After less than two weeks on the job, Richard Grenell resigned as the Romney campaign spokesperson on foreign policy, apparently because social conservative activists don't like gay people, and they told the Republican nominee that Grenell's sexual orientation was unacceptable.
The religious right isn't just gloating about the developments, some prominent voices in the movement are making the case that their power has grown considerably. The American Family Association's Bryan Fischer told his audience that Grenell's ouster was a "huge win" for social conservatives.
Note the sweeping nature of Fischer's boast: "Mitt Romney has been forced to say, 'Look, I overstepped my bounds here. I went outside the parameters here. I went off the reservation with this hire. The pro-family community has called me back to the table here. Called me back inside the borders of the reservation.'" In other words, in 2012, "the parameters" are being set by far-right extremists, not the Republican nominee.
The New York Times has some additional reporting on this today, noting that neither Romney nor his staff had a problem with Grenell's sexual orientation, but they nevertheless felt the need to keep him silent and on the sidelines, so as to satisfy the concerns of right-wing activists.
"It's not that the campaign cared whether Ric Grenell was gay," one Republican adviser told the Times. "They believed this was a nonissue. But they didn't want to confront the religious right."
And that's ultimately what this story is all about: cowardice.
Romney could have told (or at least a sent a signal) to the religious right that he'd pick his own aides, thank you very much, and that social conservatives weren't going to make staffing decisions for him. Or the campaign could have issued a firm statement defending Grenell in the face of criticism, making it clear the candidate and his team stood with their colleague.
But Romney didn't want a confrontation.
The larger pattern is hard to miss: Romney has opinions about gender-based pay disparities, but he doesn't want to take a stand on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act because he's afraid the right might get angry. He doesn't want to take a stand on the Violence Against Women Act or the Paycheck Fairness Act for the same reason.
Romney has opinions about gay rights, but he's afraid to state his position on North Carolina's anti-gay ballot measure, even when he's in North Carolina. He has opinions about civility and the public discourse, but he lacks the courage to criticize Rush Limbaugh or Ted Nugent. Romney has opinions on abortion rights, but he was afraid to say what he thought about the "personhood" amendment in Mississippi earlier this year. He has opinions about immigration policy, but he lacks the courage to explain in detail how he'd handle undocumented immigrants who are already living in the United States. He has opinions about the budget, but he's afraid to go into detail to explain how he'd pay for his agenda.
He even called for a Republican version of the DREAM Act, but when pressed for his position on Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) version, Romney wouldn't state a clear opinion on this, either.
Romney seems to live in constant fear that conservatives will get mad at him, and the result is a candidate who lacks the backbone and integrity to take firm stands.
In the grand scheme of things, I suspect most Americans won't know who Grenell is, will hear very little about his ouster, and the story won't have a lasting impact. The question to consider, though, is whether there's a cumulative effect to all of these incidents in which Romney shrinks when leadership opportunities arise.
The American electorate can tolerate quite a bit, but no one respects a coward.
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Sarah Palin had the courage to express firm opinions on things she knew nothing about. That was fine for a couple months, but after a while, the ignorance became a liability. Romney is a coward, but I'm not ready to concede that he knows enough about any issue to have a firm opinion. At least I can't think of any he has defended knowledgeably.
Steve, you might want to consider a new weekly post (like Mitt's Mendacity): The Gutlessness of Mitt. They're adding up and it's a terrific meme.
What a putz! I just can't imagine how this guy feels good about demeaning people. As for Mitt, I don't know why everyone assumes the "position" when it comes to the extreme right wing of the GOP!
Shame on all of them.
Bryan Fisher effectively and publicly neutered the GOP candidate. WTG!
It's not that they have "so much power" it's that everyone is SO sick of hearing them cry and whine and play professional victims.
When I first read this quote from the article:
I actually thought it said *STINKS* instead of *SHRINKS*. I actually think my version is more accurate.
We sure know what shrinks now don't we
If Romney doesn't have the courage to stand up to the GOP's leaders, he will never have the courage to stand up to other country's leaders. He will never have the courage to stand up to terrorists.
That's a great line and I really wish it weren't almost as applicable to the Obama administration. I suppose there's a difference between firing someone because of what s/hesaid or what deceptive editing made it look like s/he said, and firing someone for who they are. But it's a not a huge difference. Politicians are really scared of frothing at the mouth wingers. That's the story on the right and the left.
Fact is, he is on record as not wanting to upset Pakistan in the pursuit of OBL by violating their sovereignty. He is a wimp's wimp.
On the contrary. Since there's nothing they can do to him, he'll build a reputation for fearlessness by totally hammering the Maldives on foreign policy. I'm sure he'll demonstrate firm resolve by invading Grenada again, too.
If he proves to the world that he's not afraid to make the hard decisions, he may not need to nuke Haiti.
The self-delusion of the extreme religious right is predictable, I'm afraid, considering the insularity of that community and their absolute conviction that they have a duty to enforce God's laws rather than simply follow them.
The reason candidates continue to pander to these groups is that they are masters of cacophony. They will make so much noise they drown out anyone else, and rely on the members of their factions that are less grounded in reality to threaten violence if that doesn't work. The overall effect is to make it easier to comply than to ignore them like the purely marginal faction that they are.
So it is not simply cowardice on the part of the Romney campaign, it is laziness, or possibly miserliness, since resources would have to be spent to counter the volume of noise these folks are generating. Apparently the Romney campaign feels it's energy and resources are better spent tearing down the Obama Campaign than in cleaning their own house.
My recommendation to the Obama Campaign would be to remind all the various forces assaulting them from the right to mind their own houses. The dangers their own extremists present to the nation are far greater than anything another 4 years under Obama could do. Even they must know that.
We don't need the gay vote!
We don't need the black vote!
We don't need the female vote!
We don't need the youth vote!
We don't need the Hispanic vote!
We have enough old, white, men to carry the day!
and you forgot...Hate is a Family value
+1
Romney knows that his race for the office of the President is tenuous at best, he needs the support of the "social conservatives" in order to win so the heck with everyone else. His inability to stand up to the evangelical crowd now should be seen as a precursor to what would happen should he win the Presidency; we would be proscribed to living in a theocracy. The fact that the evangelicals are now emboldened because Grenell no longer works for the campaign is only the beginning of what they will over reach to achieve.
If Romney can't stand up to the religious bigots in his own party, how will he ever defend the country against the Soviets or stand up for Czechoslovakia? (LOL)
Being a gay Republican is like a zebra in a lion's suit among the pride. They will sniff you out.
And then they'll hit on you in the men's room.
From the WEST WING (or how to shut down the Fundamentalists)...
Reverend: "The First Commandment says: 'Honor thy father.'"
Toby: "No, it doesn't."
Josh: "Toby!"
Toby: "It doesn't. No! If I'm going to make you sit through this preposterous exercise, we're going to get the names of the damn commandments, right. Honor thy father is the Third Commandment."
Reverend: "Then what's the First Commandment?"
In walks "President Bartlet," limping from a bike accident: "'I am the Lord your God, thou shalt worship no other god before me.' Boy those were the days, huh?"
The Reverend asks Bartlet: "If our children can buy pornography on any street corner for five dollars, isn't that too high a price to pay for free speech?"
Bartlet: "No."
The Reverend seems surprised by this logical answer from a liberal: "Really?"
Bartlet: "On the other hand I do think that five dollars is too high a price to pay for pornography."
"C.J.", the Press Secretary: "Why don't we all sit down?"
Bartlet: "No, let's not, C.J., these people won't be staying that long."
Turning to one of the ministers, Bartlet demands: "Al, how many times have I asked you to denounce the practices of a fringe group that calls itself the Lambs of God."
Reverend Al: "Sir, that's not up to me."
Bartlet: "Crap, it is up to you, Al. You know my wife, Abby, she never wants me to do anything while I'm upset. Twenty-eight years ago I came home from a very bad day at the State House, I tell Abby I'm going out for a drive. I get into the station wagon, put it in reverse and pull out of the garage full speed. Except I forgot to open the garage door. Abby told me not to drive while I was upset and she was right. She was right yesterday when she told me not to get on that damn bicycle while I was upset but I did it anyway. And I guess I was just about as angry as I'd ever been in my life. Seems my granddaughter Annie had given an interview in one of those teen magazines and somewhere between movie stars and makeup tips she talked about her feelings on a woman's right to choose. Now, Annie, all of 12 has always been precocious but she's got a good head on her shoulders and I like it when she uses it so I couldn't understand it when her mother called me in tears yesterday. I said, Elizabeth what's wrong. She said, 'It's Annie.' Now, I love my family, and I've read my Bible from cover to cover so I want you to tell me from what part of Holy Scripture do you suppose the Lambs of God drew their divine inspiration when they sent my 12 year old granddaughter a Raggedy Ann doll with a knife stuck through its throat? You'll denounce these people Al, you'll do it publicly, and until you do you can all get your fat asses out of my White House. C.J., show these people out."
A boxed set should be on the desk in the Oval Office on Inauguration Day, awaiting every newly sworn POTUS.
Too bad these Palestinian dairy farmers that had their livelihoods destroyed by Israel on Palestinian land are not all gay. Rachel would be all over the story. But these human rights crimes are not crimes in RAchel and her teams book. Telling and sad
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/israel-destroys-dairy-farm-in-occupied-palestine.html
Since I've started watching in the past couple months, TRMS has had a fairly clear focus on politics and policies relating directly to the U.S. Possibly with the purpose of correcting the tide of lies coming from the far right.
That's a bloody sad and @!$%#ty situation, but why would expect her show in particular to switch tracks to cover that, when there are other, broader and larger news outlets to do so?
Moreover, how does that make them horrible people? Because they can't cover every bit of news around the world that happens everyday, while things are getting screwed up in our backyard?
Don't be an ass. If you think it's that important a topic, why don't you contact the team with the information you have on the subject (politely) and see if they'd be able to bring it to greater light? And if they can't, too bad. TRMS is, as implicated by the name, Rachel Maddow's show. Not a platform for what you think should be covered.
What's telling and sad, Kathleen-330322, is that you clearly have no argument on the issue at hand, and lack the sense to present a red herring argument without revealing your own homophobia. Crawl back under your rock.
It's been said before but-ain't it funny what passes for religion these days?
Actually, it is rather sad what passes for religion nowadays.
“Many religions now come before us with ingratiating smirks and outspread hands, like an unctuous merchant in a bazaar. They offer consolation and solidarity and uplift, competing as they do in a marketplace. But we have a right to remember how barbarically they behaved when they were strong and were making an offer that people could not refuse.”
― Christopher Hitchens
Religion these days has nothing to do with religion. It's about money. If you can put on a good enough act to get a 300 folks to sit and listen to you for an hour a week and then each contribute an annual average of $1000, you've got a nice tidy income of $300,000 - tax free.
Imagine what the ministers of the BIG churches rake in.
Religions seem to have been long, often, or even mostly, about money. You might enjoy this wonderful book, which is not at all intended to drive this point home, but is rather a marvelous exploration without agenda.
Gold was the Mortar:The Economics of Cathedral Building, by Henry Kraus
Of course, when the fascinating discussion in this book is overlaid upon your other knowledge of the cathedral building period, the conclusion that religion has long been about money is difficult to escape.
Rachel keeps asking why the Republican fervor of the last year has been directed toward women's reproductive rights. I'd say look no farther than the so-called "family association" and "family research council" and the coercive power they now exert over the far right in the Republican Party.
Yep. Christians who hate Jesus but love money are the Republican base. Same as Conservative Party voters up here in Canada.
There's so much that is wrong with Fischer claiming to be "inside the borders of the reservation", standing in front of an image of the Constitution, no less, that I hardly know where to begin. At a minimum, I'd add to DAY's list, We don't need the Indian vote!
Thank you!
...and Romney will be pivoting to the center any day now, just as soon as the bigots on the right allow it. Must be nice to wholly tax-exempt and this powerful in politics.
i like President Obama, but I also miss President Bartlett!!
Yeah...great way to make sure the GOP gets smaller & smaller. All the attacks on groups of people and nosing in peoples' business does not sound conservative to me. Religious zealots are ruining the party. I think in a decade or 2 there will be serious consequences. People are tiring of this shallow mean platform.
And how many serious consequences will we all suffer in the meantime?
Very sad statement that rings loud and clear. Tolerance suffers another sucking chest wound. Are there no courageous souls that will stand against bigotry in the Romney camp?
Tolerance only works when it is reciprocal. Religions, because they purport to know the mind of god and ultimate truth, cannot extend tolerance, not even to each other, except of the short term, grudgingly offered, tactical sort. Emancipation cannot be sustained unless liberals realize this.
It's past time for the "middle of the road" folks to start standing up to extremist positions. I do not believe the far right represents the majority of people any more than I think the far left does. I feel like extreme opinions get the majority of the attention in the media creating the impression that they represent the majority. I'd like to see more reasonable view points get air time.
Something like 44% of Americans believe that Jesus will "return" to take over control of the Earth within their lifetimes, with half being "certain" of this, and the other half thinking it "likely". That's is a very extreme opinion. It's considered by most of the civilized world to be deeply delusional.
This faction has concentrated themselves within the GOP / TEA Party. They only get their news from one place. They have their own revisionist historian, David Barton, to bolster their delusional view of history in support of their theocratic agenda. They don't value objective reality. They deny science. They don't value government or compromise.
So, the evidence suggests that you are mistaken. The problem of the press is that they are terrified of speaking this plain and simple truth, because one side of the political aisle is almost half the population, and they are extremists.
By the way, simply because you disagree with extremists, doesn't mean that you are an extremist. The opposite of "delusional theocratic fascists" isn't "extremist leftist".
Normally I would be outraged by this...and in theory I am. But didn't Grenell tweet some misogynistic comments awhile back? And a gay man working for Mitt? WTH? I don't get it. I see it as the old saying goes, when you lay down with dogs, you wake up with fleas. I am not surprised by this turn of events, should Grenell be?
It would be nice to have MSNBC re-run the West Wing series on the weekends, instead of the Prison Downers...so everyone could remember what the White House should stand for....especially Mitt and company!
"Homosexual activist"? Really?! Not if he was working on the Romney campaign. Is anyone suspected of being homosexual now a "homosexual activist"?
The only thing the Gop is correct about is that Romney is not a fit candidate! Pretty pathetic that out of all the nut job candidates, Romney got it and now they have to back pedal on all the bad things they said about him.