Hurricane Isaac’s vehement liberal agenda and some sweet deals on some even sweeter man-love did nothing to deter the Republican Party from the truly dirty deeds at hand: their party platform.
That beacon of truth and honesty Fox News reports:
Republicans emphatically approved a toughly worded party platform at their national convention Tuesday that would ban all abortions and gay marriages, reshape Medicare into a voucher-like program and cut taxes to energize the economy and create jobs.
The document opens by warning that while the American Dream has long been of equal opportunity for everyone, “Today that American Dream is at risk.” It pledges that the GOP will “begin anew, with profound changes in the way government operates; the way it budgets, taxes and regulates.”
AlterNet‘s Peter Montgomery hung out with the Log Cabin Republicans the day before the platform’s approval at a “surprisingly upbeat” reception co-hosted by the Log Cabinites and the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. “Talking to people at the reception made me wonder at the fine, fuzzy line dividing optimism from delusion,” Montgomery writes.
The LCRs were obviously aware that the platform would pass and took out an ad in today’s Tampa Tribune directly aimed at Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, whose sadistic voice shaped the platform’s marriage and abortion issues:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
The Log Cabin Republicans generally see this as (about) the last year that they’ll be pushed into the shadows and beaten mercilessly with legal language thanks to all the ornery, homophobic conservatives dying out and a more progressive generation rising up to take their place.
“You can’t demagogue gay people forever,” Sarah Longwell, a Leadership Committee member of Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, told Montgomery.
Since the economy has been proven the issue voters — LGBT et al. — care about most, LCRs are still standing firm with their party, which would repeal Obamacare, further extend the Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 and reform Medicare and Medicaid.
They just hope they’ll be standing firm and on equal footing at some indiscernible point in the near future…
Photo: Huffington Post
The Real Mike in Asheville
Kapos, each and every one of them; shameful.
Neo
They are a disgrace to humanity.
Isn’t it sad that the more into the 2000’s we get the less using terms like “Concentration camps” and “execution without trial” gets less like baseless attacks on the GOP and more and more like literal actualised policy.
They are evil people who are a blight on this planet, every hard working and moral person must hate them and vote against them in November and forever.
Gigi Gee
What a disgusting bunch of boot lickers.
Brandon
Its funny how delusional they are. They really think that the younger conservatives that come along in the next decade or two are going to be any better than whats there now. If you go into a college conservative organization in most of the country, THEY ARE EVEN WORSE! Hardline social conservatives who are even more extreme than their parents were!
I think the vast majority of the people who make up the Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud are either self loathing, want badly to be accepted in the party of their parents, or are afraid of being lumped in with the rest of gay people.
krisjones123
Obama is destroying our healthcare system and our country. Vote for the Mormon NOT the Moron!!!
BJ McFrisky
It all depends on your point of view and what your priorities are. Some people I’ve met have a genuine vested interest in seeing a marriage equality law passed, while others just want to make noise and get noticed.
@krisjones123: It’s very true that most people who support Obamacare have no idea of the consequences involved, and probably don’t care—they just know it’s something the Democrats want, so they want it too, and if it ends up being cost-prohibitive, that’s OK too, because then they’ll just raise the working-man’s taxes to pay for it (but don’t voice your opinion too loudly around here—they eat their own on this site).
John Doe
Let the anti-Republican rants begin in 3…2….1…. oh, they already started.
Although I find myself extremely opposed to most Republican ideals, I certainly understand how a “conservative” person can be pro-LGBT rights and still consider themselves a Republican. It is rather hypocritical for someone to label a gay Republican as “self-hating” (or similar) when it has only been in recent years that Democrats have been willing to stand up for FULL equality. This year will be the first year that the Democrats include full equality in their platform AND Obama has STILL not signed on to it completely. Bottom line, progress happens and the Democrats are obviously a decade or more ahead of most Republicans on LGBT issues. That being said, we wouldn’t have “gay marriage” in New York or Washington State if it weren’t for a small group of Republicans that have become supportive of full equality.
I consider myself an independent and am disgusted by Republicans and Democrats when it comes to 95% of politics. Washington DC has been corrupt for several years and to be fully “Republican” or “Democrat” is pretty troubling. Both parties play politics and don’t deal with the real issues Americans want dealt with OR that the US Constitution already guarantees. We still have wars going, Gitmo is still open, equality hasn’t arrived for the LGBT community, big money controls elections, etc.
Randal Oulton
>> while the American Dream has long been of equal opportunity for everyone,
But it never has been. Immigrants have always been barred, bizarrely, from the top job in the land.
2nd Class Citizen
Gay Republican. Oxymoron or just a plain moron?
BJ McFrisky
@2nd Class Citizen: I think of myself not as a gay Republican but as a recovering liberal.
Neo
@2nd Class Citizen: There is certainly a massive dose of unbridled self loathing. The two things are absolutely unable to be reconciled at the minute. There was a time when the Log Cabin people actually tried to do something, but this utterly pathetic pandering to Romney and his stooges has shown them for what they are.
They want to take away a section of the populaces humanity and spends hundreds of millions on the fight to hate, murder and rape not just gay people, but Black people and Latinos and every other race. The problem is they are spending it all around the globe, pushing back the fight for humanity and morality back decades in some countries like Uganda where they pay for death squads.
The fact a section of the population that they hate so openly is willing to collaborate, maybe they think they’ll be last on the fire that way?
henryrok
Did they at least vote “no” in the platform committee? Maybe on the floor? I’ll also be asking Victory Fund what’s up.
jmmartin
Unbelievable. I always thought the term “gay Republicans” was oxymoronic. Now, I know it is.
nwilsontaylor
Evil people always have and always will force their views on the good. Thing is, we have to know what and who is evil and what and who is good.
Black and white can meld together to make grey. However good and evil never meld. There is no middle ground. It’s either the one or the other.
Evji108
Massive self-loathing and delusion. It reminds me of those Jews who apologized for, appeased and enabled Hitler before WWII. It’s so hard to imagine what they think they stand to gain from this betrayal of their own people. Maybe if they kiss their butts often and hard enough they will allow them to eat the crumbs that fall from their table? It’s revolting, debasing and embarrassing.
TheMarc
Whatever folks, at least they are not GOProud. Though I am not one to support an organization whose goal/purpose for being is to support a party that does not support them (us); at the end of the day, they are conservative gays who still believe in marriage equality and gay rights. No, they don’t vote the way the rest of us want them to vote; but at least they stand against the other voices in their party that do not support marriage equality or equality of any kind for the LGBT community unlike the COMPLETE sell outs at GOProud. LCR is not my favorite LGBT organization; but at least they recognize and care that they are an LGBT organization and this ad shows that. And yeah, what John Doe said.
Brandon
@TheMarc: It’s just hard to fathom continuously voting with a party that systemically, without fail, devises new ways to deny you basic rights. To have candidates pledge to reinstate discriminatory laws, and strip away what little progress has been made, and THEN GO AHEAD AND VOTE FOR THEM? I understand there are more issues than just LGBT issues, but it is hard to even reconcile their economic plans, the Bush administration is the reason the economy is where it is in the first place! Going from billions and billions in surplus to a 10 trillion dollar deficit. It just happened to be on Obama’s watch that the death spiral hit bottom.
Brandon
@BJ McFrisky: Recovering from your former sanity.
TheMarc
@Brandon: Oh, I completely agree. I’m just not for indiscriminate demonization of the LCR. Yes, they support a party that seemingly at every turn is scapegoating the LGBT community and attacking our right to exist; but they don’t deserve to be attacked as if they themselves exemplify the worst of their party. Though they will rush to defend their fellow Republicans on many issues, they are also not afraid to press issues within their own party like marriage equality, ending DADT, and non-discrimination protection for LGBTs. I respect their right and desire to be conservative and gay at the same time. It’s the Republican party of today that is making that very difficult. And that’s a reality that the LCR are trying to change. On a related note, I can’t bash GOProud enough; because they are the polar opposite. They are willing to sacrifice their gay identity, rights etc. to support a party they believe will, magically, make them rich. Rather amusingly, they don’t effectively support marriage equality and gay rights as a whole (something that actually has a very direct effect on them today); but, instead focus their efforts on initiatives like reducing the top tax rates; rates which most of them will never have the earning power to worry about in their lifetime; ironically, partially because adequate employment protection, housing rights, marital tax benefits, etc. are being blocked by the very party they support for the LGBT community.
jeff4justice
The Republicans like oppressing gays, lie-based wars, & glorifying persecution of poor people. Democrats like drone attack killing little kids, NDAA, allowing frankenfood corporations to ruin the human food supply, and attacking medical marijuana users.
One one side you have phony religious people doing the work of evil and on the other phony yuppy wannbe do-gooders doing the work of evil.
Way to go 2-party system voter, especially those of you who donate to pay for these 2party system scums to fuck you over.
As with homophobes, 2party system supporters will be the embarrassment of future generations.
BJ McFrisky
@Brandon: You state “it just happened to be on Obama’s watch that the death spiral hit bottom.” Ummm, you apparently forgot about the so-called “stimulus” initiated by Obomber that handed out BILLIONS to his campaign donors, and yet our deficit “just happened to be on his watch”? He’s added twice as much debt in 3 years as Bush did in 8, and yet it “just happened on his watch”? You’re watching waaay too much MSNBC, friend. Post your mailing address so I can send you a clue.
EvonCook
Jeff, Brandon, et al, all this just goes to show you that being gay is no guarantee of being clear thinking, fair or even sane. How people do twist and spin facts to suit their purposes, interests, biases or fears! But what is certain is that being republican is a guarantee of being small, narrow, selfish, hypocritical, brainwashed (some are actually brain dead, but most are far too devious) and self-righteous and pretty near blind to the needs of others and fairness. Being democrat certainly does not make one a saint, and Obama was really taken in by Geithner (and the sky will fall threats of bankers, corporations and the power brokers), and thus he pathetically missed the moment to bring back financial regulation and some control and accountability to the people. But, democrats’ general humanistic and liberal values, as opposed to any monotheistic religious ones, make for a fairer, healthier, more civil and happier society, instead of trickle down, voodoo economics, a ruling class of oligarchs and imaginary free market garbage that just covers up corporate control and abuse of the society. All GLBT people sadly can’t see through the BS, or beyond the threats and fears, but luckily we carry them along with us nonetheless. Unfortunately, the mindless “believers” and self interested ones are the far more brittle who are arming themselves and more likely to snap into violence or just to declare a holy war to defend their sacred cows. But we’ll have to deal with that when it happens. America has become a banana republic thanks to republicans, and we may have to find a way to literally fight our way out of this to survive one day.
Brandon
@BJ McFrisky: And you are forgetting a huge chunk of that stimulus started at the end of the Bush Presidency (AND BOTH CANDIDATES WERE ON BOARD WITH IT). You “twice as much debt in 3 years as Bush did in 8” statement is a figure you completely pulled out of your ass. Bush was handed a $236 Billion dollar surplus from the Clinton administration, and turned it into a 1.3 trillion dollar defecit and an economy in freefall. Bush’s deficit didn’t even count the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, because he obscured the expenses under “Emergency Supplemental” War Spending. Obama however counts all of the war spending as a transparent part of the budget. If bush did that, the real deficit he was handing Obama was 4 trillion dollars. Obama’s deficit is 2.7 trillion more ON DAY ONE! just by including war spending information he was handed. We can only imagine how much more Bush contributed if he reported the figures of ALL the war spending on his watch (since the Iraq war was far more expensive and active then than it was during the Obama administration).
You can easily look all of this up, but like most republicans, why let facts get in the way of rigid old fashioned ideology. Perhaps it is you that needs to lay off the Fox News, and join the reality of actual facts and figures. Facts unfiltered by what blonde cleavage puppets and rent-a-pundits on that joke of a network tell you to think.
BJ McFrisky
@Brandon: You stated, “Join the reality of actual facts and figures. Facts unfiltered by what blonde cleavage puppets and rent-a-pundits on that joke of a network tell you to think.” Like I said, you’re watching waaaay too much MSNBC. (And seriously—what would Rachel Maddow think of you calling her a “blonde cleavage puppet”? You are a bad gay. BAD gay!)
Aidan8
@Brandon: Brandon, thanks for pointing out the facts. You see, BJ McFrisky, like all conservatives/Republicans these days, care nothing for facts. So it’ll be highly frustrating trying to engage him with factual information. Best to just give up… his mind is “made up.” 🙂
Bellerophon69
@BJ McFrisky: Sorry, but after reading several reviews of the Ryan budget plan and the CBO study commissioned by Ryan himself, there will be two personal income tax brackets; 10% and 25%. Guess which demographic will be getting the 25% bracket; probably you and I. And I have never paid 25% income tax in my 36 years of employment, even during the Reagan years. Also, I am a health care professional, and while ACA is flawed (it was put together by a committee after all), the health care crisis is very real and has been developing since the 80’s and managed care. City and County hospitals across the nation can no longer foot the bill (paid for with your state and local taxes) for the mounting costs of the uninsured, and believe me, one way or the other, ACA or not, you and I will be footing that bill. And I’m not trying to chastise you, it’s just that I disagree with your statements and your partisan historical amnesia. We did not get into this mess in just the last 3 years, and it wasn’t just one party or bias at fault. However, the “conservatives” of the last 10-12 years have been anything but FISCALLY conservative, merely becoming knee jerk “Old Testament” social conservatives who really believe only in many of the discredited economic policies of Reagan. Policies that even those who were formerly in his cabinet now denounce. By the way, anyone who believes that there is no bias in their preferred single source of information probably is just feeding their own bias; get the “facts” from several angles, there’s more than one side to any coin.
Ned_Flaherty
The 9 anti-LGBT planks adopted by the Republican Party last week are conveniently summarized at: http://www.policymic.com/articles/13878/gop-2012-platform-9-shocking-anti-lgbt-planks-in-the-republican-plan-for-america
Freddie27
Don’t bother feeding the self-loathing Republican trolls. They’d shoot Harvey Milk to get another tax cut.