“Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are, and if they are the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

Incredibly, there was not a single news story about this in the hometown New York Times until this morning. Nor in the politics-obsessed Washington Post, which ran a op-ed by conservative Michael Gerson. Fox News has repeatedly made an issue of the Cuomo contretemps, and a database search turned up nothing on CNN or MSNBC (except for Ed Schultz welcoming Sean Hannity’s promise to leave the state). What’s more, the Times story doesn’t take issue with Cuomo’s comments but leads by saying the Republicans have “found a talking point.”

Now let’s say that Cuomo didn’t mean to banish conservatives from the state. His office says his comments were taken out of context and that he was referring to the kinds of Republicans who can win elections in New York. Still, top GOP officials are demanding an apology.

Is that not even worthy of mention in the Times?