Attendees at “Homocon” universally attributed the rise of the gay right to the rising conservative tide generally.
“It really was the economy stupid. There’s a move to the right in general,” said Thiel, who was also an early investor in Facebook and is a prominent supporter of libertarian causes. An awful lot of Republicans want to get out of the gay issue in general.”
Thiel compared the current gay rights’ strategy of allying itself with a single party to “trench warfare” in World War I, and argued that gay rights will benefit from a Republican Party that begins to compete for gay voters and donors.
Coulter’s presence at the event was controversial, as other gay activists pointed out that she’d made a series of anti-gay remark — she called former presidential candidate John Edwards a "faggot" — which she explained away at the top of her speech as humor.
“The people who get gay jokes are gays,” she said, adding that when she talks to Christian audience, “Out of sweetness they don’t laugh at the gay jokes.”
Coulter’s jokes Tuesday riffed on the theme that GOProud doesn’t make same-sex marriage central to its appeal; it considers, Barron says, national security and the economy more important.
Marriage “is not a civil right – you’re not black,” Coulter said to nervous laughter. She went on to note that gays are among the wealthiest demographic groups in the country.
“Blacks must be looking at the gays saying, ‘Why can’t we be oppressed like that?’”
Coulter’s talk drew a mixed response, but her presence marked the increasingly mainstream Republican embrace of gay rights. Coulter had a falling out with a conservative website that has published her, WorldNetDaily, over her attendance. “She’s doing something important – she’s showing her base that it’s OK,” said one attendee, Michael Lucas. (Lucas also confided to a reporter, “I wonder what Ann will think about the fact that I am the biggest producer of gay porn on the east coast and probably in the whole US.")
Attendees struggled to characterize the momentum they feel on the right at large and the gay rights in particular. One, radio host Tammy Bruce, who is on GOProud’s board, said the moment has the “same energy” as the radical ACT-UP protests in the 1980s, which drew attention to the AIDS crisis.
Another, former New York Log Cabin GOP chief Chris Taylor, said people are discovering what he’s always found self-evident: “I don’t see what being gay has to do with being socialist,” he said.
As for Coulter, she told POLITICO the embrace of gays on the right could only be reciprocated.
“Right wingers have always liked gays. Look at all of Ronald Reagan’s gay friends,” she said, proceeding to cite an unverified rumor dating back half a century: “Look at my personal hero Joe McCarthy and his” – airquotes – “special assistant.”
Mr. Brownfield eats at a table with the visiting Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and is dismayed that Mr. Graham seems less interested in giving detainees fair trials than in giving the impression of doing so
Why is it that we talk about freedom and individual rights but act to restrict freedom and individual rights? We say we want government to leave us alone, but we ask for laws to prevent women from control of their bodies.
We say we want government to leave us alone but we ask for laws to punish homosexuals because we think they're immoral. We say we want to protect freedom of speech and the right to protest but we ask for an amendment to the Constitution to prevent burning the flag. We say we want lower taxes but we complain about streets not being plowed. We say we want better education but we demonstrate and ask for lower taxes and vouchers to pay for private schooling for our children.
So how far have we come in the past 60 years to loving thy neighbor as thyself? Apparently not very far.
When Eddie Fisher's best friend, producer Mike Todd, was killed in a 1958 plane crash, Fisher comforted the widow, Elizabeth Taylor. Amid sensationalist headlines, Fisher divorced Reynolds and married Taylor in 1959.
The Fisher-Taylor marriage lasted only five years. She fell in love with co-star Richard Burton during the Rome filming of "Cleopatra," divorced Fisher and married Burton in one of the great entertainment world scandals of the 20th century.
Fisher's career never recovered from the notoriety. He married actress Connie Stevens, and they had two daughters. Another divorce followed. He married twice more.
It reminds me of the C.S. Lewis Narnia books, where the little girl asks someone about Aslan the lion, who represents God. She says, "I'm a little concerned over such a fearsome lion. Is he safe?" And her friend says, "Safe, who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good." Well, that's what's happening in America today with this grassroots groundswell, this revolution of reason, this love affair with liberty. It isn't tame, but boy, it sure is good.And what do you both make of this image knitting the Constitution to the Bible, again from the same speech?
The Constitution is making a comeback. It's simply unprecedented in my lifetime. I think it's a little like the chosen people of Israel and the Hebrew scriptures, who cycle through periods of blessing and suffering and then return to the divine principles in their darker days. It's almost as if we're in a season of constitutional repentance. When our country's on the wrong track, we search back to our first covenant, our founding documents, and the bold and inspired values on which they were based.Maybe the idea is to plot the Bible and the Constitution on one indelible, teleological line of history. Like the exhibitions on state property that display the Ten Commandments along with the Declaration of Independence and other documents from America's foundation and history. (If you're in Texas, you throw in a plaque commemorating the war with Mexico, children, and a tribute to the Texans lost at Pearl Harbor. Among many other things. And the Supreme Court says your monument can stay.) The Constitution becomes worth revering not for its own sake but because it reflects a Judeo-Christian heritage.
An election year agenda being unveiled by House Republicans Thursday will include language affirming the party's support of "traditional marriage" and its opposition to abortion rights, House GOP sources tell POLITICO.
The document, to be unveiled at a hardware store in Sterling, Va., will include "a commitment to life and a commitment to marriage," one source said.
The policy has led to critical troop shortages by forcing out more than 13,000 qualified service members over the last 16 years, according to the judge, Virginia Phillips.
Bishop Long is an outspoken critic of homosexuality and has been called by the Southern Poverty Law Center “one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement.” He is the author of a book titled “What A Man Wants, What A Woman Needs: The Secret To Successful, Fulfilling Relationships.”
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A coalition of leading climate scientists yesterday filed a 48-page document to the US Congress refuting an attack on climate science made earlier this year by the Ukip deputy leader, Lord Christopher Monckton.
The detailed rebuttal addresses nine key scientific claims made by Monckton, a prominent climate sceptic, to a house select committee hearing in May. It includes the responses of 21 climate scientists who variously conclude that Monckton's assertions are "very misleading", "profoundly wrong", "simply false", "chemical nonsense", and "cannot be supported by climate physics".
Monckton, a former journalist and policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher, who has been the deputy leader of the UK Independence party (Ukip)since June, was invited by the Republican party to give evidence to the house select committee on energy independence and global warming.
His testimony included claims that increasing ocean acidification is not due to rising CO2 levels, that recent decades of warming were due to global brightening as opposed to rising CO2 levels, and that there is nothing unusual about recent rises in global temperatures. He concluded his testimony by stating that anthropogenic climate change is a "non-problem" and that the correct policy response was "to do nothing".
"For those without some familiarity with climate science, [Monckton's] testimony may appear to have scientific validity," said yesterday's response to Monckton's claims . "We have therefore undertaken the task of soliciting responses from highly qualified climate scientists in each of the areas touched upon in Monckton's testimony … In all cases, Monckton's assertions are shown to be without merit – they are based on a thorough misunderstanding of the science of climate change."
Rather, DeMint claimed, the conservative primary challenges show that the GOP is really a "big tent" party.
"What this is showing is that the people who really want a big tent Republican Party are conservatives. When the moderates can't win, they change parties. "
– We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal.
– We support the repeal of the 16th amendment of the U.S. Constitution which authorizes a national income tax.
– We agree with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who stated that the U.S. Supreme Court does not have the sole authority to judge the constitutionality of federal laws. We hold with these men that theStates not only have the right, but also the duty to nullify unconstitutional laws in order to protect their citizens.
As Evan McMorris-Santoro reports, Softball Sean's show is a kind o fhalfway house for beleaguered Republican candidates, where they can avoid a complete media blackout yet not have to encounter any real journalists.
As easily as people sign on, they drift away. Keeping the structure going requires constant care and feeding, and an always fresh flow of issues, activities, and challenges. As every blogger knows, drop it for a minute, or make a false move into a topic that doesn’t interest people, and it all slips away.
Principles have never been that important to Murkowski. She supported a massive cap-and-trade energy tax that would permanently destroy millions of jobs in this country. She has waffled on whether she would support repeal of Obama's health care take over. She is one of the worst abusers of the pay-to-play earmarks system. And she doesn't support the sanctity of human life. With positions like these, it's no surprise she's leaving the party.
The Family Research Council, the leading “family values” group, is similarly obsessed. In the most recent index of its publications, the two categories with the most listing are “Homosexual” and “Homosexual in the Military” — a total of 34 items (plus four on AIDS). The organization has shown some interest in parenthood — nine items on family structure, 13 on parenthood and six on teen pregnancy — yet there are more items on homosexuality than on all of those issues combined. There was no listing for divorce. (Would it be unfair to point out that there are two items on “Parents’ Rights” and none on “Parents’ Responsibilities”?)
