Mitt Romney apparently can't win when
it comes to gay hire Richard Grenell.
Romney's hiring of Grenell was strongly
condemned by some social conservatives. They argued the action was a
clear message of support to the gay community.
Grenell
resigned from the post of foreign policy spokesperson earlier this
week. In a statement, Grenell said he felt his ability to do his
job was “greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of
personal issues.”
Without addressing his critics, Romney
defended the move during an appearance on Fox News: “He's a very
accomplished spokesperson. We select people not based upon their
ethnicity or their sexual preference or their gender but upon their
capability.”
Bryan Fischer of the Christian
conservative American Family Association (AFA) led the charge against
Grenell and cheered his resignation.
On Friday, Fischer suggested Romney was
weak for allowing himself to be pushed around on the issue.
“If Mitt Romney can be pushed around,
intimidated, coerced, co-opted by a conservative radio talk show host
in Middle America, then how is he going to stand up to the Chinese?”
Fischer asked on his AFA-sponsored show, Focal Point. “How
is he going to stand up to Putin? How is he going to stand up to
North Korea, if he can be pushed around by a yokel like me? I don't
think Romney is realizing the doubts that this begins to raise about
his leadership.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this
page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
(Related: Jon
Stewart mocks Bryan Fischer's hostility to Mitt Romney's gay hire Ric
Grenell.)