Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman apologized to one of the nation's largest black civil rights groups Thursday, saying Republicans had not done enough to court blacks in the past and had exploited racial strife to court white voters, particularly in the South.posted by Rhaomi at 4:16 PM on August 25, 2010 [8 favorites]
"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization," Mehlman said at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."
Mehlman's apology to the NAACP at the group's convention in Milwaukee marked the first time a top Republican Party leader has denounced the so-called Southern Strategy employed by Richard Nixon and other Republicans to peel away white voters in what was then the heavily Democratic South. Beginning in the mid-1960s, Republicans encouraged disaffected Southern white voters to vote Republican by blaming pro-civil rights Democrats for racial unrest and other racial problems.
“So, how can Ken Mehlman redeem himself? I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for being the architect of the 2004 Bush reelection campaign. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for his role in developing strategy that resulted in George W. Bush threatening to veto ENDA or any bill containing hate crimes laws. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for the pressing of two Federal Marriage Amendments as political tools. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for developing the 72-hour strategy, using homophobic churches to become political arms of the GOP before Election Day.posted by ericb at 4:24 PM on August 25, 2010 [56 favorites]
And those state marriage amendments. I want to hear him apologize for every one of those, too.
And then there is one other little thing. You see, while you and I had the horrible feelings of being treated so poorly by our President, while teens were receiving the messaging 'gay is bad' giving them 'permission' to gay bash, while our rights were being stripped state by state, Ken was out there laughing all the way to the bank. So, if Ken is really sorry, and he very well may be, then all he needs to do is sell his condo and donate the funds to the causes he worked against so hard for all those years. He's done a lot of damage to a lot of organizations, while making a lot of money. A LOT of money. It's time to put his money where his mouth is. Ken Mehlman is sitting in a $3,770,000.00 (that's $3.77 million) condo in Chelsea while we have lost our right to marry in almost 40 states.
THEN, and only then, should Mehlman be welcomed into our community.”
He often wondered why gay voters never formed common cause with Republican opponents of Islamic jihadBecause they both -- threaten isn't the right word -- challenge the conservative view of Christianity. Pretty straight forward.
Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman apologized to one of the nation's largest black civil rights groups Thursday, saying Republicans had not done enough to court blacks in the past and had exploited racial strife to court white voters, particularly in the South.Yet, when Michael Steel, who has the same job as Mehlman said the same thing he was bashed everywhere. I wonder what could have caused the divergent reactions...
"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization," Mehlman said at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."
This surprises exactly no one, I think. I am guessing Lindsey Graham will be next.Not as long as he needs to keep getting elected.
How on earth is simply pointing out that a vehemently anti-gay politician is gay implying that being gay is "something bad in the first place"?Did you even read my comment? I am specifically objecting to lupus_yonderboy's hypothetical counter-rhetoric:
Seriously. How are you making that leap. Because it's total shallow bullshit that completely fails to get the dynamic behind outing vehemently anti-gay closet cases.
You have to ask yourself - why are these guys so interested in gays? I'm happily married - I simply never think about homosexuality in my day-to-day life - what is it about homosexuality that so fascinates these guys? If you're a straight man or woman, aren't you much more worried about your job, about America's security? Look at all these men - Foley, Haggard, Craig, Melman - all obsessed with oppressing gay people, and each one as queer as a three dollar bill. Really makes you wonder about the rest of them, doesn't it?" [emphasis mine]I'm not sure I see how it's all that controversial to find this a problematic way to pursue gay civil rights. As roystgnr says, it comes across (to me) as conceding that being gay is the bad thing. Not so much the outing, but the accusing. It's also just plain nasty in tone.
Henry: Roy Cohn, you are … You have had sex with men. Many, many times Roy. And one of those men, or any number of them, has made you very sick. You have AIDS.posted by ericb at 10:02 PM on August 25, 2010 [6 favorites]
Roy Cohn : AIDS. [Shakes head] You know, your problem, Henry, is that you are hung up on words. On labels. That you believe that they mean what they seem to mean. AIDS. Homosexual. Gay. Lesbian. You think these are names that tell you who someone sleeps with. They don’t tell you that.
H: No?
RC: No. Like all labels, they tell you one thing and one thing only. WHERE does an individual so identified fit in the food chain? In the pecking order? Not ideology or sexual taste, but something much simpler. Clout. Not who I fuck, or who fucks me, but who will pick up the phone when I call. Who owes me favours. This is what a label refers to. Now to someone who does not understand this, ‘homosexual’ is what I am because I have sex with men. But, really, this is wrong. Homosexuals are not men who sleep with other men. Homosexuals are men, who in 15 years of trying cannot pass a pissant anti-discrimination bill through city council. Homosexuals are men who know nobody. And who nobody knows. Who have zero clout! Does this sound like me Henry? … And what is my diagnosis Henry?
H: You have AIDS, Roy.
RC: No. AIDS is what homosexuals have. I have liver cancer.
Since Beck first announced the event, much critical attention has been paid to the date. This Saturday is the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” a landmark event in the history of the civil rights movement that is also enshrined in the national mythology as one of the finest expressions of American ideals. Beck claims that the scheduling is mere coincidence. But he has eagerly claimed King’s legacy, and the meaning of Aug. 28, as his own. On the May 24 edition of his radio program, he described himself and his conservative-activist legions as “the inheritors and the protectors of the civil rights movement”; liberals, he claimed, “are perverting it.” He said he “wouldn’t be surprised if in our lifetime dogs and fire hoses are released or opened on us. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of us get a billy club to the head. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of us go to jail — just like Martin Luther King did — on trumped-up charges. Tough times are coming.” Two days later, he reiterated his intent to “reclaim the civil rights movement,” since “we were the people that did it in the first place.” More recently, he has described the alleged scheduling coincidence as “divine providence”—as God’s way of telling Beck he walks in King’s footsteps.Do they have a legitimate claim to it? No, of course not. The idea is absurd and anti-historical. But that doesn't stop them from using it in their rhetoric. I wonder if ~10 years from now we'll see gay rights being used in the same way.
"It is tragic and it is a particularly gay tragedy because we have the option of coming out or not coming out, living with integrity, or not living with integrity, selling our souls as Ken Mehlman did, or not selling our souls. And it's Ken Mehlman's personal tragedy but it's also the damage he inflicted, the role he played, it's inexcusable. He has a lot of amends to make. More than one fundraiser. Hopefully he is confronting not just his own conscience but people in his own political party, his so-called political allies about their homophobia, about the Republican party's homophobia."posted by ericb at 6:02 AM on August 27, 2010 [4 favorites]
"The hypocrisy is true. I lived a double life. I had tremendous passion and drive to be in public life, to be elected, and I've had a remarkable political career...No one has really spoken to me about my votes and I've decided that I'm going to vote the truth. I am no longer going to vote against rights for people because they happen to be gay or bi or transgendered. I'm not going to do that."*posted by ericb at 6:28 AM on August 27, 2010 [4 favorites]
____________________
''My practice in my entire political career when it came to gay issues was to prevent any kind of spotlight from being shined my way, because I was in hiding. So casting any kind of vote might, could in some way, lead to my secret being revealed.... That was terrifying to me. It was paralyzing. So I cast some votes that have denied gay people of their basic, equal treatment under the law, and I'm not proud of it. I'm not going to do that again.''*
____________________
"I should begin with an apology. I am sincerely sorry for the votes I cast and the actions I took that harmed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Just as important to me, I am sorry for not stepping forward and speaking up as an elected official on behalf of equal treatment for all people. For nearly 26 years, the voters in my area of California trusted me as their elected representative. I look back now knowing there is so much more I could have done to inform the public about LGBT people and to fight for equal rights under the law. Regrettably and selfishly, I took another path in my life and political career—I chose to conceal who I truly am and to then actually vote against the best interests of people like me. All this was done because I was afraid–terrified, really–that somehow I would be revealed as gay.
My past actions harmed gay people. In fact, all people are harmed when there is unequal treatment of anyone under the constitution and laws of our country. I do not believe in discrimination, and yet my votes advanced unequal of treatment of gay people and promoted the suspicion and fear that limits people from being forthright and accepted in society.
Now, from what I have lived and learned, I want to do the best that I can to advance equality and freedom for all people. Given the shame and confusion that many feel over their sexual orientation, perhaps my situation can serve as an example of both the harm that can come from denial and fear, and the opportunity to try to make things right." *
"Everybody has a journey but no matter where you are, there is right and wrong. The Republican Party at the time was pushing a virulently anti-gay campaign demonizing gay people in the states. He was the Republican National Committee chairman. He okayed all of the ads, ads that really turned gay people into monsters in many communities, and you know, a lot of people knew he was gay back then. It has been talked about and blogged about. I don't know how far along he was on his journey, but I think he was far enough that he knew right from wrong."posted by ericb at 8:42 AM on August 27, 2010 [2 favorites]
"I'm pleased for him, because knowing what I've been through in trying to keep a secret for so many years and in trying to hide my secret, doing things that were hurtful to gay people, coming to the realization that you can actually admit who you truly are, and to stop the hiding and the actions around that which are hurtful … I mean that's a big breakthrough and I'm happy for him."posted by ericb at 10:21 AM on August 29, 2010
Ashburn, who is nearing the end of his state senate seat, says he won't abandon his party and actually thinks that they could actually be the political party for gay rights.
“I would argue that the Republican party, because of the principles underlying Republicanism, really is the party that should be championing equal rights for gay people, for all people. For me this is very clear.”
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COME ON THIS CANNOT BE REAL.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 4:04 PM on August 25, 2010 [9 favorites]