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.