In early September when the Log Cabin
Republicans – the gay Republicans – endorsed the McCain-Palin
ticket for president and vice president, they posited the idea that
Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin were gay
inclusive Republicans. The gay Republicans and media sympathetic to
the possibility repeated the concept – syndicated columnists Deb
Price and Debra Saunders, and CNN's Glenn Beck included.
“Sen. McCain showed courage by
bucking his own party's leadership and the president – twice voting
against the [federal anti-gay-marriage constitutional] amendment. He
gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, calling the amendment
'antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans,'”
Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Sammon said in endorsing
McCain. “On the most important issue that LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Transgender] Americans faced in the last decade ... John
McCain stood with us. Now we stand with him.”
In a statement supporting Palin for
vice president the group said, “Gov. Palin is an inclusive
Republican who will help Sen. McCain appeal to gay and lesbian
voters.”
Conservative host Glenn Beck told a CNN
Newsroom audience that he liked Palin because she showed “common
sense” in giving gay state couples marriage-like benefits. “She
is the first administration in Alaska's history to provide benefits
to the partners of gay and lesbian employees. So she's not –
she's, she's common sense. ... Real conservatives have common sense
values, and they'll look at things and say, 'Okay, I believe in
traditional marriage. But why would I stop somebody from getting,
you know, benefits, they've lived together for 20 years?'”
Syndicated columnist Deb Price further
fanned the idea in a Detroit News piece titled McCain
pledges inclusion, gets Log Cabin backing, where she called the
Log Cabin endorsement a maverick step: “It was the kind of daring
– or perhaps I should say maverick – step that Log Cabin has long
been respected for.” Price also quotes Sammon as saying that
McCain is an “inclusive Republican whose campaign isn't focusing on
divisive social issues.”
The gay Republicans took the notion of
gay inclusiveness to new heights when Log Cabin Republican member
Matthew Tsien in an opinion piece titled McCain is the right
choice published in New England's gay weekly Bay Windows
gave McCain credit for endorsing gay unions: “It would be fair to
say that McCain probably supports some form of a 'domestic
partnership'.”
But the concept that McCain and Palin
are gay inclusive is either a misconception or a deliberate lie.
In her most clean-cut statement to
date, Palin made it clear she is against recognizing gay
relationships: “I have voted along with the vast majority of
Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution
defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I wish on a
federal level that's where we would go. I don't support gay
marriage,” Palin recently told the Christian Broadcasting
Network (CBN).
And earlier this month, McCain
submitted written answers to questions by gay weekly The
Washington Blade, where he
concluded his remarks with: “I hope gay and lesbian Americans will
give full consideration to supporting me. ... I will have an
inclusive administration and I will be a president for all.”
The Arizona
Senator's calculated answers from this exchange may finally be
deciphered – the Rosetta stone that makes this translation possible
ironically comes from McCain himself.
In the
interview, McCain said he would consider qualifications over
sexual preference when deciding on Supreme Court justice nominations,
cabinet members or other appointed positions. Which sounds good –
inclusive even – but to understand McCain's true position, we need
only apply his translation for the word “qualification.”
While being questioned by Bob Schieffer
during the race's third and last presidential debate, McCain was
asked if he would consider appointing a pro-choice Supreme Court
justice to the federal bench.
“We should have nominees to the
Supreme Court based on their qualifications rather than any litmus
test,” McCain answered. But when Schieffer pressed, “Even if it
was someone who has a history of voting for abortion rights?”
McCain admitted, “I would consider anyone in their qualifications.
I do not believe that someone who has supported Roe v. Wade that
would be part of those qualifications.”
For McCain, a right-wing ideology is a
necessary qualification for nomination to the Supreme Court. And
most right-wing advocates do not support gay rights.
McCain and Palin gay inclusive
Republicans? Not so much, gay Republicans.