Republican candidate Carl Paladino during an appearance at a Tea...

Republican candidate Carl Paladino during an appearance at a Tea Party rally at Watkins Glen. (Oct. 2, 2010) Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa

WATKINS GLEN - At an upstate tea party rally Saturday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino leaped to his feet to applaud when a speaker called President Barack Obama "the worst president in the history of the United States of America" and later said he concurred.

"I agree, yep," Paladino told reporters after GOP congressional candidate Leonard Roberto's attack on Obama at the rally, organized by tea party supporters and the Taxpayer Party. While Roberto's line drew cheers, Paladino was one of a handful who stood up to applaud.

Asked why, Paladino said, without elaborating: "Nobody apologizes for America." He said Obama, a Democrat, "forgot about the common man."

The Buffalo businessman made the gibes as he returned to the friendly confines of his base after a bruising week. He worried his own campaign staff by repeatedly accusing his opponent, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, of being unfaithful to his ex-wife and having a videotaped shouting match with a reporter.

But Paladino appeared relaxed Saturday as he gave a 30-minute stump speech without notes, walking in to a standing ovation from about 500 supporters chanting "Carl, Carl" and "Take them out!"

He revived the issue of the planned Islamic center planned near Ground Zero, questioning whether Cuomo, who has declined to investigate the project as attorney general, had respect for 9/11 victims and veterans.

"Does he have any sensitivity to those who fight for this country?" Paladino said. "For the 3,000 people who died that day?"

A Cuomo spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking response.

Paladino, who has angrily warned the media to leave alone his 10-year-old daughter by an ex-lover, brought some levity to the issue, swooping into the crowd and picking up a little girl.

"She's not mine," he said, to hoots of laughter. "But . . . we want her to be able to have a fulfilling life in New York State."

The girl, Macy Fitzgerald, 5, of Watkins Glen, just wanted to pet Paladino's pit bull, Duke. But her parents didn't object when she became a prop in political theater, said her father, Ray Fitzgerald, 40.

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