Gov. David Paterson (D-New Yikes!) has come up with a new strategy for explaining away his race-card-monte complaint that the negative news coverage  of his increasingly inept administration is racially motivated.

As Wednesday’s New York Times reported:

Gov. David A. Paterson attempted to distance himself on Tuesday from comments he made last week suggesting that some in the news media who are critical of him and other black politicians are motivated by racial bias.

Call it the Groucho Marx gambit: Who you gonna believe – me, or your lying ears?

While Mr. Paterson said he regretted the distraction his comments had caused and hoped he could put the episode behind him, he denied having insinuated that race was a factor in criticism of his leadership. That denial — which is contradicted by what he said in two interviews — made for an odd exchange with reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

Campaign Outsider Official Prediction™: Paterson’s going to have a lot of odd exchanges with reporters before he ultimately leases space in the dustbin of history.