And let us not forget that libertarian Republican Dana Rohrabacher supported Hoffman.

And don’t forget that Ron Paul is a socon – in his private life. He votes according to the Constitution.

I’m perfectly fine breaking bread with social conservatives when we share common purpose. I’m not aiming to exclude them from the fun. But neither do I want them coming in and claiming the mantle.

We agree.

I don’t think the Tea Party movement has had any immediately discernible bent on social issues one way or another….which is one of its most endearing attributes.

Let’s hope it stays that way — rather than morphing into a populist uprising in the name of social conservatism.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly fine breaking bread with social conservatives when we share common purpose. I’m not aiming to exclude them from the fun. But neither do I want them coming in and claiming the mantle.

The split in the NY23 race is being played in many quarters that way: that Scozzafava was deemed unsupportable because she’s pro-choice and pro-gay rights. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that these positions were either not offensive to me or otherwise made no difference.

What was offensive to me was her support for card check, her record on spending and taxes, her support for healthcare reform, etc.

So a politician who doesn’t support same-sex marriage necessarily “want(s) to marginalize” gay people? Really?

Look, I’ve no doubt at all that there are people and politicians out there who truly are anti-gay in the way you describe. I don’t know what it’s like to be gay — so I won’t claim to have walked a mile in your shoes. And, so you know, I do support equal marriage rights…and don’t feel at all uncomfortable in the Republican Party holding that position.

But I think you have to appreciate — at least a bit — that politicians are beholden to voting constituencies. And it’s difficult for them to survive if they’re too far out of step with the groups of voters they’re trying to appeal to.

It’s hardly any secret that the Democratic Party’s voting blocs tend to be more amenable to gay rights issues than the Republican Party’s. But, even still, Clinton and Obama wouldn’t have stood a chance if they’d have been where you and I are on the SSM issue.

The cracks in the dam are growing wider. If the tipping point on this hasn’t yet been reached, it’s fast approaching. Stop worrying. And, for God’s sake, stop looking at any politician who disagrees with you on this matter as wanting to “marginalize” you.

I can understand why you’d be wary of somebody like Rick Santorum. But most prominent politicians are, officially anyway, opposed to gay marriage. That doesn’t mean they’re all a bunch of homophobes….it often means they’ve just made a calculation.

Supporting him is no different than the gays who supported Clinton or Obama. We cannot continue to support people who want to marginalize us. No matter which side of the aisle they are from

Correction. We have universally-available health care to those who work and pay for it, and we provide emergency care to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.”

We also have the best cancer care, and do the vast majority of the advancement in medicine. Obamacare will end both of those cases in short order.

A quick way to die in this world is to get cancer in a Socialized medicine nation and not have the money for private care (if you are in the UK or elsewhere that has a private option) or (especially in Canada) come to the USA to get the best of care available. The Homeless who seek treatment in the US get better cancer treatment than a pensioner in the UK or anyone using Canada’s horrid version of a system. When you look at those happy with their care in Canada, and those who are not, you find it really depends on whether they were seriously ill or not. Those who got something really nasty like Cancer are very unhappy with what they got. A simple tour of any border state’s hospital parking lots will turn up many Canadian plates.

To paraphrase Churchhill “We have the worst health care in the world, until you have to use someone else’s.” Yes there could be some serious fixes to our care. Socializing it is not the fix.

I really wish you would actually read these, rusty; you might learn something.

Notice how no one calls this woman “self-loathing” for speaking out against sexual exploitation of children. Notice how no one in that article insists that she’s “mentally ill” or that she “hates straight people”.

Contrast that with your response when pedophilia is supported and endorsed by your fellow gays. Indeed, you leap to criticize gay people who criticize other gays for supporting children having sex wtih adults and for refusing to report it to the proper authorities.

Correction. We have universally-available health care to those who work and pay for it, and we provide emergency care to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

What we do not have is a system in which the government controls and manipulates the lives of everyone through the health care system, depriving people of the right to see whom they want when they want and spend their money as they choose, including NOT getting health coverage.

here are some goodies for you to vent on:

A surprise Vatican decision, announced 10 days earlier to make it easier for Anglicans to become Roman Catholics while retaining aspects of Anglican liturgy and identity, had left some wondering whether Rome would embrace married Anglican clergy in large numbers.

A Holy See statement Saturday quoted Cardinal William Levada, the Holy See’s guardian of doctrinal correctness, as saying the Vatican would consider accepting married Anglican priests into the Roman Catholic priesthood as it has in the past — evaluating each case on its own merits.

I used to have lunch with Sister Levada in Portland. Fine thing she was. She always enjoyed my and then BF, company. Seems like people are open to change.

but then again, in response to your FSF bang drumming here is something else to consider:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,570445,00.html

Of course it does.

You see, whatever you are, you liberals refuse to acknowledge that the root of your attitudes is destruction of the productive. You cannot accept that some people succeed and some people fail; you demand that everyone achieve the same result. You may cloak this in whatever social welfare pap you like, but at the end of the day, your goal is to force those who succeed to pay for those who fail because of your belief that one can only succeed if others fail. According to you, success is illegitimate; a janitor who refused to go to school and refuses to put forth effort should be paid as much as a doctor who went to school and put forth enormous effort, and in order to achieve it, you will tax the doctor until their effective income is the same and give it to the janitor.

That is not freedom. That is immoral.

So let’s watch the entertainment value here.

Hoffman:

“I was brought up to believe marriage is between a man and a woman.”

And DavyJG and the Barack Obama puppets scream “antigay” and “homophobic”.

Barack Obama:

“Marriage is a union between a man and a woman. For me as a Christian, it is a sacred union. God’s in the mix.”

And DavyJG and the Barack Obama puppets scream “pro-gay” and “gay-supportive”.

Pure, pure hypocrisy.

This is about the rolling and steaming tea party movement, which will get an enormous boost going into 2010 from wins this coming week, if they happen, and Dems’ and lefties’ desperate, screaming fits and seizures to prevent this from happening. This is about conservatives telling the GOP “You are either with us or you are against us.” This is scaring the beejus out of the Obamites.

Go Hoffman!

Peg C. in NY-22

i am not american but i have seen public reaction towards the american republican party in many places… europe, latin america, and asia (i’ve been around).. it seems to me that the general consensus is that it is not really a sound and serious, unified party. it seems that many decisions taken by republican party officials or pushed by republican grassroots organizations are guided by a largely emotional component (”we want freedom in america! less government!!”) or by a capitalist interest (halliburton?), rather than by true concern in the well-being of the american people.

so what makes a nation? its soil or its people?
a true patriot is first concerned with the well-being of his compatriots. a true patriot defends his country and nation by making sure that everyone in that nation has been given the true and righteous chance to make their life into something meaningful by their own standards (THIS DOESNT MEAN EVERYONE GETS PAID THE SAME AND IT DOESNT MEAN OBAMA IS COMMUNIST BLA BLA BLA)

for the better part of the 20th century, many nations have been attempting to get to this ideal state through increased concern in education and health. this is because many nations have come to the realization that their true capital is in the capacity of their people. Education and health are precisely what you need for a STRONG, EDUCATED, HEALTHY group of individuals. and a group of people like that cannot be stopped

you guys might hate on scandinavian countries and dismiss them all as LEFTIES AND COMMIES AND SOCIALISTS. but if you stop being afraid of those words and look into what you can learn from what you consider your antagonists, and stop all the senseless neo-mccarthyism, you might learn something from them.

you know, i am neither republican nor democrat, socialist nor capitalist, but i know that i can learn from every side of the political spectrum. thats the reason why i am here, visiting a gay republican blog (that’s two things i’m not). i have learnt a lot from this blog already.

things i have read here lead me to believe that what needs to happen in this party is a reform towards a more rational approach, less tolerance (less gullibility?) for the populist and patronizing speech of many of your politicians, and the understanding that universal health care doesn’t mean your country will go communist.

THE UNITED STATES IS THE ONLY DEVELOPED NATION THAT DOES NOT HAVE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE. so stop hating on universal health care only because its being pushed by democrats. democrats are not communist and your country will not be communist if it has universal health care. a very significant amount of developed and capitalist nations (nations the United States OWES MONEY TO) have universal health care. its the smart thing to do, don’t be silly.

also, just one last thing:
it is NOT about whether you have MORE or LESS government. its about WHAT is going to be DONE with the government that you HAVE.

Oh, and DavyJG, you have called Hoffman “anti-gay.” Okay, please provide your evidence for that accusation. And the evidence that conservatives hate us and that the GOP is made up of people who hate us.

You throw around a lot of accusations that sound like talking points from left-wing media, but you don’t have much substance to your venom. And attach your name-calling to a post whose points you neglect to address.

So, please address those when you provide evidence for the accusations you make above. But, somehow I have the sense you won’t provide it because it’s not about making a case, it’s about expressing your anger. And you do seem to harbor a lot of hatred. A lot. And prejudice.

To be honest, no, I did not criticize any of the liberal bloggers I regularly read for endorsing Obama. I usually keep my political opinions to myself; perhaps it would have been better to have done so here. As an American you are entitled to campaign for any candidate you wish.

I know being gay is not the overwhelming factor when you, or a number of your readers, choose to vote for a candidate. However, for me, and I suspect a large number of GLBT people, it is the dominant part of our being, how we relate to the world. Being gay may be just a part of who you are, but it IS who I am. The struggle to come out dominated my teens and twenties, and, yes, dang it, I want my gayness to be pandered to, just as much as you want your tax preferences pandered to.

The reason I rooted for Dede Scozzafava is because I rate a candidate’s gay issues stand far higher than anything else. Often times this means, as with Obama, choosing the least bad of two bad candidates. Obama has pretty much been a disappointment, but at least he’s doing SOMETHING, nothing would have changed under McCain.

Still, I had a faint hope that this TEA Party movement might have changed things, finally producing a more Libertarian-leaning conservatism on social (specifically gay) issues. It looks like, if Hoffman is any indication, I was wrong. I just wish he could have said “I am running for national-level office, same sex marriage is a matter for the legislators in Albany,” and left it at that. After all, aren’t these TEA Parties supposed to be favoring federalism?

You might think conservatives appreciate you, or even ‘respect’ you to even a small degree. But they really, really don’t. They hate you just as much as they hate all other gays; you’re just not as uppity and I guess they feign tolerance for you, GayPatriot?

DavyJG

I guess 53% of Californians are conservatives who hate you! I guess Barack Obama hates you! I guess John Kerry hates you!

Because they ALL share the same opinion that marriage is important to society and should remain between a man and a woman.

Your immaturity is exceeded only by your pathetic victimhood, bigotry, hate, and your willful ignorance.

In all seriousness, the idea of you endorsing an anti-gay conservative (Hoffman) over a rare pro-gay Republican (Scozzafava) is really quite shocking. Wouldn’t you prefer the Republican party wasn’t JUST made up of people who hate who you are, seek to undermine your relationship and judge you as untrustworthy with children? I guess not. Which is pretty sad …