Mehlman's outing stirs ire on right

Marc Ambinder says he would've outed Ken Mehlman earlier if he'd had proof
Marc Ambinder, the Political junkie who writes for the Atlantic, says he suspected, like everyone else in town, that Ken Mehlman was Gay . This Story In fact, years before the former Republican Party chairman acknowledged his Sexuality to Ambinder in an interview published Wednesday, the reporter tried to find out. And, says Ambinder, he would have outed Mehlman if he had evidence. "I would have reported it because he was in power at a time when the Republican Party was whipping up...

Ken Mehlman Gay Revelation: GOP Shift on Same Sex Marriage?
Six years ago Ken Mehlman was running the re-election campaign of a president who sought a Constitutional Amendment to ban Same-Sex Marriage. '); } Now he's the nation's most prominent Openly Gay Republican and the latest member of the George W. Bush Administration to support extending Marriage Rights to Gays and Lesbians. Mehlman has been working as a Fundraiser and Strategist for the American Foundation for Equal Rights -- a group that supports Same-Sex Marriage and is suing to...

In Covering Ken Mehlman Story, MSNBC Anchor Acknowledges He Is Gay (Updated)
Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s coming out provided the media with an opportunity to review the GOP’s record on Gay Rights and explore the Mehlman’s role in crafting President Bush’s 2004 re-election strategy. On MSNBC, Mehlman’s revelation engendered an even more honest discussion when, during a segment with GOProud chairman Christopher Barron , daytime anchor Thomas Roberts — who is an Openly Gay anchor — discussed his orientation on air: ...

In Covering Ken Mehlman Story, MSNBC Anchor Acknowledges He Is Gay (Updated)
Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s coming out provided the media with an opportunity to review the GOP’s record on Gay Rights and explore the Mehlman’s role in crafting President Bush’s 2004 re-election strategy. On MSNBC, Mehlman’s revelation engendered an even more honest discussion when, during a segment with GOProud chairman Christopher Barron , daytime anchor Thomas Roberts — who is an Openly Gay anchor — discussed his orientation on air: ...

Shorter Right-Wing: Ken Mehlman's Gayness Proves We Don't Hate Gay People
by nitot Heres Peter Wehner, linked approvingly by the homphobe K-Lo , trying to have us all believe that Conservatives really dont care much at all about teh Gay. my sense is that itll be a lot less of a big deal to Conservatives than it might be to Liberals like (just to choose one name at random) Frank Rich, for whom the political is also the personal. While its something that runs counter to the stereotype, most of the Conservatives I know are largely to completely...

Shorter Right-Wing: Ken Mehlman's Gayness Proves We Don't Hate Gay People
by nitot Heres Peter Wehner, linked approvingly by the homphobe K-Lo , trying to have us all believe that Conservatives really dont care much at all about teh Gay. my sense is that itll be a lot less of a big deal to Conservatives than it might be to Liberals like (just to choose one name at random) Frank Rich, for whom the political is also the personal. While its something that runs counter to the stereotype, most of the Conservatives I know are largely to completely...

Ken Mehlman: Out
That Mehlman was Gay, though he says he "arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently," was long an open secret, as he served as a high-ranking official for the institutionally Anti-gay Republican Party, during the years when the party and its executive in the White House supported and pursued a Constitutional Amendment to ban Same-Sex Marriage. Mehlman says he regrets not coming out sooner. He agreed to answer a reporter's questions, he said, because, now in private life, he...

Gay Party, not Ken Mehlman, should apologize
Related Articles George W. Bush’s former Campaign Manager, Ken Mehlman, has announced to the world that he’s Gay, and, predictably, the shrieks of outrage are fast reverberating. The Gay blogger Joe Jervis, among many others, slammed Mehlman as a “quisling,” and the comments in his blog call Mehlman a Nazi, an Uncle Tom, and a self-hating sleazeball. The explicit message is basically that Mehlman, upon a singular urge for male flesh, is supposed to discard his feelings...

Gay Activists to Mehlman: Not So Fast
Well, big surprise. Ken Mehlman is Gay . And now the former Republican Party chairman says he yearns to be a Gay-marriage advocate. But Mehlman, who headed George Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, is a little late to the Wedding party, and he's getting a frosty reception in some quarters of the Gay Rights world--for good reason. Mehlman was outed years ago not just by Gay Activists appalled by his party's electoral strategy, which included vicious attacks on Gays and Lesbians, but by other Gay...

Steven Petrow: In Defense of Ken Mehlman: Former GOP Chair is no Roy Cohn
I'm no apologist for Ken Mehlman, who headed the Republic National Committee during George W. Bush's presidency and was the architect of much of the Anti-gay Rhetoric and policies during that time. But Mehlman, who's only been out for less than 24 hours at the time of this writing, is being viciously tarred by bloggers from the left and the right. One of them, Joe Jervis ( Joe.My.God. ), has even bestowed the Roy Cohn Award to Mehlman for his "horridly homophobic" actions. Jervis goes on to...

No big media splash as Republican leader Ken Mehlman reveals he's gay
Organized and unfailingly on message, Mehlman served as George W. Bushs Campaign Manager in the 2004 election and then was chairman of the Republican National Committee. The Harvard Law School graduate is the highest ranking Republican Party official to say he is gay. He made the disclosure in an interview with Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic and later gave phone interviews to Politicos Mike Allen and Jake Tapper of ABC News. The Washington Post, a mainstay of political coverage, devoted one...

In Covering Ken Mehlman Story, MSNBC Anchor Admits He Is Gay
In Covering Ken Mehlman Story, MSNBC Anchor Admits He Is Gay Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s coming out provided the media with an opportunity to review the GOP’s record on Gay Rights and explore the Mehlman’s role in crafting President Bush’s 2004 re-election strategy. On MSNBC, Mehlmans revelation engendered an even more honest discussion when, during a segment with GOProud chairman Christopher Barron , daytime anchor Thomas Roberts who is an Openly Gay...

Ken Mehlman and the same-sex marriage debate
Supporters of Same-Sex Marriage have a new and unexpected advocate: Ken Mehlman, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and manager of President George W. Bush 's 2004 Reelection Campaign. This Story View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story This Story View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story Mehlman, now a Private Citizen and businessman, disclosed that he is Gay in an article published online Wednesday in the Atlantic. He said...

Former GOP Chairman Mehlman Says He's Gay
Ken Mehlman, former Republican Party Chairman and Campaign Manager to President George W. Bush, says he's Gay. Mehlman recently told a reporter for The Atlantic magazine that he's a Homosexual and now wants to become an advocate for Same-Sex Marriage. "It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with that part of my life," Mehlman said. Mehlman added that while in Republican leadership, he tried to convince the party not to attack Gay Marriage, but could not go against the prevailing...

Yawn
Posted by John at 9:37 PM Ken Mehlman was Chairman of the Republican National Committee and manager of President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign. I only dealt with him once or twice, but he seemed a cordial and capable guy. At the time, rumors that he was Gay were widespread. Now he says that gradually, over a number of years, he has come to realize that he is indeed a Homosexual. Some commentators find significance in this. The New York Times sees evidence of a change in the...

Hoping for a cumulative effect
HOPING FOR A CUMULATIVE EFFECT.... The New York Times notes today that there were plenty of "shrugs" in response to Ken Mehlman's announcement that he's Gay. That Mehlman, the Bush/Cheney 2004 Campaign Manager and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, relied on Anti-gay Bigotry as an election strategy makes the news at least somewhat noteworthy, but the NYT report argues that the muted GOP response is the result of a party that cares more about fiscal issues right...

A Thought From Get Equal
Get Equal is a group that has a Facebook page and supports Same Sex Marriage Rights. They had an interesting post today PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT Same-Sex Marriage -Dick Cheney -Ted Olson -Laura Bush and Cindy McCain -Glenn Beck -Ken Mehlman PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE Same-Sex Marriage -President Obama 4 response(s) to this topic so far. Have an opinion? Join the District TMV discussion on this topic now.

The Kagan Closet
After all of the whispering, here at last is some reporting that Elana Kagan is not Gay . I'm frankly baffled that so many on the left were eager to put a discussion of Kagan's Sexuality off limits. Either a nominee's biography and identity are germane to judicial outlook or they are not. These qualities were critical to evaluating the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, the bootstrapping, Bronx-raised, "wise Latina" now sitting on the nation's highest Court. Her nomination battle was, in large...

Iowa foes of same-sex marriage seek to oust judges who legalized it
Des Moines - Politics is as much a mainstay of the Iowa State Fair as the deep-fried food and the cows sculpted out of butter. But the crowds searching for a remote corner under the grandstand this week were not headed for one of the presidential hopefuls who routinely drop by. They were interested in a normally low-key judicial Election that has suddenly taken center stage in the national fight over Same-Sex Marriage. Conservative Activists are trying to oust three Judges on the state Supreme...

Push to oust Iowa judges backed by American Family Association
Former gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats announced last week that he would forgo an independent run for Governor this fall to instead create an organization focused on defeating the three Iowa Supreme Court Justices who are up for a retention vote on the Nov. 2 ballot. While he offered few details about the new organization, Vander Plaats made it clear it would receive considerable support from national groups hoping to reverse the state Supreme Court’s 2009 decision that...

Bipartisan group forms to defend Iowa judges
A Bipartisan, nonprofit group calling itself Iowans for Fair and Impartial Courts has formed to defend three Iowa Supreme Court Justices who are up for a retention Vote on the Nov. 2 ballot. The group formed as a direct result of efforts by former GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats to organize a c ampaign to oust the judges due to their ruling that legalized Same-Sex Marriage . The groups leaders include former Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Scott Brennan, former Republican...

Mehlman's outing stirs ire on right
The unity of the Republican Party's electoral coalition may have been dealt a setback this week when longtime top party official Ken Mehlman walked out of the closet. Many Washington insiders long had suspected that Mr. Mehlman, a former Republican Nat...

Why are so many Americans hostile to Islam?
Washington — Nearly a decade after 9/11, less than a third of the country feels favorably toward Islam. Most Americans reflexively oppose an Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero, and the lower the Christian president's Approval Ratings, the higher the percentage of people who think he's Muslim. Why? Beyond the simplistic debate — are we patriots or bigots? — pollsters, historians and other experts say that the nation's collective instincts toward Islam have...

Scumbag Ken Mehlman Factoid
Don't forget for one fucking minute that it was Ken Mehlman who presided over the Republican Party while the GOP ensured that Anti-gay items would be on MANY state ballots in order to drive homophobes to the polls. From Marc Ambinder's Atlantic column: Mehlman said at the time that he could not, as an individual Republican, go against the party consensus. He was aware that Karl Rove, President Bushs chief strategic adviser, had been working with Republicans to make sure that Anti-gay...

Wayne Besen: Ken Mehlman's Difficult Path to Redemption
Let's analyze the Atlantic magazine story about the coming out of former Republican National Committee Chairman, Ken Mehlman and discuss what steps he must take to redeem himself with the Gay community: It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," said Mehlman, now an executive vice-president with the New York City-based Private Equity firm, KKR. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I've told my Family,...