Republican Smear Machine in top Gear

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

. . . Once upon a time I too felt that way until I decided it didn't matter whether the candidate could win or not. It only mattered that I was speaking my mind.. even if I were the only one to vote for them. It is our right to speak our mind in this country and damn it.. that doesn't mean I have to vote for a Republican or a Democrat!

I used to have your ideal. However, after seeing what that ideal caused with W and the R Congress and those disasterous years that set back civil rights so inhumanely, I think voting not to let the R's back in power is the only way to go. Put it this way, if I vote for some third party candidate and McCain wins and the R party is back in power, the chipping away at civil rights in the name of some religion will continue. I cannot see how Obama, even with all of this faults, could possibly be worse than that.

Again, the R party has vociferously sponsored, promoted, defended, and prosecuted people under laws that wanted to put gay people on jail for having consensual sex. Hitler anyone?

Remember, some members at the R convention in an officially sanctioned event turned their backs on Jim Kolbe (R - AZ) solely because he is openly gay -- when he spoke at the R National Convention on international trade. And, to my knowledge, not one member of the upp eschelon of the R party or even Kolbe himself had the sand to say one thing against that act - they disrespected an honored member of the U.S. Congress. Yet, some have the effrontery or ignorance to assert the R party somehow does not demonize gay people. Could you imagine if they turned their backs on a black guy?

But, why take my word for it (emphasis supplied) :

Delegates consider boycott of Kolbe speech

By Jeff Barker

August 1, 2000

Web posted at: 2:26 PM EDT (1826 GMT)

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (The Arizona Republic Online) -- This isn't at all what Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., had in mind, not on his big night at the Republican National Convention.

Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, just wanted to deliver a businesslike speech tonight on international trade, a subject he probably knows more about than anybody in Congress.

But word filtered out Monday that a contingent in the Texas delegation is considering a silent walkout during Kolbe's address to protest the selection of a gay man to deliver a prime-time GOP convention speech.

The irony, Kolbe said in an interview Monday, is that he doesn't plan to discuss gay issues in his speech, or even refer to his sexual orientation. In fact, some gay-rights groups have wished Kolbe would adopt a higher profile regarding their concerns in Congress.

"I've never denied my sexual orientation. I just don't make a point of it. It isn't what I do," Kolbe said. "Clearly, I'm known for the work I've done on trade and Social Security."

Kolbe was silent for a moment when an Arizona Republic reporter asked him if he had heard that some in the Texas delegation thought that his delivering tonight's speech posed a moral issue, and that a protest was being considered.

"No," he said. And then: "I have no comment on that."

Pat Carlson, chairwoman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, said many of the Texas delegates have told her they want to send a message to Gov. George W. Bush in a "quiet way" and have discussed walking out, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's online edition.

She told the newspaper she was disappointed that Bush, the GOP presidential nominee, selected Kolbe to address free trade issues.

"I think it (a silent protest) is appropriate if we get a speaker like that, who is not representative of most of the delegates' beliefs," Carlson said.

Texas delegate Cathy McConn of Houston told The Republic, "There was concern that he (Kolbe) was chosen because he was openly gay - kind of like a quota" But McConn said she had not taken a position.

Ironically, Mary Cheney, 31, one of GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney's daughters, is openly gay, and plans to actively campaign for her father.

Kolbe arguably will become the most prominent openly gay Republican to address a GOP convention, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and other advocacy groups.

Ray Sullivan, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said that as of early Monday evening, there hadn't been any communication about Kolbe's speech between the Texas governor and Carlson or the other delegates.

"We hope and believe that the delegates will be respectful of all the speakers. Congressman Kolbe is speaking because of his expertise and leadership on the issue of free trade," Sullivan said

A Texas walkout would be certain to provoke a spirited defense of Kolbe by Arizona's lawmakers and other delegates.

Arizona Republicans strongly supported Kolbe when he disclosed his sexual orientation in 1996.

"My response to him was very brief," Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., recalled the following year. "I said, 'Jim, it doesn't make a difference to me whatsoever. I could care less.' "

On Monday, Mike Hellon, the Republican national committeeman from Arizona, said, "It (a walkout) would be a black mark on an inclusive, positive convention. For Governor Bush's own delegation to do that, it would be mind-boggling."

For years, Kolbe, first elected to the House in 1984, declined to confirm or deny rumors that he was a homosexual. He finally disclosed it rather than be "outed" on the Internet by activists angry with his vote in favor of a Republican-sponsored bill to deny federal sanction of same-sex marriages.

After he came out, Kolbe told The Republic, "I would rather be known as 'Jim Kolbe, the trade expert in Congress who happens to be gay,' rather than 'Jim Kolbe, gay congressman from Arizona.' "

Sloan Wiesen, spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, said Monday, "My sense is that most openly gay and lesbian elected officials have to overcome attempts to pigeonhole them based on their sexual orientation."

Kolbe has quietly been an active member of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay political group that plans to honor him here at a reception before the speech. He has consistently supported legislation to ban employment discrimination against gays and lesbians.

David Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, said of a possible protest against Kolbe: "I couldn't think of a meaner thing that could happen."

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LOCAL/p...lbe/index.html