RNC Mixer

On September fourth the Log Cabin Republican political organization held a small gathering at the Four Points on West 25 Street to watch the finale of the Republican National Convention. The event also marked the LCR's endorsement of Senator McCain for President.

           The lights were dim and half the ceiling slanted into the floor, giving the whole place the feel of a chic shed. A large flat screen playing CNN’s coverage of the convention loomed as men in suits,

ties, and polo shirts exchanged pleasantries. Only in the Republican Party, even in a room of minorities, are white men still the majority

           The Log Cabin Republican organization started in the seventies as an enclave for gay and lesbian Republicans.  The name is an attempt to return to Republican roots, to President Lincoln, who had been born in a log cabin.  Despite many attempts by the party to suppress the gay community, the LCRs remain a vital component of the Republican base.

           “Each party has the same goal,” said David Verchere, software entrepreneur, “we just have different ways of getting there. That’s the wonderful tension to achieve the American project.” Mr. Verchere, a long time LCR, cites his conservative fiscal policies and inefficient government bureaucracies as determinants for his party affiliation. “Republicans believe that government isn’t best. We believe that people shouldn’t turn to government to solve our problems. We should turn to each other.”

           The LCR website describes their mission as, “derive[ed] from our firm belief in the principles of limited government, individual liberty, individual responsibility, free markets and a strong national defense. We emphasize that these principles and the moral values on which they stand are consistent with the pursuit of equal treatment under the law for gay and lesbian Americans.” It goes on to explain, “On the most important issue that LGBT Americans faced in the last decade—the federal marriage amendment—Sen. John McCain stood with us. Now we stand with him.”

     Having fervently endorsed then Gov. Bush in 2000 the LCR hope to continue on the road to equal treatment by endorsing yet another champion of gay rights who opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, civil unions, gay adoption, and refers to gays in the military as an “intolerable risk.”

     Mr. Verchere stood, smiled, and walked into a cluster of black suits. The only two women sat under the television, hunched, privately conferring. Lincoln’s Party milled on amidst an air of odd contradiction. Someone commented, “I thought this was an open bar,” to which a man in a shimmering blue tie and buzz cut replied, “We’re Republicans. We pay our own way.”

 

Next

The GOP's introduction of Gov. Sarah Palin onto the campaign has drastically changed the terrain. The Huffington Post recently posted an article with the title, "Bush with Lipstick," referring to the VP pick. They elaborated on the many intricacies of her policies and how they correlate to the present President Bush's. Though, each of those are revealing, she is possibly most revealing through her similarities of campaign style (potentially not even their own but the similarities of those around them). 

There is an odd position that Republicans are able to take that on a national level, Democrats have repeatedly failed to do. Republicans are generally able to become the people they represent--a true representative, one for one. Democrats on the other hand embody a more, "I will act in your place," separating themselves from the people as qualified and elite. Sen. Obama has been able to represent the people for a large part of his campaign, but since Gov. Palin began to define the Republican campaign, he has come to be identified as separate from them. The GOP has driven a partisan wedge between people similar to the one we saw in 2004. 

The attacks on the Democratic campaign have become more nuanced. With "just like me" on their side, the GOP has put the Obama campaign into a corner. He needs to refute certain attacks while agreeing with others. Sen. Obama needs to include more policy where people have complained it was missing while also standing up to say, "I totally support small town values!" Those two attacks, especially when teamed together, stretch the Democratic campaign. It has to somehow discuss complex policy about economics and foreign affairs and still come off as jus' folk. For the majority of the presidential campaign, Sen. Obama has controlled the field, but now he is in a defense position. 

What I think needs to happen next is broad media blitz. Before, through, and after the RNC, the McCain campaign has been the center of the discussion on almost every media outlet. The results have shown. RealClearPolitics put Sen. Obama up by only .8 a full five points down from before the convention. Getting air time could counteract a lot of this. 

With the particular line of attacks that are being heaved at Sen. Obama, I think a little contortion is going to be needed. There will certainly be much bending and stretching to answer it all, but the unseen upside to Gov. Palin is that we're not on unfamiliar ground. The campaign looks amazingly like 2004 so Sen. Obama can just take out that old keynote speech and lift lines from it. I think it would be infinitely helpful to remind people that, yes, we have gay friends in the red states and that, yes, we worship an awesome God in the blue states. There isn't a red America, nor a blue America. There is only the United States of America and these united states are suffering from horrible mismanagement that Sen. McCain helped create and hopes to continue. The divisive wedge of old politicking stops November fourth because on that day things will change. On that day, these states will choose to reclaim their rightful unity. 

The Importance of Gov. Palin

Gov. Palin’s acceptance speech at the RNC towed the party line as has not yet been done in the Republican Presidential campaign. Sen. McCain has generally tried to play maverick and I think we're seeing the real benefit she brings. She is red, through and through. It'll definitely be interesting to see how that plays out. It might, and hopefully will, just play into the Democratic argument of the ticket as, "four more years of the last eight." If you've noticed, the Democrats have largely remained silent for the past few days. I think now we're going to get a chance to start to hear some responses. 
 
I think the picking of Gov. Palin is the embodiment of the idea, "just like me." This has been a tactic of the GOP for years. If you look at the Bush campaign, it was all about being "just like me." He tells jokes. He believes in God and goes to church. He loves sports. He's the kind of guy I can have a beer with. Gov. Palin is that. Many see her as the ploy by the party to court the women's vote, but I think she's also, like you said, the evangelical vote, the hunter vote, snow vote, the frontier vote. She reacted to her time in office the way, I imagine, many folk would--banning books is a time honored tradition. So, yes it's cynical, but I think just leaving it at woman is too shallow.
 
This tactic makes for great campaigning, but terrible governing. I think this is going to have to be the line of criticism that the Democrats are going to have to take. They've been tying Pres. Bush to Sen. McCain for a good few months. They should try to do the same with Gov. Palin. Or maybe not. However, Sen. Obama did just spend a whole year trying to convince people he's just folk so it might backfire.
 
The scandal about the Palin daughter’s pregnancy should rightfully be off limits, absolutely. Both campaigns I think said that well. The media is just a little slow to listen, which is annoying. The media smells blood. They keep digging up facts, only some of which are relevant. I think I saw one headline that said that she never went to Ireland. I'm half expecting there to be an article on HuffPo about how she totally loved Dream Police in college or something. There are valid skeletons in her closet that need to be dragged out, and I think within the pregnancy scandal there is a valid issue that needs to be discussed. I don’t know how eloquently I can put it (and I know the Daily Show has already done a better job). We shouldn’t discuss this young woman’s pregnancy, but we should discuss the discussion itself. An important of the conservative and general Republican platforms is an exorcism of government from otherwise private matters like the family and individual determinations. Yes, this is a private matter. However, that exclusion of the government from the private sphere is premised on the belief that government shouldn’t choose, we should determine our own lives. This belief links to the Democratic positions on abortion (pro-choice) and sex ed. These Democratic positions insist that people should determine their own private lives, not the government. People should choose whether to abort their child. People should be educated about the world around them so they are better capable of making informed decisions. The same Republican platform that touts an insistence on a separation between the government and private matters also insists on using the governments hand to destroy autonomy by eliminating choice and education.
 
The secessionist party skeleton is another good example of an issue that needs discussing. If you're a "heartbeat away from the presidency" then you should probably be an absolute patriot. I think most Americans would agree, and the GOP laid out this requirement in their attacks on the Obama family. The GOP is failing its own criteria. They've failed the experience criteria and now the patriotism criteria.
 
"Troopergate" is particularly important because we've lived through too much Washington scandal. She may not be guilty, but I don't think that matters in this case. It certainly matters for her, but the role of the next administration is to restore trust in the institutions that make up the government and the only way anyone can do that is by being clean and ethically sound. I may very well be wrong, but I think the perceptions of people will be colored by the fact that she is potentially ethically unfit. People might see the system as bankrupt, a problem that we have endured too long. On the flip-side, a thorough trial might actually benefit the country and restore faith in our justice system.
 
What I think is most damaging about Gov. Palin is the reaction within the party. Publicly, the GOP is all for her, but there are rumors abounding about lack of faith in the ticket. People think she's a ploy, she's just a campaign tactic, that she will sink the ship. Whenever you pit the hopeless against the hopeful, the latter will always win. Hopefully.