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Stories tagged with “Jim Kolbe”

LGBT

Anti-Gay Republican Platform Was Retaliation For Log Cabin Republicans’ Presence

By Zack Ford on Aug 30, 2012 at 9:00 am

Casey Pick, Log Cabin Republicans

Gay Republicans have had their own dim spotlight at the Republican National Convention as they peddle apologetics for their party while trying to advance LGBT equality from within. Log Cabin Republicans were proud to have been part of the platform drafting committee, but the GOP ended up approving one of the most anti-gay platforms ever. One member of LCR, Casey Pick, admitted to NPR that the platform might very well have been a “hostile” retaliation to their presence:

PICK: When you back someone into a corner, they fight back twice as hard. The platform is ugly and harmful. We lost, and you could say the social conservatives in our party dropped the hammer harder because we were there.

Former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), who is openly gay, believes 2012 will be the last year for such vitriol, but Pick’s comments suggest otherwise. The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins had a prominent leadership role on the drafting committee and personally drafted much of its social policy. Though LCR has achieved visibility at this year’s convention, their contributions seem particularly unwelcome in contrast. Though the group admitted the platform was “bad with a capital ‘B,’” it continues to defend the Romney/Ryan ticket, compromising its supposed commitment to LGBT equality in favor of party politics.

GOProud has also taken advantage of the convention’s publicity, but unlike LCR and despite being a gay Republican group, they never purport to support any aspect of LGBT rights.

Yglesias

After Career of Backing Huge, Growing Deficits, Jim Kolbe Says It’s Time to Tell The Truth

By Matthew Yglesias on Feb 18, 2010 at 12:15 pm

File-Jim_Kolbe

Pete Davis reports on one of these budget meetings that are happening around town:

Former Congressmen Charlie Stenholm (D-TX) and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) offered their views after fighting in the deficit reduction trenches during their long careers. Of particular interest to me was their assessment that the American people need to be told the truth — what a concept — but no one is doing that yet.

Maybe we could start about telling the truth about former congressman Jim Kolbe. The fact of the matter is that Kolbe, like most conservative leaders, is not interested in the deficit at all. Rather, Kolbe, like most conservative leaders, is interested in low taxes, especially on the wealthy. Consider his record:

— Voted YES on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains & dividends. (Dec 2005)
— Voted YES on providing tax relief and simplification. (Sep 2004)
— Voted YES on making permanent an increase in the child tax credit. (May 2004)
— Voted YES on permanently eliminating the marriage penalty. (Apr 2004)
— Voted YES on making the Bush tax cuts permanent. (Apr 2002)
— Voted YES on $99 B economic stimulus: capital gains & income tax cuts. (Oct 2001)
— Voted YES on Tax cut package of $958 B over 10 years. (May 2001)
— Voted YES on eliminating the Estate Tax (“death tax”). (Apr 2001)
— Voted YES on eliminating the “marriage penalty”. (Jul 2000)
— Voted YES on $46 billion in tax cuts for small business. (Mar 2000)

This is a guy who has a lot of experience fighting in the trenches for lower taxes on high-income individuals. But has he been fighting for deficit reduction? I don’t see it. On the spending side, Kolbe voted for Bush’s hugely expensive unpaid for Medicare bill, he voted for Bush’s war appropriations and defense spending hikes, and he voted for Bush’s increase in K-12 education spending. On fiscal issues, he’s a very conventional conservative Republican who demands low taxes and routinely votes for deficit-financed spending hikes when his party leadership wants him to.

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