A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Ricochet's own Jennifer Rubin has been following the story of Richard Grenell on her Washington Post blog, Right Turn. Richard Grenell was recently hired by the Romney campaign to serve as a spokesman on foreign policy. As luck would have it for a former governor with little foreign policy experience, this former John Bolton advisor is a registered Republican and staunchly opposes the Obama administration's stance on key national security issues. There is only one problem: Mr. Grenell is gay.
Pieces in two conservative publications, the National Review and Daily Caller, reflected the uproar by some social conservatives over the appointment. [UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.: Although Grenell also raised the ire of liberal commentators with now-deleted tweets about certain prominent women, none of the sources I spoke with mentioned the tweets as a factor in his resignation decision.]
In the National Review, Matthew J. Franck wrote late last week: “Suppose Barack Obama comes out — as Grenell wishes he would — in favor of same-sex marriage in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. How fast and how publicly will Richard Grenell decamp from Romney to Obama?"
I believe we can have a rational debate over gay marriage within the conservative sphere without forcing out those who are gay from our movement. This is a shameful moment for us conservatives and I hope we are beginning the process of rejecting such intolerance. While I am saddened that Mr. Grenell decided to resign from the campaign for personal reasons, I am proud that Governor Romney demonstrated the fortitude to stand by his selection of an imminently qualified advisor like Mr. Grenell and did not take the easy way out by bowing to the less savory aspects of social conservatism.
I would like to know if I am alone with my indignation over the treatment of Mr. Grenell and the pressure for him to resign. In the alternative, I would be happy to hear the counterargument if a fellow Ricochetian feels an openly gay man should not be advising on Republican campaign. How should we proceed as a movement? And, a slightly different question, how do you think we will actually proceed as a movement?
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Comments:
Sep '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
What in God's name is going on???? The Titanic is sinking and we're arguing whether the curtains and paint match.
The size of government, the deficit and federal regulatory intrusion in our live is growing with no end in site and we're getting worked up over some campaign worker of little importance quitting?????
If charges of purges are going to be made please issue them with cold hard facts, not wild, fatuous suppositions. Otherwise let's stay focused on the issues of importance.
Boy we really are the stupid party…
PS Note to anyone who wants to be involved in politics, Left, Right, Center, gay or straight. DISCRETION MATTERS. You might have a Twitter account and you have the right to use it. But emoting like a junior high girl texting her friends at the mall shows poor judgment. Might not be the best spokesman.
Edited on May 2, 2012 at 11:48pmJul '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Lucy Pevensie: Is anyone besides me noticing a familiar pattern beginning here? Jennifer Rubin had nothing but praise for Romney and his campaign, as long as there was anybody more conservative in the race. Now suddenly the Romney campaign is just dreadful.
Anyone remember anything like this oh, say, four years ago? McCain was the only tolerable Republican right up until he became the only Republican, which is just about when he became intolerably right wing. · 40 minutes agobingo!
Bingo!
Mar '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
It might be useful if Ms. Rubin attempted objective journalism. The story is Romney employed a gay staffer. Romney "issued a clear message that being openly gay was not a problem" The staffer decided not to take the job. Then Romney tries to get him to stay.
I still don't see where the story is here. He was not "fired" for being gay, he quit a job he had never started. Romney is trying to be President. Was he supposed to go on every Sunday morning show begging a staffer not to quit?
Edited on May 2, 2012 at 9:10pmMar '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
I place "shameful" right up there with "hurtful" as words that put me on notice that political correctness is in the air.
Dec '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Ronaldus Maximus: What in God's name going on???? ...
The size of government, the deficit and federal regulatory intrusion in our live is growing with no end in site and we're getting worked up over some campaign worker of little importance quitting?????
...
This was my point in #75. The world is on fire, folks. We've got a debt there is absolutely no way we can ever repay, and one of the major political parties thinks there's no reason to slow down the spending. In fact Obama's campaign strategy is to create more dependency with more lavish government giveaways to win votes. And it just might work.
On foreign policy, the president seems to be in the business of destroying America's moral standing in the world. Examples go back to the Iranian uprising, stiffing Poland on missile defense, up to today's "return" of a Chinese dissident into the hands of the Chicoms and a "long-term partnership" signing with Karzai (isn't Congress supposed to approve treaties?).
Gay conservatives and gay-sympathizing independents need to grow up. This election is NOT about gays. It's going to be an extremely difficult campaign -- stay focused.
Apr '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
What a bunch of crap. Yes, much of the world is melting down as we watch, including our American part of the world, government propaganda and MSM complicity to the contrary.
Is this the most important or even a little important story?
My local MSM, CBS radio, carried this story as it's lede echoing all the DNC talking points in an attack on Romney.
Mar '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Leslie Watkins: Hey, Doc! I sure wish I knew these guys! · 6 hours ago
Actually, most of the gays I know are conservative, but I guess I run in pretty conservative circles.
May '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Jonathan Matthew Gilbert and I disagree about gay marriage. We would not disagree at all about the fact that Gary Bauer and Tony Perkins are not particularly helpful to the Republican party, nor is their behavior Scriptural, in my opinion.
May '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Casey Taylor
Palaeologus
Speaking of unacceptable, Jen Rubin is smart, funny, and a tad obnoxious: I like her. But she hasn't a clue what sells outside Washington, and her attacks on so-cons are amazingly similar to those she makes on Paulistas. · 34 minutes ago
It's the voice. I try hard to listen to Left Coast/Right Coast because I like Mickey Kaus so much, but I just can't get past her manner of speaking. Yes, I prefer Kaus' voice to Rubin's. She grates on me that much. · 22 hours ago
And she eats while she talks. Guh-ross.
Jun '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Mothership_Greg
I'm specifically taking issue with the phrase "anti-gay" being applied to Franck - because he makes a bad argument, he's anti-gay?
It's not that he argued badly, it's that he argued that Grenell wasn't to be trusted because, despite his broad portfolio of super-conservative bona fides, Grenell would bail because he's so into gay marriage. And why is that? Because...
Franck may not be anti-gay, but he's certainly anti- Grenell being gay.
I've been following Rick Grenell on various social media for a long time, and am familiar with a good deal of the deleted Tweets. You left out the context, which is important. The Santorum string was a back and forth between him and some seriously retrograde folks associated with the Santorum campaign, where some pretty scurrilous accusations were made about Grenell's character, and crude reference made to his private life. Mild snark, in the face of that, I think is excusable.
The stuff about Calista was just bitchy, for which Grenell apologized. Even if Gingrich's people did much the same thing, even going so far as deleting their tweets before the campaign gained momentum.
Jul '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
And Duane Oyen and I both believe that replacing Obama is the objective in this election, and we can achieve that a lot easier together than divided. And then suss out our differences afterwards :)
Jun '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
James Of England
Worse still, we appeased those who engaged in vile attacks. We'll see more of them in the future. If your opponent's response to attacks on his staff is to let them go, the value to attacking staff goes up considerably.
Douglas:
This is frankly, flatly,false. This isn't a "gay purge". He was pressured to leave because he's a crusader for redifning marriage, against his own party's principles...
It's not false. For some, your characterization is accurate. For others, it's simply bigotry. Bryan Fischer, for example, has been extremely clear that we should have no openly gay senior officials in the party. Worse, appeasement appears to have exacerbated the problem.
Here, for example:
20 hours ago
I always enjoy your arguments, moreso when they support my own.
You are exactly correct, we have fallen into a rather obvious pitfall, and have fallen behind in Colonel Boyd's OODA Loop. More's the pity, it was entirely avoidable.
Nov '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Casey Taylor
Mothership_Greg
I'm specifically taking issue with the phrase "anti-gay" being applied to Franck - because he makes a bad argument, he's anti-gay?
It's not that he argued badly, it's that he argued that Grenell wasn't to be trusted because, despite his broad portfolio of super-conservativebona fides, Grenell would bail because he's so into gay marriage. And why is that? Because...
Franck may not be anti-gay, but he's certainly anti- Grenell being gay.
Again, the argument that Grenell shouldn't be on the campaign as a foreign policy adviser, because he is strongly supportive of gay marriage, doesn't make any sense to me. Does Romney have any heterosexual spokespeople who are outspokenly in favor of gay marriage? If so, and Franck has not raised questions about their competence, then that would be evidence that he is "anti-gay". Otherwise, this would be like calling someone racist, if they raised questions about Condoleezza Rice's fitness to serve as Secretary of State because of her support for affirmative action. It's a dumb argument; it's not racist.
Jun '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Fat Dave
Casey Taylor
Palaeologus
Speaking of unacceptable, Jen Rubin is smart, funny, and a tad obnoxious: I like her. But she hasn't a clue what sells outside Washington, and her attacks on so-cons are amazingly similar to those she makes on Paulistas. · 34 minutes ago
It's the voice. I try hard to listen to Left Coast/Right Coast because I like Mickey Kaus so much, but I just can't get past her manner of speaking. Yes, I prefer Kaus' voice to Rubin's. She grates on me that much. · 10 hours ago
I just wish she'd stop eating during recording. Sometimes it sounds like she's noshing on peanut butter and crackers. · 16 hours ago
My God, you hit the nail on the head. It sounds like she's chewing her words. Masticating adverbs.
Nov '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Casey Taylor
I've been following Rick Grenell on various social media for a long time, and am familiar with a good deal of the deleted Tweets. You left out the context, which is important. The Santorum string was a back and forth between him and some seriously retrograde folks associated with the Santorum campaign, where some pretty scurrilous accusations were made about Grenell's character, and crude reference made to his private life. Mild snark, in the face of that, I think is excusable.
The stuff about Calista was just bitchy, for which Grenell apologized. Even if Gingrich's people did much the same thing, even going so far as deleting their tweets before the campaign gained momentum.
I'd be interested in seeing the Santorum remark in context - I have no idea what the context is. Not sure who "Gingrich's people" are, but I think attacking wives of presidential candidates on Twitter is indicative of poor judgment, and unseriousness. I'm not terribly comfortable with a man helping to craft policy with respect to Iran and China and Russia being the sort of person who engages in ridiculous catfights on Twitter. Maybe that's just me.
Jun '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
KarlUB: Actually, Molly, I LOVE the point York says Grenell is making. To wit, "You [democratic party tool] are going to strut around making a gay rights fuss over pretty moderate republicans, and at the same time slobber over a President who is transparently duplicitous on the subject? A pox on you, you hackish weasel. You don't care about gay rights. You care about leftist ideology."
If we had more gay Republicans with access to the pages of The Blade willing to make that case, half of all gay people would be conservative, and the GOP might be able to win elections in places like California again.
So thanks for that link, Mollie. It makes me 100% sure I support Grenell in whatever future endeavors he decides to engage.
Oh, and when it comes to his "abusive" Twitter feed: When we tell liberals to get off the fainting couch and enjoy a joke, that works both ways. · 14 hours ago
Thank you. This is exactly why I've been following Grenell since he was at State. He is very funny, and he has a talent for addressing his enemies on their own terms.
Jun '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Highlama
Not quite yet,
Keyes says: "I have consistently opposed the effort to extort monetary damages from the American people." He also supports a general overhaul of the tax code. But that's not the point.
The question at hand here is "Is it reasonable to suspect that Grenell is so single issue focused that he might switch camps."
I gave you a site funded by Keyes, showing you his support for a generational tax holiday for black people - because of slavery - with no caveats. That's reparations, I don't care who you are.
You can't just say that Mitt trusted Bolton's guidance, that Grenell is worthy and well-qualified, able to communicate effectively the goals of his boss? It has to be because the GOP needs to suck up to the gays? Grenell's not a candidate, he has no political capital. He's just a dude with job, and a couple of idiots have made an issue of the ratio between his personal convictions and professional responsibilities, forcing this to the front of the stage.
Jun '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Nathaniel Wright:
We need fewer ideological purges on the Right. We have the right to disagree with one another about policies. An OPS of .700+ (that's on base plus slugging) is enough agreement for me to welcome someone into my side of the argument. And that wouldn't require us to agree on even half of my positions, just for the person to be very good at advocating for those things upon which we do agree. · 13 hours ago
That is just beautiful. I'm trying to find a space where I can cram in some apple pie, but your arguments are too tight.
No, I'm not being facetious. It pains me to have to say that.
Nov '11
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Thought this was interesting about Fischer, from hotair:
I have no idea who Bryan Fischer is - but I barely know who Gary Bauer is. How much power do these people have? Are they just scary rightwing nutjob boogeymen, or do lots of voters pay attention to them? Does anyone here actually know why Richard Grenell resigned? Or are we just engaging in posturing here? Do the actual facts of this case not matter, if it gives us a chance to pat ourselves on the back for being tolerant?
Edited on May 3, 2012 at 6:39amJun '10
Re: A Shameful Moment for the Conservative Movement
Mothership_Greg
Again, the argument that Grenell shouldn't be on the campaign as a foreign policy adviser, because he is strongly supportive of gay marriage, doesn't make any sense to me. Does Romney have any heterosexual spokespeople who are outspokenly in favor of gay marriage? If so, and Franck has not raised questions about their competence, then that would be evidence that he is "anti-gay". Otherwise, this would be like calling someone racist, if they raised questions about Condoleezza Rice's fitness to serve as Secretary of State because of her support for affirmative action. It's a dumb argument; it's not racist. · 1 hour ago
I agree, it's supremely dumb, and it plays perfectly into a Leftist trope. So why make it? The great thing about this whole internet thing is that we get to take time to write an argument, instead of spouting off with no recourse for correction. Franck, Bauer, et al, need to remember that.