Log Cabin's big McCain mistake

Log Cabin's big McCain mistake

by Chris Crain - SGN Contributing Writer Is political insanity running rampant among Republicans these days? First, John McCain threw good sense to the wind and tapped Sarah Palin as his running mate, even though she is untested and astonishingly unqualified to be one septuagenarian heartbeat away from the presidency. Now Log Cabin joins in the fall foolishness by going forward with an endorsement of the McCain-Palin ticket without even waiting to ask, much less get, answers about the Alaska governor's unknown views on a range of issues important to Gay Americans. We only learned this week, for example, that she opposes hate crime laws. It's as if our Gay Republican friends forgot the basic politics of the carrot and the stick. Now that McCain and Palin are happily chomping away on the endorsement carrot that Log Cabin could have kept dangling in front of them, all they're left with is the stick. With apologies to my friends among their number, Gay Republicans aren't exactly known for carrying a big stick. With the Log Cabin endorsement in hand, the pressure is off Palin to commit either publicly or privately to what some accounts suggest is her "openness to anti-discrimination legislation." If McCain is elected, inside support from Palin might be the best shot at avoiding a veto of workplace protection, since the "inclusive" senator from Arizona has voted such legislation multiple times. Cynics will no doubt see the rushed endorsement as a desperate ploy by Log Cabin to gain entree into the GOP's "big tent," a concept that Gay and pro-choice Republicans have demonstrated a much greater commitment to than has the rest of the party. Witness how McCain picked Palin after he was forced to bypass his first two choices, Tom Ridge and Joe Lieberman, because social conservatives vowed a floor fight over their selection solely because Lieberman is pro-Gay and both favor abortion rights. This two-issue litmus test gives no credit to the eminent qualification and political advantages of both: Ridge, a former Homeland Security secretary, was twice elected governor of Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state, and Lieberman, a longtime Connecticut senator, was Al Gore's running mate and has broad appeal among independents, conservative Democrats and Jewish voters. Yet these same conservatives are ecstatic about Palin despite her obvious weaknesses because she chose not to abort her fifth child after learning he'd be born with Down syndrome. (It also mattered not that this special-needs child is still an infant and requires far greater attention than Palin could give as vice president or president.) Pete Kingma, Log Cabin's board chair, defended the endorsement by claiming McCain enjoyed "overwhelming support" among members. Listening to the grassroots is a good thing, and no doubt some Gay Republicans will conclude that non-Gay issues outweigh McCain's opposition to every form of Gay rights legislation ever introduced at any level of government. But a record like that ought to preclude official backing from a Gay rights group like Log Cabin. Some key donors to the gay GOP group are still upset the national board voted four years ago not to endorse President Bush, even after he pushed for a federal marriage amendment. Even so, a rushed decision to satisfy internal critics whose only litmus test is party affiliation is exactly what Log Cabin has for years criticized the Human Rights Campaign and Gay Democrats of doing. Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon insists McCain earned the nod by opposing Bush's marriage amendment. "Sen. McCain showed courage by bucking his own party's leadership and the president - twice voting against the amendment," said Sammon. "He gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, calling the amendment 'antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans.'" Sammon's statement is most remarkable more for what it leaves out: For one, McCain's opposition was entirely based on states' rights, not support for legal recognition of same-sex couples. He even appeared in TV ads backing an amendment to his home state's constitution that was so extreme - banning Gay marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships and even D.P. benefits - that Arizona voters rejected it in 2006. Sammon also neglects to mention that for awhile now McCain has been backing away from his opposition to a federal amendment, saying last month he would back the idea if even one judge rules the notorious Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. McCain's motive is transparently political, considering that DOMA itself is profoundly "antithetical" to states' rights, since it requires the federal government to completely disregard those states that recognize Gay relationships, and allows sister states to do likewise. It's no surprise, then, that even though McCain controls an overwhelming majority of delegates, he went along with a Republican platform plank saying that to "preserve our children's future," the country needs a federal amendment to block marriage and "other arrangements equivalent to it," meaning civil unions. When McCain completes his inevitable, slow motion flip-flop, he will actually be worse on Gay issues than President Bush. Log Cabin has made a big deal of its "productive" relationship with his campaign, which they hope will translate into White House access if McCain is elected. Declining to endorse might risk that door slamming shut, but going along to get along sends the more dangerous signal that opposition on the issues doesn't matter so long as Republicans answer their telephone. Over the years, Log Cabin has given other Washington-based Gay rights groups very justified grief for confusing cocktail party invitations with measurable progress. How sad they've fallen prey to the same Beltway parlor game. Chris Crain is former editor of the Washington Blade and five other Gay publications and now edits GayNewsWatch.com. He can be reached via his blog at www.citizencrain.com.