Earlier today, I had the chance to sit down for a pleasant lunch with Fred Karger, a one-time political consultant who has tossed his hat in the ring for the GOP presidential nomination and contends he is the first openly gay candidate for a major party’s nod.
He is nice guy and our conversation was wide-ranging. I pressed him on the numerous emails I have received from his campaign attacking his fellow Republicans — and even the faith of two of his rivals.
Today, he said that his primary issue is balancing the federal budget. He also pointed out how most of the gay groups in Washington have been entirely indifferent to his campaign, saying that the “Republican Party has been more hospitable than the D.C. gay groups.”
Hmm. . . . not where have we heard that before?
I don’t understand why people who don’t have a snowball’s chance in hades do this. They don’t get media coverage, they don’t get traction on the internet. Is it a vanity thing?
Does he admit it’s time to fire the republican leadership? All three of them?
If he does, he’s got my vote.
Why doesn’t Karger just run as a libertarian instead of hiding out in the liberal wing of the Republican Party? Self-declared homosexual or not, his views are in direct conflict with the Republican Party platform.
What about that other guy who just dropped out to run for the meaningless party?
Bruce, thank you for being here, for being who you are, for being such a great American. You are someone I admire greatly.
Perhaps he was trying to take aim at two birds with one stone (Romney, Huntsman), but he is a religious bigot. While one of his websites purports to “try to understand” Mormons, the title of the blog is simply judgmental and mocking. Check it out for yourself here.
#6
Thanks for mentioning that, Cinesnatch.
If there’s one Religious group that threatens Western civilization, it’s the Mormons. What with their healthy lifestyles, good schools, and safe neighborhoods. (/sarc)
And if you think Mormonism is oppressive to women, Utah was one of the first states to grant women suffrage (which it did initially in 1870) (second only to Wyoming, which granted women suffrage the year before).
the reason why Suffrage was granted to women folk in Utah and Wyoming is that they needed the numbers. Pure and Simple
Naamloos. Thanks for reminding us of the first states to grant women suffrage. Only a very few people in this country actually knows that. I think that Wyoming had a women governor back in the 1800s.
Here’s an article on the history of voting rights for “women folk” in Wyoming… it doesn’t mention numbers anywhere. And here’s one on Utah. Clearly, the issue was much more complex than needing the numbers.
And I’m not sure why that would make a difference anyway, considering the number of people that vote doesn’t really make a differnce (in this context, at least).
And I should also correct a factual error in my previous comment; apparently, New Jersey granted women suffrage briefly from 1790 to 1807.
Wyomingites elected a female governor in 1924, the first state to do so. The same year, a woman was elected governor of Texas (with a caveat; she apparently promised to follow the advice of her husband). Another female governor wasn’t elected until 1966, when a woman was elected in Alabama.
The first woman governor to be elected without being a wife or widow of a previous governor was in Connecticut, 1974: Ella T. Grasso.
Interesting fact if you consider the first woman to make a serious bid for the presidency was the wife of a former president.
The Wyoming, Texas, Alabama and Connecticut governors were all Democrats.
Things that make you go hmmn …
Thanks for inspiring me to learn something today guys.
Also, first Republican female governor to be elected and sworn in was in 1987 Nebraska: Kate Orr.
Presently, there are six female governors, four of them Republicans.
The longest term served by a female governor is eight years shared by three women. And that wasn’t achieved until the last few years.
Naamloos, you are right. It was a much more complex issue. Suffrage history is interesting.
Correction: Comment 12, Line 3, I am talking about the first four governors.
Also interesting to note, almost half of the United States has not ever elected a female as governor. And that includes four of the most populous states: California, Illinois, Florida and New York, as well as Colorado and Minnesota. These are all swing states and/or often vote Democrat.
It is nice to know that there is a gay Republican candidate. But , what are his qualifications to be President? Isn´t it late for him to announce? In how many states will he be on the primary ballot? He´s identified the problem but what are his solutions? Herman Cain as a CEO
It´s nice to know there is a gay Republican candidate. But, isn´t it a little late, and what are his qualifications to be President of the U.S.A.? In how many states will he be on the primary ballot? He´s identified the problem, but, what is his solution? I supported Herman Cain because of his experience as a CEO of a large corporation and his 9-9-9 plan seemed to be a reasonable solution. It was a shame that he had to suspend his campaign because of alleged impropieties. Can Mr. Karger swear that there are no hidden skeletons in his, pardon the expression, closet?
#16
He actually announced his candidacy a long time ago… it’s just that he has gotten almost no attention, nor has he appeared in any debates (that I’m aware of). He isn’t really a serious candidate, and, as pointed out by Cinesnatch in #6, he is a bigot.
I guess we all forget about James Buchanan these days. 🙂
Mmmmaybe, but from reading his website, I get the impression that Karger himself is an ex-Mormon, which puts a rather different spin on it.
I mean, ex-Catholics are “allowed” to make fun of the RCC’s insistence that Joseph and Mary never had sex during their entire marriage after Jesus was born; and secular Jews are similarly “allowed” to make fun of Orthodox Jews who won’t eat turkey cheeseburgers, lest they accidentally violate “thou shalt not boil a kid-goat in its mother’s milk”.
Of course, at some point, ex-religious atheists/secularists need to grow up and stop throwing rotten tomatoes at religious faith in general. However, I think it’s rather widely accepted that we should cut them some slack if they want to keep on throwing a few tomatoes at the religion they came from.
Please cite evidence of this; I have found no evidence that Fred Karger is an ex-Mormon. According to Wikipedia, he is Jewish. Also according to Wikipedia, his opposition to Mormonism is based on the LDS Church’s support of Proposition 8.
And, if that is the case, I have to wonder what “crazy Mormon beliefs” have to do with the LDS Church’s opposition to gay marriage. And I wonder if he bothers to verify or do any research at all into the “crazy Mormon beliefs” before he posts them. Whatever the case, it is evident from a cursory glance at his website that it (his website) is motivated primarily by bigotry (or by trying to depict Mormons as some sort of bizarre culture).
Naamloos: I stand corrected.
I agree that if Karger is a non-Mormon who’s got a yellow-jacket nest in his underwear because of LDS support for Prop8, then his website does come across as very bigoted.
After Googling some more, I would change my “if” to “given the fact that…”