The Republican Party acknowledged yesterday sending mass mailings to residents of two states warning that "liberals" seek to ban the Bible. It said the mailings were part of its effort to mobilize religious voters for President Bush. The mailings include images of the Bible labeled "banned" and of a gay marriage proposal labeled "allowed." A mailing to Arkansas residents warns: "This will be Arkansas if you don't vote." A similar mailing was sent to West Virginians.
A liberal religious group, the Interfaith Alliance, circulated a copy of the Arkansas mailing to reporters yesterday to publicize it. "What they are doing is despicable,'' said Don Parker, a spokesman for the alliance. "They are playing on people's fears and emotions."
In an e-mail message, Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, confirmed that the party had sent the mailings. "When the Massachusetts Supreme Court sanctioned same-sex marriage and people in other states realized they could be compelled to recognize those laws, same-sex marriage became an issue,'' Ms. Iverson said. "These same activist judges also want to remove the words 'under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance."
The mailing is the latest evidence of the emphasis Republicans are putting on motivating conservative Christian voters to vote this fall. But as the appeals become public, they also risk alienating moderate and swing voters....
Bid Dropped To Remove Protections For Gay Workers
by Paul Johnson
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau Chief
Posted: September 24, 2004 5:01pm ET
(Washington) Three days after 365Gay.com was first to report that the Bush Administration was trying to remove protections for gay and lesbian workers from civil service labor contracts the effort has been abandoned. The Social Security Administration Friday said it will no longer attempt to remove sexual orientation from the Administration’s non-discrimination policy.
Bush-appointed SSA administrators had proposed to rollback gay and lesbian rights by striking protection based on sexual orientation from their contract with union workers, an act which would have allowed discrimination, including job termination, based solely on sexual orientation. (story)
The abrupt change came after the SSA was swamped with protests from angry gays and a denouncement from the Democratic National Committee.
The decision was made by Jo Anne Barnhart, head of the SSA....
Gay GOP Group Backs Bush
by Doreen Brandt
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau
Posted: September 22, 2004 5:01 pm ET
(Washington) A small black gay Republican group Wednesday announced its endorsement of President Bush. The Abe Lincoln Black Republican Caucus delivered a letter supporting Bush's re-election to Republican National Committee Headquarters. The move puts the Dallas-based group at odds with the much larger Log Cabin Republicans, which has refused to support the President because of his stand on same-sex marriage.
"Our voices are never heard, yet we exist and are growing in numbers," said Don Sneed a co-founder of the Abe Lincoln Black Republican Caucus. "We think that the 'Republican Tent' is inclusive and there is room for differences, but one does not pick up their marbles and go home if there are a few points of disagreement," stated Anthony Falls, Republican Precinct Chairman -- Dallas and the ALBRC National Spokesperson....
You have to wonder what on earth could be going through the collective mind of the Abe Lincoln Republicans to do something so profoundly against their own interests as ... well, being Republican at all, frankly, but also supporting this president. The Republican Party is demonstrating, repeatedly and enthusiastically, that they do NOT have a big tent. It's not even big enough for all the people who want to call themselves Republicans, let alone the entire country. And they are perfectly happy to resort to using scare tactics to try to persuade people to vote for them. To say that Democrats (er, that is, "liberals") would ban the Bible is not only a vile calumny, it's patently absurd on its face. It also speaks volumes about what the Republican leadership assumes about the intelligence of their membership that they would dare perpetrate this sort of idiocy.
And you would think that the Abe Lincoln Republicans would notice that they are, by indirection and inference, being used as the RNC bogeymen. Even allowing that the Abe Lincolners are not, themselves, Democrats (well, duh), they are gay, and therefore in that category of people that the RNC is pointing at and saying, "Cooties! They have political cooties! OK, their money and their votes are fine, but aside from that, they have icky political cooties! Stay away from them!"
(And, really, how on earth can the ALBRC not be in favor of gay marriage? It would be perfectly understandable if their position was that there are more important issues on the table right now than gay marriage, which there certainly are. But to say, The ALBRC does not support marriage for gays, yet we do support and call for recognition of domestic partnerships" ... what sort of self-hating nonsense is that?
Little is known about the Caucus. It calls itself "a civic group of young Black gay, bisexual and 'down lo' males.
Oh.
"Down lo'" males.
THAT sort of self-hating nonsense.
(One wonders about the spectacular internal contradiction of being a member of a group that proudly declares its sexual orientation and simultaneously proudly declares that some of the members are still in the closet. I'm also guessing that black Republican lesbians -- presumably there are some -- have better sense than to affiliate themselves with this group; seriously, a group of this type of theoretically national scope really ought not to be all males. That's just pecular ... OK, it's one more peculiar thing about this decidedly peculiar group.)
Posted by iain at September 25, 2004 01:22 AM
