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12/02/2008

Rolling Stone: 'No' campaign was exactly that

by Jeremy Hooper

Go read this Rolling Stone article right now:

Picture 5-175"This was political malpractice," says a Democratic consultant who operates at the highest level of California politics. "They fucked this up, and it was painful to watch. They shouldn't be allowed to pawn this off on the Mormons or anyone else. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and now hundreds of thousands of gay couples are going to pay the price."
Same-Sex Setback: Don't blame Mormons or black voters - the California activists who tried to stop Prop 8 ran a lousy campaign [Rolling Stone]

An easy scapegoat or an uneasy reality? Discuss.

**SEE ALSO: No on 8's Kate Kendall responds.

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Your thoughts

Can I just say, again, that we are are hearing the dying gasps of this conflict? Someone smarter than me said that as this swamp of bigotry dries up the hatred gets more viscous and concentrated. Maybe Rolling Stone just wanted to sell some more magazines. The only thing really interesting anymore to the press in the story of gay marriage is the kooky antics of the fringe. Are we suprised that the "fight" is getting press? Jeremy says it well when he states that he is just tossing back the bombs they throw to us...in my mind there is no "fight", only defense. Let's work hard on getting Prop 8 overturned,educating the masses,and making our case in court...and not distracted by the screaming lunatics who seem to get all the press. Or the ones who make a living on whipping up controversy selling magazines.

Posted by: Sykler | Dec 2, 2008 11:51:25 PM

There's plenty of blame to spread around. Get rid of the "leaders" who ran this sorry excuse for a campaign. Ruin the mormons and the businesses that funded the bigoted side. Why not do both?

Posted by: RainbowPhoenix | Dec 2, 2008 11:53:46 PM

My favorite reaction to the disastrous No-H8 campaign remains that of a very smart and dedicated activist in Northern California who said, "I, for one, am never getting in the car again with Thelma and Louise. Never again."

Posted by: Mike Tidmus | Dec 2, 2008 11:58:02 PM

I posted this earlier today at Queerty, so if you have already read it, then just ignore it.

The operating principle behind the 'Yes on 8' campaign was that everything can be spun, and they did that very well. Their obvious lack moral or ethical dilemmas made the decision to unethically spin everything very simple. When it's all about the ends, the means can always be justified. But, it also helps (when spinning something) that the spinning group be fairly nimble in responding with their ads, and they were. On the other hand, a massive committee, like the No campaign, is never going to be very nimble.

The one thing, though, that always trumps "spin" is when it is countered with the truth. That is one thing that we didn't do very effectively. The case in point is the "think of the school children" cry from those lying liars. Within a week, we had ads up showing the truth behind the other side's lies, and for a couple of days it was working. But the No campaign mistakenly thought that the question was decided.

Then within days the lying liars threw up ads showing school children attending a same-sex wedding at SF City Hall, and with the tag line that the administrators of the school considered this field trip to be a "teachable moment".

So, what did our side do? We threw up our hands and said, "FUCK, WE'RE SCREWED," never connecting the dots, that the truth always trumps SPIN! Of course, our side had already made the ill-fated decision that highlighting lesbians and gays would not benefit the cause of same-sex marriage (which arguably is STUPID).

But, that decision effectively barred them from countering with the TRUTH that the parents of each of those children GAVE THEIR PERMISSION to allow their children to attend the WEDDING OF THEIR TEACHER. And Why? Because it was an HISTORIC EVENT that their children could witness first hand.

We could have highlighted the TRUTH that the "Yes on 8" group is totally unconcerned about the parent's rights to govern the lives of their own children. But, we didn't! We failed to realize that EVERYTHING CAN BE SPUN, and that WE CAN TRUMP THEIR SPIN WITH THE TRUTH! And, even if we had, we would have tripped over our big clumsy committee trying to do it.

Posted by: Dick Mills | Dec 3, 2008 12:25:10 AM

Of course there are things each of us and our leaders could have done differently, but we can not allow the majority to steal our rights and then blame us for losing them. When in the history of the LGBT civil rights movement have we found ourselves in the "jaws of victory?" We are a small minority. We have a lot of work to do to gain enough support from the majority.

Those people who would use religion to explain their hate remain responsible for all damages that result from that hate.

Posted by: Tony in West Hollywood | Dec 3, 2008 2:17:48 AM

"but we can not allow the majority to steal our rights and then blame us for losing them."

In fairness, Tony, it's not really the anti-gay side that is blaming us. Rolling Stone, with an openly gay publisher, friendly to our side. And some of the loudest criticism of "no" is coming from gay activists. Trust me -- I hear it all day long.

Whether the criticism is well-placed or not, it's not really fair to say the cricism is coming from the other side.

Posted by: G-A-Y | Dec 3, 2008 7:20:24 AM

Scapegoat. If people were intelligent, advertising wouldn't have been needed, and Prop 8 would have been defeated purely on the grounds of it being morally bankrupt. Sadly, voters appear to be idiots, incapable of justice.

Posted by: | Dec 3, 2008 2:38:17 PM

Anonymous, you're right that we shouldn't have needed advertisements, but we did, and the campaign dropped the ball. Every one of us has been listening to the lies of the religious reich for our whole lives. There is no reason for our campaign to have been blindside the way they were. Like I said, ruin the yes campain's funders like we did Anita Bryant, and throw out our current "leadership" for someone who knows what they're doing.

Posted by: RainbowPhoenix | Dec 3, 2008 4:33:53 PM

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