Is Rabbi-Loving Carl Paladino anti Speedo Bathing Suits or anti Gay or Both?

Here is our confession. We are coming out right here in this blog post.

We wear a Speedo bathing suit every day that we go swimming. We have been doing this nearly daily since 1982. Speedo bathing suits are the best that there are for swimming. There is nothing gay about them. They are nylon or nylon and lycra and they are perfectly designed for serious swimming. There is nothing wrong with wearing them in the pool, near the pool or anywhere else. In the picture above we are wearing our Speedo suit at the Gordon Pool in Tel Aviv.

Candidate for NYS governor, Carl Paladino, has disparaged Speedo bathing suits in remarks that some people consider homophobic or anti-Gay.

It's one thing that he is a neanderthal right winger. It's another thing that he is obviously anti-gay. But when he turns anti-Speedo, he's gone too far. Shame on you Carl Paladino.

Here is a story from the blog, Gothamist about this whole matter:

Paladino Apologizes For Gay Remarks, Loses Rabbi's Support

Like a real-life Michael Scott, Carl Paladino must be getting used to apologizing for his continual gaffes and goofs: Paladino took the advice of the Mayor of 9/11 Town and formally apologized for the comments on homosexuality he made to orthodox Jewish leaders over the weekend. He wrote, "I sincerely apologize for any comment that may have offended the Gay and Lesbian Community or their family members. Any reference to branding an entire community based on a small representation of them is wrong."

Even so, he focused on his "poorly chosen words" rather than disavow the substance of his speech, which was anti-gay marriage. He still maintains that he dislikes gay pride parades and doesn't believe homosexuality should be discussed in schools. But he made it clear that he was a supporter of gay rights, and he was worried about the ramifications of his remarks. "My entire life, I have never equivocated at all on defending gay rights...Ugly. Horrible. My God. I didn't want any questions on this topic, because I don't want this feeding frenzy of nonsense going on in the press to hurt anybody," he said while campaign stumping.

His campaign manager, Michael Caputo, took the blame for helping craft the more incendiary language of the speech with Orthodox leaders: "I bear a lot of responsibility for that. Carl has a lot of family and friends who were surprised by what came of Carl's mouth that day. I am responsible for the message of the campaign." None of the apologies impressed City Council speaker Christine Quinn: “This is not a question of choosing poor words or a misinterpretation of his remarks. His beliefs are wrong and filled with hate.”

Amazingly, Paladino doesn't seem able to please anybody right now. Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the Orthodox Rabbi who has been campaigning for Paladino as his liaison to the Jewish community and who claims to have written Paladino's anti-gay speech, revoked his support for the candidate today, saying he had caved to political pressure by apologizing.

Even Paladino's Republican cohorts (Ann Coulter withstanding) are at their wit's end because of the endless cycle of unnecessary shenanigans; one Republican consultant working on several down-ballot races told the Observer about the larger effect he's having on the party: "He's killing everybody. The worst thing that he's doing is changing the subject. The subject that Republicans are winning on across the country this year is overtaxing, overspending and debt. Every poll in America is saying that. And now we're walking around talking about Speedo bathing suits."

And alas and alack, the anti bathing suit politico has aligned with a sketchy rabbi. We posted here about the shady Rabbi Levin in 2008.

[a hat tip to rabbi joel schnur who called us today, 38 years after we last spoke]