GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

Next gay Congressman from Mass likely to be a Republican

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In just a few months, gay Americans will no longer have to experience the embarrassment of having a mean-spirited liberal as the most prominent gay Congressman.  With the retirement of Barney Frank, more pleasantly disposed gay Democrats, like Colorado’s Jared Polis, should come to the fore.

And while the unhappy Mr. Frank will no longer be representing Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives, it seems increasingly likely that another gay man — and one with a much better understanding of the way the world works and a keen appreciation of the burdens the government places upon individuals — will be representing the Bay State in Washington., D.C.

It seems increasingly likely that Richard Tisei, the only congressional challenger I have officially endorsed this year, appears poised to oust Democrat John Tierney in the state’s 6th Congressional District.

The National Journal ranked the race as “the 11th most likely to turn over among the 435 seats in the House” and” the Rothenberg Political Report, another nationally regarded nonpartisan observer, tipped the race to ‘Lean Republican’ from ‘Toss-up.’”  That’s good news for Massachusetts, for gay Americans in general and gay Republicans in particular.

His campaign could always use a few extra bucks to make sure they get his supporters to the polls next month.  Join me in supporting this good man.

Once again, a reminder: Mitt Romney is a mensch

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Most Republicans who watch this video will learn nothing new about Mitt Romney, but it is striking that CBS News would run a piece so favorable to the Republican presidential nominee (this close to the election).
 Via Glenn Reynolds.

Methinks Mitt wouldn’t have turned out as well as he did without the influence of one particular individual: [Read more…]

Chaz Bono to Headline Fundraiser for Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack

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Twice while helping out with Outfest, I have experienced the class of Chaz Bono.  When honored by the festival one year on Opening Night, instead of delivering a long speech, he, humbled by the honor, briefly thanked the festival, then returned to his seat, understanding that people were eager to see film.  Another time, when I was managing the theater where he was appearing, he showed incredible courtesy to the Outfest staff (including yours truly), thanking us for our assistance, respect to his audience, staying to talk to anyone who wished to have a word with him.

He is showing his class once again — and a bit of courage — by joining Cindy McCain and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan in hosting a fundraiser, organized by our friend Ric Grenell, for his step-mother, Republican Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack on Sunday, October 14, 2012 from 5:00 until 6:30 PM. For more information and to RSVP, contact Reagan Cotter.

Mrs. Mack is the only Republican woman in California’s House delegation.  She voted to repeal Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, has signed Americans’ for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge and  has been honored by that organization as well as the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the National Association of Manufacturers.

Join me in supporting this good Republican, voting the right way on DADT repeal and supporting a smaller, less intrusive federal government.

Tax returns show Mitt Romney’s empathy

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Thanks to Erika Johnsen at HotAir for teasing out some important details in Mitt Romney’s just-released tax returns.

This past year, he gave $4,020,772 of his  $13,696,951 in (“mostly investment”) income to charity.  That’s 29.65%.  Interestingly, “The Romneys [only] claimed a deduction for $2.25 million of those charitable contributions.”

Romney also provided details on his past 20 years of tax returns, indicating that he paid taxes in each of those years.  Do wonder if Harry Reid will now apologize for slurring the good man from Massachusetts.  And “Over the entire 20-year period, the Romneys gave to charity an average of 13.45% of their adjusted gross income.”

By contrast in the ten years prior to his nomination to be the Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden gave 0.15% of his income to charity.  (UPDATE:  For comparison purposes, in the 20 years prior to his current bid for the White House, Mitt Romney gave ninety times as much of his income to charitable institutions as did Joe Biden in the 10 years prior to his nomination as the Democratic candidate for Vice President.)

Sounds like Mitt Romney is a most generous man, an empathetic individual.

UPDATE:   John Podhoretz looked more closely at the returns than did I and caught this:

As a member of the Mormon church, Romney is instructed to tithe 10 percent of his income. That’s in keeping with most charitable giving: Religious institutions get about one-third of all contributions, according to The American magazine.

In 2011, his tithe would have been $1.4 million — which means in that year alone he gave more than twice as much to other charities through his own foundation and through other means.

Via Instapundit.  Romney gave more than his church required him to tithe–and gave to groups other than his church.

UP-UPDATE: Romney Gave 1,000 Times as Much to Charity in a Year as Biden Gave in a Decade

Mitt Romney: Mensch

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A Jew could pay fewer higher compliments to another individual than to call him a mensch, meaning that he embodies the highest, the best qualities of a human being.  The more we learn about Mitt Romney’s life since he married Ann the more we realize that the man is a mensch.

Just watch the testimonial the Oparowskis offered last night:

(H/t: The Corner.)

Mitt Romney does seem to be a man of great empathy.

No wonder Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker “would have preferred to see more testimonials from people talking about Romney” last night.

Ryan’s Reaganesque Remarks Echo Nation’s Founding Principles

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Last year, from a seat on bloggers’ row in the (metaphorical) rafters the Excel Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, I watched the Republican vice presidential nominee deliver a speech that wowed us all.  “If this were baseball,” I wrote from those rafters, “the ball would be up here.  Or further.  She’s hitting this out of the park.”

You could feel the energy in the hall.  You could feel it as people left the auditorium, seemingly floating, not walking, back to our cars and busses.

“Leaving the hall” last night, reports the Washington Examiner’s Byron York, Republicans seem to have had similar feelings, offering “reviews of [this year vice presidential nominee Paul] Ryan’s speech that ranged from ‘fantastic’ to ‘awe-inspiring.’  If any were underwhelmed, they didn’t show it.”  Even non-Repubilcans liked it.   One 2008 Obama voter blogged that “Ryan did a brilliant job. It was much more than a fine speech and an excellent delivery. He embodied that speech. We saw a brilliant candidate.”

Jim Geraghty called the speech “Reaganesque“.  Ryan skeptic Paul Mirengoff dubbed it “optimal“, his blogging colleague John Hinderaker called it “fantastic.”  The fetching Wisconsin Republican criticized, as Jennifer Rubin observed, “‘more in sadness than in anger’ with great expression of empathy for fellow citizens.”

Glenn Reynolds listed his favorite lines, including the one about “fading Obama poster”.  Maybe everyone is buzzing about that one, but two other passages which struck me, the first, Ryan ribbing his running mate for his choice in music.  Can you imagine Joe Biden making fun of Barack Obama’s tastes in music (or anything else for that matter)?*

Perhaps, I should cite his conclusion where he harkened back to our nation’s “founding principles”, but it was this passage where he articulated one of those principles that really resonated with me:

In a clean break from the Obama years, and frankly from the years before this president, we will keep federal spending at 20 percent of GDP, or less. That is enough. The choice is whether to put hard limits on economic growth, or hard limits on the size of government, and we choose to limit government.

In the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Jefferson listed the British government’s “long train of abuses and usurpations” against the American people.  The Constitution placed strict limits on what the new federal government could do. [Read more…]

Chris Christie, like Paul Ryan, reminds us that the Republican is the party of real reform

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Last night, after having dinner with a friend, we ended up, pursuant to part of our conversation, watching the first half of Excalibur, a flawed, but very (very, very) watchable movie.  As a result, I missed the two “big” speeches at the Republican National Convention last night.

When I did scan the web last night, I learned that conservative bloggers andpundits, while almost unanimous in loving Ann Romney’s speech, had mixed views on Chris Christie’s.  Byron York thought the New Jersey governor’s address did not succeed. Jonah Goldberg called it “a mild disappointment.”

Jennifer Rubin and John Podhoretz liked the speech, with the latter citing the governor’s failure to attack the incumbent indicated instead a suggestion

. . . that the electorate in November would turn to the Republican ticket because it understands better than politicians the depth of the country’s problems — and that only the Republicans would speak honestly about them and the need to change course before it’s too late.

Perhaps, the reason Christie highlighted his own record was to show that understanding and that even thought Republican leaders in state houses across the country face incredible obstacles to reform, but are nonetheless pushing ahead with solutions to their jurisdictions’ problems.

Christie’s goal, in short, was to warm up the audience for Paul Ryan, showing that Republicans have solutions to the nation’s fiscal problems.

In the interview with the other Republican elected to replace a Democratic governor in 2009, the National Review’s Jim Geraghty asks a question which shows not just that Republican governors have championed reforms, but that reforms has helped improve the economic situation in their states: “Completely coincidental“, he quips “that all of Obama’s national policies are only working in those Republican states, huh?”  (I.e., states where Republican governors have enacted real reforms.)

“What Paul Ryan brings to the ticket”, adds that governor, Virginia’s Bob McDonnell,

 is a seriousness about the incredible challenges facing America. [Read more…]

Warren slurs Scott Brown because of that (R) after his name

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Yesterday, at Legal Insurrection, Anne Sorock reported that Elizabeth Warren was playing the “rape card against Scott Brown” even though the Massachusetts Senator was one of the first Republicans to criticize Todd Akin and ask the Missourian to withdraw from the Senate contest:

To Miss Warren as to Congressman Jan Schakowsky, it doesn’t matter that Republicans have overwhelmingly denounced Akin, with every prominent Republican who has spoken out on the matter as well as a sizable number of conservatives in the media asking the Congressman to exit the Senate contest.  (Interestingly, it seems that most of the people who want Akin to stay in the race are Democrats and allied special interests.) These folks are determined to smear the GOP at all costs.

The good news is that a poll by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic shows Brown has “opened a significant lead on Warren, 49-44.”

Help keep this good man from Massachusetts in “the people’s seat” by donating to his campaign.

UPDATE:  PPP isn’t the only poll showing Brown ahead.  Another survey provides almost identical results:

According to a Kimball Political Consulting survey of registered voters in Massachusetts, Senator Scott Brown has a 6 point lead over Democrat Elizabeth Warren (49 percent to 43 percent) with 9 percent undecided. The figure is just within the survey’s 4 percent margin of error.

Via Powerline picks.  No wonder Miss Warren is scraping the bottom of the peril.  The Democratic candidate can’t seem to get much traction in this overwhelmingly Democratic state.

Seems Paul Ryan shares Ronald Reagan’s incurable optimism

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Asking whether “Incurable Optimism” is A Genetic Trait, Glenn Reynolds quips, “IF SO, MAYBE IT REALLY IS INCURABLE“.  Ronald Reagan too thought optimism was incurable as manifested by his delight in  repeating the story about the man who had two sons, one an incurable optimist, the other an incurable pessimist.

As I recall when I heard Paul Ryan speak at the sacred shrine of freedom Reagan Library, he offered the optimistic son’s concluding comment, expressing his certainty that there just had to be a pony in that pile of horse manure.

Methinks that’s one thing which makes the fetching Wisconsin Republican such a compelling candidate; he knows the Gipper’s tales and shares his optimism.

Yes, optimism does seem to be incurable.   And it does seem more Republicans than Democrats share this affliction with the Gipper — and with Mr. Ryan.