Friday, May 4, 2012

Gay spokesman for Romney quits....what a sad move

Romney says he wanted gay spokesman to stay on job

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Walking a careful line, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Friday he had wanted an openly gay spokesman who resigned from his campaign this week to stay on. Hours later, he worked to court the party's conservative wing by meeting with former rival Rick Santorum.

Z:  Romney wanted the best man for the job and thought he had him; I applaud him for that. Then he meets Santorum, says the AP writer, as if, because he didn't mind having a gay man working for him, he shouldn't meet with Santorum?

In an interview with Fox News, Romney said his campaign hires people "not based upon their ethnicity, or their sexual preference or their gender but upon their capability." He called the former spokesman, Richard Grenell, a "capable individual" and said many senior campaign aides urged him not to leave.

Z:  Good for Romney.

Romney struggled through the primary to court conservatives, particularly evangelical Christian voters, and many flocked to Santorum. Now the presumptive nominee, Romney is trying to court the base of the party without alienating independent, swing and other voters he will need to beat Democratic President Barack Obama in November.

Z:   The best kept secret:  Many evangelical Christians don't hate gays.  MOST don't hate anybody.

Details on what Romney and Santorum discussed were not immediately available. Santorum did not offer Romney his endorsement.
The Grenell flap shows how carefully Romney is treading on the subject. Grenell was hired in late April to speak for Romney on national security and foreign policy issues.
A vocal supporter of gay marriage, which Romney opposes, Grenell resigned Tuesday after conservative critics raised questions about his sexual orientation. His departure also came after he was conspicuously absent from a week of campaign discussion dominated by national security issues, in part because of the one-year anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden.

Z:  Grenell shouldn't have left.  Who cares what conservative critics say about his sexual orientation?  Anyway, it's the left that's so eager to 'out' gays. 

Grenell said in a statement that he felt his ability to do his job was "greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues."

Z:  Grow up, Grenell...be a man and do your job.

His departure sparked an outcry among gay rights groups. Romney's comments were his first on the issue, and he did not hit back at Grenell's critics or defend him. He said it was Grenell's decision to leave the campaign.

Z:  That's a class act.
In a separate appearance Friday on MSNBC, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom insisted that Romney previously had denounced the "voices of intolerance that expressed themselves during this debate."

Z:  Oops!  He'd 'previously' denounced intolerance.....does that infer he isn't now?  Can we have proof of that, please?  Or is that just another cute way for the AP writer to get her licks in at Romney?

At an appearance at the Values Voter Summit in October, Fehrnstrom said Romney "denounced some of the poisonous language that was being used by some of the same people" who criticized Grenell.
"We should remember that decency and civility are values too," Romney said at that conference, referring to Bryan Fischer, an activist at the American Family Association, which promotes traditional family values. "One of the speakers who will follow me today has crossed that line, I think. Poisonous language doesn't advance our cause."
At the conference, Romney also implicitly criticized figures on the religious right who were attacking his Mormon faith, including evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress. At the time, Jeffress was supporting Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was running against Romney in the Republican presidential primary.
Fischer has made anti-gay remarks in the past and was one of the people who criticized Grenell. "Romney picks out & loud gay as a spokesman. If personnel is policy, his message to the pro-family community: drop dead," Fischer said on Twitter after Grenell was hired.

Z:  what a bunch of BUNK.  Considering MARRIAGE an act between two members of the opposite sex is not anti-gay.    There is no law prohibiting gays having relationships, living together, even adopting children.  I may not be for their adopting, and you might not be, either, but it is LEGAL.   Also, they can get anything they want by going to lawyers and making agreements and I urge them to do so.   
Being against gay marriage is not hating gays, no matter how the left wants to slam Conservatives....
We might even consider homosexuality wrong, we're entitled, but they're entitled to make their choices.  And to not be belittled or insulted or degraded.

Romney certainly didn't do that, no matter how the AP writer wanted to pitch it.

Grenell should have stayed.  I'm sorry he didn't.

Z

17 comments:

Rita said...

I call "Bull" on this guy's story. I'm a conservative Christian and I would hire the best person for the job. I could care less if they had a different sexual orientation, skin color, religion (or no religion). I have worked with women who claim discrimination when they are incompetent and some who claim they are laid off because they were in their 50's and it's just bull. Obviously they knew he was gay before he was hired. The man quit. Just another case of incompetence and claiming discrimination. I don't suffer fools lightly.

Z said...

I agree with you. This certainly doesn't paint Romney in a bad light no matter how hard the writer tried; it makes the writer look like an ideological hack. Well, he writes for the Assoc. Press...big surprise.

It's so hard when we realize we can't trust the American media to leave their opinions out of non op-ed pieces.

One almost wonders if the guy only worked for Romney to stage something like this in the end (so to speak :-)

viburnum said...

Z: "One almost wonders ..."

Now now Z, you wouldn't be be thinking Democrats are capable of 'dirty tricks' would you? With their long and distinguished history of devotion to political and electoral integrity? /sarcasm/off

Seriously though, it's is a shame he's gone, and a worse one if he did because he was made to feel uncomfortable. We have bigger fish to fry.

"We should remember that decency and civility are values too," Romney said ..."One of the speakers who will follow me today has crossed that line, I think. Poisonous language doesn't advance our cause."

Stanley Kowalski said...

I'm glad that the quitter is O-U-T. If straight men don't like him putting his hand on their thighs or volunteering to pick up their sons from soccer practice, that's NOT their problem. It's HIS.

Thersites said...

It's time that gays learned that "tolerance" does NOT mean "acceptance". People may legally have to "tolerate" their presence, but nothing ever written down in a law book will lead to their "acceptance". Lysis forms the basis for friendship. There is no >objet petit a basis of attraction between like and like.

Thersites said...

Haters of the "bad", Liberalman? Haters of the diseased? Haters of unhealthy practices? I'm damn proud to be one of those.

Brooke said...

Such an obvious hit piece! The writer has no shame, and the readers are such dopes that they'll swallow it hook, line, and sinker.

Ticker said...

Ten to one that Saint Santorum's crowd had something to do with the 'outing' of this story.

If Romney picks Saint Santorum for VP I'll write in my dogs name.

Z said...

Elbro, if it was you, thanks for deleting liberalman, looks like he'd commented YET AGAIN :-)
Maybe, SOMEDAY, he'll learn that he's not using my blog anymore!


By the way, did you all read that he tells me he has a blog? Of course, you can't get at it from clicking on his name like all of ours....!! :-)
and then he accuses me of censorship! I found that pretty funny!!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Obviously they knew he was gay before he was hired. .."


How would they know that? Is there a box on an employment application now that demands you disclose your sexuality? So that you might receive special treatment or points over those that don't wear their sexual preferences on their sleeves like these so called "proud" gays?

We're supposed to accept their unhealthy and intolerant "lifestyles" so that we're safe from being judged by these very, very angry and intolerant deviants?

We're burdened with way too many boxes / choices to accept to either be separated and singled out for special treatment....or so the rest of us who chose not to...are ignored or ....discriminated against because we're not...."special".

I really think Romney did just that and set himself up. The PC pressure to have equal amounts of this faction or equal amount of that sexual orientation...is mind boggling.

Anyone who has to do hiring today is faced with an employee pool that resembles "Ripleys Believe or Not" or some carny side show of "diversity". The human zoo.

Rita said...

No Imp, they knew because he was vocal about being gay. And I don't have to believe in their lifestyle to hire someone if I believe they are the best for the job.

If I have a job that needs to be done, what does someone's sexual preference have to do with hiring them? I would much rather have a great employee who's gay versus an idiot who's straight. Doing so doesn't mean I think sexual orientation should be taught to kids in school.

But this guy is full of bull. Just like the lady that was in her mid 50's when she was hired and screamed age and gender discrimination when she was let go the next year.

Anonymous said...

"If I have a job that needs to be done, what does someone's sexual preference have to do with hiring them..."

I don't want to have to hear their screaming about it and vocalizing their sexual preferences publicly all day Rita. Why would they always have to announce their gayness? Do heterosexuals do it?



It's enough....if they had any ounce of self respect...they wouldn't have to publicize to the world who they want to bed with.

To me it's a warning...hire me or else I'll have a gay day parade on your front lawn...in your office lobby or brand your company as homophobic or...boycott you.

I don't care what they are Rita...so why do they believe we HAVE to know? It's not like they fought at Guadalcanal, Hamburger Hill or Khe Sanh...is it?

Maybe we ought to reverse the tables?

What day is our parade on Rita?

Rita said...

The guys I know Imp don't pull this crap. They are decent, hardboard working people that don't force their sexuality down others throats. So to speak.:D. Didnt intend that pun there. It's the militant feminists, gays, atheists, etc that give all the others bad names. From my experience, the militants are in the mi ority.

Rita said...

Stinking autocoorect. Not "hardboard", "hard working". Lol.

Rita said...

Man. I KNEW I should have had my glasses on last night when I was typing on my Iphone. ;)

elmers brother said...

Yes I deleted him