Reign of Ruin! Reign of Ruin!
I just had to start the chant since it got Guerriero-apologist Casey’s fur all in a flutter.
Now, just because your budget increases 400% doesn’t mean you are a success. Note to all — that much repeated Log Cabin/Protect Patrick talking point doesn’t say contributions went up 400%. My budget could go up 400% and I’d have a deficit if my income wasn’t going up the same. And if I had a free-spending executive director with special housing payments and a penchant for first-class flights for he and his traveling companion, well, I’d understand if my budget went up 400%. That’s not very Republican now, is it, Casey?
Then there’s the whole second question of where Log Cabin is getting its money from? It has yet to fully disclose and refute my belief that Log Cabin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the George Soros-minded Gay Left. Disclosure, disclosure, disclosure.
Finally, Log Cabin has brainwashed its supporters in thinking that its membership increased under the Reign of Ruin. Untrue. Membership means paying members. The numbers oft quoted are simply people who signed up to receive emails from Log Cabin and are now part of their database. Guess what — I’m one of them. And I do not give a bloody red cent to the organization anymore and should not be considered a “member.”
Patrick and his supporters on the Log Cabin board have perfected the Clintonian art of parsing and wordsmithing. But when you have Members of Congress that LCR claims as it supportetrs asking Log Cabin board members “who is Patrick Guerriero”…. I think that tells you there has been a problem.
Once Patrick is gone in September, the facade will fall and the truth will come out.
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
Your link regarding Casey sent me to the wrong thread. It sent me to the Gay Parenting, Part Two: Pitfalls and Promise thread. The correct thread is that related to “Arnold Stands Up With Gay Republicans.”
Thanks Raj. I fixed the link!
Regarding the post…
Let me understand this. On the one hand, you are complaining that the LCRs are inflating their claimed membership by including people who had merely requested email notifications as to what they are doing. But, I might ask you, what organization does not do something like that? A few years ago, when IndeGayForum had a message board, instead of the ridiculous blog that they have now, one of the posters there (jfbiii, for those who might remember the board) posted a comment to the effect that he, a lapsed Roman Catholic, had attempted to get his name off their membership roster (or whatever they call it), and was unable to. After I pulled myself together after having rolled on the floor laughing, I recognized that that allowed the RCCi to suggest that they had more members than they actually did. The same with LCR, and the same with virtually any organization that wishes to engage in political influence-peddling.
On another hand, let me understand this. You seem to be complaining about the 400% increase in the LCR budget. I’ll presume that that is the national LCR budget you are referring to, not any provisions made for local chapters. I suppose that, in the unlikely event that Guerriero had been able to quadruple the LCR revenues over–what? four years–you would have no objection to that. I further suppose that you do not believe that Guerriero was actually able to quadruple the LCR revenues over four years, and that he was using the proverbial credit card to cover the difference. But, so what? It should be evident to anyone paying attention that the use of the credit card is very Republican. St. Ronald of Reagan did it, as has St. George of W Bush. Given their august examples, why would you expect the devil Guerriero to act any differently?
LCR and Patrick has become Bruce’s whipping boy for the poor relations between gay GOP’ers and the GOP leadership.
Its an act of delusional desperation on his part.
Face reality Bruce, your political party regards you as an “optional” constituency. And it jettisoned you the first chance it could get. LCR didn’t cause that. It was a deliberate, calculated move on the part of your party’s leadership as a campaign tactic.
And it worked. Rove and the rest of the GOP leadership got the Evangelical voters they said they would get. And jettison and vilifying people like you Bruce, was the means to chosen to accomplish this goal.
You have spent all this time criticizing the leadership of LCR. But they are simply not the problem. It matters not a flying fuck who is in charge of LCR. But you still go ahead and act as if they are the real problem instead of the leadership of the GOP itself.
Maybe its easier for you to think that it was somebody else’s fuck up rather than accepting that your Party does not want you to be a part of it. Unless you are willing to give them money, vote for them, but otherwise to shut the fuck up and get out of sight.
Your like a battered wife who blames the fact that her husband beats her on her children because they cry too much.
So the leadership of the LCR changes. So what? It changes absolutely nothing as far as how the GOP is going to be treating gay and lesbian Americans. Until the leadership and the direction of the GOP itself changes, your still going to be boot-scum in their eyes Bruce. Quit pretending otherwise, and quit telling us to play make-believe along with you.
Aside from being a gay man Bruce, just as a American, you should be the last person trying to convince your fellow Americans that injustice is just. Or to accept the prejudices displayed by your GOP as freedom and liberty. Shame on you.
Well, I still give LCR money; if only to annoy my local county GOP committee. One the other hand, when I’m tempted to up my contribution I’m non-plussed by the total lack of financial and governamace transparency and their either failure…or indifference…to get a LCR chapter started when I actually live and vote. Exactly how much is a nicely-parsed e-mail newsletter worth?
And even if the Rovian dead-enders at the GOP National Committee do actually hold the LCR as a disposable voting-block, there are still congressional, state and local elections where a LCR voice might just nake some difference. UNLIKE the despised French, local elections do make a difference. And if your ever going to get G/L GOP office-holders, you need to start at the local or county-level where a snall group like a LCR can make a difference….or atleast an impact.
The gay Republican universe does not revolve only around the political-Pole stuck up Patrick’s ass….
Gotta say, I didn’t expect my comment to warrant its own post as a response, and I’d hoped for a bit more respectful treatment from somebody whose blog I read regularly and try to contribute to thoughtfully, but no matter. To respond to your points – regarding the budget, anybody in the know (ie an actual member of the organization who shows up) knows that contributions have increased dramatically these last few years. That’s only logical, really – when you have a significant number of conservative gays perturbed by President Bush’s cynical use of an antigay constitutional amendment, and a national LCR that has gone to great lengths to increase its vitality through publicity and grassroots involvement, you’re going to get more donor activitiy, and you’re going to bring back big donors who drifted away due to distaste for the previous national office’s attitudes. Like it or not, the non-endorsement showed that Log Cabin had the balls to stand up for itself, and that kind of courage is rewarded with political donations and new members eager to get onboard. If nothing else, the hard work of planting new clubs – I’ll note you don’t address those numbers in your post – dramatically increased the number of paying members. Look at where Log Cabin now exists – http://online.logcabin.org/chapters/ – they’ve got clubs almost everywhere. Contact the leaders of new clubs, and see what they’ve been up to, and how important they think Patrick’s travels around the country have been to get them going and to maintain a good relationship with the national office. If I recall, you used to bemoan the national office’s detachment from the clubs, and later, it was one of – I think it may have been GPW’s – praises for Guerriero that he overcame that distance. How do you think that happened? Do you think this expansion has made the organization more or less relevant? How can you call a growing organization which was the first gay organization to bring in a sitting GOP governor “in ruin”? I think your bitterness blinds you, and that saddens me.
Maybe they should change the name to Log Cabin RINO’s and get it over with. As an organization, they are much more aligned with the liberal John McCain – Lincoln Chafee – Olympia Snowe (left) wing of the party.
For that matter, gay conservatives could start their own organization, and if they do, I think they should call it ‘The Hellfire Republicans,’ but to tie it in with the Founding Fathers, and as a tongue-in-cheek rebuke to those Republicans who think Fred Phelps has a point (even though he’s a Democrat.)
Bruce, interesting post again… when PG was earlier trumpeting the dramatic rise in the LC budget, I thought it was creative spin that suited the beltway brainset. When the LC press release spoke of the growth in the LC, I thought it was creative and wondered if, when the next ED gets in, how the “true” paying membership number would relate to PG’s likely fantasy claim(s).
The truth is that PG failed the organization, failed GOPer gays, failed the advisory Board, and failed local chapters –while looking hot in seersucker suits and boaters.
They got what they paid for… let’s hope the next guy is honest, comes from outside the beltway and understands what loyalty means in party politics. Loyalty is EVERYTHING in party politics –it ain’t there, you ain’t effective.
It’s not likely the next ED will understand loyalty; but let’s hope. And you can damn well count he’ll portray PG in a bad light… the next round of leadership almost always does that to make a mark toward candor and win back fallen-away supporters.
#7
For that matter, gay conservatives could start their own organization,
I’ll drink to that. Don’t care for the name though.
Sign me up.