Fred Barnes’s Advice To McCain: Revive Your Struggling Campaign By Using Gay-Bashing As A Wedge
Fred Barnes’s Advice To McCain: Revive Your Struggling Campaign By Using Gay-Bashing As A Wedge
Discussing Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) struggling campaign on Fox News Sunday today, Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes argued that McCain “needs to pay attention to the right.” “Here’s what he needs to do, he needs to touch on some of the social issues which energize the right,” declared Barnes.
Barnes specifically said that McCain is “going to have use” gays in the military and gay marriage as wedge issues:
BARNES: In particular, gays in the military for one. We know Barack Obama is for allowing gays in the military, and Bill Clinton tried to do, but backed off. This is not a popular issue. Gay marriage is another one. These are both issues that I think McCain’s going to have to use. You can’t ignore the right. If he does, he’ll lose.
Watch it:
Barnes is advocating that McCain embrace the well-worn right-wing tactic of discriminating against the LGBT community for electoral gain. But he has his facts wrong when he claims that letting gay men and women serve in the military “is not a popular issue.”
Polling consistently finds that the public supports allowing openly-gay people to serve in the military. In fact, that support is growing even stronger with time:
The poll also finds less opposition to gays serving openly in the military and a greater public willingness to allow gays to adopt children. A 60% majority now favors allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, up from 52% in 1994, and 46% support gay adoption, up from 38% in 1999.
It wouldn’t be shocking if McCain takes Barnes advice, especially since his chief strategist, Charlie Black, has previously acknowledged the use of gay issues as a wedge. It’s “a game of margins” that “could make a difference,” Black told the New York Times in 2006.
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Barnes exemplifies how desperate the Republican situation really is, by attempting to revive long-dead public issues like "gays in the military." There's nothing else to run on, because all the usual Republican issues lead straight back to the seven disastrous years of Bush/Cheney. "Look over there! Homos!"
It just isn't going to cut it, Fred. The only people who agree with you are the hardcore wingnuts that wouldn't vote for Obama, anyway, being as he's "cullerd".
July 6th, 2008 at 10:38 amlet's see how many
trolls this particular
lump of bigoted sugar
attracts.
*
good luck.
•
July 6th, 2008 at 10:41 amRecent polls show that bashing gays is no longer a wedge issue.
From the WSJ:
So, a majority of us think that gays serving in the military is just fine. Only 18% think that gays should not be allowed to serve.
A large majority of Americans think that gays should be allowed some sort of legal recognition for their unions.
So, it looks like neither of these issues are still a wedge issue. If McCain appeals to the far right, he will lose big time because those loons are becoming a real minority in this country.
July 6th, 2008 at 10:41 amAnyone ever see that movie "Watermelon Man?" It's a 1970 movie directed by Melvin Van Peebles about a white man who wakes up one morning and finds himself to be black and the experiences of black men in society at the time.
Maybe Fred Barnes wakes up one day in the shoes of a gay man and experiences the hatred and bigotry many face in our society now.
July 6th, 2008 at 10:51 amBetter to revive McLame's position by giving him a wedgie.
July 6th, 2008 at 10:52 amHate, intolerance, divisiveness and xenophobia. The usual right-wing tactics.
July 6th, 2008 at 10:54 amSo Barnes says McInsane should focus on an issue that means nothing to the vast majority of the country, that does nothing for our country vis-a-vis solving the myriad of problems the criminal Bush administration has created or ignored, and that distracts the citizenry from the real issues that affect us all.
At least the party of religious bigotry has no problem displaying for all to see their utter contempt for the American public and the future/direction of our country.
F***ing scumbags. Why can't the wingnuts see what fools they are always being played for, and that their "leaders" only laugh at their lockstep subservience?
July 6th, 2008 at 10:57 amI thank Barnes for admitting that when pundits like him oppose gay marriage or gay military service, it's not a principled stand. It's a strategic calculation.
July 6th, 2008 at 10:59 amHomophobia and Greed the only tenets left for the Republicans. What a sad legacy.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:01 amNail, meet hammer.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:06 amIsn't this how Republicans always run elections? When peace and love aren't helping you win, turn to war and hate.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:17 amWayne, when have peace and love ever been a help to Republicans?
...oh. I see your point.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:18 amAnd if these people want the American people to believe that they are speaking as conservatives, we should remind them what their Great Conservative Barry Goldwater said on gays serving in the military, "You don't have to be straight to shoot straight." If "Mr. Conservative" could accept gays in the military, then why can't the Republicans? (Unless, of course, they aren't really conservatives. Which they should admit.)
July 6th, 2008 at 11:20 amI would love to know how many gay cops and firefighters or ambulance EMTs, or healthcare workers Fred Barns has ever come in contact with?
July 6th, 2008 at 11:25 am"Ewww they're gay? I don't want them to put my house fire out, I don't want them to sew my arm back on, catch the criminal who just robbed me, fight my protracted occupation of another country by choice, ewww they're gay."
.
When in doubt, Republicans pull "gays in the military" out ...
...their a$$.
.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:28 amI would like to see McCain run on a platform of old, white chickenhawks serving in the military. Or old, any race chickenhawks.
Wait. Maybe I don't. That might get him too many votes.
.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:30 amOh I hope he does. Looking typically Republican would just SO work.
Ain't no stupid like Republican stupid.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:31 amOne last point and then I'll go away.
Our "two-party system" of government will, eventually, spell the end of freedom in this country. Even the more liberal and libertarian of us are recognizing that there is, in truth, no meaningful difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. The electoral college must be constitutionally abolished in favor of straight up popular votes, on paper ballots, with no electronic equipment involved to prevent accusations of the kind of fraud the Republicans have been getting away with since 2000. (This will mean that your vote will matter even of you don't live in Florida, Ohio, or Pennsylvania.) We need to get away from the idea that our choices should be between two, and only two, choices.
Look what has become of this thinking. We try to pigeon-hole every Democratic or Republican candidate into either a "Liberal" or "Conservative" box. But those aren't the only ways to look at issues. One often-overlooked but vitally important concept is the Libertarian-Authoritarian divide. If you enjoy being free and do not want the government investigating your life even if you aren't doing anything wrong (a principle upon which our nation was founded), then you should reject any candidates for federal office who display the slightest hint of authoritarianism in their views.
And don't be fooled by anyone who claims he is a "Fiscal Conservative". This philosophy is, to me, almost indistinguishable from Fascism. It involves a great deal of government support for businesses. It is not about "spending your money wisely", as most people would interpret the words.
What we need is people in our federal government who come from many different parties, not just the two major ones. The two major ones are just not different enough from each other to serve the best interests of the people. Until we start electing people to Congress from other parties, we will never see an end to our problems. Until then, have a nice life, everyone. I've spoken for the last time. Be well, and may we all have Peace on Earth.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:33 amEmpty malls, milk over 4$ a gallon, breAD 5$ a loaf.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:35 amCorn selling at record prices.
Health care that sucks and then drives you bankrupt.
But, your right Freddie, it's the gays I really have to worry about.
Another no talent bum who somehow is a pundit. Who's next our own Rodger2?
I could never be a pundit: I'd commit myself if I was that detached from reality.
tony and guidedog Lido
It's not about accepting gays - in the military or marriage.
IT'S ABOUT POWER. It's about using whatever means possible to dupe as many people as possible into getting close enough to win by a Diebold.
Deride and Divide: a time-tested strategy. Hate and berate.
Big brother can glean information across the country and apply social psychology to target messages to audiences. Our fears and prejudices give Big Brother all the advantages He needs to control us.
True freedom (some might call 'enlightenment') only comes after one discards all fears and prejudices, for such a person cannot be controlled.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:39 amYes, we do. But we never will, and idealists like you need to get away from the idea that this is possible.
The simple fact of the matter is that our system of government, by giving absolute victories for plurality wins, only allows citizens to vote for third parties if they are willing to vote against their own interests--or rather, what they understand to be their own interests. This might happen in isolated instances (charismatic billionaires with weak opposition), but a stable multi-party system is not going to emerge. Ever! America will first have to be torn apart and rebuilt from the ground up.
I shudder to think what horrors would be built into a new Constitution with the current bunch of criminals and jokers still involved, so I can't hope for that. No, we've just got to make do with a country that's rotting out from under us.
July 6th, 2008 at 12:06 pmThis thread is tailor-made for Darryl. Where is he?
July 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pmMust be in church, getting his marching orders for beating the devil.
Barnes: We know Barack Obama is for allowing gays in the military, and Bill Clinton tried to do, but backed off.
Barnes seems to think that at the moment there are NO gays in the military.
I imagine this will come as quite a surprise to all the GAYS that ARE in the military and have been since, well, forever.
I'm also sure that the families of gay soldiers will be nonplussed at Barnes revelation.
I guess none of the 7 million US citizens who served in WWII were gay? I guess they 'hadn't been invented' at that point.
Of course Barnes is missing the really big point here, which is that if Obama becomes President, Heaven's to Murgatroyd there'll be BLACKS fighting and dying on behalf of their country! Thank goodness Hillary lost--otherwise there'd be women serving too! Or Hispanics! Or Atheists! And all of them of course Americ-haters!
I guess what Fred Barnes is really saying here is that only white heterosexual God-fearing born-again strict contructionalist Christian Republicaans should be allowed into the US military---now there's a thought!
(snark)
July 6th, 2008 at 12:23 pmRepublicans will attack any group if they think it will help them: women, gays, Latinos, etc. Oh, except middle-aged white men, I forgot.
July 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pmMaybe McCain will throw in flag burning for good measure. Seems like it was only two years ago that a few (R) members of Congress were telling us that this, along with same-sex marriage, were the two most important issues facing this country.
July 6th, 2008 at 12:26 pmIt no longer works. It was an effective tool for Bush because in the Clinton years, the country was out of debt, people were working, had pensions, were able to pay for their homes, felt secure in their jobs, could send their kids to college, and paying a little over a buck a gallon for gas. It was easy to distract folks by making them believe that fiendish gays were going to "threaten tradition marriages" and sneak in their doors to prey on their sleeping children. Now, with the results of 7.5 years of Bush, people have real problems. Everyone's concern with the dire straights the country is in, worried about the War On Fear with no end, afraid of the future of their children and country, and really don't give a damn if a couple of fagots are down the block doing the nasty nasty.
July 6th, 2008 at 12:31 pmThere are many translators who could be helping to keep their fellow soldiers alive but they were sent home for being gay.
July 6th, 2008 at 12:32 pmFred is consistently about 20 years behind the times. Its always a real hoot to watch him go. Check him out on "Beltway Boys" for non-stop laughs.
I note that The Weekly Standard has a circulation of 83,000. That's about four non-gay Divisions, about a "surge's-worth". What say you General Barnes? Are you and your manly-men willing to fight and die for 'freedom'?
July 6th, 2008 at 12:33 pmI laugh at the mention of the "gay agenda" when in plain sight we have the agenda of the anti-gay groups.
Nowhere do I see homosexuals getting on the airwaves or in any other forms of mainstream media doing their best to convert heterosexuals to their way of life. Nor, as I have mentioned before, have I experienced any homosexual co-workers over the past 14 years trying to hit on me or trying to convert me. And there have been a heck of a lot more "Christians" walking the neighborhood, Bibles in hand, trying to save me from my sins and get me to join their flock.
On the contrary, you regularly see people such as politicians doing their damnedest to tell homosexuals how they can or cannot live their lives. As well, I've seen reference to a few programs (some run by churches) whose sole purpose is "counseling" homosexuals and converting them back to the world of heterosexuality.
Who is it, again, that has an agenda?
July 6th, 2008 at 12:37 pmLook for Fred caught tooting the flute in the near future. Those right wing demons always seem to come out when decrying them the most
July 6th, 2008 at 12:37 pmGay-bashing is so 1993. Seriously. In this post Will & Grace era, it's a buried issue.
If the Republicans are feeling nostalgic, they should resurrect Intelligent Design. That's so much more fun to smack down.
July 6th, 2008 at 12:51 pmBilbo, most Americans do not go in for gay-bashing any more -- but for the party completely out of touch with American, comments like Barnes' are not surprising.
July 6th, 2008 at 1:09 pmI hope they play that card and show everyone how shallow, ignorant, narrow-minded and bigoted they are.
In fact, let Charlie Black take up the cause -- then when reporters hang on his every word, Democrats can bring up all of his shady lobbying deals -- because we all know that reporters are NOT about to get too negative about McCain or his repugnican campaign.
Thus does Fred secure his place as the dumbest talking head in the long, sad history of talking heads.
It's too much to hope for that Mr. Magoo will be dumb enough to take Fred's advice.
July 6th, 2008 at 1:32 pmNewsflash:
July 6th, 2008 at 2:19 pmFred Barnes, a longtime Republican shill and windbag, has just set himself aloft, adrift, and headed far off course. He took off from the studios of Fox News Sunday in a faded, decade-old trial balloon filled with his own hot air, with the goal of making a splash at the Presidential Inaugural on January 20th. Things didn't go well from the start. It seems the political weather map Mr. Barnes chose....
Notice the reichwingers' inability to think of a positive campaign; one that would, you know, address the actual issues that people are interested in.
To "energise the right" by singling out a group of people who are different for whatever reason (aka scapegoating), is such a cheap way of running campaign. There is no need address the actual problems, offer solutions, or come up with a vision for the US as a country.
But then, this is the conservative movement we are talking about. Scapegoating is their stock and trade. Them illegal immigrants are not far down the list.
July 6th, 2008 at 3:11 pmBarnes is a bobble headed nazi serving his time on FAUXNOIZ telling the bigots and ne'r do wells what they want to hear. Why these morons get any space I will never understand. The reichwing is fascist!
July 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pmPLEASE. Recycle some of this verbal energy to convince at least one live person of voting age that McCain is NOT the right person to represent this country--those not familiar with Internets (sic).
July 6th, 2008 at 3:45 pmBarnes know f-all about history and how it works and thats one of the main reasons he is so wrong about everything.
Poor man. Ignorance bring a wrong kind of certainty.
July 6th, 2008 at 3:53 pmRepublicans/conservatives are on the wrong side of the gay issue.
I'm not getting the video of the Barnes comment (not loading). Does he really use the phrase 'gay bashing'?
July 6th, 2008 at 4:16 pm- wikipedia.
I guess you oould lump Barnes comments in there, but to me it seems like a less than credible stretch.
Republicans are wrong on the issue, but I think that instead of gay bashing, Barnes is advocating McCain differentiate himself from Obama on LGBT issues.
I think it's a mistake, because discriminating against gays is wrong and increasingly less popular. But, if you call it gay bashing, it dilutes the term.
The truth on this issue is probably more damaging without the verbal overreach.
July 6th, 2008 at 4:41 pmwell, no gays and more straights in the military = more straights killed in the bushies (and others?) insane wars = more gays at home for freddy (and others?) = yum . . .
July 6th, 2008 at 4:43 pmthe good news is all these old bastards should be out of the picture in the next decade or so - looking forward to your retirement Fred Barnes, gay bashing as a political tool is meant to target confused christians - we just need bigger mirrors for these twits
July 6th, 2008 at 6:03 pmCould someone explain the Log House (or is it Log Cabin) repubs to me in light of this ?
July 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pmWho's smarter than Fred Barnes? Lewis Black for one.
Here's the perfect reply to Barnes's cynical position:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=o-id4GKsaQk
July 6th, 2008 at 6:34 pm"I guess what Fred Barnes is really saying here is that only white heterosexual God-fearing born-again strict contructionalist Christian Republicaans should be allowed into the US military—now there’s a thought!"
July 6th, 2008 at 7:01 pmI agree! They are all expendable!
Gregor Samsa says:
"Them illegal immigrants are not far down the list."
Down south many KKKers hate the Jews more than the Mexicans...
July 6th, 2008 at 7:12 pmAs 5th Estate said at #24,
There were gays in the military 100,000 years ago. Did you ever see the movie "Quest For Fire"? Alexander The Great was one of the best military leaders of all time. How come no countries like Holland have this fear?
Dixie Blood, many southerners today hate Abe Lincoln and the Yankees more than Jews or Mexicans.
July 6th, 2008 at 7:49 pmKeith,
You are wrong.
In order of KKK hatred it goes like this:
Jews are the worst, they killed Christ and are filthy.
Gays are next. They are forbidden in the book of Leviticus.
Then the blacks, they are animals and deserve pity.
Then the Yankees who burned Atlanta.
Then Lincoln who freed the slaves.
The above is NOT MY OPINION! It's the view of useless RePugniScums I've gathered in my observations.
July 6th, 2008 at 8:13 pmWayne A. Schneider Says:@ 19
Wayne, come on back, your rationale is needed here. While useful, it is highly unlikely that Americans will any time in the near future recognize how to vote in their own best interests. We have needed a thrid party desperately for the past 20 years, if not more. What we have gotten instead of responsible candidates is the likes of Perot and Nader. Had Obama run as an independent, there might well have been a major shift, but not a win. If he had then ru again in 2012, after the Democrats and Repblicans continued their abuse of our system, he might have scored. For now, pray for a miracle. And I am an atheist.
backup @ 41: you should know by now, verbal outreach is the nature of this thread. It is the nature of most blogs. Its what I have noticed that you do. Keep it up, miss molly, rmp, ralph, et al, because we aren't getting anywhere with verbal syncophants.
July 6th, 2008 at 8:48 pmDixie,
July 6th, 2008 at 8:50 pmWell technically, I said "many" , so it is possible that my statement is true. Also, how do you know you got a scientifically representative sampling? And then there are all those Black gay Jewish people from the north that really throw off the study. :)
I've had southerners hate me for being communist, athiest, and a draft-dodger---when I am none of those. They just go by impressions. I was born and raised in the south. Went to UNC-CommieHill.
Fred Barnes is dumber than a bag of toenails, and twice as smelly.
July 6th, 2008 at 10:23 pmThe GOP: the party with no ideas besides bigotry and wedge issues...
oh I forgot, TRICKLE-down economics...
July 7th, 2008 at 1:38 amKeith,
Yea, I used to love watching the rasicts heads explode when they would see Sammy Davis, Jr. on TV...he was black and Jewish.
July 7th, 2008 at 6:43 amAhhhhh yes, the waaahhhpublican tactic of "fear the gays" is once again being trotted out at election time. It does serve a useful purpose: it gives all those white trash waaahhhhpublican something to crow about, "weeze still betta than teh gayz". Then again, it does lose some of it's potency when "teh gayz" are buying up white trash waaahpublican's homes at foreclosure auctions, gentrifying the neighborhoods and forcing the white trash back into the trailer parks where they belong.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:35 amBARNES: In particular, gays in the military for one. We know Barack Obama is for allowing gays in the military, and Bill Clinton tried to do, but backed off. This is not a popular issue. Gay marriage is another one. These are both issues that I think McCain’s going to have to use. You can’t ignore the right. If he does, he’ll lose.
Good plan, McCain needs to play to his base, his disgusting, bigotted base. That way the rest of the country will know exactly what he stands for.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
July 7th, 2008 at 11:50 amMost Americans don't give a shit if gays are in the military, most Americans don't give a shit if people are gay, period.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:07 pmThe typical 'Christian Right Wing' way is to bash people who are different to make yourself look better, and to tell others how to live. It isn't going to work nowadays.
This is another example that the "old world jounalism of Murrow, Cronkite and Rather is dead and buried. In the case of the Time Magazine reporter Ms Tumulty, she seems to think the finding out the who, what, where, when and how have been replaced with a steno pad, which she records what ABC said in rebuttle to the complaint of Congressman Kucinich. There is a great disconnect with what happened and the points made by ABC. She asks little of no questions to ABC. She takes what is handed to her and repeats it vebatim and then calls that reporting. I call is stenography. Lida Sohbet sohbet sesli chat Gelinlik Modelleri
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February 2nd, 2009 at 4:19 amGay marriage is another one. These are both issues that I think McCain’s going to have to use.
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