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01/15/2007
The Mitt hits the 'pro-fam'
It must be tough to be Mitt Romney these days. On one hand, he continues to get denounced by pro-equality folks (like ourselves) who are appalled by the way he, as governor of Massachusetts, fostered a culture of non-acceptance in the years following the state's same-sex marriage legalization. Especially when it seems from his past comments on progressive subjects that his turn to the far right might've been inspired more by the political trends of the early 21st century than his own gut instinct on right vs. wrong.
Then on the other hand, Mitt is also getting it from the "pro-family" folks that he needs in order to capture the GOP presidential nomination and ultimately win the White House. These ultra-conservatives have, like us, questioned whether Mitt has made a living talking out of whatever side of the mouth currently seems the most politically advantageous. Unlike us, however, these far right folks think he hasn't done ENOUGH to stem the tide of acceptance that pervades the Bay State, and they demand Mitt step up his gay/pro choice-unfriendly rhetoric if he wants to capture their non-"bleeding hearts."
Enter Brian Camenker. As head of an extremely vitriolic, ultra demonizing, gay-unfriendly group known as MassResistance, Camenker has served as one of Massachusetts' most vocal critics of legalized gay love. He and his group think Mitt could have prevented same-sex marriage if only he had worked a little harder, and they have quite vocally made their antipathy known. But all the while, Mitt & Co. have continued to work the "No, no -- we do wish to keep the culture of discrimination alive, honest! " line, so naturally his campaign resents folks like Camenker painting the former governor as contrarian to the queer-unfriendly cause. Thus the reason why they this week released a document titled "Research Briefing: Meet The Real Brian Camenker" (*Ed note: The doc has now been pulled; see update at bottom), in which they thoroughly discredit Camenker as a far-right fringe extremist. They call his ideology "extreme," his voice non-credible, and just thoroughly rake Camenker over the GOP coals.
Well, camp Romeny's statements have predictably outraged Camenker and his supporters, with Americans For Truth's Peter LaBarbera stepping up to defend his anti-gay comprade. LaBarbera says of Camenker and the situation:
“Brian Camenker is a bona fide American pro-family hero,” ...“Brian, who is Jewish, has refused to sell out his religious beliefs like so many around him in Boston. Now comes along a politician — who once boasted that he was better than Ted Kennedy on ‘gay’ issues — to trash him as an extremist gadfly. This is establishment Republican attack-politics at its very worst."
Ooh -- anti-girl/girl fight! Don't ya love it?!? But being the peacemakers that we are, we just want to say to all involved parties:
"Lads, no need to fight -- you're all fallacious!"
It remains to be seen if (a) Camp Romney will apologize for offending Camenker & crew, and (b) if those who make a living denouncing gay rights can reconcile their differences and support a candidate who only makes a portion of his living denouncing gay rights. We'll have to wait and (c) how it all plays out; but considering the big (f-u) that both Romeny & Camenker have given (lgbt) folks over the past few years, we'll have a tough time ever genuinely caring about either (1).
Americans For Truth Calls on Mitt Romney to Apologize for Attacking Pro-Family Hero Brian Camenker
***UPDATE: As pointed out to us by Pam Spaulding, the Camenker-trashing document has now been pulled by Team Mitt (even if it is still widely available in other online locations).
So why the capitulation by Romney & Co.? Who knows?! Perhaps they began to realize that alienating the totality of the electorate is not the best strategy!
Technorati Tags: Brian Camenker, Peter LaBarbera
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