While ragtag members of the MA GOP opine the loss of Homobigot Rob Willington, members of the Florida GOP are happily barring the door to the White Supremacist, Derek Black.
GOP officials in FL are refusing to seat Black, who won a seat as a Committeeman for the Republican Executive Committee of Palm Beach County, on the grounds that Black never signed the party loyalty oath. “Mr. Black’s associations appear to violate the oath he failed to sign, which requires that candidates avoid activities that are ‘likely to injure the name of the Republican Party.'”
Black’s election was celebrated on Stormfront, although David Duke made most of the congratulatory post about himself, lol!. Derek was trained up by his famous Kluxer parents to be a hater. An interesting mini bio can be found here.
Back back in MA, the GOP cries over the loss of a man under whose auspices the party pimped MFI’s hate to win elections as recently as last month. Talk about “likely to injure the name of the Republican Party”! Are they more enlightened 1,400 miles to the south?
While I’m glad to hear about this happening in Florida, I don’t think it compares with what’s going on in MA, for this very simple reason: the GOP will almost always condemn racism, especially the most blatant racism, but they continue to make homobigotry an integral part of their platform.
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p>Replace the two situations for a moment. I have no doubt the Mass. GOP would refuse to seat Black as well, no matter how desperate they are for seats. Likewise, I imagine the Florida GOP would bemoan the loss of an anti-gay official.
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p>The problem is that the GOP (and all too often, the Democratic Party as well) is unwilling to stand up for the rights of the LGBT community. Racism is basically intolerable in today’s politics. Homobigotry is apparently celebrated. It’s not right, but it’s also why I don’t think the MA situation is comparable to the FL one.
that homobigotry isn’t winning the MA-GOP any seats. Quite the opposite. Since it’s no longer a lucrative stance, I would expect the party to not just jettison it, but to once again advocate for the social libertarianism for which they once were respected. That is, of course, if the members and/or leadership are not too personally attached to the bigotry. Willington is gone now. I know of at least two state committeewomen who still love to use or at least refuse to refute the use of the homobigotry angle (cynthia stead and helen hatch). But party leadership in both houses have largely given it up. Passing out abti-gay literature helped Cangiamila lose again last month. So as I see it the MA-GOP is at a tipping point, and the rank and file, if it wants to, can read the tea leaves and join the free world or continue crawling closer to the Jurassic.
Thing is, the past couple elections have demonstrated just how stubbornly the GOP is holding on to outdated ideas. It defies reason, absolutely, but they don’t seem to be changing anything significantly, and it certainly is costing them dearly, as you’ve noted.
A friend from Brewster says she’s one of the most most completely amoral people he’s ever encountered. Not because she’s rapidly homophobic, but because she views attacking gays and gay marriage as a tool for winning Republican votes. She could care less about the human costs, as long as it wins seats…
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p>2. If a Mass. Republican thinks that against all available evidence, then I hope they end up in charge of the whole dang party.