Thank you, Nancy Pelosi!
Thank you, Nancy Pelosi!
by Phil Lawler, August 27, 2008
In the course of your memorable interview with Tom Brokaw, Madam Speaker, you accomplished several things that battle-weary pro-life activists might have considered impossible.
1. You introduced an argument so profoundly stupid that not even pro-abortion editorialists could accept it.
In the 1970s, when abortion supporters concocted a myth about the thousands of poor women who were supposedly injured by back-alley operators, the media pounced on the story and treated it as established fact, without looking for evidence (which they would not have found). In the 1980s, when the pitch-men abortion industry rolled out their campaign based upon "a woman's choice," editorial writers began chanting that phrase like a mantra. But when you based your argument on supposed confusion about whether life begins at conception, and invoked the outdated biological theories of St. Augustine to buttress that argument, you went too far. Not even a liberal journalist will stake his credibility on the scientific understanding of the early 5th century.
In a Los Angeles Times column that was thoroughly sympathetic toward the proponents of legal abortion, and hostile to the teaching of the Catholic Church, Tim Rutten nevertheless found it necessary to distance himself from your line of thought. "If Pelosi had half a wit about her," Rutten wrote, before suggesting what he considered a more plausible approach. Liberals feel obliged to offer different arguments, because they recognize your argument as a sure loser.
2. You turned attention away from the scandal in the Catholic Church.
For the first times since the turn of the 21st century, American newspapers have been cluttered with stories about the Catholic Church that do not mention the sex-abuse crisis. Your interview drew attention away from the scandal. Or perhaps I should say that you called attention to another scandal, because…
3. You prompted American bishops to issue clear teaching statements on abortion and the duties of Catholic political actors.
Denver's Archbishop Charles Chaput might have felt lonely, as he took a courageous public stand against the notion that loyal Catholics can plausibly support unrestricted abortion. With Archbishop Raymond Burke having been promoted from the St. Louis archdiocese to a key Vatican post, no other metropolitan archbishop in the US was prepared to take such an unequivocal stand. But you, Madam Speaker, changed that.
Within hours of your television interview, the Archbishop of Washington had issued a public statement correcting you. The cardinal-archbishop of Philadelphia weighed in, and the chairman of the US bishops' committee on doctrine, and the cardinal-archbishop of New York. Now American bishops are competing with each other to issue the strongest, clearest explanation of Catholic voters' duties. That competition can only serve to advance the pro-life cause, and the cause of Catholic orthodoxy.
4. You ensured that abortion would remain a major issue throughout this year's presidential campaign.
At the Saddleback Forum, when he was asked whether human life begins at conception, Barack Obama wisely tried to wriggle out of the question. But his exit line-- that the issue was "above my pay grade"-- was awkward and unsatisfactory, and other interviewers began to press the question, making life difficult for your party's presidential nominee. Then you, Madam Speaker, plunged headlong into the rhetorical whirlpool, and redoubled public interest in the question of abortion-- and, more particularly, the question of when human life begins.
Your claim that a loyal Catholic can support unrestricted abortion was particularly timely, coming just when Obama named another Catholic Democrat, Joe Biden, as his running-mate. Suddenly Biden found himself in the midst of a heated debate, forced to defend an argument that he had not chosen. The Obama-Biden team is promising "hope for the future." Now the Democratic candidates are forced to defend the biology of the past.
The Republican Party has not always welcomed discussion of abortion. But Senator McCain has seen an opportunity, and issued a ringing re-affirmation of his pro-life stance. So the political battle is joined, and the arguments for and against legal abortion will be revisited frequently between now and November.
Since truth is on our side, we pro-lifers welcome that public debate. Especially because…
5. You focused public attention on a scientific fact that proponents of "choice" cannot explain away.
St. Augustine was wrong about fetal development. We all know that today. Intelligent readers still consult St. Augustine's theological opinions, but his scientific hypotheses are completely untenable in light of the scientific evidence.
And what is that evidence? I'm glad you asked. Have you seen the stunning, beautiful pictures of a fetus developing inside the womb? Something is moving there; something is alive. If it isn't a human, what is it? And if it is a human, why does it have no human rights?
These are questions that pro-lifers have asked for years. Thanks to you, Nancy Pelosi, the questions are being asked again this campaign season.
[http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=263]
Poll: Pro-Life Democrats Abandoning Barack Obama as Abortion View Exposed
Poll: Pro-Life Democrats Abandoning Barack Obama as Abortion View Exposed
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new Gallup poll finds pro-life Democrats are abandoning Barack Obama now that more evidence has been presented that Obama takes a hardcore pro-abortion position. The drop in his support from pro-life Democrats also comes as John McCain has been more active promoting his pro-life views. As the election draws closer and more voters are paying attention to it and learning where the candidates states, a Gallup poll finds pro-life Democrats are less inclined to support Obama. The Gallup survey shows Democrats who say they are conservative on issues like abortion supported Obama at a 72 percentage point clip in mid-July. Now, that level of support has fallen to just 63 percent -- dropping steadily since then during a time Obama has come under fire nationally for his opposition to a bill to provide medical care for newborns who survive abortion. Obama has lost 5 percentage points with pro-life Democrats in the last few days alone as McCain has bashed him for opposing the anti-infanticide bill and Obama hurt his own case further by picking pro-abortion Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate.
Nonpartisan FactCheck: Obama "Misleading" on Infanticide Vote
Pro-Life Org Says Watchdog Group Vindicates Criticism of Obama on Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading pro-life organization that has been holding Barack Obama accountable for his votes against a bill that would provide medical care for newborns who survive failed abortions says it has been vindicated. The nonpartisan watchdog FactCheck said National Right to Life was right about Obama's record. The FactCheck web site of the University of Pennsylvania reviewed the debate over the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act. It confirmed NRLC's claims that Obama has been misleading when he's said he voted against the bill because it didn't mirror a national version that had language making it neutral on Roe v. Wade.
Responding to the conclusions, NRLC legislative director Douglas Johnson told LifeNews.com, "The most important finding by FactCheck.org is their statement that NRLC is correct and that 'Obama is misrepresenting the contents of SB 1083." "FactCheck.org's investigation validated the documents that NRLC uncovered and released on August 11, documents that prove that in March, 2003, Obama killed a bill in his state Senate committee that was virtually identical to the bill that passed without a dissenting vote in Congress," he explained. Obama had responded to those documents claiming National Right to Life was "lying" about his record.
[http://thecatholicnews.blogspot.com/2008/08/news-82808-morning-edition.html]
Obama Hit on Born-Alive Claims by NRLC, McCain, Factcheck
Obama Hit on Born-Alive Claims by NRLC, McCain, Factcheck
National Right to Life Releases Updated White Paper Rebutting Obama's "Shifting Claims" on Born-Alive Infants
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) today issued an expanded "white paper" regarding the growing controversy regarding the record of Barack Obama on the right to life of babies who are born alive during abortions.
The new document comes 17 days after NRLC's release, on August 11, of newly uncovered documents that demonstrated that Obama had been mispresenting his record on the issue since 2004. On August 16, when asked specifically about the NRLC charges during a televised interview with CBN's David Brody, Obama responded that "they have not been telling the truth" and "folks are lying." But in a report issued August 25, the independent organization FactCheck.org concluded: "Obama's claim is wrong. . . . The documents from the NRLC support the group's claims that Obama is misrepresenting the contents of SB 1082."
The new NRLC document is titled, "Barack Obama's Actions and Shifting Claims on the Protection of Born-Alive Aborted Infants -- and What They Tell Us About His Thinking on Abortion." It is authored by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and Legislative Counsel Susan T. Muskett. The white paper (with links to pertinent documents) may be viewed in a web browser here, or downloaded in the PDF format here.
To view a previous (August 18) NRLC "white paper" that explains the history of the legislation and Obama's actions regarding it, click here.
The primary documents referred to in the NRLC white papers are also posted on the NRLC website, here.
In his August 23 weekly radio address, Senator John McCain criticized Obama's record on the born- alive infants issue in these words: "In 2002, Congress unanimously passed a federal law to require medical care for babies who survive abortions – living, breathing babies whom Senator Obama described as, quote, 'previable.' This merciful law was called the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Illinois had a [proposed] version of the same law, and Barack Obama voted against it. At Saddleback, he assured a reporter that he'd have voted 'yes' on that bill if it had contained language similar to the federal version of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Even though the language of both the state and federal bills was identical, Senator Obama said people were, quote, 'lying' about his record. When that record was later produced, he dropped the subject but didn't withdraw the slander. And now even Senator Obama's campaign has conceded that his claims and accusations were false."
(To read or listen to the entire address via the Time magazine website, click here.)
Christian Newswire
To: National Desk
Contact: Federal Legislative Department, 202-626-8820, legfederal@aol.com;
Media Relations Department, 202-626-8825, mediarelations@nrlc.org
National Right to Life
Sarah Palin Will Make History
Sarah Palin Will Make History
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA), released the following statement in response to Senator John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate:
"Governor Palin will change the dynamics of the entire presidential race. Her admirable record of confronting corruption and living her pro-life convictions shows she is a doer, not just a talker. Sarah Palin will make history as a vice presidential candidate - and not simply because she's a woman, but because she's a woman of substance and character."
Janice Shaw Crouse, director and senior fellow of CWA's Beverly LaHaye Institute, said,
"It is particularly significant that a conservative woman was nominated for the nation's second highest office. For years the feminist movement has acknowledged for leadership only those women who embrace a radical agenda. How refreshing that now we have a woman who reflects the values of mainstream American women. Sarah Palin is pro-life, pro- marriage and pro-family. She is a woman who is balancing the personal and professional in admirable ways. She is an outstanding woman who will be an excellent role model for the nation's young people. Sarah Palin is chief among equals with American professional women; she brings the kind of balance that characterizes the high-achieving women of today. She will bring to the forefront of our cultural conversations an intelligent, realistic, well-grounded woman's perspective."
Crouse concluded: "Take that feminists -- here is a woman of accomplishment who brings a fresh face to traditional values and models the type of woman most girls want to become."
Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.
Christian Newswire
The Selection of Gov. Sarah Palin has Electrified the Electorate
The Selection of Gov. Sarah Palin has Electrified the Electorate
MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- "Absolutely brilliant," Mathew Staver exclaimed when he heard the news that Sen. John McCain chose Governor Sarah Palin as his choice for Vice President. Staver is Chairman of Liberty Alliance Action, Chairman of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law.*
Attending a meeting of national conservative leaders in Minneapolis, Staver said, "The excitement was palpable among conservative leaders when they heard that Gov. Palin was Sen. McCain's choice for Vice President. There is a high level of optimism among conservative leaders that the McCain-Palin combination is a ticket that will connect with values voters."
"The selection of Gov. Palin means that this upcoming election will be historic. But beyond making history, Palin brings substance and excitement. She is intelligent, young, attractive and articulate. As a woman and a mother, she can attract women voters, particularly those who feel disenfranchised," said Staver. "Gov. Palin can work with both parties and has shown she can clean up government corruption. She has not merely talked about the energy crisis, she has actively worked to create solutions," Staver continued.
"Gov. Palin is pro-life and pro-marriage. She is also a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association," said Staver. "Personnel is policy. With the selection of Gov. Palin, Sen. John McCain has proven that he can exercise sound judgment. Gov. Palin has electrified conservatives," noted Staver.
In July of this year, Staver convened a meeting of about 100 national social conservative leaders in Denver, Colorado to bring unity around shared core values.
*Titles and affiliation for identification only.
Christian Newswire
Democrat's Biden On his pro-abortion stance: "My Views are Totally Consistent with Catholic Social Doctrine..."
Democrat's Biden On his pro-abortion stance: "My Views are Totally Consistent with Catholic Social Doctrine..."
By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 28, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was blasted on Wednesday, in the wake of Nancy Pelosi's much derided remarks to the same effect, for claiming that his radically pro-abortion stance is "totally consistent" with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Biden made the remarks in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) in August of last year, which has received renewed attention in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding Pelosi's remarks. While discussing his desire to attract Catholics to the Democratic Party, Sen. Biden said, "My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine.
"There are elements within the church who say that if you are at odds with any of the teachings of the church, you are at odds with the church. I think the church is bigger than that."
In response, Carl Olson of the Ignatius Insight blog turned to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church to measure up Biden's claim. He quotes the Compendium, which condemns all types of abortion: "The first right presented in this list is the right to life, from conception to its natural end,[318] which is the condition for the exercise of all other rights and, in particular, implies the illicitness of every form of procured abortion and of euthanasia."
Olson said, "As we well know, anybody trying to find where the Church says that abortion is morally acceptable, or can be allowed in certain situations, or is just another issue open to debate, is going to fail miserably. Which is probably why Biden and Co. don't bother to quote from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church."
Regarding Biden's statement that "the church is bigger than that", Olson says that Biden misrepresented the real "line of tension" in the Catholic community. The Church's struggle over doctrine is not between antiquated tradition and fresh ideas, he says, but "between those who accept and understand that certain matters of faith and morals are settled and those who think that it is one's all-powerful conscience that makes the final decision . . . even while paying lip service to loving the Church."
Olson concludes: "Perhaps Biden, Pelosi, and others do suffer from invincible ignorance. Or perhaps they are simply denying or ignoring what they know the Church does clearly teach.
"Regardless, any child receiving decent catechesis and anyone capable of reading the English language should recognize that Senator Biden's beliefs are not 'totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine.'"
Biden's statements came a few months after a Meet The Press interview in April 2007, where he justified abortion according to supposed "debates" in the Church about unborn life - in a manner little different from Pelosi's recent remarks. (See LifeSiteNews.com coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082709.html).
Bishop Michael Saltarelli's spokesman Bob Krebs told LifeSiteNews earlier this week that Bishop Saltarelli, Sen. Biden's own bishop, will not allow the pro-choice Biden to speak at Catholic schools even if he becomes vice-president. (See http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082606.html)
Biden: "The Presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training."
Dear Friend:
If you've been watching the Democrat convention, you are probably wondering about all the praise that is now directed at Barack Obama from other Democrats.
It wasn't too long ago though that his newfound political allies were telling a different story about Barack Obama.
"You never hear the specifics."
-- Hillary Clinton, speaking about his Issue Plans
"I think he can be ready, but right now I don't believe he is. The Presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training."
-- Senator Joe Biden, when asked if Barack Obama is ready to be President
"I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience he will bring to the White House--and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."
-- Hillary Clinton, about Obama's leadership
"We still don't have a lot of answers."
-- Hillary Clinton, about the Rezko scandal
Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden spoke the truth about Barack Obama and his record. Now they are just pandering to the liberal Democrat base.
And no matter what the pundits say, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden are still right.
Obama's lack of experience and his liberal record are well known. This is no surprise since he was voted the most liberal Senator in 2007 (according to nonpartisan publication National Journal).
Remember - he has advocated raising taxes. And he has made other outrageously liberal statements that people seek refuge in religion only after Washington has failed to meet their needs, or that they cling to their guns because government has let them down.
Elitist beliefs like this are scaring away moderate Democrats in conservative congressional districts. And, with liberal Barack Obama heading the ticket, Republicans have a fighting chance this election year to reclaim House seats that went Democrat in 2006.
There is too much at stake in our campaigns this fall. The future of our economy, our quality of life and our national security all depend on the outcome of the 2008 elections. Unless we defeat them, the radical liberal Democrats in Congress will continue to raise your taxes, give amnesty to illegal immigrants, initiate a government takeover of health care, roll-back welfare reform, and push for passage of their entire special interest dictated laundry list of left-wing programs.
That's why we need your help. Please consider making a donation today by clicking here now. Your support will help us prepare for the upcoming election that is already upon us.
Thank you for your support of our party and our candidates.
Sincerely,
Tom Cole, M.C.
Chairman
P.S. If Obama is President, the Democrats in Congress will continue to raise your taxes, give amnesty to illegal immigrants, initiate a government takeover of health care, roll-back welfare reform, and push for passage of their entire special interest dictated laundry list of left-wing programs.
(All week long, we will be posting updates to the Democratic Convention Watch Page. Log on to www.nrcc.org/DemocraticConventionWatch for the latest updates.)
Sarah Palin's Feminists for Life Membership Points to Pro-Woman, Pro-Life View
Sarah Palin's Feminists for Life Membership Points to Pro-Woman, Pro-Life View
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Most Americans heard the name Sarah Palin for the first time on Friday as Senator John McCain named her as his running mate.
They're getting a glimpse of the fact that the Alaska governor is pro-life on abortion, but what they may not know is she takes a unique approach to her position.
Palin is a member of Feminists for Life of America -- a venerable but little known pro-life group that focuses on the pro-woman reasons for opposing abortion.
The organization is considered an expert on understand how abortion hurts women and the complications abortion involves from a medical, physical and mental health standpoint.
Beyond that, Feminists for Life has championed the notion that one of the best ways to reduce abortion is to do the kind of work abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood should, but aren't doing -- namely, providing pregnant women with resources they need.
Palin, a mother of five, recognized the need to do more than say she opposes abortion and joined the organization. In August 2006, she said she recognized the struggle young women face in an unplanned pregnancy saying, "no woman should have to choose between her career, education and her child."
For Palin, there is no inconsistency between advocating for women and taking a pro-life position. "I believe in the strength and the power of women, and the potential of every human life.
Pro-Life Groups: John McCain's Picking Sarah Palin Appeals to Catholics on Abortion
Pro-Life Groups: John McCain's Picking Sarah Palin Appeals to Catholics on Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Leading pro-life Catholic groups say John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate will appeal to Catholic voters.
They say the majority of Catholics who oppose abortion will appreciate the pick and it will encourage them to back McCain against pro-abortion candidate Barack Obama.
“A presidential candidate’s first major executive decision is selecting a running mate," Brian Burch, the president of the pro-life group Fidelis explains.
"And John McCain’s unexpected choice of Sarah Palin inspires real confidence that a McCain Administration will be a strong ally in the pro-life and pro-family cause," he told LifeNews.com.
“The inspired choice of Sarah Palin highlights the radical views of Obama-Biden on life and marriage. Catholic voters couldn't have a starker contrast this November,’” he said.
Father Frank Pavone, the head of Priests for Life, agrees. “Now that the presidential candidates have chosen their running mates, it is clearer how the abortion issue will play out in the elections," he told LifeNews.com after the Palin pick.
Pro-Life Groups Excited John McCain Picks Sarah Palin, Both Oppose Abortion
Pro-Life Groups Excited John McCain Picks Sarah Palin, Both Oppose Abortion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Leading pro-life groups are excited about the prospects of a pro-life woman serving as the nation's vice president and they are applauding John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Palin is strongly pro-life and rejected an abortion when pregnant with a disabled baby. “Sarah Palin is the whole package.
There couldn't be a better vice presidential pick,” says Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List. “Women voters are electrified, and Sarah is someone who is truly in sync with the way real American women think," she told LifeNews.com right after the selection.
"She is a reform-minded woman who will give all Americans, born and unborn, the authentic leadership they deserve.” In 2006, the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund endorsed Palin for her in her race for governor.
Rev. Rob Schenck, an evangelical pro-life advocate who directs the National Clergy Council, also commented on the selection and said McCain made an excellent decision.
"Governor Palin is a committed and active Christian who takes her faith seriously and lives her pro-life and pro-family convictions," he said. "She adds moral strength to the ticket. This will go a long way in building important and strategic bridges for the McCain campaign."
Is "the Republicans' Vice-Presidential Pick is 'Even More' Inexperienced than the Democrats' Presidential one?"
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ODNhOTk2YTU0NWY4ZjY5ODNhZTgyOWZkNjY5YjFlMmY=
The hostess with the moosest
By Mark Steyn
Over in the Frumistan province of the NR caliphate, our pal David is not happy about the Palin pick. I am - for several reasons.
First, Governor Palin is not merely, as Jay describes her, "all-American", but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I'm not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin' Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who's done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of "community organizer" and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.
Second, it can't be in Senator Obama's interest for the punditocracy to spends its time arguing about whether the Republicans' vice-presidential pick is "even more" inexperienced than the Democrats' presidential one.
Third, real people don't define "experience" as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong. (On the first point, at the Gun Owners of New Hampshire dinner in the 2000 campaign, I remember Orrin Hatch telling me sadly that he was stunned to discover how few Granite State voters knew who he was.) Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth. She's done the stuff he's merely a poseur about. Post-partisan? She took on her own party's corrupt political culture directly while Obama was sucking up to Wright and Ayers and being just another get-along Chicago machine pol (see his campaign's thuggish attempt to throttle Stanley Kurtz and Milt Rosenberg on WGN the other night).
Fourth, Governor Palin has what the British Labour Party politician Denis Healy likes to call a "hinterland" - a life beyond politics. Whenever Senator Obama attempts anything non-political (such as bowling), he comes over like a visiting dignitary to a foreign country getting shanghaied into some impenetrable local folk ritual. Sarah Palin isn't just on the right side of the issues intellectually. She won't need the usual stage-managed "hunting" trip to reassure gun owners: she's lived the Second Amendment all her life. Likewise, on abortion, we're often told it's easy to be against it in principle but what if you were a woman facing a difficult birth or a handicapped child? Been there, done that.
Fifth, she complicates all the laziest Democrat pieties. Energy? Unlike Biden and Obama, she's been to ANWR and, like most Alaskans, supports drilling there.
Obama Camp Tries to Stop Interview with Researcher
Obama camp hits station airing critic
Amid attempts to quash 'radical' ad, tries to stop interview with researcher
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August 28, 2008
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WorldNetDaily
Stanley Kurtz
Amid attempts to stop the broadcast of a TV ad that links Barack Obama to an unrepentant domestic terrorist, the Democratic nominee's campaign organized supporters to confront a Chicago radio station for interviewing a related critic on the air.
Stanley Kurtz, a scholar and National Review contributor who has studied Obama's relationship with former Weather Underground member William Ayers, was a guest for two hours last night on WGN's "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenburg," reported Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times.
WGN said it was flooded prior to the show with calls and e-mails from Obama supporters after the Illinois senator's campaign sent out an e-mail declaring "WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears."
The campaign said Kurtz was scheduled to spend a two-hour block last night "pushing lies, distortions and manipulations about Barack and University of Illinois professor William Ayers."
Ayers helped carry out a series of bomb attacks at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago. Since then, he has said he only wished he could have done more.
Obama launched his political career at Ayers' home and worked with him on left-leaning causes, but the senator has downplayed his relationship and insists he doesn't share Ayers' extreme views.
Kurtz, after being blocked initially, obtained records this week from the University of Illinois at Chicago regarding a school reform project co-founded by Ayers and chaired by Obama called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.
Reporters now are poring over boxes of documents to study Ayers relationship with Obama.
The Obama campaign's message to supporters said, "It is absolutely unacceptable that WGN would give a slimy character assassin like Kurtz time for his divisive, destructive ranting on our public airwaves. At the very least, they should offer sane, honest rebuttal to every one of Kurtz's lies."
But Zack Christenson, executive producer of Rosenburg's show, said the campaign was invited to have a representative on the show to rebut Kurtz, according to the Times' Malcom. Obama's campaign headquarters are just down the street from the WGN studios.
Christenson said the e-mail and phone response from Obama supporters was the biggest ever from a campaign or candidate.
"This is really unprecedented with the show, the way that people are flooding the calls and our e-mail boxes."
See the American Issues Project ad:
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has been warning TV stations and asking the Justice Department to intervene in an attempt to block the airing of an ad linking Obama to Ayers, produced by the nonprofit American Issues Project.
The ad is financed by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth funder Harold Simmons, a Texas billionaire.
Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor, who called the ads false, despicable and outrageous, said supporters of the Democratic presidential nominee have inundated stations with 93,000 e-mails.
Vietor warned that other stations that follow their lead "should expect a similar response from people who don't want the political discourse cheapened with these false, negative attacks."
Obama campaign lawyer Robert Bauer wrote to station managers and to Deputy Assistant Attorney General John C. Keeney, calling the ad a "knowing and willful attempt to evade the strictures of federal election law."
American Issues Project counsel Cleta Mitchell responded with the group's own letter to Keeney, asserting the group is not in violation of any law.
Fox News and CNN rejected the ads, but they have run in local markets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan.
McCain/Palin 47% to Obama/Biden 45%
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Zogby_Palin_Gives_McCain/2008/08/30/126447.html
Zogby: Palin Gives McCain Big Boost
August 30, 2008
Republican John McCain's surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate - some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama's historic speech accepting his party’s presidential nomination - has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump, the latest Zogby Interactive flash poll of the race shows.
The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden.
In other words, the race is a dead heat.
The interactive online Zogby survey shows that both Obama and McCain have solidified the support among their own parties - Obama won 86% support of Democrats and McCain 89% of Republicans in a two-way head-to-head poll question not including the running mates. When Biden and Palin are added to the mix, Obama's Democratic support remains at 86%, while McCain's increases to 92%.
After the McCain "Veep" announcement on Friday, Palin was almost immediately hailed as a strong conservative, and those voters have rallied to the GOP ticket, the survey shows. Republicans gather in St. Paul, Minnesota this week to officially nominate McCain and Palin as their presidential ticket.
Overall, 52% said the selection of Palin as the GOP vice presidential nominee helps the Republican ticket, compared to 29% who said it hurt. Another 10% said it made no difference, while 10% were unsure. Among independent voters, 52% said it helps, while 26% said it would hurt. Among women, 48% said it would help, while 29% said it would hurt the GOP ticket. Among Republicans, the choice was a big hit - as 87% said it would help, and just 3% said it would hurt.
Pollster John Zogby: "Palin is not to be underestimated. Her real strength is that she is authentic, a real mom, an outdoors person, a small town mayor (hey, she has dealt with a small town city council - that alone could be preparation for staring down Vladimir Putin, right?). She is also a reformer."
"A very important demographic in this election is going to be the politically independent woman, 15% of whom in our latest survey are undecided."
"In the final analysis, this election will be about Obama vs. McCain. Obama has staked out ground as the new JFK - a new generation, literally and figuratively, a new face of America to the world, a man who can cross lines and work with both sides. But McCain is the modern day Harry Truman - with lots of DC experience, he knows what is wrong and dysfunctional with Washington and how to fix it, and he has chosen a running mate who is about as far away from Washington as he could find.
"This contest is likely to be very close until the weekend before the election - then the dam may break and support may flood one way or the other."
The interactive survey shows that 22% of those voters who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in their primary elections or caucus earlier this year are now supporting John McCain.
Among those who said they shop regularly at Wal-Mart - a demographic group that Zogby has found to be both "value" and "values" voters - Obama is getting walloped by McCain. Winning 62% support from weekly Wal-Mart shoppers, McCain wins these voters at a rate similar to what President Bush won in 2004. Obama wins 24% support from these voters.
Other demographic details are fairly predictable, showing that the McCain/Palin ticket heads into its convention on Monday with numbers that may fuel an optimism they may not have expected, and that many would not have predicted, especially after Obama's speech Thursday night.
Still, storm clouds remain on the horizon for the Republicans, a four-way horserace contest between McCain, Obama, Libertarian Bob Barr and liberal independent Ralph Nader shows.
Can Obama Prevent a Woman VP by Winning Women Votes?
SWEET PICK! KUDOS TO MCCAIN FOR CHOOSING SARAH PALIN FOR HIS VP
By Dick Morris 08.29.2008 McCain has reached for the stars and grabbed one. On a recent cruise to Alaska, I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Sarah Palin. She is brilliant and articulate and, in Alaska politics, is a breath of fresh air as an alternative to their corruption epitomized by Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens.
Now Obama, who has spent two years preventing a woman from being president, will spend two months preventing one from becoming vice president – and hopes to do so with women votes. The entire premise of the Democratic convention was the fungibility of Bush and McCain. Now McCain has vividly demonstrated the difference. Sarah Palin is no Dick Cheney!
[http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2008/08/29/sweet-pick-kudos-to-mccain-for-choosing-sarah-palin/]
McCain Accuses Obama of Infanticide and of Lying on the Matter
McCain Himself Accuses Obama of Courting Infanticide
By John-Henry Westen
WASHINGTON, August 28, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The mainstream media has yet to notice, but Senator McCain last week directly accused Barack Obama of courting infanticide. While the pro-life movement in the nation has been on the issue for weeks, McCain himself delivered the punch line in his radio address for August 23.
McCain noted Obama's vote against the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which McCain described as a "law to require medical care for babies who survive abortions." McCain added to that description: "living, breathing babies whom Senator Obama described as, quote, 'previable.'"
McCain also accused Obama of lying on the matter, a fact which is well known to pro-life Americans who have followed the saga.
"At Saddleback, he [Obama] assured a reporter that he'd have voted 'yes' on that bill if it had contained language similar to the federal version of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act," said McCain. "Even though the language of both the state and federal bills was identical, Senator Obama said people were, quote, 'lying' about his record." McCain concluded: "When that record was later produced, he dropped the subject but didn't withdraw the slander. And now even Senator Obama's campaign has conceded that his claims and accusations were false."
Taking a shot at Obama's now famous "above my pay grade" cop out on the question of when life begins, McCain concluded his message saying: "I can assure you that if I am president, advancing the cause of life will not be above my pay grade."
Full Text of Senator John McCain's radio address of August 23
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082708.html
Ten Reasons Romney Should't Be the VP Nominee
By David Frum
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Romney as VP? - 2 in a series
A friend writes:
Ten Reasons Mitt Romney Should Not Be the VP Nominee
10. Inexperience. Romney, a one-term governor who did not run for reelection, has precisely one-third of the elective experience that Dan Quayle had when nominated for Vice President, and Quayle was attacked for his inexperience. A Romney nomination would cut against the grain of one of McCain’s best arguments – Obama’s inexperience – and this is particularly true when placed against Joe Biden.
9. Rommey supporters typically say that he would be good on the economy. But why, exactly? Paul O’Neill and John Snow were both highly successful businessmen, and yet were weak as Treasury Secretary. Why would Romney be any different – and would McCain want to be seen to hand over control of the economy to his vice president? Business and government require different leadership styles. Few people can handle both well, and Romney’s thin record as governor provides little evidence he can. The conservative Tax Foundation stated that the total state and local tax burden in Massachusetts rose 5.1 percent on Romney’s watch, and the state ranked 46th in job growth from 2003-2005 (in the middle of a boom). In any event, skill in business is very different from skill in finance – or governing.
8. Thin skin. In the Republican debates, Romney always wanted to be the focus of attention, taking more than his allotted share of time and reacting badly when others questioned his statements or views. McCain clobbered him in the debates, helping assure his own nomination. Joe Biden would do likewise.
7. While “anybody but _______” efforts rarely work in American politics (think Carter, Reagan, Mondale), this one did. At least three candidates – Huckabee, Giuliani, Thompson – decided that they simply preferred beating Romney and effectively worked together to stop him. What was it about Romney they so disliked? This also doesn’t say much about his ability to unite the party, keep support, or exert political leadership.
6. Whether one is pro-choice or pro-life, Romney’s flip-flop on abortion seems terribly insincere. To believe the story as it was originally told, Romney was concerned over stem cell research. Ask any of your active pro-life friends: they will probably know many people who are pro-life except for the stem cells issue and will have met no one who became pro-life because of it. His palpable anger when asked detailed questions about his views does not give credence to the sincerity of his conversion.
5. Can Romney supporters point to even one poll – just one poll – showing that he would have won reelection in 2006? It is not good enough to say “oh, but he said he wanted to run for President, so there were no polls.” (What about Romney internals?) George Bush faced this dilemma in 1998 and won reelection handily as Governor of Texas. What does this say about Romney’s record as Governor? Isn’t the better conclusion that he won (with less than 50% of the vote) only against a very weak Democratic candidate from western Massachusetts and governed in an undistinguished fashion? If we want to say that Barack Obama’s record is thin, we must say the same about Romney’s, so he cannot be the nominee.
4. In 2004, some very effective advertising mocked John Kerry for windsurfing off Nantucket as a sign he was out of touch with the people. How, then, would the people react, in a time of economic gloom, to learning that Romney’s hedge funds – based offshore, presumably to avoid U.S. taxation – are named after a lighthouse on the same island? Can’t you just picture the ads now?
3. With McCain’s implicit one-term pledge, a Romney nomination – giving the vice presidency to a deep-pocketed candidate – would sharply divide the Republican party by effectively conceding the 2012 nomination to him, sidelining both up-and-coming candidates like Governors Pawlenty, Palin, and Jindal and current figures such as Mike Huckabee (who came in second, remember – Romney did not). How will the party react? The same consideration does not apply for a pick of, for instance, Pawlenty, Jindal, Governor Jon Huntsman, or Rep. Eric Cantor. They do not have the money to dominate the party and the conservative movement as Romney does. The 1988 primaries show that a sitting Vice President can be effectively challenged – but Romney would begin the race with a huge advantage simply because of his personal wealth. Allegations have already been raised that Romney’s foundation money has been used (improperly?) to bolster his political image And given this, would President McCain have any assurance that Romney would be loyal?
2. Can Romney supporters name a single major accomplishment of Romeny’s as Governor that would please conservatives? His “RomneyCare” health plan? Unlikely, as the candidate himself walked away from it during the primaries. Did he have any ability to persuade the legislature? After the Massachusetts Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage, did Romney even switch a single legislator to vote in favor of placing a constitutional amendment on gay marriage on the ballot, so the people could deicide rather than judges? If so, who? The burden should be on Romney supporters to provide the names and details. Did the Legislature not like him, or is it better to say that he simply walked away from the issue? The Boston Globe’s valedictory editorial (December 26, 2006) sums it up well: "Romney himself admits that a number of his goals remain unmet. His inability to lower the nation's highest unemployment insurance rate, to secure merit pay for teachers, and to reinvigorate the Republican Party were among the frustrations he listed."
1. On a family vacation, he put the family dog in a cage on top of the car while driving for 12 hours, across an international border – an experiment in logistics, aerodynamics, and animal welfare that predictably failed when the dog became ill. Over 50 million American dogs – and 40 million American dog owners – would be horrified.
For my own part, I think Obama's selection of Joe Biden (one of the least wealthy men in the US Senate) makes a Romney pick a very, very dangerous exercise in bad optics ...
[http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzhjZTk4MWY2NDY3Njc4NjRlMTYxMWVmYWEwM2Q3ZTU=]
Obama Supports:"The Baby's Skull [being] Stabbed with Scissors in the Birth Canal"
"[Obama]supports the late-term procedure known as partial-birth abortion, where the baby's skull is stabbed with scissors in the birth canal and the brains are sucked out to end its life swiftly and ease passage of the corpse into the pan.
Partial-birth abortion, said the late Sen. Pat Moynihan, 'comes as close to infanticide as anything I have seen in our judiciary.'
Yet, when Congress was voting to ban this terrible form of death for a mature fetus, Michelle Obama was signing fundraising letters pledging that, if elected, Barack would be 'tireless' in keeping legal this 'legitimate medical procedure.'"
http://townhall.com/columnists/PatrickJBuchanan/2008/08/12/a_catholic_case_against_barack?page=full&comments=true
A Catholic Case Against Barack
by Patrick J. Buchanan
In the Pennsylvania primary, Barack Obama rolled up more than 90 percent of the African-American vote. Among Catholics, he lost by 40 points. The cool liberal Harvard Law grad was not a good fit for the socially conservative ethnics of Altoona, Aliquippa and Johnstown.
But if Barack had a problem with Catholics then, he has a far higher hurdle to surmount in the fall, with those millions of Catholics who still take their faith and moral code seriously.
For not only is Barack the most pro-abortion member of the Senate, with his straight A+ report card from the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood. He supports the late-term procedure known as partial-birth abortion, where the baby's skull is stabbed with scissors in the birth canal and the brains are sucked out to end its life swiftly and ease passage of the corpse into the pan.
Partial-birth abortion, said the late Sen. Pat Moynihan, "comes as close to infanticide as anything I have seen in our judiciary."
Yet, when Congress was voting to ban this terrible form of death for a mature fetus, Michelle Obama was signing fundraising letters pledging that, if elected, Barack would be "tireless" in keeping legal this "legitimate medical procedure."
And Barack did not let the militants down. When the Supreme Court upheld the congressional ban on this barbaric procedure, Barack denounced the court for denying "equal rights for women."
As David Freddoso reports in his new best-seller, "The Case Against Barack Obama," the Illinois senator goes further than any U.S. senator has dared go in defending what John Paul II called the "culture of death."
Thrice in the Illinois legislature, Obama helped block a bill that was designed solely to protect the life of infants already born, and outside the womb, who had miraculously survived the attempt to kill them during an abortion. Thrice, Obama voted to let doctors and nurses allow these tiny human beings die of neglect and be tossed out with the medical waste.
How can a man who purports to be a Christian justify this?
If, as its advocates contend, abortion has to remain legal to protect the life and health, mental and physical, of the mother, how is a mother's life or health in the least threatened by a baby no longer inside her -- but lying on a table or in a pan fighting for life and breath?
How is it essential for the life or health of a woman that her baby, who somehow survived the horrible ordeal of abortion, be left to die or put to death? Yet, that is what Obama voted for, thrice, in the Illinois Senate.
When a bill almost identical to the one Barack fought in Illinois, the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, came to the floor of the U.S. Senate in 2001, the vote was 98 to 0 in favor. Barbara Boxer, the most pro-abortion member of the Senate before Barack came, spoke out on its behalf:
"Of course, we believe everyone should deserve the protection of this bill. ... Who could be more vulnerable than a newborn baby? So, of course, we agree with that. ... We join with an 'aye' vote on this. I hope it will, in fact, be unanimous."
Obama says he opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act because he feared it might imperil Roe v. Wade. But if Roe v. Wade did allow infanticide or murder, which is what letting a tiny baby die of neglect or killing it outright amounts to, why would he not want that court decision reviewed and amended to outlaw infanticide?
Is the right to an abortion so sacrosanct to Obama that killing by neglect or snuffing out of the life of tiny babies outside the womb must be protected if necessary to preserve that right?
Obama is an abortion absolutist. "I could find no instance in his entire career," writes Freddoso, "in which he voted for any regulation or restriction on the practice of abortion."
In 2007, Barack pledged that, in his first act as president, he will sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would cancel every federal, state or local regulation or restriction on abortion. The National Organization for Women says it would abolish all restrictions on government funding of abortion.
What we once called God's Country would become the nation on earth most zealously committed to an unrestricted right of abortion from conception to birth.
Before any devout Catholic, Evangelical Christian or Orthodox Jew votes for Obama, he or she might spend 15 minutes in Chapter 10 of Freddoso's "Case Against Barack." For if, as Catholics believe, abortion is the killing of an unborn child, and participation in an abortion entails automatic excommunication, how can a good Catholic support a candidate who will appoint justices to make Roe v. Wade eternal and eliminate all restrictions on a practice Catholics legislators have fought for three decades to curtail?
And which Catholic priests and prelates will it be who give invocations at Obama rallies, even as Mother Church fights to save the lives of unborn children whom Obama believes have no right to life and no rights at all?
As VP Palin can get the Hillary Supporters for McCain
Palin is female, pro-life and good looking. She keeps the base and can help get the disgruntled Hillary supporters. (Wall Street Journal/NBC poll: 21 percent of Clinton supporters are supporting McCain and that another 27 percent are still holding out)
Fred
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2939182
can obama even win if mccain chooses sarah palin as veep
shes p good lookin for a governor
shes got good conservative credentials and shes backed by everyone in the right wing media shes seen as the future of the gop, but shes also p. liberal on some issues like education or global warming, plus she still approves of offshore drilling and getting rid of reliance on foreign oil. shes very pro-nra so she counters biden there plus she seems to have good economical credentials but more importantly:
shes not only a woman in her 40s, but shes also a feminist so her on the ticket might take away a major number of disgruntled hillary clinton supporters away from obama, even more than now and convince those who arent sure who to vote for to vote for mccain instead of obama
also it would gently caress biden up because theres no way he could try to rip her a new one during the vp debates like he would to romney cause otherwise hed look like an old mysogynist rear end in a top hat attacking a very nice woman
[http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2939182]
McCain ad aims at swaying Clinton Dems Jonathan Martin
Mon Aug 25, 8:50 AM ET
DENVER — Ramping up their effort to drive a wedge between Hillary Rodham Clinton’s supporters and Barack Obama, the McCain campaign is to broadcast a new ad starting Monday featuring the Wisconsin Democrat who lost her slot as a convention delegate after saying she’d cast her ballot for McCain instead of Obama here.
ADVERTISEMENT
The commercial, which will air in this market as the Democratic convention gets underway, is aimed squarely at the hearts of Clinton loyalists and at the notebooks of the thousands of reporters who are sniffing for the scent of discord between the two primary rivals.
“I'm a proud Hillary Clinton Democrat,” says Debra Bartoshevich, a Racine-area nurse, as she looks into the camera. “She had the experience and judgment to be president. Now, in a first for me, I'm supporting a Republican, John McCain.”
Bartoshevich has become something of a minor celebrity in the political world, especially among die-hard Clinton fans. After making her intentions public in June, she was removed as a delegate at the Wisconsin state Democratic convention. McCain paid the lifelong Democrat a visit last month, offering her a ride on the Straight Talk Express during a campaign swing through the state.
In addition to being featured on TV, Bartoshevich has also come out to Denver. Along with other independents and Democrats supporting McCain — including former Rep. Tim Penny (D-Minn.) and Silver Salazar, the brother of Democratic Colorado Rep. John Salazar and Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar — she’ll hold a press conference Monday morning to tout their support for the GOP nominee.
Additionally, McCain’s campaign said that Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who has become among the GOP’s most visible women surrogates, will be in town to meet privately with some Democrats who backed Clinton in the primary and may not yet be fully committed to Obama.
“The Obama campaign is doing their best to paper over the deep divisions in their party among the many Hillary Clinton supporters who do not want Barack Obama to be president,” said McCain senior adviser Matt McDonald. “We want these voters to know that they still have the choice to vote for a president who is ready in this election and John McCain would welcome their support.
“There are a significant number [of Democrats] that want Hillary Clinton,” RNC Chairman Mike Duncan told reporters today during an open house of the temporary war room the GOP has opened up to counter-program the Democrats this week. “Typically when parties are split, the other one wins.”
A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll released last week made plain why Republicans are trying to play up divisions. According to the survey, 21 percent of Clinton supporters are supporting McCain and that another 27 percent are still holding out.
Which explains the last line in Bartoshevich’s ad
“A lot of Democrats will vote McCain,” she said. “It's okay, really!”
[http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080825/pl_politico/12791]
Obama Ads Showing Romney Attacking McCain if Mitt is VP
Obama Ads Showing Romney Attacking McCain if Mitt is VP
"McCain doubling down with ads showing the hypocrisy of Biden attacking Obama in the primaries — Romney did way more than that contra McCain."
Ted has left a new comment on your post ""Mitt Romney is the Barak Obama of the Republican ...":
Despite the Dems and the allied main stream media’s desperation to see Romney as McCain’s Veep, Mitt is clearly out, with (1) Obama doubling down on the class warfare theme (McCain’s 7 houses) and (2) McCain doubling down with ads showing the hypocrisy of Biden attacking Obama in the primaries — Romney did way more than that contra McCain.
This leaves only Govs Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty. Pro-abortion Ridge and Dem-Lieberman were never real considerations, despite relentless media goading. Pawlenty’s lackluster TV performances, coupled with Palin pizzazz, the primacy of oil drilling and the ticked off women/Hillary voters, does now portend a McCain/Palin checkmate on the Dems. This is so albeit the Dems and liberal media dare not mention Palin’s name, that is, everyone but…..
And if there’s any question as to Palin being uniquely positioned and able to more than nullify Biden in debate, see the excellent discussion at palinforvp.blogspot.com
Team McCain, well done!!!
The Gay Mafia's Sex Abuse Lobby
I got the email below from the gay mafia attacking a post I did called Pro-Gay Romney 2007/2008 (see below). The anonymous gay mafioso said Evangelical Christian "hypocrites replaced the hypocrite [Catholic] priests into kiddiesex."
Please read an article below I wrote called "The Gay Mafia's Sex Abuse Lobby."
Find out exactly how the members of "the gay rights movement" are the real hypocrites behind the sex abuse lobby's kiddiesex.
Fred
Anonymous said...
I think many fair minded Christians in America who have simply had it with these constant attacks on gay and lesbians by the folks who call themselves Christians. These new hypocrites replaced the hypocrite priests into kiddiesex.
Former Republican here, lifetime Christian of a mainline church which does good things for our community and neighbors, lifetime advocate for the separation of church and state, and a guy who works and enjoys my gay/lesbian friends.
America is tired of this hate campaign of these extremists.
Stop The Hate Rick Scarborough and Friends. You are a pathetic group
Pro-Gay Romney 2007/2008
Romney is not pro-family. Please tell others.
Fred
Pro-Gay Romney Upsets Family Values Leader
By Michelle Vu
Christian Post Reporter
Sun, Dec. 30 2007 10:09 AM ET
[-]Text[+] E-mail Print RSS More on Topic
WASHINGTON – A prominent pro-family leader is urging fellow conservatives to withdraw their support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over his recent expressed support for a “sexual orientation” non-discrimination law.
The Gay Mafia's Sex Abuse Lobby
On Aug. 21, 2002 the Washington Times reported that the U.S. Catholic Bishops' sex abuse advisers are "people who have covered up ... sex between men and children." Moreover, these advisers have had close association with "experts" who "defended sex between men and children."
"The bishops recently chose Dr. Paul McHugh, former chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, as chief behavioral scientist for their new clergy sex crimes review board," the Reisman-Jarrard report in the Times said.
"Yet Dr. McHugh once said Johns Hopkins' Sexual Disorders Clinic, which treats molesters, was justified in concealing multiple incidents of child rape and fondling to police, despite a state law requiring staffers to report them."
McHugh's subordinate, Johns Hopkins clinic head Fred Berlin, according to the report, "admitted he had covered for the sex criminals, angering legislators, child-advocacy groups and state officials. But his actions were not surprising, because 'at least eight men have been convicted of sexually abusing Maryland children while under [Berlin's] treatment there.'"
Dr. Judith Reisman and Dennis Jarrard, who wrote the report, are experts in the field of sex abuse and obscenity. Jarrard served as an adviser to the Los Angeles County Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, while Reisman is an internationally known expert on Alfred Kinsey and sex abuse.
Reisman is president of The Institute for Media Education and has been a consultant to three U.S. Department of Justice administrations and the U.S. Department of Education, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Money Is Berlin's Mentor
The Reisman-Jarrard report said Berlin has been the U.S. Catholic bishops' "chief adviser on child sexual abuse." Yet, according to Reisman, "Dr. Berlin described [pedophilia supporter] Dr. [John] Money as 'one of his most important mentors.'"
The Washington Times report said, "Dr. Money once gave an interview to PAIDIKA – the Journal of Paedophilia, an 'academic' publication that advocates adult sex with children alongside ads for the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) and other pro-pedophilia groups. He told PAIDIKA that a 'relationship' that is 'totally mutual' between a boy of 10 or 11 and an adult male 'would not [be] pathological in any way.'"
On May 30, The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly, said that the Money-Berlin advice to the bishops began when "the founder of St. Luke's Institute, Rev. Michael R. Peterson, M.D. [who later died of AIDS], urges the Church to rely on Berlin and Money in a 1985 paper."
Money Is a Disciple of Kinsey
Reisman, quoted in The Wanderer article, said that "Dr. Berlin and John Money, Ph.D., co-founded a celebrated sexual training and treatment center, The Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic. … Dr. Money, as it turns out, was a dedicated Kinsey disciple, the mentor for June Reinisch [the third Kinsey Institute director] and on the advisory board of the Kinsey Institute."
The Wanderer piece, titled "The Real Experts Advise Bishops: Sue your Experts," claims much of the Church's "recent difficulties" have come about because "many of the Church's key sexuality advisors are associated with" the agenda created by Dr. Alfred Kinsey and the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University.
Reisman in the article urges the U.S. Bishops to sue their Kinsey experts for malpractice:
"To me, this is a case of massive medical malpractice by those in the human sexuality field, as well as consumer fraud, as well as a broad spectrum of other things for the lawyers to sort out. ...[T] hese so-called 'human sexuality educators' have been teaching behaviors that cause dysfunction, that are anti-authority and anti-Church."
The May 20 article, by Paul Likoudis, said that "Kinsey and his colleagues were the driving force behind the legalization of fornication, adultery, bestiality, pedophilia and other immoral, harmful behaviors."
Fraudulent Scientific Data Eliminates Penalties for Sexual Offenses
Kinsey, because of the worldwide influence of his fraudulent scientific data, has been called the father of the homosexual movement by homosexuals, and the father of the sexual revolution as well as the pornography industry and, some say, the sex abuse lobby.
James H. Jones, an Indiana University scholar and Kinsey Institute insider, in an exposé biography titled "Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private Life," shows the motivation behind the Kinseyan "pan-sexualism" agenda.
In the document "How Junk Sex Science Created a Paradigm Shift in Society, Legislation and the Judiciary," Reisman said:
"Jones' data confirms other reports that Kinsey was a sexist, racist and atheist who excluded women, Jews, blacks, and moral traditionalists from his staff and hired only homosexuals and bisexuals (with one short-term exception). Kinsey only hired sexual deviants on whom he could rely to keep his secrets – including his [scientific] fraud, his 'uncommon desires,' and the child molesters he used to conduct child sex experiments. Jones also reported that Kinsey: coerced his wife into participating in acts of adultery and sodomy with his staff and co-authors (which were filmed), seduced male students at Indiana University (and bullied their wives into participating), filmed sex with his male co-workers (who were rewarded by promotion to co-authorship), and filmed himself participating in sado-masochistic sex rituals."
In this report Reisman also said, "Based on his [fraudulent scientific] data, Kinsey claimed that children enjoyed sex and the real harm of adult-child sex stemmed from 'hysterical' parents, teachers and professionals who reacted with anger and horror to children's disclosures. Based on his findings, many legislatures lightened or eliminated penalties for sexual offenses ... toward children as 'victims' in cases of incest and child molestation."
In 1991, the widely respected British medical journal The Lancet verified Reisman's research when it demanded that the Kinsey Institute be investigated, writing:
"The Kinsey reports (one in 1948 on males and the companion five years later) claimed that sexual activity began much earlier in life ... and displayed less horror of age differences and same-sex relationships than anyone at the time imagined. It was as if, to follow Mr. Porter again, 'Anything goes'. In 'Kinsey, Sex and Fraud,' Dr. Judith A. Reisman and her colleagues demolish the foundations of the two [Kinsey] reports."
The Bishops, the "Sex Experts' and the Media's Cover-up
Many believe that the Kinseyan experts and the homosexual network within the Church protected the gay sex abuser at the Dallas meeting. As the National Review's Rod Dreher pointed out on June 13, "the need to avoid the 'elephant in the sacristy [the fact that the vast majority of priest sexual abusers are homosexuals],' in Mary Eberstadt's memorable phrase, is perhaps the only point on which the bishops and the media agree."
To this end, the bishops running the Dallas meeting, according to the June 13 National Review article, had staged "briefings for the media on various aspects of the abuse scandal" by Kinseyan psychiatric panelists such as Fred Berlin, Fr. Stephen Rossetti, Fr. Candice Connors and others with a pro-homosexual agenda.
National Review's Dreher said, "The Rev. Stephen Rossetti, current president of St. Luke's, … is believed by some psychiatrists associated with the Catholic Medical Association to have been a big part of the problem, owing to the advice he's been giving bishops. Rossetti has most recently been downplaying the role homosexuality plays in the scandal."
The bishops, the sex experts and the mass media's suppression of the widely known fact that the vast majority of sexual abusers in the Church scandal are homosexuals was even contradicted earlier in the year by a liberal national magazine.
U.S. News & World Report columnist John Leo reported that studies have shown that 5 percent or less of priests fit the pedophile description. He said, "Most sexual victims of priests are teenage boys [abused in homosexual acts], according to one estimate. A study of Chicago's 2,200 priests identified 40 sexual abusers, only one of whom was a pedophile."
Also, according to the News Agency's "The World Seen From Rome," Hastings Wyman, syndicated homosexual columnist, wrote: "[T]he pattern of sexual abuse among Catholic clergy does suggest a gay problem … 90 percent of the cases of sex with adolescents that have come to light in the Church involved teenage boys, not girls. Do the math." (Between the Lines, May 22, 2002)
During the Dallas bishops meetings on June 15, the homosexual spin group Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) through its network in the Church reported news that the mass media censored. Homosexual activist Cathy Renna, writing for GLAAD's Web site, said that liberal bishops within the church protected the gay sex abuser at the Dallas meeting.
"We also learned more late last night about the anti-gay proposal offered by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Neb. Bruskewitz's 'Amendment 27' would have stated that because the 'current homosexual culture' was the root cause of the sex-abuse crisis, the bishops would be required to force strict conformity with all church doctrines on sexuality. His proposal was soundly rejected on a voice vote, with a source inside the meeting telling me that it received only perhaps a half-dozen votes of support."
During a victory get-together, Renna said she met with "a number of familiar media faces" and Anne Barrett Doyle of the Coalition of Concerned Catholics who is a member of the steering committee for the lay reform movement Voice of the Faithful.
According to Renna, "Anne was one of the first people I spoke with back in March when we were cultivating resources and contacts to offer media outlets. ... Seeing Anne at the cathedral brought to mind how far we've come in the past months."
During those months, the mass media outlets, under the sway of gay activists like Renna and her friend Doyle of Voice of the Faithful, had censored George Will, Pope John Paul II's spokesman Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, and the almost-all-conservative representatives in Dallas who attempted to report the link between homosexuality and sexual abuse by priests, which U.S. News & World Report detailed before the media cover-up.
VOTF and the Doyle-Peterson-Mouton Report
Activist Anne Barrett Doyle and her organization Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) have also taken part in the cover-up of the link between homosexuality and sexual abuse by priests. In fact, VOTF has been promoting the 1985 report by Fr. Michael R. Peterson, which brought the Kinsey experts and pan-sexualism's non-"judgmentalism" into the Church.
As stated earlier, The Wanderer said that the Kinseyan advice to the bishops began when Peterson, who founded the St. Luke Institute (which the Dallas panelists Connors and Rossetti later ran), urged "the Church to rely on Berlin and Money in a 1985 paper" and on his "pan-sexualism" St. Luke Institute.
Even the pro-gay National Catholic Reporter on May 17 admitted that "[t]he [church's highest court, the Vatican] Signatura's brief, later published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, stated: "St. Luke Institute, a clinic founded by a priest [Fr Michael Peterson] who is openly homosexual and based on a mixed doctrine of Freudian pan-sexualism and behaviorism, is surely not a suitable institution apt to judge rightly about the beliefs and the lifestyle of a Catholic priest."
The liberal bishops continued to rely on Peterson for advice despite the Vatican's warning, as shown in the pro-gay National Catholic Reporter's May 17 article:
"By the time of Peterson's death [of AIDS], Cardinal James Hickey of Washington had come to rely on Peterson, along with a number of bishops, for advice in handling sex-offending members of the clergy. During the Mass, Hickey praised Peterson's work at St. Luke Institute, calling him a 'brilliant and hard-working priest.'"
According to the May 30 The Wanderer article "The Homosexual Network and the 1985 Clergy Sex Abuse Report," Peterson was a "disciple" of John Money and a homosexual who once owned and operated his own "sex-change clinic" in San Francisco.
The 1985 Peterson report, which VOTF has been promoting, said:
"We have been hampered in our profession by extreme moral judgmentalism, if I may use the phrase, and it is only in very few medical schools in this country that the issue is treated or even addressed properly. The Johns Hopkins Hospital Sexual Disorders Clinic run by Dr. John Money [who became a pedophilia supporter] and Dr. Fred Berlin [who later covered up for the sex criminals] is probably the 'authority' scientific community. I know personally both of these highly respected scientists and I am very appreciative of their efforts to bring this psychiatric disorder out of the shadows and into the 'scientific daylight' so that we can begin to see the disorder as a psychiatric disease and not a moral weakness [alterboys.tripod.com/moutonreport/pag e_1x.html]."
The VOTF Web site said that the winner of its first VOTF Priest of Integrity Award, the Rev. Thomas Doyle, "[joined] with Rev. Michael Peterson, a priest/psychiatrist who founded a treatment center for clergy, and Ray Mouton, a Louisiana lawyer, [to write] a comprehensive report in 1985, and sent it to every bishop, identifying sexual abuse as a compulsive, lifelong psychosexual disorder, not a moral weakness."
In a report found on the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Web site called "A Short History of the Manual," Doyle said that Money's disciple Peterson "was a friend and collaborator." The "Short History" report said the manual was an "instrument about how to deal with cases of priest-pedophilia."
However, the manual failed to bring out the homosexual sex abuse of teenage boys as the overwhelming component of the problem, which then as now is 90 percent or more of the sex abuse scandal. Also in the case of the pedophilia abuse, the vast majority are boys.
Even the Doyle-Peterson-Mouton manual said, "In my experience, most of the pedophiliac clerics I have seen and my colleagues have dealt with are homosexual pedophiles and not heterosexual pedophiles; this is surprising since the greater percentage in the general population is the opposite."
But instead of bringing out the homosexual abuse problem as the main portion of the scandal, the manual calls it a "Compulsive Heterosexual/Homosexual Acting Out," "Pedophilia or Sexual Molestation of Minors" and "Exhibitionism" problem.
The Doyle-Peterson-Mouton manual said – and Bill Clinton would appreciate this – that "exposing the genitals" to unfamiliar persons "represents one of the 'victimless crimes.'" But the main problem is that the manual uses the standard gay activist spin that VOTF's Anne Barrett Doyle, GLAAD and the media used to censored conservatives in Dallas who attempted to report the link between homosexuality and sexual abuse by priests.
The tactic, as Peterson used for the most part in the Executive Summary of the manual, is to say that the scandal is about pedophilia and then claim that pedophilia is not associated with homosexuality, but is a heterosexual problem or at most a heterosexual/homosexual problem.
The gay activist expert and psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover, who wrote the book "Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth," which the Congressional Record of May 1996 called the "best book on homosexuality written in our times," states this is a standard spin. He writes:
"Activists are aware of the adverse effect on the gay-rights movement that could result if people perceived any degree of routine association between homosexuality and pedophilia. ... They have denied this association by focusing on the (true) fact that – in absolute numbers – heterosexuals commit more child molestation than homosexuals.
"But careful studies show that pedophilia is far more common among homosexuals than heterosexuals."
From the information that Kinsey expert Reisman has documented, Peterson was only following the Kinseyan advice of his mentors Money and Berlin, until his death of AIDS in 1987. Also, Peterson, who was homosexual – as with the gay Kinsey in his data – probably felt a need to cover up the gay connection to the scandal in order to protect his gay subculture and the gay mafia.
Doyle and VOTF Have No Excuse
But Doyle and VOTF, which is the mass media's favorite "Catholic" lay organization to cure the Catholic Church of its sex-abuse scandal, have no excuse.
Every knowledgeable person without an agenda knows the fact that at least 90 percent of the problem is homosexuals "acting out" on teenage boys. VOTF and Doyle have failed to bring out this fact in their many media opportunities.
In fact, in the 1996 Doyle-Demarest memo, Doyle uses the gay activist spin:
"In the past it was common to refer to priests who had sexually abused male children as homosexuals when in fact "pedophiles" would have been the correct term. ... I am convinced that the use of the term "homosexual" when referring to actions with young boys actually meant pedophilia or at least pedophilic acts [www.thelinkup.com/execsum.html]."
Some orthodox Catholics wonder why VOTF, if it really wants to end the sex abuse scandal, gave the Priest of Integrity Award to Doyle instead of the Latino Fr. Enrique Rueda, who in 1982 wrote "The Homosexual Network."
In the book Rueda documented how disgraced homosexual Archbishop Rembert Weakland and other church leaders brought gay activists into the heart of the church. Connie Marshner of the Free Congress Foundation in a March report "We Were Warned" said:
"The name of the fair city of Boston appears frequently in Fr. Rueda's pages, giving it the dubious distinction of being the birthplace of NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association (an interesting coincidence in light of subsequent developments). Also interesting to note is that one [now infamous mass pedophile] Fr. Paul Shanley attended the NAMBLA convention in Boston, supposedly on behalf of the then-Catholic Archbishop, Medeiros."
"In the early days of 'gay liberation,' 1972, a National Coalition of Gay Organizations adopted a "Gay Rights Platform." This list of demands included one to repeal all laws governing the age of sexual consent – a matter of some obvious concern to pederasts."
For his efforts to end the scandal Reuda, according to the March 30 The Wanderer article, was "exiled by his bishop Matthew Clark of Rochester, NY, refused incardination by every other American bishop, and is today, an official 'nonperson' in the American church."
If VOTF and the liberal bishops really want to end the church scandal, then they have to stop covering up the gay part of 90 percent of the scandal. If VOTF and Doyle really want to end the pedophilia part of the scandal, then they have to expose the fraudulent scientific data eliminating penalties for sexual abusers and the Kinseyan "experts" who are advising the bishops.
If not, then VOTF needs to take the advice that Doyle recently gave in Canada:
"Any institution that enables the cover-up, protects the abusers or the authorities that hide them, doesn't deserve to exist."
Romney using proxies to convince voters he really IS anti-gay, really
Romney using proxies to convince voters he really IS anti-gay, really
by John Aravosis (DC) · 1/02/2008 10:24:00 PM ET · Link
Sorry, Charlie, that pink boat sailed years ago. I've mentioned before that Ted Kennedy's campaign recruited me back in 1994 to help them fight Romney's attempt to convince voters in Massachusetts that he was really more pro-gay, and would do more for gays, than Ted Frigging Kennedy. They asked me to write a letter to the editor of the gay paper in Boston (and I did) explaining that Romney wasn't really as good an honorary homosexual as Kennedy. That's how bad things were, that's how successful Romney was in pleading his case that he was the best thing to hit the gay agenda since Judy Garland and disco.
Ted Kennedy, folks. That was Romney's mentor - nay - the guy Romney claimed didn't hold a candle to him on his support for gay rights. It's no wonder Romney is pulling out all the stops to convince Republican primary voters that he's not REALLY pro-gay. If Romney were any more pro-gay, his wife would be his husband.[http://www.americablog.com/2008/01/romney-using-proxies-to-convince-voters.html]
Mitt Romney's Liberal Paradigm Shift: a Republican FOR Homosexual 'Special Rights'
MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 4 /Christian Newswire/ -- Peter LaBarbera, founder of Republicans For Family Values, today criticized GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his "novel pro- homosexual positioning in the GOP." On Dec. 16, Romney (the alleged "conservative" in the race) told NBC's "Meet the Press" that "it makes sense at the state level" to enact pro-homosexual "sexual orientation" laws. (Last week, CNN's Roland Martin reported that Romney told him that he opposes "gay marriage," but supports "gay rights.")
LaBarbera issued the following statement:
Mitt Romney just doesn't get it on the homosexual agenda, and if he doesn't get at after serving as governor of liberal Massachusetts -- where "gay marriage," homosexual adoption and pro- homosexuality indoctrination in schools ALL were advanced by the sort of pro-gay "sexual orientation" laws he's now espousing -- then he's not going to get it at the federal level.
Romney is already using his bully pulpit as a candidate to affirm "gay rights"-- even AFTER he's earned the backing of pro-family leaders who seemingly would have much to teach him about the danger and misuse of pro-homosexual laws. (Note that Romney uses gay-affirming "discrimination" rhetoric even with regard to the Boy Scouts' ban on homosexuals.)
I don't know any serious pro-lifers who are pro- homosexuality. We all have compassion for homosexual strugglers, but we draw the line at laws that would distort "civil rights" to include sinful and changeable homosexual behavior -- because these laws will be used to compel individuals, business and even ministries to violate their beliefs and support homosexual relationships (see the Weekly Standard article, "Banned in Boston," about Boston Catholic Charities electing to close down its historic adoption agency rather than place kids in homosexual households).
Romney is trying to shift the GOP's pro-family paradigm on homosexuality, and it's an unwise shift -- much like retreating from a principled position on pro- life (e.g., "I'm pro-choice but not pro-partial-birth abortion"). Due to Romney's potential for being the "Nixon-goes-to-China" president who advances pro-homosexuality agendas in the GOP -- I cannot support him.
Why do the same conservative pundits who have assailed Mick Huckabee and John McCain as too liberal, promote the fiction that Mitt Romney - who strongly defended abortion-on-demand and who remains in favor of anti-Christian homosexual special rights laws as a Mormon -- is a "conservative"?
Christian Newswire
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11664
Why is the Media Covering up Romney's Gay Agenda Record?
The reason the media is for Romney is because he was the Gay Mafia's Top Governor in the US. No Republican even comes close to being as pink as Romney was and is!
What is the difference between Giuliani and Romney?
Romney seems to be deeper in the pocket of the Gay Mafia. Even Giuliani seemed afraid to give a "Christmas Present to the 'Gay' Lobby." He made drag queen Giuliani look like a boy scout. Read the evidence below.
Fred
Mitt Romney's Christmas Present to the 'Gay' Lobby Should End Pro-Family Leaders' Support for his Candidacy
CHICAGO, December 26, 2007/Christian Newswire/ -- Peter LaBarbera, longtime pro- family advocate and founder of the Republicans For Family Values website, is calling on pro-family leaders who have endorsed Mitt Romney to withdraw their support for his candidacy in light of his recent comments on NBC's "Meet the Press" supporting pro-homosexual "sexual orientation" state laws.
"Mitt Romney's Christmas present to the homosexual lobby disqualifies him as a pro-family leader," LaBarbera said. "Laws that treat homosexuality as a civil right are being used to promote homosexual 'marriage,' same-sex adoption and pro- homosexuality indoctrination of schoolchildren. These same laws pose a direct threat to the freedom of faith- minded citizens and organizations to act on their religious belief that homosexual behavior is wrong.
"Romney may have had a late conversion on abortion, but it appears his ninth-inning flip-flop on homosexuality is falling short due to his strong commitment to 'gay rights,'" LaBarbera said. (See the 'Mitt Romney Deception' report) "Now some pro- family leaders -- who have raised millions of dollars over the years opposing 'gay' activism -- will need to explain how they can go on supporting an openly pro- homosexual-agenda candidate."
LaBarbera said it is "inconceivable after Massachusetts' twin disasters involving homosexual 'marriage' and homosexual adoption that Romney now is recommending pro- homosexual 'orientation' laws -- long derided as "special rights" among social conservatives - to the rest of the nation.
"In Romney's own state of Massachusetts, the state 'sexual orientation' nondiscrimination law laid the groundwork for homosexual activists' campaign to legalize 'same-sex marriage' -- which then-Gov. Romney brought to fruition with his unnecessary and illegal directive granting marriage licenses to homosexual partners," LaBarbera said. "The same pro-gay state law also forced Boston's Catholic Charities to shut down its century-old adoption agency because it would not pledge to place children in homosexual-led households against Catholic teaching.
"Given Romney's extensive pro-homosexual record and willingness now to depart from principle on this crucial issue, should we trust a 'President Romney' not to reverse course again on federal pro- homosexual laws such as 'Hate Crimes' and ENDA (Employment Nondiscrimination Act)?" LaBarbera said.
The following is excerpted from Romney's "Meet the Press" interview December 16 with Tim Russert:
MR. RUSSERT: You said [in 1994] that you would sponsor [Sen. Ted Kennedy's federal] Employment Nondiscrimination Act. Do you still support it?
GOV. ROMNEY: At the state level. I think it makes sense at the state level for states to put in provision of this.
MR. RUSSERT: Now, you said you would sponsor it at the federal level.
GOV. ROMNEY: I would not support at the federal level, and I changed in that regard because I think that policy makes more sense to be evaluated or to be implemented at the state level.
Republicans For Family Values is a website dedicated to defending pro-life and pro-natural-family principles within the GOP. For identification purposes only, LaBarbera is also president of Americans For Truth about Homosexuality.
Christian Newswire
Homosexual "Rights"
Gov. Romney has a long history of promoting and furthering the homosexual agenda, and working closely with leading gay activists
In February 2005, The American Spectator observed of Romney, "He is pro-choice and, aside from the marriage debate, generally in agreement with gay-rights advocates."
- American Spectator, 2/23/2005
In March, 2005, Boston's leading homosexual newspaper, Bay Windows, told its readers that Romney's pro-gay record belies his new-found "conservatism":
"Governor Romney has been touring the country in the past few weeks, courting anti-gay right-wingers in South Carolina, Missouri, and Utah with speeches designed to show that he is firmly in their camp. Yet a look at Romney's record shows that his Rick Santorum drag act is a relatively new phenomenon."
- Bay Windows, 3/3/2005
Romney twice sought and received the endorsement of the homosexual Log Cabin Republican Club
Both times Romney ran for public office - in 1994 running for US Senate against Ted Kennedy and in 2002 running for Governor of Massachusetts - he sought and received the formal endorsement of the Log Cabin Republican (LCR) Club PAC. This is the same group that in 2004 spent $1 million nationally in key swing states on TV ads that attacked President Bush for supporting a federal Marriage Protection Amendment.
In his 1994 US Senate campaign, Romney actually competed with his Republican primary opponent, John Lakian, for the Log Cabin Club's endorsement! Here's how Bay Windows described it:
But what struck the gay GOP during that campaign, according to Massachusetts Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), was Romney's accessibility to and comfort within the local gay community. Romney and his Republican primary opponent, John Lakian, attended an LCR-sponsored candidate's forum during the campaign, where they both competitively vied for the organization's endorsement -- which Romney eventually won. During the course of his campaign, LCR member and former president Mark Goshko told Bay Windows, Romney held several meetings with group members and at least two LCR members joined his staff. Though gay Republicans were by no means running Romney's campaign, "it was really a multi-level involvement," Goshko stated. "Our people were very involved officially and outside of [the campaign]."
- Bay Windows, 3/28/2002
"In seeking the support of the Log Cabin Republican Club, Romney wrote them a letter promising that 'as we seek to establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent.' " [His opponent at the time was Sen. Ted Kennedy, perhaps the foremost advocate of homosexual rights in the U.S. Senate.]
- Boston Globe, 10/17/1994
Read Romney's letter to Log Cabin Club (Adobe Acrobat format)
And in the 2002 gubernatorial race, Romney was again courting the homosexual community:
"It's 9:15 a.m. and Republican gubernatorial nominee Mitt Romney is in good spirits. He's just wrapped up a meeting with the Massachusetts Log Cabin Republicans at Mario's restaurant in Boston, where he won his first endorsement from a gay organization . . . According to Mark Goshko, a former LCR president, the group's 15-member board of governors, the body that votes to endorse candidates, made the unanimous decision after meeting with the Romney campaign and holding extensive discussions."
- Bay Windows, 10/24/2002
Romney's campaign distributed pro-gay rights campaign literature during Boston's "Gay Pride" events
The annual "Gay Pride" events in Boston, as in other cities across the country, regularly feature obscene and degrading floats, handouts, and activities:
"During his 2002 gubernatorial run his campaign distributed bright pink flyers during Pride that declared 'Mitt and Kerry [running mate Kerry Healey] wish you a great Pride weekend! All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual preference.' Romney also argued that he would not only support gay friendly policies but would fight on behalf of the gay community to secure benefits such as domestic partner benefits and hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples."
- Bay Windows 3/3/2005
Romney supports homosexual "anti-discrimination" laws
Such laws are usually carried out at the expense of freedom of religion and speech. For example, they would allow lawsuits against a Christian book store owner for refusing to hire a homosexual activist applicant.
"The state LCR [Log Cabin Republican Club] worked with Romney's unsuccessful campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994. Romney won the LCR endorsement primarily based on his support for the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a pro-gay piece of legislation that at the time had little Republican support."
- Bay Windows, 10/24/2002
"[Romney] did, however, pledge to support the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation, and other civil rights protections for gays in the areas of housing and credit. He also promised to bring the initiatives begun in Massachusetts to protect gay and lesbian youth to the federal level."
- Bay Windows, 3/28/2002
"[David] Rogers, who was president of the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts when Romney was a gubernatorial candidate in 2002, said that while Romney made clear he was opposed to gay marriage, he said that he would fight any form of discrimination and left the impression he wouldn't crusade against gay rights.
- Boston Globe, 3/11/2004
Romney advocates homosexual couples' adoption rights be recognized by the government
"There will be children born to same-sex couples, and adopted by same-sax couples, and I believe that there should be rights and privileges associated with those unions and with the children that are part of those unions." On another occasion, his spokesman "declined to state Romney's position on whether homosexual couples should be allowed to adopt, and declined to say whether the governor opposes gay adoptions."
- State House press conference, 6/15/2005
- Boston Globe, 3/2/2006
Romney supports homosexual domestic partnerships
When he was campaigning for Governor, Romney positioned himself to the left of the Democrat Speaker of the House, Tom Finneran, on domestic partnerships, during an interview with Bay Windows:
"Basically I see the provision of basic civil rights and domestic partnership benefits [as] a campaign against Tom Finneran. I see Tom Finneran and the Democratic leadership as having opposed the application of domestic partnership benefits to gay and lesbian couples and I will support and endorse efforts to provide those domestic partnership benefits to gay and lesbian couples," says Romney.
- Bay Windows, 10/24/2002
"On Gay Rights: All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual orientation. While he does not support gay marriage, Mitt Romney believes domestic partnership status should be recognized in a way that includes the potential for health benefits and rights of survivorship."
- Romney's 2002 campaign website
Romney said at a State House press conference:
"If this [proposed constitutional marriage] amendment were to pass, at that stage I would support legislation which would provide certain domestic partnership benefits, like hospital visitation rights, and rights of survivorship, and so forth.- State House press conference, 6/15/2005
Romney supported and promoted legalizing homosexual civil unions
Within days of the Goodridge ruling, Romney announced that he supported homosexual civil unions:
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said yesterday he was ready to work with lawmakers to craft a "civil union"-style law to give some marriage rights to homosexual couples, even though he also supports a constitutional amendment to preserve traditional marriage . . . Mr. Romney yesterday told TV news stations that he would support a Vermont-style civil union law in Massachusetts, but reiterated his support for a constitutional amendment that would clarify that "marriage is an institution between a man and a woman."
- Washington Times, 11/20/2003
In 2005, Romney tried to tell South Carolina Republicans that he had always opposed civil unions:
Massachusetts Governor Romney is coming under fire for comments he made about gay marriage to Republican activists in South Carolina. Romney told Monday night's gathering in Spartanburg County that he's always been opposed to same-sex marriage as well as what he called "it's equivalent, civil unions." Romney, however, has for months backed a proposed amendment to the Massachusetts constitution that would ban gay marriage but provide for civil unions with the same rights and responsibilities as marriage. Massachusetts State Representative Phil Travis says Romney can't be for civil unions when he's in Massachusetts and against them when he's out-of-state. Travis has been a leading opponent of same-sex unions.
- Associated Press, 2/23/2005
Romney strong-armed conservative Republicans into supporting a constitutional amendment that included civil unions:
Through all the twists and shifts during the gay-marriage debate this year, there was one constant: 22 Republicans in the House of Representatives opposed every measure that would grant gay couples civil unions in the constitution. That all changed yesterday, however, when 15 of that 22-member bloc broke away at the urging of Governor Mitt Romney and voted in favor of a proposed amendment that would ban gay marriage but create Vermont-style civil unions. Those 15 members provided the margin of victory, observers from both camps said yesterday after the measure passed by just five votes. In the end, the 15 agreed that approving a measure that they viewed as highly undesirable was preferable to the possibility that nothing would be sent to the state ballot for voters to weigh in on.
- Boston Globe 3/30/2004
(Note: This amendment, which included mandated provisions for civil unions, was ultimately defeated in the Legislature and never did go to the voters.)
Romney Opposes the Boy Scouts' Ban on Homosexual Scoutmasters
Despite the over 2,500 pedophilia cases now on record involving homosexual scout leaders, Romney stated, "I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation." In the same article, a BSA official criticized Romney for opposing Scout policy.
- Boston Globe, 10/27/1994
Romney barred Boy Scouts from public participation in 2002 Olympics
The 2002 Olympics - run by Mitt Romney - was the only Olympics that restricted the Boy Scouts from participating. According to news reports, this was apparently because of pressure from homosexual activists. (But also, according to reports, homosexual groups participated fairly prominently.) Romney would not respond to reporters' questions about that action.
The largest Boy Scout council in the country responded to the call for volunteers issued by the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee, but the welcome mat was rolled up and the door slammed in its face. Olympic spokesmen for the 2002 winter games say the exclusion has nothing to do with recent protests by gay activists. While the organizing committee for the Olympic event is prominently displaying a call for local volunteers, they have explicitly let it be known that the Boy Scouts need not apply. "For us not to be involved is discouraging, considering the Atlanta games. The Scouting council there was extremely involved," said Kay Godfrey, professional Scout executive for the Great Salt Lake Council of Boy Scouts.
- NewsMax.com, Dec. 18, 2000
Homosexual activism in government
Romney appointed prominent homosexuals to key positions in his administration
"Romney also continues [former Governor] Weld's tradition of appointing openly gay people to key positions in his administration. One of his first cabinet appointments was Daniel Grabauskas, who Romney chose to serve in his cabinet as Secretary of the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction. The new governor's transition team also included several openly gay people, including Grabauskas, former lieutenant governor candidate and current president of the National Log Cabin Republicans Patrick Guerriero and former Mass. Log Cabin president Mark Goshko. Other gay Romney appointees include John Wagner, commissioner of the state welfare department, Mitchell Adams, executive director of the Massachusetts Technology collaborative and Jonathan Spampinato, a member of Romney's Diversity and Equality Opportunity Council."
- Bay Windows, 3/3/2005
(Note: These appointees aren't just "gay" people, they're committed homosexual activists. Grabauskas, for example, had previously served as head of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles where he instituted a policy of placing a sex-change check-off box on drivers license renewal forms.)
Drivers license renewal form
Romney appointed prominent homosexual activists and Democrats as judges
"Governor Mitt Romney, who touts his conservative credentials to out-of-state Republicans, has passed over GOP lawyers for three-quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he has faced, instead tapping registered Democrats or independents -- including two gay lawyers who have supported expanded same-sex rights, a Globe review of the nominations has found. Of the 36 people Romney named to be judges or clerk magistrates, 23 are either registered Democrats or unenrolled voters who have made multiple contributions to Democratic politicians or who voted in Democratic primaries, state and local records show. In all, he has nominated nine registered Republicans, 13 unenrolled voters, and 14 registered Democrats."
- Boston Globe 7/25/2005
Romney Rewards one of the State's Leading Anti-Marriage Attorneys by Making him a Judge
Romney told the U.S. Senate on June 22, 2004, that the "real threat to the States is not the constitutional amendment process, in which the states participate, but activist judges who disregard the law and redefine marriage . . ." Romney sounds tough but yet he had no qualms advancing the legal career of one of the leading anti-marriage attorneys. He nominated Stephen Abany to a District Court. Abany has been a key player in the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association which, in its own words, is "dedicated to ensuring that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision on marriage equality is upheld, and that any anti-gay amendment or legislation is defeated."
Press release from governor's office 5/4/2005
- U.S. Senate testimony by Gov. Mitt Romney, 6/22/2004
Stephen Abany testified at the State House in 1999 advocating a bill to repeal the sodomy laws in Massachusetts. This type of activism obviously did not bother Romney.
- Lawyers' Weekly 2/14/2000
Romney announces he won't fill judicial vacancies before term ends
Despite his rhetoric about judicial activism, Romney announced that he won't fill all the remaining vacancies during his term - but instead leave them for his liberal Democrat successor!
Governor Mitt Romney pledged yesterday not to make a flurry of lame-duck judicial appointments in the final days of his administration . . . David Yas, editor of Lawyers Weekly, said Romney is "bucking tradition" by resisting the urge to fill all remaining judgeships. "It is a tradition for governors to use that power to appoint judges aggressively in the waning moments of their administration," Yas said. He added that Romney has been criticized for failing to make judicial appointments. "The legal community has consistently criticized him for not filling open seats quickly enough and being a little too painstaking in the process and being dismissive of the input of the Judicial Nominating Commission," Yas said.
- Boston Globe 11/2/2006
Romney's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth used huge taxpayer funding to promote homosexuality in the public schools
During most of Romney's term in office, there existed an agency called the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. It was established before Romney came to power but it existed throughout his tenure. Even though he had legal control over this entity and the Commissioners served at his pleasure, he never dissolved the Commission, nor attempted to dictate who its members were, nor even restricted how it used its funding. Romney could have appointed pro-family people or representatives from ex-homosexual groups to serve on this Commission, but he never did.
The Governor's Commission was perhaps the largest government-sanctioned promoter of the homosexual agenda to children in the United States. This entity spent millions of state tax dollars promoting the gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender (GLBT) radicalism in Massachusetts schools by inundating them with GLBT speakers, presentations, films, books, parades, dances, posters, handouts, and help establishing GLBT clubs on campus. These events provided a model for homosexual activists around the country.
(Note: See entire section below - "Romney's Commission organized public gay 'Youth Pride Day' parades and 'transgender proms' which promote unhealthy and risky behavior.")
Instead of dissolving the Commission, Romney continued to fund it:
More recently Romney proposed allocating $250,000 for the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth for fiscal year 2006, twice what he proposed for FY05. The Legislature ultimately funded the commission at $250,000 for FY05, so Romney's proposal for next year amounts to level funding, and the proposal is still a far cry from $1.6 million the commission received in the mid-'90s before the state budget crisis. Yet as commission co-chair Kathleen Henry said, Romney could just as easily have dissolved the program. "We serve completely at the will of the governor," said Henry.
- Bay Windows 3/3/2005
When Romney was criticized for Commission's funding, the homosexual activists came to his defense:
Kathleen Henry, chairwoman of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, defended Romney. Henry said the governor's fiscal 2006 budget plan included $250,000 for the commission, twice as much as he proposed spending in 2005. ''The fact that he doubled last year's [proposed budget allocation] this year is huge to us. It's really huge. It says to us clearly that he gets the service for what it really is," said Henry.
- Boston Globe 7/1/2005
Twice after the Legislature approved funding for the Commission, Romney then appeased pro-family activists by vetoing it! However, since there are not enough Republicans to sustain vetoes, a veto is largely a charade, and the homosexual lobby was never seriously concerned when it happened. And Romney never put any effort into sustaining the vetoes. This enabled Romney to appear "pro-family," while the homosexuals still got their funding.
When Romney vetoed money for his Governor's Commission, here's what he told the Boston Globe his reasons were (still pandering to the homosexual activists):
Romney said his vetoes were motivated by fiscal prudence, not opposition to the programs or presidential politics. Even with his vetoes, the state would spend more than $1 million on teen pregnancy prevention and $250,000 on the programs for gay and lesbian youth. . . [Romney said,] ''The work that they're doing to prevent suicide and prevent violence is important work, and we support the work which they're doing . . . [but] we didn't see a need to raise their budget by 40 percent."
- Boston Globe, 7/1/2005
In May 2006, as he prepared his run for the presidency, MassResistance presented the Governor's office with shocking photographs of events and activities sponsored or organized by the Commission. A few days later, Romney announced his intention to dissolve the Commission. But within hours of that announcement, under pressure from the homosexual community, the Governor changed his mind. "We inundated him with outrage," one homosexual activist told the Boston Globe. So instead, the governor simply told the Commission members that it must focus on its "original mission" [which involves affirming homosexuality to children in the schools].
- Boston Globe, 5/12/2006 In June 2006, fearful that a future Governor might dissolve the Governor's Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth, homosexual activists in the Legislature slipped an item into the 2007 budget creating a much more powerful "Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth" which is independent of control by the Governor. Under extreme pressure from pro-family activists Romney vetoed that line item, but he made no effort to sustain the veto (the effort to sustain it was led by a Democrat!) and the veto was overridden. At that point, Romney simply dissolved the old Governor's Commission because, he said, it was now "duplicative."
Governor's executive order.
Romney's Commission organized public gay "Youth Pride Day" parades and "transgender proms" which promote unhealthy and risky behavior
The Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth had no restrictions on the mixing of unscreened adult homosexuals and children. The Commission sponsored a "Youth Pride Parade" each year which features boys - some wearing women's clothes -- and adult homosexual activists.
Photos of this parade
Details of the homosexual youth group funded by Romney which organizes "Youth Pride"
Youth Pride Day ends with a "GLBT Prom" at Boston City Hall Plaza where children as young as middle school age are allowed to mingle with cruising homosexual adults. Perhaps Romney should have proclaimed this day "Pedophile Heaven Day." The prom is promoted by the Governor's Commission and sponsored by the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth (BAGLY), a group that has promoted adult-child sex and has received funding from the Governor's Commission. (The executive director of BAGLY is a male-to-female transsexual.)
Photos of the prom and a flyer handed out by pedophiles seeking boys at that event.
Info on the BAGLY, pedophilia and its connection to the Commission
More info on BAGLY and its connection to the Commission
This shocking and sad spectacle of promoting the homosexual lifestyle to youth continued right through 2006. On March 27, 2006, Romney's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth issued a statement on Romney's Governor's Commission letterhead stating, "There's no place like Youth Pride….In celebration of their lives and diversity, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) youth and their supporters [mostly adult homosexuals] will gather by the thousands to kick off Massachusetts' 12th annual Youth Pride on Saturday, May 13th at noon on Boston Common."
Press release from Governor's office on this event
Romney issues a proclamation celebrating gay "Youth Pride Day"
In 2004, Romney issued an official state proclamation celebrating "Gay Youth Pride Day" even though there was no legal reason requiring him to do this. The proclamation proudly touted "landmark" gay rights legislation in Massachusetts and boasted of supporting "the Commonwealth's gay and lesbian youth through school-based and educational programs."
Proclamation from the Governor's office
Note by always using the phrase "gay and lesbian youth," Romney has accepted the dangerous myth that homosexuals are born that way despite zero evidence. He has also accepted the homosexual movement's propaganda that young teens can understand and "declare" themselves to be gay. The Proclamation also urges, "all citizens to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance." So not only does Romney honor this shocking event promoting a dangerous and immoral lifestyle to children, but he wants the rest of the state to honor it as well!
Romney's Department of Education promotes the homosexual agenda
Under Romney's leadership, the Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) continued to be rabidly pro-homosexual. The Department's website is full of "How To" information for homosexual activists within the public schools. One document titled "10 Easy Steps to Starting a GSA [Gay/Straight Alliance]", advises organizers to "find a meeting spot that gives members a sense of security and privacy." Other documents discuss "coming out to friends and family." Many of the programs come under the name of "Safe Schools" or "Anti-Bullying" programs but the goal of these activities is to reassure children that "It's OK to be Gay." This is a horrible fraud perpetrated on children and nowhere on this website do they mention groups that counsel sexually confused youth, state that the behavior is reversible or even mention the names of ex-homosexual organizations. To see the DOE's pro-homosexual propaganda, go to the DOE website or go to these links on that website:
The Safe Schools Program for Gay & Lesbian Students
"Outright" pamphlet distributed to kids
How to start a Gay/Straight Alliance at school
Gay/Straight Alliance Student Guide
Gay/Straight Alliance resources page
In conjunction with The Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, the DOE has worked hand and hand with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Parents, Friends, and Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to sponsor radical pro-homosexual assemblies and workshops at public schools. Before Romney was elected, one such session was taped by pro-family activists at which presenters described to children how to engage in a highly dangerous homosexual activity called "fisting" which violated both health and obscenity codes. This received nationwide publicity. Despite this incident, the incoming Romney administration did nothing to institute new regulations to prevent such atrocities from happening again. Indeed, during Romney's tenure, the Commission and the DOE continued to work closely with GLSEN and PGLAG, organizations that distribute literature and books with highly inappropriate sexual themes including adult-children sex.
Full report on the "fisting" incident
Info on how GLSEN works with the Governor's Commission
How PFLAG promotes pedophilia
The DOE's "Youth Risk Behavior Survey", given to school children across the state in several grades, asks them if they are heterosexual, gay or lesbian, bisexual, or "not sure" and how frequently they engage in hetero and homosexual sex.
Info on 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey
Romney's DOE has failed to properly enforce the state's Parental Notification Act, the parents' right to opt their children out of sex ed curricula, when school systems have claimed that the law's "human sexuality issues" phrase does not apply to homosexuality or transgender subject matter. This has caused enormous stresses for parents trying to uphold their own values, and has led to incidents such as in Lexington, where parent David Parker was arrested and spent a night in jail over the school's refusal to obey the notification law regarding his 6-year-old son in kindergarten. As there was no redress within the DOE, Parker ultimately initiated an expensive federal Civil Rights lawsuit which is still in process.
Information on the David Parker incident
Romney's Department of Public Health (DPH) cooperates with the homosexual activist movement
Romney's Department of Public Health contributed to the The Little Black Book: Queer in the 21st Century, a shocking publication apparently in violation of obscenity codes. Distributed to middle-school and high-school students at a GLSEN conference at Brookline High School, it discussed highly dangerous homosexual practices such as fisting and what homosexuals call "water sports." To be more specific, here's one quote: "There is little risk of STD infection and no risk of HIV infection from playing with pee." Massachusetts physician John Diggs commented that this book is "alarming, disheartening, and medically unethical." It is clear that one of the major themes of Romney's DPH (including the outreach programs it supports for homosexual adults) is how to have homosexual sex "safely," a philosophy that in reality endangers the health of its own citizens.
Full report on Little Black Book
After The Little Black Book attracted statewide and nationwide attention, Romney belatedly issued a statement that the book is "grossly inappropriate," but no DPH employees suffered any consequences, nor did this incident result in any restrictions on how the DPH spends its money. As usual, Romney's statement was just rhetoric.
Romney's Director of the HIV/AIDS Bureau in the DPH, Kevin Cranston, is a long-time gay activist with no known medical training and was a co-founder of BAGLY (see above). Cranston fought compliance with the CDC's recommendation to track HIV-infected patients by name rather than anonymous ID numbers (as demanded by gay activists).
- Bay Windows, 2/9/2006
The above stories should be considered in light of the Boston Globe's report that Romney keeps a tight rein on his DPH. - Boston Globe, 9/10/2006
Romney opposed federal legislation that would stop public schools from promoting homosexuality
When Romney was running against Sen. Ted Kennedy, Bay Windows asked him how he would have voted on an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that would ban federal funds from public schools which are “encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative.” He answered:
"I would have opposed that amendment. I don’t think the federal government has any business dictating to local school boards what their curriculum or practices should be. I think that’s a dangerous precedent in general. I would have opposed that. It also grossly misunderstands the gay community by insinuating that there’s an attempt to proselytize a gay lifestyle on the part of the gay community. I think it’s wrong-headed and unfortunate and hurts the party by being identified with the Republican party."
- Bay Windows, 8/25/1994
Romney's Dept. of Social Services honors homosexual "married" couple as adoptive "Parents of the Year"
The Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS), run by the Romney administration, honored a homosexual "married" couple (two men) as their adoptive "Parents of the Year" for 2006. The DSS has gained a reputation for being aggressively pro-homosexual over recent years. This incident sparked outrage across the country, but to our knowledge no policies or personnel at DSS were changed as a result.
- Waltham Daily News Tribune, 8/4/2006
Homosexual "Marriage"
Romney refused to endorse the original 2002 Mass. constitutional amendment absolutely defining marriage as one man and one women
In 2002, before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared same-sex marriage protected by the Constitution, Romney denounced as "too extreme" the effort by pro-family groups to enact a preemptive state Marriage Protection Amendment prohibiting homosexual marriage, civil unions and same-sex public employee benefits.
- Boston Phoenix, May 14-20, 2004
"Mitt Romney's wife, son, and daughter-in-law signed a petition in support of a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban both gay marriage and domestic-partner benefits in Massachusetts - an amendment that Romney himself condemned as too extreme after being told of his family's support for it. … Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney campaign spokesman, said Romney opposes gay marriage but also opposes the amendment, since he sees no reason to change the current laws, which allow for domestic-partner benefits to public employees.… 'Mitt did not know they signed it, and Mitt does not support it,' he said. 'As far as Mitt is concerned, it goes farther than current law, and therefore it's unnecessary.' "
- Boston Globe 3/22/2002
"Romney was unaware his family members had signed the amendment petition, said Fehrnstrom, and he does not support the "Protection of Marriage" amendment. "He is opposed to gay marriage, but in the case of the 'defense of marriage' amendment Mitt believes it goes too far in that it would outlaw domestic partnership for non-traditional couples. That is something he is not prepared to accept."
- Bay Windows 3/28/02
Romney unnecessarily (and unconstitutionally) implemented homosexual marriages in Massachusetts
After the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that same-sex "marriages" were protected by the Massachusetts Constitution, Romney (1) issued altered marriage licenses and (2) ordered town clerks to issue the licenses and Justices of the Peace to perform same-sex marriages when requested, or be fired. However, he did not have to do this, and there is strong evidence that this was illegal. The Court ruling simply advised the Legislature to pass legislation codifying its opinion on changing the marriage statutes. Romney was NOT bound to enforce same-sex marriages prior to legislative action. Yet Romney jumped the gun and needlessly advanced the homosexual agenda by granting the marriage rights without a fight. Furthermore, Romney still has the authority to reverse his actions via Executive Order before his term is out.
Research & report on Romney and same-sex marriage in Mass.
For a legal review of Romney's implementation of same-sex marriage
Many pro-family leaders inside and outside Massachusetts, including columnist Patrick J. Buchanan, Professor Hadley Arkes of Amherst College, and Mathew Staver, Esq. of Liberty Counsel all urged Romney to defy the Court ruling and halt the marriages via Executive Order. But there was no public response from Romney.
- Patrick J. Buchanan, 2/9/2004
- Agape Press, 3/30/2004
- Prof. Hadley Arkes, in National Review Online, 5/17/2004
- Matt Staver, Esq., Liberty Counsel, July 2004
Despite his rhetoric against judicial activism, Romney refused to support the "Bill of Address" resolution to remove the judges. (Similar to impeachment, this is a procedure whereby a judge is removed for abusing his office. Interestingly, it was sponsored by conservative Democrats!) Romney would not support this effort even though it was obvious by the wording of the ruling that the judges had displayed their personal biases - and ignored facts - to rule in favor of homosexual marriages. But more troubling was that Chief Justice Margaret Marshall had clearly violated the Code of Judicial Conduct by appearing as keynote speaker advocating expansion of homosexual rights at a Mass. Lesbian and Gay Bar Association fundraiser in 1999. (Judges are forbidden to speak at any fundraiser, and must recuse themselves from a case if they have publicly advocated a position relating to it.) Yet Romney ignored all this, and he told a press conference in June 2005, "I'm not looking to recall the judges."
- State House press conference, 6/15/2005 (Romney quote)
- WorldNetDaily, 4/24/2004 (Bill of Address)
- WorldNetDaily, 5/8/2004 (Chief Justice Marshall's ethical issues)
In February 2004, Romney wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal attacking judicial activism and urging legislators around the country to strengthen their marriage statutes. But he later made no effort to support bills which were in the State Legislature to remove the four Mass. Supreme Court judges (the "Bill of Address") and to strengthen the definition of marriage.
- Wall Street Journal, 2/5/2004
- MassNews, 12/2/2004 (bills filed by Article 8 Alliance)
Romney had marriage licenses changed to allow same-sex marriages
Some time in early 2004 (no record can be found of the order), Romney directed his Department of Public Health to change the state marriage license to read "Party A" and Party "B", replacing "Husband" and "Wife". None of this was required by any law passed by the legislature or even ordered by the court.
See an actual copy of a Massachusetts marriage license
But later in 2005, Romney made it clear that he understood that only the Legislature could change certificates of this nature, when he refused to alter birth certificates for children of same-sex couples to say "Parent A" and "Parent B", instead of "Mother" and "Father".
- Boston Globe, 7/22/2005
Romney administration ordered Justices of Peace to perform homosexual "marriages" when asked - or be fired!
Gov. Romney's Legal Counsel issued a directive to the Justices of the Peace that they must perform same-sex marriages or "face personal liability" or be fired. The directive was given to perform the homosexual marriages without citing any statute permitting this, though a statute is cited as a basis for not marrying out-of-state homosexual couples. (No date is given on the directive; it was apparently issued approximately 4-27-06.) Said Romney's Chief Legal Counsel, David Winslow: "Your task is straightforward and can be summed up in three words: follow the law."
Directive by Romney's legal counsel (See Section E)
- New York Times, 4/26/2004
At least one Justice of the Peace, Linda Gray Kelley, was forced to resign for religious reasons because of the Romney Administration's strict requirement that Justices of the Peace perform same-sex marriages when asked or be fired.
Justice of the Peace resignation letter, Justice of the Peace Assoiation Newsletter, Summer 2004
It was reported that Romney first led Justices of the Peace to believe that there would be "conscientious objector" status available for those who had moral or religious objections to same-sex marriage, but he apparently later reneged on this.
"On April 26, Gov. Mitt Romney's chief legal counsel, Daniel Winslow, told the state's 1,200 justices of the peace that they had to marry same-sex couples, or be fired…. After being assured in February that the justices would be able file for conscientious-objector status, [a JP] was shocked to hear Winslow say they couldn't-and to hear an official from the state board of discrimination warn that trying to get out of officiating same-sex ceremonies could get them sued for $25,000 to $1 million." David Fried of the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination (a Romney appointed agency) said "that justices could be personally liable under the state's antidiscrimination law if they turned away same-sex couples who requested their services."
- Citizen (Focus on the Family online), 7/2004 and
- New York Times, 4/26/2004
Romney administration's training of Town Clerks (on how to issue same-sex marriage licenses) states that marriage statutes were not changed
There is no Executive Order or record of Town Clerk training sessions on any official government web page source. Interestingly, only the homosexual legal advocacy organization GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders) has any record of the content of these sessions. The training document admits that the marriage statutes have not been changed. Yet the Town Clerks are told they must "implement" the Court decision and uphold the law. [See training document (slides)]
- Associated Press, 4/12/2004
Apparently, Romney was paying attention to mistaken reports in the press, instead of the Constitution. From a typical mainstream article during this period of confusion, an AP report stated: "The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in November the state must begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples by mid-May, which means changes for clerks and justices of the peace."
- Associated Press, 4/24/2004
When it came to same-sex couples from outside the state wanting to marry in Massachusetts, Romney made it clear that a statute still on the books (from 1913) would prevent this from being legal. Romney said that he does not want Massachusetts to become ''the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage.'' But he did not choose to follow the other sections of the marriage statute (never changed by the Legislature after the Goodridge ruling), which made it crystal clear that marriage in Massachusetts is between a "husband" and "wife", or a "man" and a "woman".
- New York Times, 5/19/2004
Romney signs bill eliminating Sexual Transmitted Disease (STD) testing requirement for marriage
In October 2005, Gov. Romney signed a law eliminating the section of the marriage statute requiring an STD health certificate before receiving a marriage license. (This is apparently the only part of the marriage statutes altered since the Goodridge marriage ruling.) Was this because many homosexual males would not have been able to obtain marriage licenses with the syphilis clean-bill-of-health requirement intact? Why did he eliminate this bulwark of public health?
Letter from the DPH Registry of Vital Records & Statistics
When requested of him, Romney personally issues special one-day certificates to allow otherwise unqualified people to perform homosexual "marriages"
Romney has issued many special one-day marriage certificates (allowing anyone of the couple's choice to perform the marriage ceremony) to homosexual couples. But, because of the special nature of these certificates, it would be his prerogative as Chief Executive to refuse to issue them for any reason. Yet he gave out 189 one-day certificates in 2005 to homosexual couples, including one to a leading openly homosexual activist state senator. His legal counsel said that in granting these special marriage certificates to homosexual couples, Romney is evenly applying the "statute" [what statute?].
"His harsh criticism of what he calls ''judicial over-reaching" always wins applause from Republican audiences. But the governor has at times taken pains to promote tolerance of gays and lesbians. When an administration official was dismissed and asserted that the action was related to her intention to marry her lesbian partner, Romney strongly denied it and noted that several high-ranking officials in his administration were gay…. The applications Romney approved from same-sex couples included at least four from state legislators, including Jarrett T. Barrios, a state senator from Cambridge, members of the clergy from out-of-state, family members, and friends …"
- Boston Globe, 1/2/2006
Was Romney's public opposition to homosexual "marriage" based on expediency, not principle?
"Romney's meeting with Log Cabin Club members in October of that year [2002], less than a month before the gubernatorial election, led members to believe he was not morally opposed to gay marriage. "He said, `Right now, it's not popular, and it would cost money,' " he said. "He didn't say, when we met with him, `I'm sorry, folks; I'm against gay marriage because it's morally wrong.' He didn't say that." [said David Rogers, vice-president of Log Cabin Club.]"
- Boston Globe 3/11/2004
At an October 2002 endorsement meeting with the Log Cabin Republicans of Massachusetts, a 300-member organization of GOP gays, Romney led attendees to believe that his anti-gay-marriage stance stemmed from political considerations. According to David Rogers, who served as the group's president at the time, "Candidate Romney said he wasn't for gay marriage because it wasn't popular yet. But he didn't seem to care one way or the other."
- Boston Phoenix, 5/14-2/2004
In summary, Romney has never said that homosexual marriage (especially the sodomy characteristic of the male unions) presents a problem for values, morality, public health, or parental rights in the schools. In almost every speech he gives on the topic, he simply focuses on "every child needing a father and a mother."
Gun Control
Romney favors "Assault" Weapons Ban
"He [Romney] is a supporter of the federal assault weapons ban."
- Romney 2002 campaign website
Romney Favors Waiting Periods
Regarding the Brady Bill which required waiting periods to buy a handgun, Romney stated, "I don't think [the waiting period] will have a massive effect on crime but I think it will have a positive effect."
- Boston Herald, 8/1/1994
Economic Issues
Romney supports minimum wage laws
In as a candidate for Governor 2002, Romney proposed indexing the Massachusetts minimum wage with inflation, telling the Boston Globe "I do not believe that indexing the minimum wage will cost us jobs. I believe it will help us retain jobs." - - Boston Globe, 7/25/2002
"The minimum wage is important to our economy and Mitt Romney supports minimum wage increase, at least in line with inflation."
- Romney 2002 campaign website
Romney Balances Budget with $500 Million in New Fees
"His first budget, presented under a cloud of a $2 billion deficit, balanced the budget with some spending cuts, but a $500 million increase in various fees was the largest component of the budget fix." Cato Institute annual Fiscal Policy Report Card - America's Governors, 2004. Romney was rated a "C" overall by Cato.
See presentation on Cato website
Romney imposes "socialized" health care on Massachusetts
In 2006, Romney introduced a universal health care bill (which passed the Legislature in a slightly amended version) which has been criticized by conservatives as being socialistic.
Republican Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is trying to accomplish in his final year in office what Democrats can only dream of these days: boosting government spending on and regulation of health care and requiring individuals to purchase government-designed policies. Romney's plan, which is backed by such liberals as Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, Mass.), is being pitched as a compact between citizens and the state.
- National Review Online, 1/26/2006
The main supporter and cheerleader of Romney's health plan has been, interestingly, the Heritage Foundation. However, there would appear to be just a bit of a conflict of interest in that. According to news reports, Romney's charitable foundation recently donated $25,000 to the Heritage Foundation. And Heritage Foundation helped Romney research and write his health plan.
- Boston Globe, 8/17//2006
The Heritage Foundation's defense of Romney's plan
Party Leadership
Romney's dismal record as the Republican leader in Massachusetts
Romney pledged to build the Massachusetts Republican Party, but in fact he did almost nothing. During his tenure there were two elections for the entire Legislature (2004 and 2006). In each election the Republicans lost seats. Republicans now hold the fewest seats in the Legislature since the Civil War. During the four years of Romney's tenure, the number of registered Republicans in Massachusetts fell by 31,000. During that same period, the Massachusetts Democratic Party gained 30,000.
- Boston Globe 11/2/2006
In the 2006 elections, most offices were not even challenged by Republican candidates. In the November general election for the six statewide Massachusetts constitutional offices there were more Green-Rainbow Party candidates on the ballot than Republicans!
The party's slide has been so precipitous that Republicans yesterday did not contest 130 of 200 legislative seats, fielded a challenger in only three of 10 congressional districts, and put up fewer candidates for statewide office (three) than the Green-Rainbow Party (four).
- Boston Globe, 11/8/2006
In 2006, while Romney was chairman of the National Republican Governors Association - a group dedicated to electing more Republican governors - his own hand-picked Republican successor as governor lost badly to the Democrat, despite the fact that Republicans have held the governorship in Massachusetts since 1990. Romney largely ignored the Massachusetts elections and spent most of the time during the campaign out of state building his presidential campaign. He came back and publicly campaigned for the Republican candidate the day before the general election!
"Locally, this is a rebuke to Mitt Romney and checking out within six months after being elected and having accomplished almost nothing," said [Jim] Rappaport [former chairman of the state Republican Party].
- Boston Globe, 11/8/2006
"Romney arrived on the scene with great promise, but is leaving the Republican Party here in shambles. Not only are the Republicans yielding the governor's office for the first time in 16 years, but registered Republicans have fallen by 31,000 since Romney took office, and their legislative presence is at historic lows. But it worked out fine for him: He is now chasing the prize he really covets, the presidency."
- Boston Globe 11/8/2006
"The Massachusetts Republican Party died last Tuesday. The cause of death: failed leadership. The party is survived by a few leftover legislators and a handful of county officials and grassroots activists who have been ignored for years. Services will be public and a mass exodus of taxpayers will follow. In lieu of flowers, send messages to New Hampshire Republican voters warning them about a certain presidential candidate named Romney."
- Boston Herald, 11/12/2006
Conclusion
For over ten years MassResistance has observed Mitt Romney and his actions. On issue after issue, Romney would search for a way to look like he was governing as a conservative, but in every case, the liberals would ultimately be the victors. He would double the money for programs that promoted homosexuality in the schools but then turn around and veto what he himself had allocated, knowing full well his veto would be overturned.
On the marriage issue, he made it look like he was "forced" into recognizing homosexual marriages, but he refused to pursue other options that would have rallied anti-gay marriage forces and perhaps turned this issue around.
He would issue statements critical of obscene pro-homosexual books and about the treatment of David Parker, yet it was the actions of his own agencies that created these controversies to begin with. Nor would he lift a finger to make internal changes to prevent his agencies from promoting the liberal agenda or reprimand any employees possibly engaged, for example, in illegal activities.
To any observer, his seemingly contradictory tactics and strategies looked as though he was preparing a "conservative track record" for his run for higher office. He has issued enough conservative sounding statements and engaged in enough "battles" with liberals (as fake as many of them were), that to an uninformed observer, it may look like he was an embattled conservative triumphing over the forces in liberalism in one of the most liberal states in America.
Both that's the myth his campaign staff wants to perpetrate. Any close observer will tell you that the pro-abortion and pro-homosexual forces never lost any battles under his tenure and that in fact, they grew in power and influence. Romney did nothing to restrain the groups who have launched a jihad on America's Judeo-Christian culture.
On so many occasions, the liberal agenda could have been slowed down or even defeated with the smallest internal regulatory decision or executive order and yet he never used the power he had to do that. He gave up the battlefield to our enemies over and over again.
This is why every conservative in America needs to question his overly hyped conversion to conservatism. How can we trust a man who has done so much damage to causes dear to our hearts who has suddenly become a conservative only after deciding to run for President?
Fourteen years ago the country was duped by a charming, smooth talking "moderate" Democrat named Bill Clinton who used the power of the Presidency to inflict great damage to America's military, to our intelligence agencies, and to our culture. The gap between how Clinton appeared to most Americans and how he really governed was huge. We cannot afford another President like that.
Sources
Boston Herald, 5/19/1994 (re: morning after pill) - archive
Boston Herald, 8/1/1994, "Gays split in Governor race; Both Weld and Roosevelt are laying claims for support," - archive
Bay Windows, 8/25,1994, "Romney: I'll be better than Ted for gay rights."
Boston Globe, 10/17/1994, "Kennedy, Romney continue trading charges over facts" - archive
Boston Globe, 10/27/1994 (re: Boy Scouts) - archive
Lawyers' Weekly, 2/14/2000 (re: Stephen Abany)
NewsMax, 12/18/2000, "2002 Salt Lake Committee Bans Boy Scouts From Olympics" by David M. Bresnahan
Boston Globe, 3/19/2002, "Supporters want to see real Romney" - archive
Boston Globe, 3/22/2002, "Romney kin signed petition to ban same-sex marriage" - archive
Bay Windows, 3/28/2002, "Gay GOP touts Romney as good for the community"
Romney 2002 Campaign web site
Associated Press / South Coast Today, 10/3/2002, "O'Brien, Romney tout abortion rights credentials"
Bay Windows, 10/24/2002, "Don't dismiss Romney, gay Republicans say"
Washington Times, 11/20/2003, "Romney pursues law on gay unions"
Wall Street Journal, 2/5/2004, "One Man, One Woman - A citizen's guide to protecting marriage," by Mitt Romney
Patrick J. Buchanan, 2/9/2004, "Mitt Romney: Meet Calvin Coolidge"
Boston Globe, 3/11/2004, "Republican gay rights group hits Bush, Romney Stances" - archive
Agape Press, 3/30/2004, "Nobody Happy; Proposed Mass. Amendment Backs Marriage, Endorses Civil Unions; Massachusetts' Voters 'Blackmailed,' Say Supporters of Traditional Marriage"
Boston Globe, 3/30/2004, "In crucial shift, governor sways 15 in GOP to support measure"
Boston Globe, 4/11/2004, "Weeks ahead crucial for foes, supporters of gay marriage"
Associated Press, 4/12/2004, "Clerks to receive training on gay marriage licensing, while governor weighs options"
Boston Globe, 4/18/2004, "Justices of the peace confront dilemmas on gay marriage; Opponents face wedding quandary"
Associated Press, 4/24/2004, "Mass. Seeks Compliance on Gay Weddings"
WorldNetDaily, 4/24/2004, "Bill seeks ouster of Massachusetts justices; Last-minute effort to remove 4 who ruled for same-sex marriage"
New York Times, 4/26/2004, "Obey Same-Sex Marriage Law, Officials Told" - archive
WorldNetDaily, 5/8/2004, "9 Days to Same-Sex Marriage"
Boston Phoenix, 5/14-20/2004, "Schiz Romney: Do national aspirations explain the governor's switch from nice guy to anti-gay-marriage activist?"
National Review Online, 5/17/2004, "The Missing Governor," by Prof. Hadley Arkes
New York Times, 5/19/2004, "Governor Moves on Non-Massachusetts Couples" - archive
U.S. Senate testimony by Gov. Mitt Romney, 6/22/2004
Citizen (Focus on the Family), 7/2004, "Massachusetts Marriage Chaos; Gay Marriage a Reality in Massachusetts; No Opt-Out Clause for Justices of the Peace" (archived)
MassNews, 12/2/2004, "Article 8 files bills in Massachusetts legislature to remove 4 SJC judges and eliminate homosexual marriage"
National Review Online, 2/11/2005, "Romney vs. Harvard" by Kathryn Jean Lopez
American Spectator, 2/23/2005, "Mitt Romney's Choice" by W. James Antle III
Associated Press / WIS-TV10 News, 2/23/2005, "Some say Gov. Romney changed tune on gay civil unions in Spartanburg Mon."
Bay Windows, 3/3/2005, "Mitt Romney's secret gay history!"
Boston Globe, 3/25/2005, "Roe v. Wade omitted from proclamation"
Governor's Office, 5/14/2005, "Romney Names Stephen Abany to Wrentham District Court"
State House press conference, 6/15/2005, transcript
Boston Globe, 7/1/2005, "Governor's vetoes raise more questions on national run" - archive
Boston Globe, 7/3/2005, "Clarity sought on Romney's abortion stance"
Boston Globe, 7/7/2005, "Eyes on Romney as morning-after pill OK'd"
Boston Globe, 7/22/2005, "Birth certificate policy draws fire; Change affects same-sex couples"
Boston Globe, 7/25/2005, "Romney jurist picks not tilted to GOP; Independents, Democrats get call"
WBUR (PBS) Radio Boston / AFA Michigan, 12/9/2005 "Romney changes position on morning after pill"
Human Events, 12/27/2005, "Top 10 RINOs"
Boston Globe, 1/2/2006, "Some see conflict for Romney on gay marriage; Ceremonial licensing belies his opposition"
National Review Online, 1/26/2006, "Unhealthy in Massachusetts - The Romney plan doesn't cut it," by Sally C. Pipes
Bay Windows, 2/9/2006, "Will Bay State switch to names reporting of HIV cases?"
Boston Globe, 3/2/2006, "Romney's Revolving World" by Joan Vennochi
Boston Globe, 3/2/2006, "Seven quit charity over policy of bishops; Deplore effort to exclude same-sex adoptions"
Boston Globe, 5/12/2006, "Romney to limit gay panel activities"
AFA Online (American Family Association), 5/30/2006, "GOP Presidential Hopeful Blamed for Massachusetts' Marriage Fiasco"
Boston Globe, 7/1/2005, "Governor's vetoes raise more questions on national run"
Boston Globe, 7/25/2006, "Romney jurist picks not tilted to GOP"
Waltham Daily News Tribune, 8/4/2006, "Parents of the Year: Newton Couple Honored by DSS"
Boston Globe, 8/17/2006, "Romney aided conservative groups"
Boston Globe, 9/10/2006, "Romney keeps tight rein on health dept."
Boston Globe, 11/2/2006, "Romney pledges no flurry of lame-duck appointments"
Boston Globe, 11/2/2006, "GOP ranks dropped by 31,000 since state elected Romney"
Boston Globe, 11/8/2006, "For Republicans in Mass., a feeling of out and down"
Boston Globe, 11/8/2006, "After Romney" by Steve Bailey
Boston Herald, 11/12/2006, "Bold Rx for Bay State GOP," by Holly Robichaud
[http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:YZp8hH7VrVwJ:www.massresistance.org/docs/marriage/romney/record/+Romney+Patrick+Guerriero+2004+Civil+Unions&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us&ie=UTF-8]
