02/19/2005
I'm a Sinner, You're a Sinner
Several secretly taped conversations recorded in the late 90's between George W. Bush and his old friend Doug Wead have surfaced, and present some insight into Bush's mindset in the years before he decided to run for office.
The NYT prints several excerpts concerning, among other things, Bush's views on gays.
"Early on, though, Mr. Bush appeared most worried that Christian conservatives would object to his determination not to criticize gay people. 'I think he wants me to attack homosexuals,' Mr. Bush said after meeting James Robison, a prominent evangelical minister in Texas.
But Mr. Bush said he did not intend to change his position. He said he told Mr. Robison: 'Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the bat. One, I'm not going to kick gays, because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?'
Later, he read aloud an aide's report from a convention of the Christian Coalition, a conservative political group: 'This crowd uses gays as the enemy. It's hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality, however.'
'This is an issue I have been trying to downplay,' Mr. Bush said. 'I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays.'
Told that one conservative supporter was saying Mr. Bush had pledged not to hire gay people, Mr. Bush said sharply: 'No, what I said was, I wouldn't fire gays.'
As early as 1998, however, Mr. Bush had already identified one gay-rights issue where he found common ground with conservative Christians: same-sex marriage. 'Gay marriage, I am against that. Special rights, I am against that,' Mr. Bush told Mr. Wead, five years before a Massachusetts court brought the issue to national attention."
Posted 6:38 PM EST by Andy Towle in Current Affairs | Permalink
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This article is a double edged sword for me...Will my accepting and Republican family appreciate me more, or will they consider me sinner because Pontius(Bush)Pilate states I am?
http://thecoolstore.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Michael | Feb 19, 2005 7:32:02 PM
If the bright-line for GW Bush is gay marriage, that leaves an enormous amount of maneveuring room on many other gay issues; employment, DADT, families and civil unions. The G/L community needs to use this as an opening...not as a road-bock.
Bite the bullet, make the political compromise...and run like hell!!
Posted by: Ted B. | Feb 19, 2005 8:46:45 PM
Grow the fuck up, Ted. Whatever he says in private, whatever he truly "believes" in his alleged heart, King George sold his soul to the Church [or those teeth-gnashing spawns of shit and shinola that claim to represent it] to ascend and remain on his throne. He's not going to compromise on anything. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Posted by: Leland | Feb 19, 2005 11:27:49 PM
This constant Bush bashing is ridiculous because it's mostly founded with no evidence. The above refutes many misconceptions about Bush' view on gays. He strongly believes in allowing the same rights to everyone. IF that extends to equal legal rights to 'same sex' partners; then what's wrong with the stance echoed in his comments? Marriage was only a legal apparatus instituted to protect CHILDREN of married and non-married Male and Female partners. we have been in a relationship for 24 years and a marriage ceremony or piece of paper would not make us any more recognizable as a partnership. This issue so many band behind as a rallying cry is moot. While the Democrats have run from the issue and have done nothing more to enhance the rights of any minority more than any other party, many blindly follow them as their saviors. I'm sick of these groups (Dems and their ilk) using any other party or person to vent their anger at losing political clout without merit. Look to those who claim to support you and see what they have ACTUALLY DONE. There are many other important issues out there such as the safety of all of us and our future that should concern us. Try being less narrow minded and look for the good things those have done in both parties and move from there instead.
Posted by: Jason | Feb 20, 2005 11:07:54 AM
Jason: You have a toy box for brains. Is a Democract or someone else masquerading as Bush and calling for a Constitutional amendment to codify your second class citizenship, throwing fuel on the fire by adding, this year, the inflammatory "save the children" lavender herring in the State of the Union? Was it a Democrat or someone else masquerading as Bush on the campaign trail last year effectively gay bashing at every stop by claiming YOUR 24-yr. relationship is a threat to straight marriage? Have you been too busy jacking off to right wing propaganda organs and pictures of Jeff Gannon's organ to not think about all of the legal protections attendant to legal marriage? If your partner is hospitalized, do you think your GOP membership card will get you past hospital security if they don't want you, a nonrelative, to see him? If he dies, do you think your adoration of the Bushi will prevent his LEGAL relatives from coming in and taking all of his personal possessions, from photos to property, if they are so inclined? Or if they ALLOW you to keep any shared real estate, that your state will give a damn about 24 years of frottage if they want to reassess it for property tax purposes. What a fairytale land you're living in, ruled by a make believe hero. You turn my stomach.
Posted by: Leland | Feb 20, 2005 1:50:43 PM
Jason, Jason, Jason....you're falling for the old Republican bait-and-switch.
Take the abortion issie, for example. Bush takes a hard line - "save the fetus!" etc. - while his Stepford Wife makes a few carefully calibrated public statements saying that she believes in abortion rights, thereby "softening" her hubby's public stance, who still gets to please his hard-line supporters and push the anti-abortion agenda.
He pulls the same thing with gay rights, softing his comments in a few choice areas to dampen the objections of his moderate base - all the while taking the same hard line.
I'd love to look for the "good things" this administration has done via gays rights, AIDS funding, etc. There are none.
Posted by: cafegogo | Feb 20, 2005 1:51:30 PM
I'm not buying it. Day late & a dollar short, right? Or is it a few years late and a few hundred billion short?
Posted by: sam | Feb 20, 2005 2:20:23 PM
God DAMN it! You had me all ready to give Dubya a tiny modicum of begrudging benefit of the doubt and then you tell us he's still just a mindless buttscab who embraces the tired old gay-marriage-is-a-"special-right" bullshit.
Sigh. Four more years.
Posted by: Jake | Feb 20, 2005 2:34:20 PM
Is anyone really surprised here? Dubya knows his base and played to his audience(s) to get elected. Now that he got elected he's backed off his hard line on gay marriage. No big surprise here. He was kissin' the churches baby.
After he backed of us sinners and our want for marriage, the church came after him saying they won't back his Social Security reforms unless he pushes for an amendment. So what's he do.. re-ammounces his support for an amendment.
Regardless of how he REALLY feels he's a politician pandering to the people who will get him votes.. either for his election or his pet projects.
Frankly, I'm not surprised at all.
Posted by: Blue | Feb 20, 2005 5:26:40 PM
Why is nobody bringing up the point that Bush publicly endorsed the continuation of sodomy laws as recently as 1994. And those sodomy laws applied only to gays, not to straights.
However he might feel personally, publicly he is an anti-gay bigot.
Posted by: Downtown Lad | Feb 21, 2005 11:07:23 PM
I like your blog, but four demerit points for running so much on this story. The news cycle on blogs should be about 45 minutes -no that's too long. And the parody of artwork doesn't even make sense for crying out loud.
Three points for W and ten points each for Jason and Ted; they got it right. I wish our gay community could dislodge the W-haters and radical democrats from our ranks, take back our issues, and gain some political ground rather than listening to the blind spew and venom of the left. Leland & Cafegogo, take a course in civil discourse will ya? That kind of spew demeans of us --but mostly those of us working constructively to make a real difference in our world. (Can't ya just feel the love?) You're doing more to harm our progress than W, the fundo-right, and the neo-cons ever could... IF they even wanted to. Spew, hate and venom kills the message and the messenger-- we shouldn't tolerate another opportunity for progress lost to the spewers down in the sewers you two guys habit. I say we need to take back our issues, our activism, and our communities from the dem radicals. No one elected them leaders; no one. They have no power, they have no chance at power, and guys like Leland and Cafegogo marginalize the gay agenda. We gotta get this right 'cause it's our Country too, our President and our Congress; our future and our issues. Kerry didn't win, Gore isn't the Senate Majority Leader, and Barney Frank ain't going to be Speaker anytime soon. Gannon is a non-issue that drags on us, guys... a big whine-fest best saved for Michael Moore appreciation parties on the circuit.
And for the record, abortion isn't on the gay agenda... SS ownership proposals aren't either... and neither are WMDs, Jeff Gannon, nor the other issues gay dem radicals like to hitch our wagon to so they have company on the hate-trail. Ted B hit the nail on the head; make that twenty points.
Posted by: Jake-Texas | Feb 22, 2005 9:51:50 AM