If a Republican hired this guy, he’d be labelled “anti-gay”
Our friends at GOProud remind us that Jim Messina, the man President Obama tapped to head his reelection campaign produced a gay-bashing ad in 2002 against Montana Republican US Senate hopeful Mike Taylor:
The ad was roundly condemned by gay rights groups as anti-gay.
According to an article in The Nation, Messina “touted the ad as the way to do politics in the West.”
“The fact that Obama would select a campaign manager who practices the lowest kind of character assassination politics is outrageous on its own – the fact that he would then turn to the gay community and bankroll this kind of campaign is beyond the pale,” said GOProud Board Chairman Christopher R. Barron.
Despite Messina’s notorious reputation for the Montana ad not a single national gay group has spoken out about this hire by Obama until now.
Seems for those gay groups, all’s fair when advancing a Democratic candidate.
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This is precisely the strategy many leftists use. They claim they “must” do things this way because of all those terrible, dastardly, bigoted Right-Wingers out there. When actually it’s exactly the way they themselves want to do business.
They never gave a tinker’s damn about gays. The standard, in political dealings with gays, is as low as it is because the Left helps to keep it there.
Wasn’t its job, supposedly, to help raise the standard? Seems like the heavy lifting on that task is being done by gay and libertarian-leaning Republicans.
Comment by Lori Heine — May 20, 2011 @ 7:16 pm - May 20, 2011
Oh BDB, yes we can all go ‘Bad Obama, Mean ol’ Messina’
But let’s see how you still side step around folk like Herman Cain and his call to bring on DADT, or Pawlenty’s pleasant stand on DADT or Santorum. . .
I guess all’s fair when advancing any candidate. like the three monkeys.
Comment by rusty — May 20, 2011 @ 9:14 pm - May 20, 2011
“I guess all’s fair when advancing any candidate. like the three monkeys.”
Rusty, perhaps you shouldn’t automatically assume who’s advancing whom.
I, personally, have no intention of voting for an anti-gay Republican. My 2012 vote will go to Ron Paul, Gary Johnson or the Libertarian nominee.
The lack of imagination many on the left have, in trying to figure out people who don’t march in lockstep with their lords and masters, is truly amazing. Do you truly believe such limited choices exist, or have you simply chosen to think so in order to go along and get along?
Comment by Lori Heine — May 20, 2011 @ 9:46 pm - May 20, 2011
here is a fun roundup from San Diego
http://sdgln.com/commentary/2011/05/05/is-fred-karger-only-credible-gop-candidate-president
thanks lori. . . let’s just start with ‘The lack of imagination’ for both sides. or for others. . . on all sides
Comment by rusty — May 20, 2011 @ 9:53 pm - May 20, 2011
Fred Karger makes Donald Trump look like a serious candidate.
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — May 20, 2011 @ 9:54 pm - May 20, 2011
yes BDB Karger is lame. . .
http://elections.americablog.com/2011/05/fred-kargers-demon-frisbee.html
now about those other GOP folk do see do
Comment by rusty — May 20, 2011 @ 10:10 pm - May 20, 2011
sorry — doe see doe
Comment by rusty — May 20, 2011 @ 10:10 pm - May 20, 2011
Obambi is going to run the meanest, sleaziest, lowest common denominator campaign we have ever seen.
Leftists are leftists first. They will lie and look the other way in order gain, maintain or increase their leftist agenda.
So, if you are leftist and gay or Jewish or black or whatever “special” group, you have to choose between the leftist who is trashing you or the Republican. You can’t possibly choose the Republican, because you are committed to being a leftist.
Messina apparently knows how to fight down and dirty and therefore he is the man for Obama. His past is not the issue. What can he do to the enemy in 2012 is all that counts.
If he is an unprincipled man, so what. Look at who has hired him for his talents.
Any gay who votes on the basis of who is best for the gay “agenda” is not only throwing his vote away, he is committed to life at the margin.
Take a national poll and see where DA/DT ends up on the list of priorities the average voter considers. Top ten? Top twenty? Where?
Comment by Heliotrope — May 20, 2011 @ 10:30 pm - May 20, 2011
Double standards: it’s been a good week for double standards this week. I hear that Obama wants to throw Israel under the bus again too. I wonder how Israeli gays and women in general feel about an expanded Muslim presence.
Comment by Ben — May 20, 2011 @ 11:14 pm - May 20, 2011
as Randy Jackson from American Idol puts it. . .Obama is in it to win it.
All stops will be pulled. . .no doubt, and if you don’t think he is out for blood, just watch his roast of the Donald. Watch Obama closely during that roast, for he not only was having a good time, he was also pondering the upcoming bin laden – – gerinimo attack. Just note the expression on Obama’s face. ‘Let me be clear’
Comment by rusty — May 21, 2011 @ 12:30 am - May 21, 2011
Leftists are leftists first. They will lie and look the other way in order gain, maintain or increase their leftist agenda.
And those right of center certainly mirror leftists. . .Those on the right lie just as much and wear blinders and ignore (LA LA LA) in order to gain, maintain or increase their own agenda. . .
Comment by rusty — May 21, 2011 @ 12:35 am - May 21, 2011
Rusty, you say everyone right of center lie. I am right of center and I don’t recall lieing in my 89 years. I am sure that I did but aparently it was never a big deal or I would remember it. The two gentlemen that you mentioned are unfortunely anti-gay but they are not lieing about it or trying to deceive the gays in order to get money and votes from them.
Comment by John Waggy — May 21, 2011 @ 2:17 am - May 21, 2011
Rusty,
Let’s look back at Bush 41. He said: “Read my lips – no new taxes.” Then, he raised taxes. Was that a lie or a broken promise? If it was a lie, he meant to raise taxes when he made the famous statement.
OK. Those are the ground rules. What are the lies that Republicans mouth to deceive the voters?
Here is where I agree with you: I will vote for a conservative with baggage over a pure, saintly leftist. I loathe socialism.
Comment by Heliotrope — May 21, 2011 @ 7:50 am - May 21, 2011
Exactly. I am not ra-ra about Republicans. I think all politicians are vile, vain, selfish liars. The Republicans are distinctly the lesser of two evils, however. At least some of them are actually trying to fix our problems instead of posturing about them.
Besides which, you only have to look at Detroit to see what happens when social-democrats have absolute power.
Comment by V the K — May 21, 2011 @ 10:28 am - May 21, 2011
I watched the ad three times just to make sure I didn’t miss anything and I never saw anything in it that’s anti-gay. But then, my standard for what’s anti-gay is pretty high, like calling for all gays to be destroyed or actually executing them like they do in those Muslim countries leftists love so much. Calling someone out for having a beauty salon and hair care business that was a means of bilking the student loan program just doesn’t add up to gay bashing. Even if the owner of said business was a guy.
Comment by Seane-Anna — May 21, 2011 @ 2:41 pm - May 21, 2011
It is the hallmark of crybabies on both sides of the political spectrum to claim a double standard. Plenty of lefties were upset by Obama’s choice of Rich Warren to lead the prayer at the inauguration.
Comment by Jim Demoine — May 21, 2011 @ 5:16 pm - May 21, 2011
Sorry, GOProud, but I don’t see that ad as anti-gay, just anti-fraud–apparently what they were trying to hang on Mike Taylor.
Comment by ludovico — May 21, 2011 @ 5:44 pm - May 21, 2011
Jim, glad to have you down for criticizing the whiners in the gay groups, especially HRC, who use almost anti-pretext to label prominent conservatives as anti-gay.
Comment by B. Daniel Blatt — May 21, 2011 @ 9:48 pm - May 21, 2011
I just watched the “anti-gay” video.
So, lemme see if I got this straight:
– If a white person criticizes a black president, then that makes him a ‘racist”, right?
– Similarily, if someone attacks a rival politician and it happens to deal with an area that’s stereotypically a ‘gay’ realm, like beauty salons, then that makes him a “homophobe”, correct?
The fact that it’s the president’s policies you’re criticizing makes no difference. And the fact that it’s corrupt business practices you’re attacking also makes no difference. What’s important here is that you’ve violated a stereotype and, in a world of victimization and politcal correctness, there can be no greater crime.
Thank goodness there are sites like this around to keep reminding us of this.
Comment by Dr. Mercury — May 22, 2011 @ 10:06 am - May 22, 2011
Lawrence O’Donnell last evening interviewed Ari Berman on Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina, whom Berman profiles in The Nation in a piece titled, “Jim Messina, Obama’s Enforcer”. Here’s an excerpt:
In 1999 Messina became chief of staff to New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy but returned to manage Baucus’s re-election campaign in 2002. The campaign became infamous when the Montana Democratic Party ran an ad showing his GOP opponent, Mike Taylor, a former hairdresser, fondling the hair and face of a male client while wearing a ’70s-style leisure suit. Taylor dropped out days after the ad aired, accusing the Baucus campaign of “character assassination and personal destruction.” Gay rights groups condemned the ad as antigay, but it greatly enhanced Messina’s reputation as a top Democratic operative. “He touted the ad as the way to do politics in the West,” said Toole. I remember the notorious Baucus commercial quite well, but I’m glad that Berman has reminded us of Messina’s connection with it, now that Messina has been tapped by the Obama campaign. This is a disturbing reminder of the fact that ruthless politics is not a Republican monopoly. Berman’s article is a must-read.
Note on media progress: Immediately after O’Donnell’s interview with Berman, as O’Donnell threw to Rachel Maddow, the two hosts had a brief exchange (not captured in the above clip) that showed how far gay people have come. O’Donnell had indicated to Berman that he didn’t see how the Baucus ad against Taylor, which he had just shown, was anti-gay. Rachel explained it for him. O’Donnell then said he’d have to work on his “gaydar,” or “anti-gaydar.” The great thing about this exchange was the matter-of-fact way in which the openly gay Maddow offered a bit of education to her colleague on-air. The fact that Rachel is so good is why she has her own program; the fact that she does not edit out her gay self when it is relevant is a huge advance for gays in the news media.
The exchange between O’Donnell and Maddow coincidentally occurred shortly after I returned home from a book reading at the DC Center that included openly gay former anchorman Charles Perez, who talked about his experience with anti-gay discrimination by the television news industry. He was interviewed recently by The Advocate on his book, which is titled, Confessions of a Gay Anchorman. I began reading the book last night, and it’s a fascinating read.
april 01 2011
http://www.glaaforum.org/glaa_forum/2011/04/the-problem-with-jim-messina.html
Comment by rusty — May 22, 2011 @ 10:13 am - May 22, 2011
One of the saddest sentences I’ve ever read.
Comment by TGC — May 23, 2011 @ 5:00 am - May 23, 2011
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