Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Rick
Santorum share the stage with gay GOP candidate Fred Karger in new a
TV ad.
Karger debuted the ad Monday night at
the Grafton County Republican Committee Columbus Day Dinner at The
Common Man Inn in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Also attending were Ann
Romney, wife of Mitt Romney, and former Governors Jon Huntsman and
Buddy Roemer.
In the 90-second ad, titled Let Fred
In, Karger takes on Fox News for not inviting him to the last two
presidential debates.
“When my old boss Ronald Reagan ran
for president 30 years ago, he wanted all Republicans included at the
presidential debates. Now, Fox News and Rupert Murdoch refuse to let
me debate,” Karger says while sitting in front of a roaring fire.
“When I met their qualifications, they changed the rules. That's
just not fair.”
In the next scene, Karger is seen
participating in last month's Fox News debate in which gay soldier
Stephen Hill is booed by the audience.
“Excuse me, no, no. I will not be
silent. An American service member was just booed. We should never,
ever treat a member of the military that way. Especially someone as
courageous as Stephen Hill. After 18 years we finally ended
government sanctioned discrimination and repealed 'Don't Ask, Don't
Tell,'” Karger says as the audience begins to cheer.
“There's no room in this country for
bigotry. As a gay man, those thugs out there hurled their hate at me
and millions of Americans,” Karger says as Santorum and Perry look
on.
“When I'm president, I will work to
bring this country together,” he adds as Bachmann begins to cheer.
(The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)