Truly, this is not the moment for New York Governor David Paterson to call himself a victim. He is accused of intimidating a woman out of pressing a domestic violence claim in court so she could get a protective order against his aide and her ex-boyfriend, David Johnson. If the mounting evidence about Paterson’s interference holds up, he should start writing his statement of resignation. Instead, there was Paterson at a breakfast on Monday, assuring his audience that he would not resign by saying, “I think there is an hysteria that I’ve been the victim of over the past couple of months.” Please. The only things you’re a victim of, Gov. Paterson, are your own terrible judgment and abuse of power. And hysteria is another unfortunate word choice. It evokes women on 19 th -century fainting couches-irrational women. There’s nothing hysterical about a woman seeking a protective order when she’s been choked and smashed into a dresser, as the woman who is inadvertently at the center of this political scandal says she was.
