Willard is taking some flak from folks who observed the way he left the rabid neo-con he’d hired as a foreign policy spokesman twisting in the wind when the rabid anti-gay bigots in Willard’s party hung a “NO FAGS!” sign on the GOP clubhouse.
One of the several Sears mannequins deployed by the Romney campaign argued that Willard does TOO have the balls to push back against wingnut bigotry:
“Mitt Romney has confronted those voices of intolerance,” Fehrnstrom said. “He did it last October on stage at the Values Voters summit and denounced some of the poisonous language that is being used by some of the same people that had criticized Ric Grennel’s appointment.”
Yeah, when the talibangelicals go after Willard as a heretic for his Mormonism, he can be arsed to fire back. But when they go after someone on his staff for being gay, Willard regretfully accepts the man’s resignation. Face it, centrists: Martin Niemöller he ain’t.
[X-posted at Rumproast]
Cathyx
Republicans are only offended by bigotry if it’s directed at themselves. Anyone else, no.
the fugitive uterus
ok, again, how could Romney possibly expect otherwise? WTF did Grenell expect?? i am just dumbfounded that anyone is surprised by this.
actually, i don’t believe the republicans really want to win the presidency this time around. they are doing just fine pushing their agenda through on the state level all over the country. and if things are still fucked up (in no small part because of the damage and suffering inflicted on the populus due to local legislation designed to punish them and beat them into total submission to their masters) in 4 years they can blame Obama again and the Bush presidency will be a distant memory.
not saying Obama still doesn’t need to get a bit radical this time around – i just hope his actions match the rhetoric of yesterday’s speech.
Linda Featheringill
I agree that this was a disgraceful act on Romney’s part. It wasn’t just a tactical error and it wasn’t just the result of a character flaw. It was an exhibition of a moral failing.
Whether this aide is a good guy, bad guy, or a so-so person, he was used. Team Romney set him up and threw him to the wolves when the inevitable attacks came.
They knew he was gay. He told them. They knew a good part of their base was and is very anti-gay. They knew there would be an uproar.
Did they not have a defensive strategy in place? If not, that’s approaching criminal negligence. Were they surprised at the speed and intensity of the attacks? Not possible because nobody can be that stupid.
It looks like they didn’t bother to think about defending this man against whatever was thrown against him? Why not? Because he had no importance to them?
I realize that the aide in question is not very likable, being the misogynist jerk that he is. But he was treated very shabbily by Team Romney. Let that serve as a warning for anyone else with political skills who might be thinking about joining the team.
beltane
Rmoney is the consummate fair-weather friend. While he doesn’t necessarily approve of bigoted language against gays (or Sandra Fluke) he wouldn’t lift a finger to stop his supporters from engaging in bigotry. Worse yet, is that he’s even too much of a coward to explain this to us himself so he relies on a paid spokesmodel to get the message across.
One of the pleasurable things about this campaign is knowing that a good portion of the Republican base must be secretly dying inside knowing their candidate is such an obvious wimp.
I know they’ll support him 100% but they must feel the way we would feel if Evan Bayh were our nominee, and that is something which fills me with great joy.
the fugitive uterus
talk about staying home on election day! (which is exactly what i hope a lot of them will do)
Jinchi
Who doubted that Mitt Romney would stand up for the rights of Mormons? He’s a Mormon and his campaign is all about himself.
The question is whether Mitt will ever stand up for the rights of anyone not named Romney.
cmorenc
If Romney did indeed have the backbone to push back against bigotry, he’d have stuck by Grennel and told the bigots to pound sand. But instead, when the bigots first started to roar against Romney having an openly gay person like Grennel as his foreign policy adviser, Romney first tried to shove Grennel back into a closet where Grennel would be neither seen nor heard, but when that failed to hide Grennel from the bigots, he allowed the bus to run over Grennel and accepted his resignation.
Romney’s a profile in cowardice; as earlier noted, the only sort of bigotry he will try to resist is against his being a Mormon, and that’s only because that’s the one thing Romeny can’t so easily change his position on to go with whichever way the wingnut wind is blowing.
c u n d gulag
Mitt’s a craven shape-shifter.
If he can’t stand up to America’s hateful Evangelicals, how’s he going to stand up to the EEEEeeeeevil MOOOOooooooslims?
And what’s he going to do when he’s facing China, Russia, India, and The Middle East “Oil”-igarchies?
Order some take-out some dim sum, drink a shot of vodka (and yes, I know he’s not supposed to drink), put a dot on his head, and make his wife walk three steps behind him, while taking away American women’s driving priveledges?
When you stand for NOTHING, like the MITT2012 cyborg, you’re liable to do ANYTHING!
Hill Dweller
Somewhat OT, but related: the twitter machine is telling me VP Biden just came out in favor of same-sex marriage on Meet the Republicans.
amk
rwnj’s to mehmney – what is 1+1 ?
mehmney – what do you want it to be ?
pathetic coreless pos ever to run for office.
Anya
Willard and his campaign can’t even condemn pretend tough guy Ted Nugent; so how do you expect them to stand up to the anti-gay bigots, who after all, represent the majority of the party?
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
“Sears mannequins” – I must protest. Sears mannequins are more lifelike than that lot.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
“Sears mannequins” – I must protest. Sears mannequins are more lifelike than that lot.
gocart moart
In Willard’s defense, even Jimmy Carter would have fired that gay guy.
Jason
Romney can hardly disassociate himself from Mormonism. He can bail on teh gays. Indeed, it almost guarantees it — he has enough to deal with the Talibanicals viewing him as a heretifc, without stacking a culture war about The Gay on top of it.
Schlemizel
Actually Willard as the cowardly lion is a perfect fit for a party lead by tin men with no heart supported by voters with no brain
Enjoy your tax cuts boys
WereBear
The other night I declared Mitt Romney to be the worst Presidential campaigner in my lifetime; and I’ve lived through Dukakis, Mondale, and (barely sentient then) Goldwater.
Other folks may have been awful people and worse Presidents; but no one can deny that Nixon, and especially that B-movie actor Reagan, campaigned well.
Can you imagine thousands turning out to fill a stadium for Romney? I can’t: and I have an Olympic champion of an imagination.
MattF
Reminds me of the old line about Kurt Waldheim: “He doesn’t need a backbone because he has an exoskeleton.”
Brachiator
@Linda Featheringill:
Shit, I remember when politicians had principles, not just strategies. Romney has neither.
But I take your point.
This has been another Profile in Mittage. Conservative hard liners smell blood, and are confident that they can keep him in line. And yet we will probably continue to hear shit from Village pundits about Romney pivoting toward the center left.
Perhaps. But it only makes Romney’s political cowardice explainable, not acceptable.
BTW, was this cowardice mentioned on any of the Sunday pundit shows?
quannlace
Oh Betty Cracker, I love you!
eemom
Amusing little side-fact: this headline
by Steve “false equivalence extraordinaire” Clemons
stuck around The Atlantic homepage “Voices” column under the less-than-prolific Clemons’ picture for about two weeks until it abruptly vanished the day Grenell resigned.
Oops. You may want to go with something a tad more wiggle-roomy than “Squash” next time you write about Romtron, Stevie.
John Puma
Hey, why make an effort to hold onto “the rabid neo-con he’d hired as a foreign policy spokesman” when the guy gets in trouble.
It’s a perfect opportunity to hire the guy’s mentor, the beyond-rabid John “the walrus” Bolton.
r€nato
Even the guy who started this whole thing with Grinell, thinks Romney’s a wimp for caving to his demands:
How’s that shiv in your back feel, Mitt?
karen
Was Grenell only hired so the Romninator could show how anti-gay he is? Look, he’s even willing to root out the eveel in his own campaign?
Is that his “Sister Souljah” moment?
Romney can alienate gay republicans because he knows that they care less about being gay than they care about money and foreign policy. He can also bask in the knowledge that the republicans have nowhere else to go and even if they can’t stand Romney, they HATE Obama. That’s all the motivation they need…though they’re going to control him anyway.