Catholic leaders issued a letter Friday to GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, themselves Catholics, urging them “to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail.”
The letter, signed by 45 Catholic leaders says:
Mr. Gingrich has frequently attacked President Obama as a “food stamp president” and claimed that African Americans are content to collect welfare benefits rather than pursue employment. Campaigning in Iowa, Mr. Santorum remarked: “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”
“At a time when nearly 1 in 6 Americans live in poverty, charities and the free market alone can’t address the urgent needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. And while jobseekers outnumber job openings 4-to-1, suggesting that the unemployed would rather collect benefits than work is misleading and insulting,” the letter adds.
See, the problem with their request, as Gingrich and Santorum likely see it, is that they’re at the point where they’re having to pander to the nasty Republican base, the base that absolutely lost it when Juan Williams dared to even bring up the subject of racism during the Fox News Republican debate on Martin Luther King Day, and during the same debate, booed Mitt Romney for having family born in Mexico. Racism isn’t icing on the cake for these people — it’s central to their governing platform.
Also, lest we forget, they’re running against the re-election of a black, Democratic president.
Glad those Catholic leaders are at least trying to say something, but I think it’s falling on deaf ears.
“Increasingly LGBT people are empowered, not ashamed,” he said. “They’re attacking us, and we’re confronting them. We’re holding them accountable and calling them on their lies and their ‘pious baloney,’ to borrow Newt Gingrich’s phrase. America is waking up to the fact that we’re not bogeymen, and we’re not coming to do any harm, and that we’re your daughters and sons and neighbors, sometimes your parents, your co-workers, friends, colleagues. The Republican party, in this desperate [nod] to its dying evangelical base, is just ramping up the homophobia, and they’re doing themselves real long-term damage.
“What’s interesting is that, you look at who’s been doing the most hate speech: Bachmann? She’s out. Herman Cain? He’s out. Perry? He’s all but out. Santorum? He’s running fourth, he’s trailing even in conservative South Carolina,” Savage continued.
“It’s not winning them the election anymore. It’s not 1992; Pat Buchanan can’t get up and give a ‘gay rights never, family values forever’ speech at the Republican National Convention anymore. Times have changed.”
This is why, though, if we step back from the GOP primaries and look at the state of the whole movement, the Religious Right is becoming more extreme in their rhetoric against LGBT people. They are desperately trying to hold on to the last few clingers, as they’re well aware that the younger generations just aren’t replacing the older generations when it comes to anti-gay bigotry. They won’t admit it, but they know they’ve lost the overall war. In the piece above, we find Dan wondering whether the GOP will ever look the same again, once they truly realize that the bigot thing doesn’t play with the general population anymore. I wonder the same thing, because it’s really not like the current Republican party believes IN anything.
Reality TV star Jim Bob Duggar, from TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, endorsed Rick Santorum today at a rally in Polk City, Iowa. “All the people in America that have conservative family values have to get behind Rick Santorum for President,” Duggar said.
According to BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith, The Duggars “brought ‘about a dozen’ of the kids to Polk City and they drove overnight from Arkansas.”
Like Duggar, the Santorum family is also notably very fertile, with 7 kids of their own.
Those above are the faces of fertility, apparently. A reality teevee star famous for breeding due to the fact that he’s in a religious cult and a Frothy Mix. Sorry if you just had lunch…
Moreover, he says that wingnuts who like Mittens should apologize to America! It’s not common for a Religious Right leader to ask voters to apologize before an election, but this is Porno Pete we’re a-dealin’ with. Anyway, Porno Pete does not like Mittens because:
Peter LaBarbera, founder of Republicans For Family Values blog (www.rffv.net), issued the following response to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s increasingly bold defense of homosexual “rights”:
I tweeted the following in light of Romney’s bold embrace of homosexuality-based “rights” — voiced in last night’s FOX debate and previously to the Des Moines Register editorial board:
“Every pro-family leader or group that said they opposed the Homosexual Lobby (and raised $$ on that) — yet supported Romney — now owes us an apology.”
Oh, Porno Pete’s gloves are off now about Mittens! [I see what I did there.] All you Mittens-loving wingnuts should apologize to Porno Pete for supporting the single candidate in the running for the GOP nomination who has a chance of mustering up at least 45% of the popular vote!
If Romney wins the Republican nomination, it will be a huge blow to the pro-family movement and our efforts to stop the normalization of sexual perversion. Romney personifies the failure of the current “marriage-only” approach toward resisting “same-sex marriage” — i.e., the idea that homosexuality is not the issue, but only “defending marriage.” Here is the supposed GOP standard-bearer saying that he has stood tall for real marriage (a fib, according to Mass Resistance writer Amy Contrada, author of “Mitt Romey’s Deception”) — and yet, like some soulless post-modern, he proudly embraces legal “rights” based on a Crime Against Nature that once dared not speak its name. (And did I mention that Romney flouts his own Mormon religion?)
HOW DARE A MEMBER OF A RELIGION SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM PORNO PETE’S “FLOUT” IT SO?! And how dare he concede that an entire minority population deserves at least some dignity? That’s not the fundamentalist Christianity I was raised with!
According to Contrada’s well-researched book, Romney — who just reiterated his support for open homosexuals in the military:
Supported homosexual “domestic partnership” laws in MA;
Issued pro-”Gay Youth Pride” proclamations as Massachusetts governor and fully supported his own “Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth”;
Refused to sign the 2002 proposed Massachusetts Citizens for Marriage ballot referendum for a constitutional marriage amendment (he thought it was too extreme because it excluded “civil unions”); and
Bragged in 1994 Senatorial campaign debate that he would do more to mainstream homosexual rights than Ted Kennedy.
Duh. Anyone who hasn’t figured out by now that Mitt Romney changes his political positions at least as often as he changes underpants is an idiot.
Is (was) our “pro-family” fight against homosexual activism the defense of God’s timeless Truth or merely a money-making charade?
Oh, Porno Pete, it’s truth-telling time. You’re going to want to sit down for this. You see, for people like you who don’t actually make a lot of money hating gays, it’s about the cause. You are the “useful idiots” in this equation. For those who have actually figured out how to profit off of it, it’s about controlling people, and yes, about money.
Some Christians and conservative leaders either have been fooled by Romney, or bought into the thinking of “establishment” Republican VIPs (e.g., Ann Coulter) who say Only Mitt Can Win. I don’t believe that for a minute
Well, no one ever accused you of being a good interpreter of political trends, Pete…
Anyway, Mitt will lose too, because Republicans hate him, but all the others in the race are clowns, so I understand and am amused by the dejection wingnuts are feeling right about now.
That is, if the gay voter wants to be treated with dignity in this society. Gingrich, who has a lesbian sister and would know better if he was focused on anyone but himself, will lose precisely because of this attitude. Voters simply don’t like people like him:
Newt Gingrich told a gay man and longtime resident of Oskaloosa here today that he should vote for President Obama.
“I asked him if he’s elected, how does he plan to engage gay Americans. How are we to support him? And he told me to support Obama,” said Scott Arnold, an adjunct professor of writing at William Penn University.”
That’s right. If you want to be supported as a gay person by the president, you should vote to re-elect Barack Obama. Newt Gingrich doesn’t need YOUR stinkin’ vote. I could comment, but I’ll just let another Iowa voter respond for me:
In case you are confused about what the man in camo called him, Google it.
Kirsten at Wonkette reported on this uncomfortable situation yesterday. Mitt Romney was doing this Man Of The People thing, talking to people in a New Hampshire diner. When he saw a man wearing a Vietnam Vets cap, he figured he was safe, so he started a conversation. It did not go well:
“Vietnam veteran!” Romney greeted Bob Garon.
“I have a question for you,” Garon told the former Massachusetts governor. “New Hampshire right now has some legislation kicking around about a repeal for the same-sex marriage. And all I need is a yes or a no. Do you support the repeal?”
“I support the repeal of the New Hampshire law,” Romney said. “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s my view.”
Garon, who lives in Epsom, N.H., and was eating breakfast with his husband, turned to Romney and said: “If two men get married, apparently a veteran’s spouse would not be entitled to any burial benefits or medical benefits or anything that the serviceman has devoted his time and effort to his country, and you just don’t support equality in terms of same-sex marriage?”
“I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman,” Romney replied, adding, “and we apparently disagree.”
At that, a Romney aide called for him to wrap up the conversation: “Governor, we’ve got to get on with Fox News right now.”
“Oh, I guess the question was too hot,” Garon told Romney.
“No, I gave you the answer,” Romney replied. “You said you had a yes-or-no [question]. I gave you the answer.”
“You did,” Garon said. “And I appreciate your answer. And you know, I also learned something, and New Hampshire is right: You have to look a man in the eye to get a good answer. And you know what, governor? Good luck…. You’re going to need it.”
“You are right about that,” Romney said, as he stood up from the booth and headed into a side room for his interview.
OUCH! Garon later said that he could tell by looking into Romney’s eyes that he was not to be trusted. Wonkette’s Kirsten added, “Uh, admitting that you are a weird loser is not exactly how apologies work, Mittens. Pretending to be human is such hard work!”
Of course, there is video:
And then MSNBC interviewed the gay veteran who embarrassed Mittens as well:
When people like Bob Garon can loudly make the case for LGBT equality in public, is there any question whether or not we’ve won this stupid “culture war?”
Truth Wins Out has created a petition to demand that Marcus Bachmann immediately end his harassment of our organization:
Marcus Bachmann, the husband of presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, has launched a petty and vindictive campaign to personally harass Truth Wins Out. He is upset that in July TWO exposed his clinic for practicing “ex-gay” therapy. Prior to this disclosure, Bachmann lied to the American people and denied that his office engaged in these backwards and barbaric techniques. The revelation rocked Michele Bachmann’s campaign and became her first major roadblock.
Now that the campaign is foundering, she and Marcus are looking for scapegoats – and have settled on Truth Wins Out. They are spitefully taking aim at TWO’s John Becker, trying to punish him because he went undercover and gathered video evidence of “ex-gay” therapy at the clinic.
Like the bullies they are, Bachmann & Associates is illegally demanding that Becker pay $150 for appointments that he had canceled in accordance with the clinic’s guidelines. Amazingly, Marcus Bachmann personally called Becker this week threatening to send the bogus bill to collections if it was not paid by Friday. Truth Wins Out retained the services of an attorney and steadfastly refuses to be intimidated or pay the fake bill.
Clearly, Marcus Bachmann is angry with Truth Wins Out for exposing his clinic’s fraudulent practices, and is engaging in malicious and vindictive strong-arming for the sole purpose of defaming and discrediting TWO and John Becker.
Stand with us today — demand that Marcus Bachmann end these spiteful and malicious pursuits immediately and stop harming clients with discredited and harmful “ex-gay” therapy.
The Frothy Mix, néeSantorum, had an exchange with a lesbian documentary filmmaker named Kristina Lapinski, and this is what happened:
After the debate was over, Lapinski walked up to the stage and mingled with the candidates. Placing her arm across Santorum’s shoulder for a picture, Lapinski told him that she was the one who had asked the same-sex marriage question, and she followed: “What would you do if I was your daughter?”
Santorum smiled, “I would love you!”
“Would you want me to get married and have a family?” asked Lapinski.
“Only if it were with a man.”
“But I am not attracted to men,” Lapinski retorted.
“But it is your choice,” Santorum insisted.
“Rick, it is not my choice!” Lapinski argued.
He continued with great authority: “Like anything in life, it is a choice. You may feel this is the way that it is supposed to be; you make decisions in life, and you choose what is right.”
He is truly the stupidest person in the public eye right now, and I’m including reality television in that equation.
Newt Gingrich also regurgitated tired talking points for Lapinski, and if you’d like to see that, you can click the above clicky.
TWO Demands That Bachmann Stops Petty and Vindictive Threats Over $150 Fraudulent ‘Therapy’ Bill
Burlington, Vt – Truth Wins Out expressed surprise today that Marcus Bachmann personally called the organization demanding $150 for cancelled July sessions of “ex-gay” therapy with a counselor at his office. He threatened that if TWO did not pay him by Friday he would turn the phony bill over to a collection agency.
In July, Truth Wins Out went undercover and exposed Bachmann & Associates for practicing a form of discredited “pray away the gay” therapy. The revelation rocked Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign. After TWO’s John Becker, who went undercover, had enough videotape evidence to prove that “ex-gay” therapy occurred at Bachmann’s clinic, he called the clinic and cancelled his remaining appointments. Despite widespread circulation of TWO’s video footage, Marcus denied the therapy had taken place.
“I cancelled my remaining appointments in compliance with Bachmann & Associates’ stated procedure,” said John Becker, TWO’s Director of Communications and Development, “yet Marcus Bachmann himself called me and threatened to send the fraudulent $150 ‘bill’ to a collection agency by Friday. I find it odd that Bachmann handled this matter personally rather than through his billing department. This is certainly an unorthodox way of doing business, much like the unethical ‘ex-gay’ therapy offered at his clinic.”
“We call on Marcus Bachmann to immediately stop his petty and vindictive campaign of harassment and threats against our organization,” said TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Perhaps, now that Michele’s campaign is foundering, the Bachmanns are frustrated and looking for scapegoats to explain her failure. Truth Wins Out refuses to be intimidated or blackmailed by Bachmann. This bogus bill will not be paid.”
Becker was surprised when he received a voicemail from Bachmann on Monday demanding payment for cancelled sessions which never took place. On Tuesday, he returned Bachmann’s call and spoke with him for nearly seven minutes in the presence of a reporter from the local ABC/FOX affiliate in Burlington. The video of the tense exchange can be viewed at Truth Wins Out’s website.
“We saw firsthand that the ‘ex-gay’ therapy practiced by Bachmann & Associates is unethical and unhealthy for clients,” said Becker. “What goes on in that clinic is rejected by every respected medical and mental health organization in America.”
Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to create a world where LGBT individuals can live openly, honestly and true to themselves. TWO fights anti-LGBT religious extremism, monitors anti-LGBT organizations, documents their lies and exposes their leaders. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Contact: John Becker, Director of Communications & Development
Phone: 920-265-6023
E-mail: john@truthwinsout.org
Marcus Bachmann, the husband of presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, has launched a petty and vindictive campaign to personally harass Truth Wins Out. He is upset that in July TWO exposed his clinic for practicing “ex-gay” therapy. Prior to this disclosure, Bachmann lied to the American people and denied that his office engaged in these backwards and barbaric techniques. The revelation rocked Michele Bachmann’s campaign and became her first major roadblock.
X affiliate in Burlington. The video of the tense exchange can be viewed at Truth Wins Out’s website.
