Just two weeks after Richard Grenell (right) was hired to be Mitt Romney’s foreign-policy wonk, the openly gay spokesman has announced his resignation.
In a statement obtained by the Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin, Grenell says:
I have decided to resign from the Romney campaign as the Foreign Policy and National Security Spokesman. While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign.
I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.
Almost immediately after signing on, Grenell found himself stymied in the role—kept out of the loop and away from the microphone when international issues flared up. And conservative pundits were already branding him a Benedict Arnold for being a epublican and a homosexual. (Oh, he’s a traitor all right—just not to the GOP.)
The Romney campaign actually tried to get Grenell to stay in his job, though to no avail. “We are disappointed that Ric decided to resign from the campaign for his own personal reasons,” Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades told Levin. “We wanted him to stay because he had superior qualifications for the position he was hired to fill.”
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Grenell already has his next gig lined up—working on Rep. Mary Bono Mack’s campaign. Apparently she doesn’t think he’s misogynistic. Republican war on women—pah!
Photo: Capital Media Partners
Hyhybt
Women are more than half the population. I don’t know whether they vote at the same rate as men or not, but they’re too big a group to write off and expect to win… so there must be SOME who think the Republicans are doing right.
tjr101
Oh phulezze, they pushed him out. He was way too queenie and bitchy for their taste.
Patsy Stoned
Mary Bono Mack? Figures the idiot quisling would find another anti-gay republican to jump into bed with. Gross. This is no shock, as soon as he was announced the writing was on the wall that he’d be gone soon. Romney needs to toe the anti-gay extremist line, so this fool had to be tossed to the wolves.
1equalityUSA
He seemed too immature for this job.
nebo
@tjr101:
yep, thats what I heard. The right wing christians and mormons put pressure on him to quit.
mc
Yeah, I’m sure immaturity was the issue and not his being gay. There’s a YouTube video out where Bryan Fischer is already taking credit for ousting the homo from office. There’s also the articles in the National Review calling Grenell unhinged because he wanted gay marriage so badly. Or how about the threats made by religious nutcases that Romney shouldn’t hire a gay man because you know, it goes against you religion. But somehow we’re to believe his resignation has nothing to do with him being gay.
I’m sure this will be spun to turn this into the left’s fault instead of the fact of the extreme homophobia in the GOP.
tjr101
Note to gay Repugs: Not once did your lord and savior of your tax cuts Mitt Romney speak out and defend Grenell from the right-wing crazies. Gutless bigot he is himself.
But of course gay Repugs will spin this and say it’s Obama and the liberal media’s fault, lol.
Erik
As Wonkette wrote, “Mitt Romney responded to the yells (for Grenell’s resignation) with a forceful decision to simply hide Grenell from the press and hope for it go away.”
That Mitt Romney — he’s a profile in courage.
Michael
Your title’s use of the word “neo-cons” is entirely in error. Grennell was an aide to king neo-con John Bolton. Does the author not know the political distinction between neo-cons and Fundies? Sad.
jason
It’s interesting how towleroad and other Democratic Party-shilling gay websites are suggesting that Grenell resigned because of opposition from arch conservatives like Bryan Fischer. In seeking to blame the arch Right, these Democratic Party-shilling sites do us all a disservice.
Oh, and I’m still waiting for Obama to say the word “gay”. He’s awfully evasive these days, isn’t he?
mc
@jason: It’s interesting how this idea of him quitting due to lack of support from Romney is being supported by gay republicans groups as well. This by the way, comes from a non gay site:
“Regardless of the clear fissures over Grenell specifically, Romney’s camp did have an opportunity to publicly bat back comments by Fischer and a few other conservative critics before the issue came to a head after the spokesman’s departure. Instead, several Republicans said privately, the campaign signaled a concern that evangelicals, who have remained the holdout to Romney among the GOP base, would be upset if the candidate or his campaign proactively disavowed the criticism of Grenell, even if that wasn’t actually the case.”
And also this: “This was an unforced error, and one that could have been avoided if the Romney campaign had simply said early on we have 100 percent faith in Ric Grenell to do his job,” said Chris Barron, one of the co-founders of the group GOProud.
Adam
I don’t like Grenell at all, but hopefully this further unmasks the current state of the GOP as out of touch extremists who have zero tolerance for anyone even slightly out of step with their brand (which will soon include everybody).
declanto
This should be the send-up for the so-called gay republicans. They don’t care, even if they say they do, and never will. Surrender, Dorothy.
Alexi3
I simply don’t understand how a gay person who understands what the GOP leadership has done to impede GLBT rights and their committments to continue their fight against us can become a Republican. I’m not saying that all Democrates are on our side – they’re not – but there is no arguing the point that the Republican Party, especially as long as they are led around by the nose by the Tea Party and evangelicals whose religous views are turned into Public Policy, is a threat to us and to all people whom believe in a literal pluralistic society where everyone is free to pursue their own personal view of happiness without Governmental intrusion into their private lives. I’ve tried and tried and I just can’t understand such willful blindness to the danger of their own freedoms.