The Michael Steele trainwreck is a thing of the near past, and his misdeeds are now eclipsed by a double wallop: An expensive fundraiser for GOP freshmen Congress people, and what at least is being speculated on as being a warming towards the LGBT community.
The GOP fundraiser designed to feather the nests of GOP freshmen for the 2012 elections was conceived by incoming Rep. Jeff Denham of California, a two-time State Senator, and features House Speaker-elect John Boehner on the invite– though the dandy-but-manly Orange Crush will not be attending the $2,500 per person ticket affair to be held at the W Hotel reports Politico. However lobbyists will be attending, along with political action committee members and other GOP supporters who will be gobbling the canapes. And some may even shell out for the $500K package that includes tickets for eight and a VIP suite at the W (was that hotel chosen to make the location easy to remeber or as a tribute to the two former presidents/POTUSES/POTI?).
Denham of course will benefit from the fundraiser since it helps fill his reelection coffers as well as those of the 86 other wet-behind-the-ears Congresspeople. Denham has been working with the National Republican Congressional Committee to help raise dough for the newcomers and created a leadership PAC which funneled $100K to the NRCC. Only eleven newbies have joined the committee, and a number have declined the offer.
Wait, $2,500 aticket? That’s 2.5x higher than Nancy Pelosi’s 2008 freshman prom where tickets were $1000. Okay, yeah there’s the increased cost of living, but seriously I didn’t think things were that out of control! And aren’t the Republicans supposed to be all about austerity and stuff like government spending? Oh, but it’s okay to spend a lot to get into government. I see…and granted the GOP has proposed $35 million spending cuts in the Congressional budget, which will reduce staff size and office supplies, but still that
Well, what do you get for that ticket? A performance by that anti-GOP-envisioned family values singer LeAnn Rimes who recently performed a number of songs (including one in a sexy Santa outfit) with the Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles and earlier this year confessed to an extra-marital affair. Hey, maybe it’s the GOP’s way to lure more free thinkers and libertines into the Grand Old Party.
Several news sources (including my own local teevee channel KTLA which has great coverage of car chases) have speculated that Sarah Palin may becoming more free thinking in her views of the LGBT community. She retweeted the following message from openly lesbian NRA member and conservative commentator Tammy Bruce:
Bruce says she was not commenting on DADT, but rather tweeted this remark in response to the recently publicized videos shown aboard the USS Enterprise several years ago, made by now-recently-relieved-of-command Navy Capt. Owen Honors when he was aircraft carrier’s second-in-command. The videos included gay slurs, homoerotic shower scenes, and really dumb bad acting by creepy Capt Honors himself.
(Side note: if the diversity-dishonoring Honors was second-in-command, how did the first-in-command feel about the videos? Why did he allow Honors to continue to make them? Isn’t that giving tacit okay on that attitude, and what has happened to him?).
Conservatives4Palin are making the case that Bruce’s tweet is more a comment on society and psychology than of stance on DADT, DOMA, ENDA and other LGBTQ issues.
The people Bruce is mocking are those on the right and the left who spend every waking hour of their day thinking about homosexuality. In the same way that someone is not necessarily anti-gay if he or she opposes repeal of DADT and civil unions, someone isn’t necessarily endorsing homosexuality if he or she supports repeal of DADT and civil unions.
Speaking of psychology, here’s a clue for Conservatives4Palin: “Complaining about” is very different than “thinking about.”
