Rabbi Yehuda Levin Injected himself into the Carl Paladino-Andrew Cuomo gubernatorial race this morning and promptly raised an old political bugaboo that has long hounded both Andrew and his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo. The NY Daily News reports:
It’s the “Vote For Cuomo, Not the Homo” smear allegedly used during the 1977 mayoral runoff primary between Democrats Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch, when flyers with that scurrilous slogan were circulated, supposedly by some Cuomo supporters. Both Cuomos have long denied any knowledge of the smears, and even Koch has come to reluctantly accept their denials.
But Levin — a vehemently anti-abortion and anti-gay rights zealot — happily threw that old tar ball at Andrew Cuomo today, when he showed up at the tail end of a press conference on the steps of City Hall held by Assemblyman Dov Hikind and a group of Jewish leaders to denounce Paladino’s alleged anti-Semitic remarks.
Levin, who now says he represents the Rabbinical Alliance of America, ran for mayor as the Right-to-Life candidate against Koch in 1985. He made news in 1996 by becoming a national-co chairman of the Pat Buchanan presidential campaign, angering other Jews who had criticized remarks by Buchanan as being anti-Semitics.
As the Hikind group was disbanding after the City Hall presser, Levin, who had been standing by as a spectator, took over the mic stand and announced that he was going to make a rebuttal statement on behalf of the Paladino campaign. “I have spoken witth Mr. [Michael] Caputo, the campaign manager, as well as [campaign advisor] John Haggerty, a very high-up official,” Levin insisted.
He then lashed out at the Cuomo gubernatorial campaign for using “opposition research” to attack Paladino for supposedly comparing Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to Hitler and an “AntiChrist.”
He dismissed the Jewish leaders who denounced Paladino as [political] hacks in the Orthodox community.
Echoing the stance of the Paladino campaign, Levin said that “if Andrew Cuomo thinks Mr. Paladino is an anti-Semite, I think he owes to New Yorkers to come out of the closet and he should say so [himself].”
Speaking privately a few minutes later later with the Daily News, Levin went on a tear, saying the attack on Paladino “reminds me” of what happened in the Koch-Cuomo mayoral race.
“Remember Mario Cuomo, ‘Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo’” Levin commented. “Like father, like son. If Andrew Cuomo thinks Paladino is an anti-Semite, and he’s going to be the ‘Capo di tutti capi’ of New York, he should come out and say, ‘I challenge Paladino on this thing.’”
There was no immediate comment from the Paladino campaign, and Caputo’s voice-mail box was full.
(Source: NY Daily News)
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13 Responses
Rav Yehuda is a tzadik.
I agree with rabbi Levine on this – though normally I do not – Hes right here. I will vote for “crazy Carl”
He’s a brave man! I have mixed feelings on this election, on the one hand how can Paladino make such remarks? Have they been confirmed? On the other hand, shouldn’t we all be voting Republican in the primaries and November elections? If Republicans win in the Senate & in the House, then Pres. Obama is pretty much boxed in and won’t be able to pass any more of his dangerous agenda. The Eretz Yisroel matzav is what really scares me. Please clue me in. Have a good Yom Tov!
If Paladino hadn’t compared Sheldon Silver to Hitler and “The Antichrist” there would be nothing to complain about. Levin is really chutzpadik to complain about this. Had Al Sharpton used the same terms we would be all over him. Levin is showing the same judgement he showed when he supported Patrick Buchanan HaRasha.
Has Palladino articulated a single policy statement yet?
Why is it impossible for this man to ever speak in a respectful tone? He is a walking, talking, chillul Hashem. Especially when he claims to represents the religious world, he creates a horrible image for the general public. May Hashem grant him sanity, amoungst the other Choley Yisrael.
PS: I say this regardless of his stand on the issues. Can you imagine any respectable Talmid Chacham hijacking a press conference and saying “not the homo”???
So the Democratic rabbis support the Democratic candidate (and presumably get lots of “pork” in return, especially since they are support candidates whose ideological positions on many issues are incompatible with Jewish tradition), and the Republican rabbis support the Republican candidate (if there is a miracle, they’ll get something but given the dysfunctional nature of New York’s GOP, that’s a long shot).
I strongly suspect that both Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Palladino are nice guys if you get to know them.
And the idiots with the insults and the slogans should probably be ignored (well, at least no one is being accused of witchcraft, in New York).
One of the most annoying, obnoxious messages I got before the primary last week was a recording from Rabbi Levin. He’s way out of line – again.
Charli Hall again playing politics with a farce of a concerned Jew. Can you please tell me why defending a friend calling the most corrupt [and not to mention, anti-Orthodox Jew] politician names makes someone an anti-semite? Where were all of you leftists when every second high-ranking democrat called the Tea Party Nazis? Calling people names might not be nice but it doesn’t make you an anti-semite.
I was at that news conference yesterday, and I clearly heard Dov Hikind say that it was “Paladino, or one of his supporters” who made the Hitler comment.
So, Dov called this pres conference to condemn paladino for a statement that Dov is not even sure paladino made.–Totally irresponsible!
So, Dov, on behalf of the Jewish leaders who surrounded him at yesterday’s press conference, is antagonizing millions of New Yorkers who are in pain from the economic disaster that has befaalen them, and who are looking to Paladino to straighten out the mess in Albany.
The whole press conference was, obviously, coordinated with the Andrew Cuomo campaign, whose major strategy is to claim that Paladino is “Unqualified for office.”
Dov seduced some serious Askonim in our Chasidic community into, unwittingly, serving as surrogates for Cuomo, without regard to the potentially serious consequences of antagonizing millions of good people in New York.
Shame on you, Dov, for acting like a bomb-throwing demagogue!
Funny, I posted the exact same thing yesterday on YWN as Rabbi Levin. Well, at least I tried to but it was not “approved” by the censor here. Are there no minimum ethical standards left? Politics and money as usual. It never ends. I hope Dov Hikind sits down really soon without squishing David G.
Yehuda Levin: Al Sharpton with a bekishe
ThenAgain: I think Dov Hikind earned the Al Sharpton title here on YWN recently. Don’t take any honor away from Hikind or he will run to the media with a smear story against you.