Oy Vey! Rabbi says Paladino "Folded like a cheap camera."

The New York Times reports that Republican candidate for governor of New York, Carl Paladino, has lost the support of the Rabbi who helped him write the homophobic comments he made to a group of Orthodox Jews last Sunday.

The rabbi, Yehuda Levin, who helped write those remarks, said Mr. Paladino “folded like a cheap camera” because of the uproar they had set off. And the rabbi said he could no longer support Mr. Paladino’s candidacy for governor of New York.

“Which part of the speech that you gave in Brooklyn to the Orthodox Jewish community are you apologizing for?” Rabbi Levin asked at a news conference in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, on Fifth Avenue. “Will we see you next year with your daughter at that gay pride march?”

“I was in the middle of eating a kosher pastrami sandwich,” Rabbi Levin said. "While I was eating it, they come running and they say, ‘Paladino became gay!’ I said, ‘What?’ And then they showed me the statement. I almost choked on the kosher salami.”

Mr. Paladino, of course, had not become gay, but had announced that he wanted to clarify that he embraced gay rights and opposed discrimination. In explaining his views, Mr. Paladino and his aides noted that he had a gay nephew who worked for the campaign.

That seemed to bother Rabbi Levin as well. He accused Mr. Paladino of deciding to apologize because “his gay nephew or his family told him so.”

“He discovered now he has a gay nephew?” the rabbi said. “Mazel tov! We’ll make a coming-out party!”

Rabbi Levin said he chose to hold his news conference at the cathedral because he hoped Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan would take a stand on the controversy involving Mr. Paladino’s remarks.

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• Influential Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Pulls Support From Carl Paladino Over Apology For Homophobic Remarks (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Influential Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Pulls Support From Carl Paladino Over Apology For Homophobic Remarks (lezgetreal.com)

GOP Candidate for NY Gov. Makes Homophobic Remarks in Speech (video)

Republican candidate for governor, Carl Paladino told a group of Orthodox Jews in a Brooklyn neighborhood, that he didn't want children "to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option," compared to heterosexuality. It isn't."

According to reports at CNN.com, the statehouse hopeful released copies of a prepared statement ahead of his speech, that included these remarks, which he left out "There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual. That's not how (God) created us."


Paladino's remarks came just one day after news broke of the arrest of eight gang members in the case of an attack on three gay men who were abducted and tortured last weekend in the Bronx.

Paladino's Democratic challenger Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released a statement, saying, "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."

On National Coming Out Day, let me say that there is plenty to be proud of in being a fully functional gay man. What is shameful and inexcusable is making untrue, hateful, homophobic statements to a religious group in order to win their support, then back peddling afterward by saying, "Don't misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way. That would be a dastardly lie -- my approach is live and let live."

Don't worry, Carl, we won't misquote you. We don't have to. We'll let your idiocy speak for itself. 
 

Related articles

• NY GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Carl Paladino Calls Gays "Dysfunctional" (alan.com)
• "Carl Paladino: "I oppose the homosexual agenda whether they call it marriage, civil unions or domestic partnership"" and related posts (blabbeando.blogspot.com)
• NY GOP candidate: Homosexuality not 'valid' (cnn.com)
• Paladino Attacks Gays in Brooklyn Speech (nytimes.com)
• NY Orthodox Jewish leaders put wannabe Governor Paladino in tight spot over gays (freethinker.co.uk)
• NYT: N.Y. gubernatorial hopeful slams gays (msnbc.msn.com)