From the start Fred Karger knew most people had no idea who he was: Even his campaign placards cheekily read “Fred Who?” But on Friday, Karger, the openly gay Republican presidential candidate, realized
that wasn’t going to change and pulled the plug on his campaign.
“After two-and-a-half years of campaigning as a candidate for President of the United States I am officially ending my historic campaign today June 29, 2012. It’s been one hell of a ride, and I want to thank the thousands of people across this country who volunteered, contributed, opened their homes, came to our events and cheered me on. Special thanks to the thousands more who shared their stories with me in person, via email, facebook, twitter, etc. Every one of you kept me going.
It’s been the experience of a lifetime. I’ve made many new friends and undoubtedly picked up a few more detractors. I hope and trust that my discussion of the key issues helped to open dialog on fixing the economy, balancing the federal budget, creating jobs, education reform, the environment, immigration reform, ending the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and fighting for full equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. We must move forward on these issues and many more.
A big thank you goes out to our incredible campaign team, most of whom have been around for nearly the entire two-and-a-half years. Your dedication, spirit and great ideas made all the difference.
I plan to rest up for awhile and then I will be back at it to help in the fight for LGBT equality. We will let you know as soon as our exact course is determined.
We closed our Utah Primary campaign with a big bang by airing the hard-hitting commercial “STOP THE HATE!!!” aimed at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). It was produced and directed by Melanie Marden of MM Films, LLC.
randy
If those are the kind of campaign aides you get when you run for office, I’m running for president next election!
GOProudest
Yes! Hope Fred’s historic campaign will help discredit Gay Left’s blind hate for GOP
Colin
@GOProudest: Me too. The gay left is fairly stupid and uninformed when it comes to the (gay) GOP.
doug105
@GOProudest: You mean like how well he did the the debates?
Oh that’s right every time he qualified they changed the rules.
So how did CPAC work for you,get those ticket refunds?
Making up stuff is fun!
@GOProudest: Apparently, some people think the back of the bus is very cozy.
JKB
@GOProudest: You’re right! Just like Clarence Thomas’s successful placement on the Supreme Court improved the African American vote for the GOP! (eye roll)
GOProudest
@Colin: The most pathetic thing about these clowns is how they are happy for gay Republicans to be in “the back of the bus” instead of fighting for gay inclusion in both major political parties.
Just goes to show that they don’t really care about gay acceptance, only about pushing the Left Wing agenda. They are all too happy to use gay rights as just a prop for promoting their partisan goals.
Shame on you, Gay Left shills!
Colin
@GOProudest: Yes, they’re ridiculous and their antics get old after a while. And what’s sad is that they are the biggest hypocrites because they are the most bigoted against other gays who don’t agree with them. Like you said, they’re only concerned about the left wing agenda and will throw anyone who’s gay and doesn’t conform to that, under the bus and accuse them of all sorts of incorrect things. This is the plantation mindset they have.
Daez
@randy: They are, and they are hopefully and endlessly devoted to getting you aHEAD in the POLEs. Seriously, having worked on some campaigns as a volunteer, the amount of “worship” that the candidate gets is remarkable.
Daez
@GOProudest: @Daez:
What exactly are you two talking about? If you could name one thing that has actually been done by the Republicans regarding the rights of any minority you would have a lot more credence, but since you can not you need to just admit that you follow a group of bigots because you like being lap dogs.
You seriously would support Mitt over Obama? Seriously? Please name one actual accomplishment that Romney has made, and shutting down companies to make millions and running the Massachusetts economy into the ground as governor are not accomplishments.
GOProudest
@Daez: Mitt is a capitalist, not a socialist like Obama. That’s enough to get the vote of anyone who actually understands how the economy works.
People like you keep talking about gay rights as the reason to back Obama, while what you really want is destroy free enterprise and turn USA into a failed collectivist state, like most of the Europe.
No way! No how! Romney 2012!
GOProudest
Mitt is a capitalist, not a community organizer like Obama. That’s enough to get the vote of anyone who actually understands how the economy works.
People like you keep talking about gay rights as the reason to back Obama, while what you really want is destroy free enterprise and turn USA into a failed collectivist state, like most of the Europe.
We’ve had enough of failed Obama policies. It is Romney or bust!
Making up stuff is fun!
@GOProudest: Wow. Your dad must’ve really hated you.
stevoj
@GOProudest: this isn’t so much a response to the aforementioned idiot as it is a chance to correct some gross inaccuracies
making that first comparison is like saying, Obama is a short stop and Romney is an outfielder. you can play any position but that doesn’t make you a captain… or any more knowledgeable about the game
hell and just because Romneys’s a capitalist doesn’t mean he’s a good one. yeah he’s great at creating jobs… in other countries
and equating a mandatory healthcare program to a single currency is down right stupid. who in their right mind would have unified dozens of divided, self-governing countries under one currency… wait! but don’t forget about the pound
that shit didn’t go anywhere lol
but yeah, bailing out the banks and saving the automobile industry definitely drove this country into the ground. how will we ever recover? and this healthcare mandate, it’s been legal for a few days and enacted for over a year yet we all have gone broke and had our health dwindle to nothing
the. humanity.
Colin
@GOProudest: Pay no attention to these idiots.
GOProudest
@Making up stuff is fun!: You sound like a failed psychic who gets everything wrong
@stevoj: Thank you for reciting vapid Democrat talking points. You can repeat them as many times as you like and it does not change the fact that Obama completely failed at driving job creation and economic growth. Of course you cannot be bothered with the fact that Obama’s results have been pathetic.
People like you think a community organizer who never had a job in the real economy is the best choice for President. Just like Obama, you probably never managed a payroll and created jobs in the productive sectors of the economy (not including government, non-profits, academia or political hackery).
American have been fooled with false hope in 2008, but in 2012 the failed report card is in.
@Colin: They have not said anything worth paying attention to. In any case, I am not addressing them, but people who are open-minded enough to not get conned into remaining on the Democrat plantation.
Chad
@GOProudest, your own political party would not even recognize Karger as a valid candidate. That should tell you something.
Baba Booey
@GOProudest: = Another Jew helping Hitler.
Colin
@Chad: Yes, because I’m so sure the Democrats would.
GOProudest
@Chad: I do not think he was expecting to be a viable candidate himself. You have to be a Governor or Senator to be to be a viable candidate.
This historic significance of his candidacy is simply that it was a first openly gay republican running.
@Baba Booey: = Another clown with nothing intelligent to say
jeff4justice
As a gay man, I WILL GLADLY trade the risk my freedom to marry for the peace of my conscious to not vote for Obama and the 2party system of vicious war.
After President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill in 1964, Martin Luther King had the bravery and character to criticize him and the immoral Vietnam War.
The next time I see photos of a precious child whose body has been partly blown off by drone attack bombs (or any war violence for that matter), I will be at peace knowing I did not concede or consent to accepting things as having to be this way when there are better alternative party options of peace, freedom, and liberty.
In the social media age and in a time where most people who speak up do not have to worry about the threat of violence, there is no reason why we cannot organize to topple the 2party system. But even if we cannot topple the 2party system in this upcoming election, at the very least, we certainly do not have to validate it and its perpetual war, poverty, and attack on civil liberties with our vote.
I’d rather put my energy into doing the right thing from the get go instead of giving into the vicious cycle of fear-based conceding for short sighted tradeoffs at the expense of other people’s suffering.
To the victims of the weapon wars, drug law wars, poverty, illness caused by the policies of the corporately controlled 2party system, and any other injustice, I am so sorry that so many of my fellow Americans cannot emancipate themselves from the fear of voting for alternative parties. I am so sorry so many keep conceding to accepting the acceleration of human suffering as inevitable just because the powers that be creating these horrors have such great wealth – especially when WE could have the fighting spirit combined with our numbers as the 99% to organize and topple the corporately controlled 2party system.
We got woman the right to vote. We got the Civil Rights act. We’re getting more and more LGBT equality. We can certainly topple the 2party system.
I will never, never, never, never, never again vote for the 2party system if there is an alternative party option on my ballot. If there is no alternative party option, I will either abstain or, if allowed, write in myself.
I will never, never, never, never, never validate, justify, or make excuses for the evils of the 2party system.
An injustice to one is an injustice to all.
WillBFair
@GOProudest: Hun, it’s you that doesn’t understand the capitalist system.
Free enterprise is an a-historical fiction.
The mixed economy is the most successful system in history. And it is slowly digging us out of the pit, with massive resistance from you gop buddies.
It was free enterprise rules that got us into this mess. But let’s not bother with actual history. Too much trouble to examine the mixed economies of Rome, or the British Empire, or modern Europe, or America for that matter. It’s so much easier to mindlessly repeat talking points from the teevee. Open a book, please.
1equalityUSA
BUSH was a nightmare. GOP has lost all credibility. Bush was so stupid. He is the worst President we have ever had. Romney is cruel, wishy-washy, a liar and a sociopath. He would rather see America fail than lose. His ego is enormous. He is so out of touch. Women cannot stand this man. No way will Mittins win. Dead reckoning has the GOP steering further away, to edge of the Earth where Sea NOMsters reside. No spurious cult with zero archaeological, historical basis will be able to swing voters to support this freak. GOP death watch is moving towards agonal breathing. I love how desperately they try to reframe the facts to fit their delusion. Mittens even asked governors to cool it on all of the talk about how the economy is improving. Disingenuous liar.
GOProudest
@WillBFair: This “historical fiction” built the United States of America into the most powerful economy of the world. Unfortunately it may not survive if the dumbf**ks like Obama and you have their way with it. Obama’s record on the economy is a complete disaster and even you know it.
GOProudest
@1equalityUSA: Have you forgot to take your meds today?
1equalityUSA
Wanker, you probably start your morning off with a fistful, so O.D. already. One less vote for that freaker Mormon. Delusional twerp.
GOProudest
@1equalityUSA: Thanks for entertaining us with you stupidity!
Mr. Z
@GOProudest: I love it that you think you’re smart.
1equalityUSA
Hey, if you are voting for that NOM-skull, you must have an affinity for it. Romney is a joke. It will be fun to watch him switch his etch-a-sketchy point of view six times over before November. Even his own party is snarling at his antics. Hell, even Faux Noise Rupert Murdick is shaking his flabby head in disdain. Now that’s entertainment.
Colin
@1equalityUSA: The only thing entertaining is you believing the alternative is any better. You, like most here, are a one-issue voter and as a result you really aren’t a competent one.
1equalityUSA
The one issue is that I do not trust this mercurial mormon. He should not have power, as he misuses it. The issue is Romney scares the pie out of me and he is backwards in his philosophy towards women and LGBT. Romney signed a pledge stating he will uphold bigotry and appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will uphold bigotry. He is a liar, a sociopath, and disconnected. He’s not normal and his sect is nefarious. He mistreat animals and school mates and people unfortunate enough to by employed by him. His speaking style is that of a fear-biter, yappy, staccato, terrier and he has horrible taste in women, a sickening cadillac, not just one, but two. Double down on dork-dom. If you need further proof, take a gander at his mom-jeans, they fit like he has a constant wedgie, Cosmic pay-back for how cruelly he treated gay boys in his wadified prep school. He is really devoid of character and his financial status does nothing to make the man more worthy. His word means nothing. His principle is selfish and ego enormous. He does not deserve power.
GOProudest
@1equalityUSA: It will be fun watching you whine when Romney is inaugurated. You are such a loser.
1equalityUSA
Your party is the loser.
WillBFair
@GOProudest: Complete disaster, regardless of the stats, and compared to Bush’s record. Please. I love how you people just make things up as you go.
GOProudest
@WillBFair: Bush is not on the ballot. Romney has nothing to do with him.