Rabbi Yehuda Levin appeared on “The Last Word” With Lawrence O’Donnell last night to defend himself in the wake of the Carl Paladino/anti-gay statement mess, and he continued to sound awfully supportive of the Buffalo businessman, despite the fact that he had just rescinded his endorsement several hours earlier.

Levin said he wrote one version of Paladino’s speech, but not the one that included the “brainwashing” line that caused the latest uproar. He said a “mysterious stranger” wrote that, adding that he has an “idea” about that person’s identity, but is keeping it a secret.

Levin rejected the suggestion that his comments or the words he wrote for the candidate incite violence, adding: “We are the victims; I haven’t seen an Orthodox Jew beating up on a homosexual, calling them the kinds of kinds that I’ve been receiving: F-you, pig, die – just because I’m standing up for my religion.”

When O’Donnell asked Levin about Paladino’s pornographic e-mails and how he could possibly support a person whose personal actions aren’t in keeping with his public pronouncements, the rabbi replied:

“I’d rather have a person – try to get this – I’d rather have a person who does all kinds of bad things in his private life but publicly, in terms of the legislation he will sponsor, will be a hypocrite, but will let my children grow up. And that’s the answer. It’s a million times more important. And by the way, a guy like that to carry the baby to term is one in a million. Everyone else – rich, wealthy – get rid of the evidence.”

New Jersey Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, an officer on the New York Board of Rabbis, who joined Levin on the show, said the controversial ultra-Orthodox rabbi “doesn’t represent the flavor of Judaism for me and for most of the Jewish people in the world.”

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