‘Inclusive’ GOP? Fuggeddaboudit!

Cheney disagrees with Bush. Log Cabin fights for ‘Unity Platform’. These are pebbles in the ocean.

Friday, August 27, 2004

The Republicans swarming into Manhattan this week are bringing a cynical message. They want the moderates to support them, but they have no intention of supporting a moderate platform.

Bush and his minions realize that the majority of Americans are not fire-breathing evangelicals who believe that anyone who disagrees with one iota of their theology is bound for eternal damnation. This is especially true in the broad swath of swing states that will apparently decide the election: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri and Florida.

In order to woo the undecided voters in these states, the GOP is going into its “Big Tent” drag again. This differs markedly from the disastrous 1992 convention, when Pat Buchanan vowed a holy war against the gay and liberal forces marshalling to destroy the virtue of the republic.

George Junior has apparently learned the lessons of his father’s mistake. So, despite his enthusiastic endorsement of the only seriously considered constitutional amendment ever proposed that would actually limit the rights of a set of Americans — the so-called Federal Marriage Act — Bush fils is using the time at Madison Square Garden to present a kinder, gentler Republican Party.

Aside from what some of the thousands of Iraqi civilians who have lost limbs or loved ones in collateral damage might have to say about that, the party’s collective speaks louder than its bromides. And so far, the party has spoken with one voice — a profoundly homophobic one.

At the platform committee hearings that were conducted over the past week, any diversion from an anti-gay line was voted down unanimously. Listening to the arguments in the middle of New York City, one was transported to places far away from ultra-liberal Midtown.

Speaker after speaker voiced the most bitter anti-gay rhetoric. And the platform committees approved each one. The result is a platform that, if the word “black” or “Jew” were substituted for “gay” or “same sex,” would read like something out of the Nuremberg or Jim Crow Laws.

This is a big tent? If so, it’s one surrounded with barbed wire and guardhouses.

Make no mistake, the GOP has every intention of turning back the clock for every single progressive stance taken by the voters, the courts and the people over the past several years for a more inclusive society.

Gay marriage is the fulcrum. Bush decided a while ago that this would become the red-meat issue to throw to the red states. Who cares about environmental degradation or record budget deficits? We’ve got a few couples in a small New England state who are living together in a sanctioned relationship. The sky is falling!

Let’s not fool ourselves about the genesis or the intent of Vice President Dick Cheney’s comments — or their timing. This administration never makes a move without political calculation.

It’s not cynicism to believe that Cheney’s comments in Davenport, Iowa, about gay marriage and his acknowledgement of his gay daughter (finally! It only took four years in office) were a political move calculated to appease the “moderate” wing of the party. Everyone knows that the president ultimately calls the shots on the issue and that the vice president’s comments (as well as his wife’s) are just window dressing.

Hey, I’m glad he made them. Any tiny effort to admit publicly that we rise above the level of dumb beasts is a step in the right direction. But it’s still too little, too late.

So if the convention isn’t a hate fest, and it’s not a love-in, what is it?

It is precisely what the Democratic Convention was, and what these conventions have morphed into: four-day infomercials for their party and their candidates. The Democrats had the disadvantage of holding their “confab” (the Varietyese preferred by ersatz-hip political reporters).

This particular convention has much more going for it, thanks to its setting. Aside from being the most exciting city in the world (I have to put in a good word for the home team), New York is, more unfortunately, the site of the single worst foreign attack ever perpetuated on U.S. soil. The symbolism is what brought the GOP here in the first place, but that doesn’t diminish its significance.

The city has become, now and forever, the symbol of U.S. resilience and resolve in the face of unfathomable horror. If the Republicans wish to exploit that symbolism for their own ends, well, it’s all up for grabs. The Democrats ignore New York’s significance at their own peril.

This convention also holds another singular advantage over sleepy Boston. Protesters of all stripes have been streaming into the city. The widespread, intense antipathy toward the president will manifest itself in a slew of protests of everything from drug laws to stem-cell research.

Gay protesters plan to figure prominently in several of these demonstrations, particularly ones against the war. On Monday, there will be a protest against the administration’s AIDS policies. This will rightly be the main protest involving gay marchers — with good reason.

Despite the Bush Administration’s announcements of a $15 billion fund to fight the disease in impoverished nations, the money has only been trickling out. Furthermore, it comes with several strings attached, the most onerous concerning abstinence vs. condom use.

There is also the thorny issue of generic drugs. As Brazil has demonstrated, simply ignoring patents and issuing inexpensive forms of life-saving drugs such as HAART, the so-called AIDS cocktail, can save literally tens of millions of lives, cheaply and easily.

The Blade welcomes the Republican delegates, and especially those gay delegates who have opted to remain in the party and fight the good fight. Best of luck to you — you’ll need it.

We also welcome the protesters who have come to voice their opinion. Their actions are as much a part of this convention as the balloons and media talking heads. The conventions may have degenerated from true nominating meetings into TV-friendly political propaganda, but they still present the spectacle of democracy in action. It’s messy, but sometimes it works.