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It’s The Gay that Caused Allen’s Loss

You had to know Petey was coming out with something new:

AFT Calls on Republican Senatorial Comm. to Rescind ‘Sexual Orientation’ Policy, Says Pro-‘Gay’ Political Correctness Led to Sen. Allen’s Loss

Contact: Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth, 630-546-4439

NAPERVILLE, Ill., Nov. 10 /Christian Newswire/ — Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera today called on the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to rescind its “sexual orientation” policy as inconsistent with the GOP’s professed pro-family values, and said pro-“gay” Political Correctness contributed to Sen. George Allen’s narrow loss for re-election in Virginia.

LaBarbera also called on all homosexual staff in both major parties to be open about their lifestyle in the interest of full disclosure to the public and each Member’s constituents.

Allen’s defeat–after failing to strongly embrace Virginia’s successful marriage amendment–led to the GOP’s loss of the Senate. Allen is widely reported to have homosexual staff. Jay Timmons, a senior Allen aide and former director of the NRSC, is among those being targeted for “outing” by homosexual bloggers, as is Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.

“In recent weeks, homosexual activists have sought to ‘out’ various high-level GOP staffers and leaders as homosexuals, to highlight their hypocrisy in working for a socially conservative party,” LaBarbera said. “Now we in the pro-family movement are calling for full disclosure for a different reason: because homosexual GOP staff and pro-‘gay’ policies in the party are undermining the wholesome values Republicans say they support.”

Noting that the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade reported in 2004 that the NRSC has a nondiscrimination policy based on “sexual orientation,” LaBarbera said: “Who knew that the Republican Party committee responsible for electing senators across the country has embraced the exact same pro-homosexual ‘orientation’ policy that social conservatives have been fighting for decades?”

Due to the Mark Foley scandal, social conservatives are learning about the existence of a network of homosexual GOP staffers on Capitol Hill who promote policies antithetical to the party’s stated “family values.”

In 2004, the pro-family group PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays) was outraged when Sen. Allen refused to sign their pledge supporting tolerance for former homosexuals, then went ahead and broke a promise to another pro-family group by backing a pro-“gay” federal “Hate Crimes” bill. Allen also signed a pro-homosexual “nondiscrimination” pledge for his Senate office.

“George Allen’s lukewarm support for Virginia’s marriage amendment cost him his Senate seat,” LaBarbera said. “Now we are left to wonder: did the stealth influence of gay Republican staffers move him toward this course that would ultimately turn the Senate over to the Democrats?”

Americans For Truth is dedicated to equipping Americans to confront the homosexual and transgender activist agendas. Phone: 630-717-7631. AFT, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. E-mail: americansfortruth@comcast.net.

Another Item for the 1st 100 Hours

Renaming the Resources Committee to the Natural Resources Committee.

Rahall isn’t my first choice amongst Dems, but I think we can say he’ll take up mine safety at least. On top of it, while Young will be ranking minority member—Pombo got tossed–Saxton will be fairly senior and he’s got a decent environmental record. There’ll be a good group to move environmental legislation through the committee.

Other good news is that Colin Petersen is taking over ag meaning a strong position on alternative energy and rural development. While he’s big on the ethanol kick (you can actually find ethanol at most stations in his District), but he also has lots of wind power.

The bad news–Dingell is back at Energy and Commerce. He’s an improvement over Barton, but that’s not saying much. He’ll bottle any CAFE standard changes up. The only leverage Democrats have there is to get the UAW and Auto Companies to get on board–we may be close to doing that.

Restoring Congress

I’m generally not thought of as one of the extreme in the netroots—in fact many think I’m too conservative (and Illinois Review calling Fritchey and I full of hate doesn’t count in a reality based discussion) and accepting of the apparatus. Fair enough.

Generally though my differences with Markos aren’t very great in that I’m not concerned about ideological purity as much as strong candidates with backbones, but today there is one issue I really do disagree with him on:

Me, I said at the time that I wanted to see the filibuster gone. Now Republicans will get to use it to stymie the Democratic agenda, just like opponents of civil rights used it to bottleneck important civil rights legislation in the 60s. But oh well. It is what it is.

But here’s the key — every bit of anti-minority party legislation the GOP implemented these last 12 years better be kept intact by the new Democratic leadership. Let them reap what they sowed. They deserve every humiliation they designed for those in the minority status.

And stripped of their perks, forced to fire large number of staff, shunted off to the dingiest offices on Capitol Hill, let’s hope more Republicans decide that life on K Street is more enjoyable than life in the minority.

To be fair, the above is from a post that was making fun of predictions of realignment. I have more than a passing interest in party realignment which I view as a process that is always underway–just at different rates and so the post makes a perfect point in that respect–realignment claims are seldom close to the truth that in a competitive two party system, there is always innovation to capture new voters and hence majorities are generally not stable with some exceptions of incumbency.

That said, the problem I have with what Markos said is that part of what this election was about was a rejection of systemic corruption created by the K Street Project. The insulation that the project attempted to create from the electorate and reduced accountability from it is exactly what allowed corruption to become so widespread in only 12 years.

Restoring minority rights in Congress is a good thing not because it’s good to be nice, but being fair also ensures that Democrats are held accountable. If you run on a platform of accountability, then you should practice it.

Political parties in every nation on earth have been participated in corruption and they always will. The difference in the last 12 years between usual corruption which some Democrats do and will engage in is that it wasn’t systematically incorporated into the entire system of governance as the K-Street Project did. Part of the reason it could be pulled off in the US House is that any power that the minority had was largely stripped from them. Leaving the institution as the Republicans have left it will only result in a replay of no accountability with Democrats in charge. That’s not what this election was about for those independents, disaffected Republicans and most Democrats who went to the polls.

Listening to Nancy Pelosi, she gets this and understands it. I think she understands the logic of retribution out of frustration as well, but she has promised to reject that. She does that from a position of confidence that if you run a clean and open government you might not win every fight, but you will continue winning.

Part of governing is restoring integrity to the institution even if that means being nice to people who didn’t and wouldn’t do the same. We don’t lay down and let them do anything, but we allow those willing to take part in governance to take part. Those that don’t and want to try and continue to burn down the house, they get whacked.

Oh, and Rodney Alexander gets whacked for his decision to switch parties 10 minutes before filing closed.