Rabbi Pulls Support for Paladino

Rabbi: candidate 'folded like a cheap camera' over anti-gay remarks
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 14, 2010 12:42 AM CDT
Updated Oct 14, 2010 4:50 AM CDT
Rabbi Pulls Support for Paladino
Rabbi Yehuda Levin holds a news conference at the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral to announce the suspension of support for New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino.   (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

The Orthodox rabbi who set up the meeting where Carl Paladino made controversial anti-gay remarks says the candidate has lost his support. Paladino, who issued an apology for his remarks, "folded like a cheap camera," Yehuda Levin complains. "Which part of the speech that you gave in Brooklyn to the Orthodox Jewish community are you apologizing for?” the rabbi asked. “Will we see you next year with your daughter at that gay pride march?”

The rabbi says he wants to see the return of the "old Carl" who spoke his mind, and complains that he wasn't even warned that Paladino was distancing himself from the remarks. "I was in the middle of eating a kosher pastrami sandwich,” the rabbi tells the New York Times. "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.” (More Carl Paladino stories.)

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