In a number of tight Senate and House races, time and again it seems that GOP candidates who veer away from focusing on fiscal restraint and limited government, and instead jump on the culture war bandwagon (gay issues, in particular) are doing themselves no good. In fact, many swing district/state GOP candidates have hurt themselves by vocalizing their opposition to gay legal equality.
We need not point again to New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. Instead, consider Colorado GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck. According to Denver’s Fox affiliate:
Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck’s comments about homosexuality continue to draw strong reactions just two weeks before the Nov. 2 election. Buck, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, said he believes people are gay by choice.
“You can choose who your partner is,” Buck said. “You don’t think it’s something that’s determined at birth?” host David Gregory asked. “I think that birth has an influence on it like alcoholism and some other things but I think that basically you have a choice,” Buck replied.
Reports the conservative Washington Times:
Democrats, in an effort to woo suburban female voters, have ramped up attacks on Mr. Buck’s anti-abortion stance, a rape case he declined to prosecute as Weld County District Attorney, and his remarks that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice. . . .
The Democratic strategy has shifted the focus of the campaign away from economic issues, where Mr. Buck and Republicans have enjoyed success in hammering the Democrats on the stimulus bills, health care reform and the trilions of dollars being added to the national debt.
The race is now a dead heat.
More. Just as New York’s Paladino found himself stunned by the response to a little gay-bashing and tried to backtrack (Daily News: “Carl Paladino pleads for ‘forgiveness’ after anti-gay remarks set off campaign firestorm”), so too is Buck trying to stem the damage (Colordado Independent: “Buck campaign to gay teen’s mom: ‘Ken may have misspoke.’”) That, in itself, is a sign of how the world has changed.
12 Comments for “Culture War Not Helping GOP”
posted by ludovico on
I think Mr. Buck is still educable on the gay “lifestyle choice” issue, so other than that conservative anti-abortion, pro second amendment gay folk needn’t hold their nose when they vote for him.
posted by Doug on
Buck believes what he said the first time. The only reason he backtracked a little is because he wants to be elected so bad he would say anything. I’ll bet a ton of money he not educable after the election.
posted by Lori Heine on
I don’t think it matters whether this crackpot is “educable.” He’s quite take-to-the-woodshed-able. Evidently he’s already been there.
That’ll do.
posted by Jorge on
Is this a Tea Party thing? Republican candidates used to be much better at showing their colors without coming across as offensive. That alcoholism reference was very gratuitous. However I’m not sure how beneficial it is to call every person who happens to think homosexuality is a choice a bigot. That is a reflection on our failure to properly educate people.
You say it’s the culture war issue. The fact that many proponents of culture warring, notably Bill O’Reilly, identify gay rights as part of the culture war battlefield has gotten people into a lot of trouble. For some strange reason, it’s okay to say you’re against gay marriage, but it’s not okay to be explicit about the assumptions that underlie such opposition.
posted by BobN on
Uh… what about the races where the GOP — usually Tea Party — candidates are exploiting anti-gay sentiment? Don’t those get covered, too, even if they counter the theme?
posted by another steve on
BobN, always the reliably knee-jerk Democrats Are Bestest response. The post is about swing state/district races and spots a trend. Generally, gay issues haven’t been much of a focus at all. And aside from the hapless Paladino in New York, it’s usually Democrats and liberals that have brought them up to try to put Republicans on the defense and off message (as in Colorado).
posted by BobN on
The post is about swing state/district races and spots a trend.
How much of a trend can something be if there are just as many cases which contradict it? It’s a “development”, not a trend.
And, yes, with few exceptions, Dems are better regarding gay rights. Welcome to reality. I have no objection to Miller pointing out that some GOP candidates seem to be stepping away from anti-gay campaigning — about freakin’ time, I’d say — but let’s not try and pretend it isn’t counterbalanced by just as many using anti-gay bigotry.
Heck, if anything, it’s mainstream GOP — you know, the old school GOP — who are sick and tired of the culture war. The TPers? They seem quite happy to use us and if anyone or anything is a “trend” this year, it’s them.
posted by Jorge on
Uh… what about the races where the GOP — usually Tea Party — candidates are exploiting anti-gay sentiment? Don’t those get covered, too, even if they counter the theme?
I think his point is that it’s backfiring? Not working?
I have no objection to Miller pointing out that some GOP candidates seem to be stepping away from anti-gay campaigning — about freakin’ time, I’d say — but let’s not try and pretend it isn’t counterbalanced by just as many using anti-gay bigotry.
Huh? What is this, you’re saying there’s some kind of anti-gay wave happening? You’ve been saying this for months, and you never produced the goods, while time after time, economy economy economy has been shoved down our throats.
posted by Carl on
I think that it’s difficult for someone who has issues with homosexuality to keep quiet about it in a campaign year when a lot of conservatives won primaries for saying what was on their mind. There’s always the dividing line between Republicans in major office — those who will vote against most gay rights bills but stick to boilerplate (leave it up to the generals, I don’t like special rights/this is already covered under the law, I want to protect marriage, let’s respect everyone, leave it up to the people) and those who feel a need to do things like call for the firing of gay teachers or go on the Senate floor and brag about how they have no homosexuals in their family.
Candidates who have controversial records on gay rights or who say very questionable things still seem to have a good chance of winning, whether it be Ken Buck, or Sharron Angle, or Joe Miller. So if they win, the question is whether that type of more upfront opposition to homosexuality will take a central role, or if the party will stick with the party line, general opposition that you would get from Rob Portman or Rand Paul.
posted by BobN on
Huh?
I am saying that some GOP candidates are doing the usual anti-gay schtick and that some are not.
A better title would be “Culture War Not Helping Some GOP Candidates, Helping Others”.
posted by Jorge on
BobN, just because a candidate is using an issue and wins does not mean it actually helps him. Sarah Palin helped John McCain, but he still didn’t win.
posted by john thomas on
Argueing wheither being gay is a choise or not implies something wrong with that choise.