This is too good not to quote.
In commenting on the screw-ups of the Obama campaign regarding their association with a closeted gay basher, TPM suggested the following actions to “defuse the story”:
1. Convene townhall meeting of gay rights activists and emissaries from Family Research Council.
2. Launching ‘listening tour’ of Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.
3. Appoint blue ribbon commission on sodomy.
Good snark.
It turns out that not only did Donnie McClurkin sing, but he also unleashed an “I’m a former gay tirade in the last half hour of his set. CNN has reported it, saying that McClurkin said that, “he has been ‘vilified’ and declaring that ‘God delivered me from homosexuality.'”
As to the white gay preacher that they included, they buried him:
Sidden is the white, gay pastor added to the concert bill as a last minute compromise by the Obama campaign. Sidden’s appearance was notably brief and anti-climactic: He said a short prayer to the auditorium at the very beginning of the program, when the arena was only about half full, and then he left.
The New York times subtly suggests that this was dog whistle politics, i.e. that he was trying to tell the largely socially conservative audience that he was uncomfortable with gays without alerting anyone else:
Still, canceling Mr. McClurkin’s appearance might have created more problems. Mr. McClurkin’s support for Mr. Obama could signal to some black evangelical voters that race and religion are more important than Mr. Obama’s support for gay rights.
The campaign has tried to turn the situation into a demonstration of the candidate’s big-tent acceptance. It did bring together some supporters from the gay community and the black religious community who wrote a joint letter a few days ago saying that Mr. McClurkin’s statements had been “deeply hurtful and offensive to many Americans, most especially gay Americans.”
At the same time, it said, “a great many African Americans share Pastor McClurkin’s beliefs” and “their religion prevents them from fully embracing their gay brothers and sisters.” It lauded Mr. Obama “who speaks truth in love to both sides.”
I would agree. The Obama Campaign’s response is nearly identical to that of creationists, and the ACLU arguing for the right of Nazis to march in Skokie.
The ACLU was right, but they were talking about demonstrations, not literally on a campaign’s stage.
As Matt Stoller so eloquently put it, Progressive Campaigns to Do Not Gay Bash.
I’m probably not as angry as John Aravosis about this, after all, I’m straight*, but I am convinced that this was deliberate, and sophisticated message of bigotry to the Socially conservative black Evangelicals in South Carolina.
*Or maybe I haven’t met Mr. Right…Whatever.
Keith Boykin, former senior Clinton Staffer and out black man, calls it “Not A Smart Move“. I agree.
In response to his putting closeted homophobe Donnie McClurkin, Barack Obama is going to have Rev. Andy Sidden, a WHITE South Carolina pastor who is openly gay, speak at the event.
What is going on here is simple. Obama has to make a decision, and he appears to be constitutionally unable to. He could kick Donnie McClurkin off the events, and in so doing piss off the homophobic contingent (which is significant) of the black clergy in South Carolina, or he can keep him on, and enrage the gay community.
As appears typical for him, he is trying to fix this with half measures. He is unwilling to take a stand, because both choices offend people with whom he wants good relations.
This is a recurring theme with him. He is unwilling fish or cut bait. He wants to please EVERYONE. It is a sign of weakness that could hurt him in the campaign, and completely cripple him were he elected president.
He needs to show people that he can be an SOB, because that is much of the job of POTUS.
Barack Obama is doing a gospel music tour called the “Embrace the Change” tour with three dates in South Carolina.
I understand that this is a part of his message of inclusiveness, but review the highlighted portion:
As religious conservatives gather in Washington this weekend for the “Values Voters Summit,” Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announced its latest effort to attract people of faith to the campaign: a gospel concert tour.
All three of the dates of the “Embrace the Change” tour are in South Carolina, where Mr. Obama is locked in battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for black voters.
Gospel acts including Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker, Byron Cage and the Mighty Clouds of Joy are scheduled to appear.
It seems innocuous enough, until you dig into the statements and actions of Donnie McClurkin in this 2004 article:
Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who has detailed his struggle with gay tendencies and vowed to battle “the curse of homosexuality,” said yesterday he’ll perform as scheduled at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, despite controversy over his view that sexuality can be changed by religious intervention.
He is also claiming that he was “made gay” by being raped by an uncle.
Unless McClurkin has recanted these views, he is a messenger of bigotry and hypocrisy, and no Democratic candidate should have him sing as a part of their political campaign.
This time writing about Larry Craig’s self delusion.
Craig was seeking in that toilet stall a connection, a shard of intimacy, that the world would not give him, or that he could not give himself. No one should have to live without that intimacy and dignity – no one. Living a life like that – a deeply lonely, compromised, painful interior existence – is a very sophisticated form of hell. No human can keep it up for ever. No human should have to keep it up for ever.
Larry Craig is not in the closet, he is the closet.
This time, it’s the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican party,, who has been accused of enticement and fondling of a 16 year old boy.
It seems that GOP stands for Grand Old Perverts.
There is a story about Larry Craig attempting further appeals. It’s unremarkable, except for we may now know why the Republicans are not going after him too hard, he is one seriously mean SOB.
“I was very proud of my association with Mitt Romney,” Craig told Lauer. “… And he not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again.”
I know it’s not nice to get joy from someone else’s misfortune, but Senator Craig’s circumstances have me riveted the way that some cheap celebrity antics do for the mainstream press.
Good. I don’t see it as a tipping point, but it’s a good development.
They are running an ad (see below) taking his quotes from his 1994 debates with Ted Kennedy during his senate run. It sounds like a pro-Romney ad, but it quotes him saying things that will make the right wing dead-enders who are the base of the Republican party hate him.
Of note, he killed himself during the debates with Kennedy for asserting that as a rich man, Kennedy never gave anything up about public service (Except, of course, for his brothers Joe, Jack, and Bobbie), and that he had no experience with regard to the complexities of gun control (except of course for his brothers Jack and Bobbie).
Let’s see, first, we have Senator “Wide Stance” being inducted into the Idaho hall of fame, and then we have the male prostitute who outed Ted Haggard says that he met Larry Craig, and finally, Bob “The Traitor” Novak says that the Senate republicans knew about his behavior:
I have talked to several of my sources in the Senate, and this came as a surprise to me…They knew about it. They knew that he had this problem, and it was in the closet. And it was not just a homosexual relationship. It was this weird conduct. They didn’t do anything about it.
The Log Cabin Republicans have produced an ad endorsing Mitt Romney.
More accurately, they have produced an ad endorsing Mitt Romney circa 1994, where he categorically argues for abortion rights, gay rights, taxes, and gun regulation.
He even disavows Ronald Reagan.
Devastating.
The judge has denied Craig’s request to withdraw his guilty plea, and Craig si
now saying that he’s staying in the senate until the end of his term.
The Republicans are threatening an ethics committee investigation against him, but I think that it’s going nowhere, as we would have to see David “Diaper” Vitter, and Mitch “Handjob in the Shower” McConnell testifying.
I am amused.
As you are no doubt aware, Senator Larry Craig has not resigned on September 30 as he said he would, so they are threating public ethics hearings on his behavior.
My guess is that Craig is putting Senator David Vitter on his witness list.
Pass the popcorn.
Almost missed noting it.
Of course, he’s still in the senate, in all his foot tapping glory (hole).
Schadenfreude.
Criag is saying that he’s going to stay in office, at least for a while.
That sound you hear is Jon Stewart’s, Jay Leno’s, and David Letterman’s writers cheering.
So there won’t be a veto of the hate crimes bill. Sexual orientation is now mentioned.
All of the Democrats, the one Socialist (Sanders), and the one “Connecticut for Lieberman” senators voted Aye, as did nine Republicans:
This meant that it was a veto proof majority, 60 votes. Vitter and Craig voted no.
I’m pleasantly surprised at Gregg and Voinovich.
It should come as no surprise that the ACLU is supporting Senator Craig’s attempt to withdraw his guilty plea.
Additionally, there is a good point made by the ACLU:
Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, argued that police sting operations sometimes trap innocent people. He said police must show that sex was to occur in public, not just that someone was soliciting sex.
“If the police really want to stop people from having sex in public bathrooms, they should put up a sign banning sex in the restroom and send in a uniformed officer to patrol periodically,” Romero said.
Let’s be clear if crude come ons were a crime, the cops would be arresting 20% of the people in your average singles hangout bar.
This is from Counterpunch.org, which is a highly controversial source. That being said, Mike Rogers of Blog Active and Down with Tyranny also confirm this, so there is backup.
It looks like two more conservative ‘family values’ Republican senators may be ‘outed’ soon. Mike Rogers, the same blogger who originally fingered Craig, claims that South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham is gay.
This has got to be the worst kept secret in Washington, D.C., it’s common knowledge in the Baltimore area too.
Howie Klein meanwhile claims that, ‘Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s quick expulsion from the Army—for fondling a private’s privates—is finally being discussed in Kentucky.’ He notes that McConnell, discharged after just 10 days in the Army in 1967, ‘has consistently prevented anyone from seeing his military discharge papers’ but a Freedom of Information suit may bring them to light.
To be fair, even if the reason for discharge is true, McConnell might not be gay.
If I were a draftee in 1967, and I were given the choice to go to Viet Nam, or pretending to be gay, I might very well go that route to stay out of Nam.
I make no claims to personal bravery. Had I not been exempt from the draft by reason of being 5 years old, I probably would have kissed my CO full on the lips to stay out of South East Asia.
Of course, I’m not sure that an admission of cowardice would help good the distinguished gentlemen from Kentucky.
FWIW, taking down McConnell needs to be a priority, as payback for going after Daschle*, which was unprecedented.
*Truth be told, I’m glad that Harry Reid is now in control of the Senate. On his worst day, he’s better than Daschle on his best day.
It appears that Larry Craig is not definitively out1 as Idaho’s US Senator.
It appears, according to a voice mail left at the wrong number, that his intent to resign is just that, intent, and not a promise.
He’s hired a high priced lawyer, and he will be fighting to overturn his guilty plea for disorderly conduct.
While my initial reaction is, “pass the popcorn”, this can actually be rather significant.
Seeing as how this will going on at the same time that the Pentagon’s “war room” is ramping up it’s likely to suck2 all the oxygen out of the media room, and so this media offensive is likely to get little notice, and hence little traction.
The voice mail mentions that he has support of Arlen Spector, which rather surprizes me, as the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania always bent over backwards3 to support the Republican agenda when push comes to shove4.
It’s possible that Spector had a polite statement of support that was misinterpreted, or possibly he’s trying to queer the deal in order to extract some sort of payback against the Republican Senate leadership by queering5 their efforts on the Iraq war, but I am unaware of any specific bad blood between him and Mitch McConnell.
It will be interesting seeing if the Republicans actually demand an ethics investigation to get to the bottom6 of this.
1Pun not intended.
2Really, I mean it, pun not intended.
3Oh, for Pets’s sake!!!! Pun not intended.
4Oh…I just give up, I’m punning.
5Well, that was liberating.
6OK, I admit it. I have a problem. My name is Matthew Saroff, and I am a punster.
I mean that he’s leaving the senate, not the other sense.
I’m sure that the gag writers for Leno and Letterman are in mourning.