Sadly, after running a campaign loaded with virulent gay bashing, former HUD Secretary and trial lawyer Mel Martinez has won the GOP Senate primary in Florida.
As reported by the Sun-Sentinel, Martinez accused his opponent, conservative former GOP Congressman Bill McCollum, of being "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" and "anti-family," and of trying to appease "the radical homosexual lobby" by supporting a bipartisan federal hate-crimes bill that included "sexual orientation."
In response, the St. Petersburg Times reversed its prior endorsement of Martinez, citing his campaign's "sleazy, homophobic advertisements" and saying "Martinez took his campaign into the gutter with hateful and dishonest attacks.... The Times is not willing to be associated with bigotry. As a result, we are taking the almost unprecedented step of rescinding our recommendation of Martinez."
But the editorially liberal Miami Herald shamed itself by
sticking with its primary endorsement of Martinez, no doubt with an
eye on the paper's large Cuban-American readership. Imagine,
liberals selling out gays to appease an ethnic minority -- who
could imagine!