Gay Republicans endorse McCain

[metta]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080902...ans_gays_dc;_ylt=As6cHtSDWHGDr3NiNwD1sooDW7oF

Gay Republicans endorse McCain


By Ed StoddardTue Sep 2, 5:02 PM ET



The Log Cabin Republicans endorsed Arizona Sen. John McCain's bid for the presidency on Tuesday, four years after the gay Republican group refused to back President George W. Bush's bid for reelection.

The endorsement may boost McCain's reputation as a maverick who reaches across partisan lines, but it may not go down well with his party's conservative Christian base.

"Sen. McCain is no George Bush when it comes to gay issues. We are much more optimistic and enthusiastic about Sen. McCain," Patrick Sammon, the group's president, told Reuters.

The 20,000-member group backed Bush in 2000, but did not endorse him in 2004 when the Republican Party used opposition to gay marriage as a "wedge" issue to galvanize evangelical Christian voters.

But the group appreciates McCain's opposition to a failed attempt to enact a federal ban on gay marriage -- a position that angered many conservative evangelical leaders.

"Sen. McCain stood with us. Now we stand with him ... Sen. McCain showed courage by bucking his own party's leadership and the president -- twice voting against the amendment," the Log Cabin Republicans said.

The group said it would take a "wait and see approach" regarding McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.
"We have a wait and see approach with Gov. Palin about her views on gay issues," Sammon said.

Jimmy LaSalvia, the group's director of programs and policy, said there were encouraging signs.

"We don't know that much about her ... In her public statements she has said that she has gay friends and that she doesn't judge," he said.

Palin is a conservative Christian who has excited that wing of the Republican Party mostly because of her strong opposition to abortion rights.

Sammon said the organization was pleased that McCain's campaign was not inflaming passions around the issue of gay marriage. Proposals to ban same-sex unions will be on the ballot during the November 4 election in California and Florida.

The group said there were some two dozen openly gay delegates at the convention in St. Paul.

Being openly gay is not easy in a party with a strong base of evangelical Christians who read the Bible as the literal word of God and believe there are biblical sanctions against homosexuality.

Members of the Log Cabin Republicans say they stick with the party because of core principles such as fiscal conservatism and support for a strong national defense. Little polling has been done on the topic, but most gay voters favor the Democratic Party.

I guess they did not get the message....the McCain campaign does not want open support from gays...they need to be closeted supporters.... but then again...we gays...we love them closets...

http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/gaymccain080708.html

 

[gmoney]

Republicans say they stick with the party because of core principles such as fiscal conservatism and support for a strong national defense.

This is one reason I'm a gay Republican!

 

[chatolandia]

Yeah, are we not in a deep hole of debt right now?

I mean, I agree that if you think the government should be fiscally conservative, you should support a party that espouses that.


But they have been the most fiscally irresponsible party of the last 2 decades!

at what point do people realize that they are just saying they are, rather than actually being fiscally conservative?

 

[metta]

 

[chatolandia]

Agreed. I'm conservative and I'm not exactly happy with the Republicans. However, as a fiscal conservative I have little choice in this election. Both parties promise and deliver little. You vote, you hope. No different with the Democrats.

That is why, I am not voting for either


One is unproven

the other has proven, over and over, that he does not support gay rights AND supports the current state of this country (brought to you by Geogie and his friends)


so no way I am going to sell my soul for that man

 

[moschj]

What else would you expect from these idiots.

 

[Jannus]

Members of the Log Cabin Republicans say they stick with the party because of core principles such as fiscal conservatism and support for a strong national defense.

Fiscal conservatism?


Strong national defense?


Who makes this stuff up? Next thing you know, the Republicans will claim they want to cut spending, reduce oil prices, and strengthen the economy!


Thanks for the laughs, metta! It brought tears to my eyes!

 

[naturist]

Don't republicans always go for the white people?

 

[metta]

Gay people in the military still can't get married in California. It would be considered 'telling' in the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.


Sen. John McCain, supports keeping the "don't ask, don't tell" policy


Obama wants to end it

 

[drhladnjak]

Considering that they basically endorsed Kerry in 2004, I suppose this is newsworthy.

Spending has increased more under this last administration than any other even if you exclude defense and homeland security spending. The Republican Party may be for lower taxes, but that they claim to be for reigning in spending is ridiculous. That tax cuts combined with spending increases could be construed as fiscally responsible is ludicrous.

 

[metta]

^
exactly, Republicans are for increasing debt and pushing it onto future generations. They don't care about unacceptable levels of debt as long as they can get around paying for it.

Their words and sterotypes mean nothing to me. It is their actions that are important!

 

[tonyboy]

This is one reason I'm a gay Republican!

I'm with gmoney.... count another Gay Republican here and one more vote for McCain.

I've not always voted Republican in presidential elections but in this case McCain makes more sense than the alternative.
I watched the entire Obama speech when he accepted his party nomination during the Democratic Convention.... anyone with common sense that saw that should run away from him at full speed.
If you liked George McGoven, Lyndon Johnson, or Al Gore maybe you should vote for Obama. If you've sense though you should vote for John McCain.

 

[SportsStud]

I wonder if Stevens and Ginsberg can outlast McCain if he wins. I heard he is only seeking 1 term.

 

[metta]

^

I wonder if McCain's pick for VP is any indication of the type of candidate he would choose on the Supreme Court.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

^

I wonder if McCain's pick for VP is any indication of the type of candidate he would choose on the Supreme Court.

That's already on record.

McCain gave a speech at Wake Forest University in May about his position on the judiciary, where he pretty much hit all the far-right code words about "judicial restraint", "strict construction", and so forth.

He also said “Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito… would serve as the model for my own nominees.”

See, here's the thing. At this point Congress is too divided to pass any substantial pro- or anti-gay legislation. And the executive branch can't do much either. That leaves the states as our best hope.

But -- the Supreme Court, if it had a majority of hard-right justices, could undoubtedly find some reason to overturn gay marriage in Massachusetts or California.

That's why it's essential not to let McCain win. I think the Log Cabin Republicans are out of their fucking minds.

 

[angelus]

All those self-described gay republicans such as gmoney and tonyboy who are Republicans because of the fact that they beleive in the policy positions of John McCain and the Republicans despite whatever gripes they may have with social viewpoints that Republicans attest to raise some interesting issues for me.

I was talking to a friend about the election and she was giving the stock argument that Palin would pull in those Hillary voters who were still undecided. I disagreed with this view somewhat because I felt that those voters were not voting for Hillary purely because she was a woman, but because of her positions. I'd argue that in terms of economics, foreign policy etc, Palin and Hillary have pretty much the stock differences between Republicans and Democrats. However the obvious differences came up in terms of the social issues, and that is one the reasons I felt that the argument that Palin would bring in Hillary voters was null, she's pretty much the anti-Hillary. This brings me to the case of single issue voters.

Single issue voters handed Bush the election in 2004. While I respect peoples rights to vote according to whatever criteria they may have, I've always felt that being a single issue voter was irresponsible, however I'd always viewed single issue voters as the social conservatives, the pro-lifers, the anti gay-marriage lobby, the gun lobby, etc. However while reading this thread it just struck me that the gay lobby is no different, they also are single issue voters, just because they're a lobby that agrees with my view, realy doesn't make a difference. Sorry to those who are these voters, but I have to say it, they're just as irresponsible as the evangelicals and social conservatives who handed Bush the election in '04 despite all the evidence that he was shaping up to be the worst President of all time if not having already proved himself to be already. So are gay republicans in the mould of gmoney and tonyboy, who support their candidate for multiple reasons really as insane/conflicted/self-hating as we like to make them out to be, or are they the ones who are the most responsible voters.

 

[drhladnjak]

The mistake you make is equating all single issue voters.

It's one thing to be a single issue voter because you feel very strongly about guns or taxes or abortion. It's something entirely different when that issue is your very existence and the way you live your life. Supporting a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, supporting "don't ask, don't tell", supporting sodomy laws (which banned sex between two consenting adults and which were struck down by SCOTUS in 2003), supporting laws that ban gay people from adopting children. These are all policies that have been endorsed by the Republican Party or many of its members. Many of these policies are part of the official party platform.

Basically, there's a socially conservative part of the Republican Party that would ban gays outright and send us all to mental hospitals (or worse) if they could get away with it. Beyond the extremists, you have a majority of the party which still opposes offering us anything. They don't want to lock us all up, but they definitely have a problem with our existence in the sense that they feel we are not entitled to be treated the same as straight people in various ways that affect our ability to love, work and raise families. They'd be perfectly happy if we just disappeared entirely so they'd no longer have to deal with us.

I don't consider myself a single issue voter, but I give a lot more weight to gay issues because they profoundly impact my own life. I refuse to support a political party that loathes my very existence.

 

[RationalLunacy]

The endorsement by the Log Cabin Republicans of McCain would be akin to The Advocate accepting advertising from Exodus.

 

[Giovanni]

I'm with gmoney.... count another Gay Republican here and one more vote for McCain.

I've not always voted Republican in presidential elections but in this case McCain makes more sense than the alternative.
I watched the entire Obama speech when he accepted his party nomination during the Democratic Convention.... anyone with common sense that saw that should run away from him at full speed.
If you liked George McGoven, Lyndon Johnson, or Al Gore maybe you should vote for Obama. If you've sense though you should vote for John McCain.

Explain to me what McCain will bring to the table if elected?

 

[socalistud3]

Eh..it's a matter of opinion. Granted, it's taken far too long and too much money but I have no problem with us having gone there. Good is being done.

Amen...all you people who don't agree with the war need to get over it...we are there...support our country and all the people that are over there fighting for us and paying back those bastards that took down our Towers and led to all of this...

i am a 20 yr old Gay Independent but im pretty sure i am voting McCain especially after hearing Palin give her amazing speech last night