim. It was a 'version' of the speech prepared by the rabbis. But if I'm reading this right, that's the version Paladino was reading from. Otherwise that 'winced' reference makes no sense. And that makes the whole story even weirder then version one in my book.

So Paladino was reading from a speech that was prepared for him by his hosts? Not that pols don't often solicit and accept quite a bit of input from potential supporters about what they want to hear. But this would seem to take things to a new level entirely.

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I thought these "Tea Party" candidates were supposed to be against "big government". Rick Sanchez had a somewhat contentious interview with the winner of the Republican gubernatorial race, Carl Paladino, yesterday on CNN. Paladino advocated seizing the site where the Park 51 Islamic Center is being proposed by using eminent domain, and he also said that no mosques or Islamic centers should be allowed to be built anywhere the dust cloud that carried human remains was located around ground zero. As Rick Sanchez pointed out to him, that stretched out quite a bit farther than the 1/4 mile or so Paladino was claiming.

I think this wingnut just handed his Democratic opponent Andrew Cuomo a huge gift with his election. And as Digby reminded us today, here are some of the things he sent out in some emails awhile backm, if you haven't already seen them -- All In "Good Fun".

This vile man was also very glib on his stand on abortion and stated that a woman should be forced to have the baby even cases of rape and incest and "the baby can be adopted". How charitable of him.

Here's the transcript via CNN where Sanchez followed up after arguing with him for almost 10 minutes over the building of the Islamic center:

SANCHEZ: All right.

We're back with Carl Paladino, who was the victor last night in the Republican gubernatorial race. He's kind enough to join us.

And we are -- we have congratulated him for -- for this win, which takes him on to the general now in November.

You -- you said something interesting a while ago that caught my attention, because I was there during 9/11. I witnessed the second tower falling down. And I remember what you were explaining a little while -- when you said the dust cloud.

You said the dust -- you said you want to respect that whole area anywhere in the dust cloud that carried the human remains of the victims who died there that day. So, I -- I -- I believe what I hear you saying is, then, that you wouldn't want any mosque or Islamic center built anywhere in that area where the dust cloud was?

Because that was a vast -- if you recall, I mean, it stretched all the way to Weehawken, to parts of Hoboken, to, you know, all -- block -- miles from where this thing happened, right?

PALADINO: No, I don't think it went out that far. It went out about a quarter-of-a-mile, I think.

SANCHEZ: You would -- OK. So, is that what you're saying?

PALADINO: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Within a quarter-mile radius of Ground Zero, you do not want any --

PALADINO: Well, I -- I don't know the -- I don't know the exact distance. I don't mean to make out that I know the exact distance.

But wherever it went, wherever that dust is caught in the crevices of buildings or in the crevices of sidewalks, that's human remains, and it should be treated that way.

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Keith has the run down on United Health Group's Stephen Hemsley who's leading the charge against health care/insurance reform and who was recently sending employees armed with talking points to attend protests and town halls. First up, his campaign donations from OpenSecrets: United Health Group Contributions to Federal Candidates:

House

Total to Democrats: $138,700

Total to Republicans: $100,500

Senate

Total to Democrats: $71,500

Total to Republicans: $58,300

Next we have the lawsuit they settled just one week before President Obama took office. Health insurer accused of overcharging millions:

One of the nation’s largest health insurers has agreed to pay $50 million in a settlement announced today after being accused of overcharging millions of Americans for health care.

The New York attorney general’s office launched an investigation after receiving hundreds of complaints about Oxford Insurance and its parent company, UnitedHealth Group, which claims to rely on “independent research from across the health care industry” to determine reimbursement rates. In actuality though, it relies on Ingenix, a research firm owned by UnitedHealth Group.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says Ingenix has been manipulating the numbers so insurance companies pay less. In a just-released report, he contends that Americans have been “under-reimbursed to the tune of at least hundreds of millions of dollars.” Although UnitedHealth Group and Oxford Insurance were the only entities investigated, other major insurers use Ingenix, including Aetna, CIGNA and WellPoint/Empire BlueCross BlueShield.

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