Randy Newman wrote and sang words that in 1977 became infamous:

Short people got no reason
To live
They got little hands
Little eyes
They walk around
Tellin’ great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet

The song became Newman’s first hit. Many listeners saw it as an attack on height-challenged human beings, even though Newman called it an attack on prejudice. The singer-songwriter, short himself, grew to dislike his big breakthrough, and at one point called it a “bad break.”

I wonder if New York Gov. (and future presidential candidate?) Andrew Cuomo will come to regret his words yesterday morning during an interview on The Capitol Pressroom. Cuomo attacked “extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay,” and said, “They have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

Hmmm. Once upon a time Catholics were unwelcome in New York. (See the “Native American Party” of the 1840s and 1850s, or Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.) So were Italians, specifically. (See Andrew and Mario Cuomo, ancestors.)

Other questions arise. Should New York exclude pro-lifers? (See Mother Teresa and millions more.) If we took a time machine to any New York era before the current one and removed everyone who was “anti-gay,” wouldn’t the state have been virtually uninhabited? Does Cuomo want his state police to round up the pro-assault-weapon folks, whoever they are, and machine-gun them?

Liberalism used to pride itself on being inclusive. Now Cuomo proposes exclusion of those who disagree with him: Extreme conservatives have no reason to live. For shame.