From a List to a GOP Civil War? [More Dirty Tricks]

Davidcorn.com ^ | October 06, 2006 | David Corn

[PajamaTruthMafia]

From a List to a GOP Civil War? Copies of The List (see below) have been sent by gay politicos to a variety of social conservative groups that look to the Republican Party to make their religious right dreams come true. The recipients include the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Alliance for Marriage, Concerned Women of America, the Eagle Forum, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Officials at most of these groups have had something to say about homosexuality and gay rights in the wake of the Mark Foley scandal.

What's the point? The senders--gay people of a non-Republican bent--seem to be hoping to set off a civil war within the GOP, to turn the anti-gay social cons against the GOP's Velvet Mafia. These Washington gays have been seething for years about gay Republican staffers who serve a party that opposes gay rights and that welcomes the support of people who demonize or dehumanize gays and lesbians. "Maybe now the social conservatives will realize one reason why their agenda is stalled on Capitol Hill," says a gay politico. Another says, "The inherent inconsistency of a coalition that shelters both gay loathing 'Christian' conservatives and conservative gays will soon suffer its final rupture."

Will it? We shall see, as the Foley scandal continues to unfold, and The List continues to circulate.

[edcoil]

"Copies of The List (see below)"

No list and none on link.

[rhombus]

I had the same problem. The links are in the left-hand banner at the bottom of the page.

[mmyers]

No List on David Cornhole's sight?

[100-Fold_Return]

Impossible, the one and only civil war is in Iraq. I know, I watch CNN./sar

[edcoil]

I followed a couple of links and found no list. I did find his quote that he would not post the list (below).

"I have a copy. I'm not going to publish it. For one, I don't know for a fact that the men on the list are gay."

[taxesareforever]

This from another David Corn column:

There's a list going around. Those disseminating it call it "The List." It's a roster of top-level Republican congressional aides who are gay.

...I have a copy. I'm not going to publish it. For one, I don't know for a fact that the men on the list are gay. And generally I don't fancy outing people--though I have not objected when others have outed gay Republicans, who, after all, work for a party that tries to limit the rights of gays and lesbians and that welcomes the support of those who demonize same-sexers.

[navyguy]

David Corn is a Socialist Worm and a pathalogical liar. His articles are suitable for nothing more than toilet paper.

[rhombus]

It wouldn't surprise me if "the list" is nothing more than a threat. On the otherhand it wouldn't at all surprise me if names were actually sent out.

[jrooney]

The modern day McCarthyism. This is the face of our enemy within our borders.

If stunts like this do not piss the base off, nothing will.

I would walk through a mine field covered in broken glass bare foot with a blind fold on to vote.

Any social conservative that stays home this election because we have gays in our party is a fool.

The direction Pelosi and Reid would take this country will hurt social conservatism much more than having some gays in the party!

[AntiGuv]

Where Corn says "(see below)" he's referring to his older post on 'The List' that's below this one on the main page of his blog. He is not referring to 'The List' itself which he says he won't publish. The older post then sends readers to blogactive.

[ElkGroveDan]

The list is there on one of the blogs. Just follow the links. It's on a left-side sidebar.

I'm not going to publish it here, but I read it.

[svcw]

Sing it brother!!!!!

[cwb]

Gee, I seem to recall a "list" from several decades ago that Liberals despised...and still bring up till this day to silence their critics. It's interesting that they'd now employ a similar tactic.

[rhombus]

Gee, I seem to recall a "list" from several decades ago that Liberals despised...and still bring up till this day to silence their critics. It's interesting that they'd now employ a similar tactic.

The irony is apparently lost to the left. Amazing, ain't it.

[Antoninus]

The answer to this is easy. Just produce a list of Democrats who are secretly pro-life and send it around to every leftist group....

[DryFly]

A couple of rather well-known conservative radio and web figures on the list too.

[imskylark]

"Any social conservative that stays home this election because we have gays in our party is a fool."

I just moved and almost forgot to register. This whole Foley thing reminded me and I went out and registered just before the deadline. Thank you Democrats, I will be voting.

[Dems_R_Losers]

Well, this should be proof positive that a major part of the Democrats' campaign this year is dirty tricks to turn off the Republican base and make evangelical voters stay home. Revealing that George Allen is Jewish, now going after gay Republicans. It should be obvious they they are losing or they would not resort to such desperation tactics. They tried the same crap with the Bush DUI in 2000 and the fake TANG memos in 2004. Now, are we going to let them win this time or aren't we? I know I am going out this weekend for the first time in over a decade to walk precincts with my Republican Congressman. I am also going to write letters on his behalf to every newspaper in my area. What will you do?

[griswold3]

Smells like Blackmail, doesn't it??

[rhombus]

Positively sulfuric. :-)

[jrooney]

The problem with a list, is there is no proof they are gay. The developers of the list are trying to turn us against one another.

[dubie]

I would walk through a mine field covered in broken glass bare foot with a blind fold on to vote.


I am with you. I volunteered to sit at the poles the entire day from 7AM to 8:30PM. The local GOP will be bringing me lunch and dinner.... I will have a list of names of people who said they will vote after contacted before election day. As those people vote, I take them off the list. Mid day or so local GOP compares my checked off list with people who said they would vote and calls the once who have not showed up...

[NeoCaveman]

We don't call it a Civil War, we call it the War of Homosexual Agression :^)

[Soul Seeker]

You know, I'm just going to hazard a guess as one of these social conservatives myself that wasn't going to vote for some Republicans that this attack on Christians and their leaders to suppress the Christian vote ain't going to go over too well.

[jveritas]

The problem with the hate filled delusional Left is that they think that our voters are as stupid as theirs. Their voters have huge numbers of idiots, hate filled and delusional people who have a very low political IQ so they are easily deceived and controlled. Our voters are vastly smarter and they do not buy the lies and the emotions of the Left else we would not have been able to win any election. Our voters know very well that it is the Republican party that is making pro-life laws and stopping the gay agenda where as it is the democrat party that is making law to kill babies on demand and to advance the gay agenda. No list is going to change what our voters think of the difference between the two parties and hence it will have zero effect on the way our base vote.

[ElkGroveDan]

A couple of rather well-known conservative radio and web figures on the list too.

Assuming it's accurate. Who knows if this wasn't made at a Kinkos in Abilene.

I find the rule seems to be that any single man who doesn't have a deep voice, or has manicured findernails makes these lists.

[sweet_diane]

Where's the list of the adulterers? the tax cheats? the racist? And those with a violent nature?? Who has subscriptions to Playboy? High Times? Chicks With D****?? Who's pulled a Martha Stewart? or had a Lewinski at work??

And while we're at it... let's have 'em all pee in a cup for a lookie loo.

[GOPJ]

"I have a copy. I'm not going to publish it. For one, I don't know for a fact that the men on the list are gay."

Look, no one can guarantee any information 100%. Just put the list out - we're all grown ups here. We can deal with the hard truth that only liberals have access to... Out the list as some might say.

I resent the crap out of groups that think we must be kept in the dark and fed sh-T. The proverbial mushrooms... If we have gays, are they with us because they're conservative or because they couldn't win as liberals in conservative districts?

Foley was a democrat until he couldn't win in a conservative district. His "politics" were little more than a lust for power. Are there others like him? Others who want to play us for fools? We have the right to know... Are there more gays in Congressional jobs than there are evangelicals? Are evangelicals the group that's really discriminated against? Why can't straight kids be pages? What's with the gay page thing? What's wrong with being hetro? Whatever the truth is, it needs to be put on the table.

[sweet_diane]

"I would walk through a mine field covered in broken glass bare foot with a blind fold on to vote.

Any social conservative that stays home this election because we have gays in our party is a fool. "

dittos

[MikeA]

"The inherent inconsistency of a coalition that shelters both gay loathing 'Christian' conservatives and conservative gays will soon suffer its final rupture."

---

An open letter to David Corn:

Mr. Corn:

Once again you have shown you and other liberals just don't get the thinking and nuance behind conservative, much less Christian, thinking in this absurd and see-through attempt to suppress Republican turnout by announcing people in positions of power who are gay, as if the fact there are gays in the GOP is news to anyone.

Contrary to your simple-minded views, we do not "loathe" gays. We disapprove of the behavior as being violative of God's laws. I think few of us if any are shocked to learn that within the Republican ranks there are gays, both those actively living the lifestyle and those resisting the temptation to live God's laws instead.

None of us are going to turn on the GOP Mr. Corn merely because like the rest of society there are gays in our midst. I think most of us say the life they lead is between them and God and that it has nothing to do with why we support the GOP or how we see the GOP as being the best protector of our views on everything, not just values, from national security, to taxes to limiting the size of govt. (though the GOP has fallen down badly on the job on this later imperative) to protecting our constitution with judges who faithfully interpret the constitution, not re-write it to fit their ideology.

No Mr. Corn, your cheap and tawdry tactic will be seen by conservatives for what it is. It will not impact a single vote on election day, other than perhaps those who now vote Republican out of revulsion for the sleazy and hypocritical Democratic smears going on. And I bet just a few will be liberal gays.

There will be no civil war in the GOP. But there will be a reckoning you will need to have with your own conscience and the struggle you and your party will need to engage with your own moral sense, if there is even any moral sense left in your party, when you realize how you cheapened democracy. You will wake up the morning after the election is over and if you have even an ounce of conscience left, you'll feel scummy and dirty. And that's as it should be.

No Mr. Corn. We conservatives are not simpletons who are so besotten in bigotry and fear as you want to believe that we would turn on an entire party which promises so much more in terms of what's important to us than you Democrats could ever hope to offer because of the sins of a few of its members.

Apparently the liberal mindset tells you we view ourselves as perfect and that nothing less than perfection will due. No, that is not the case. We just ask for accountability is all, something that Democrats long ago put themselves beyond whether it was Bill Clinton, Gerry Studds, Barney Frank or Ted Kennedy (interesting the 3 latter all come from liberal Massachusetts isn't it?) We just see ourselves as people who are trying harder to do what's right, and don't try to cover up, make excuses or smear accusers when we've been found to have done wrong. That's your party's tactic Mr. Corn and we want nothing of it. But that doesn't mean we do not recognize our own shortcomings or that there are people who struggle with the same temptations common to man.

So we have gays in the GOP. This isn't news to anyone and it's even less impactful in terms of importance to any of us. The fact is, they do not run the party or its agenda nor force the party to alter marriage to allow same sex unions. Our party does not fight for special rights for gays in other ways, allowing them for example to advertise their sexuality in schools or in other jobs and then to be protected by the law from losing those jobs because they sought to impose their sexuality inappropriately.

So why would any of us lay back and not vote on election day because there are gays in our party and allow your party which is the custodian of the gay agenda, and most every other agenda we find repulsive, to take power and to move ahead those things we think endanger the nation, whether economic, cultural or security related??

You've drastically underestimated and miscalculated who we are Mr. Corn. And in so doing you've awoken a sleeping giant ready to knock you Democrats back on your heels on election day with the voter turn-out juggernaut that's coming your way. You have shown us the sleaziest and ugliest in human nature as it lusts for raw power and the blow-back from this is going to be massive. During a time of national danger, you Democrats hypocritically tried to change the subject from terrorism, national security, the need to be successful in Iraq and our continued prosperity to the private sexual lives of people many of us have never even heard of, and this after spending the late 1990s telling us how President Clinton's sexual escapades, not mere dirty talk or preference, in the Oval Office were "private matters" and "none of our business."

Mr. Corn, we're not buying it and we have long memories about your party's hypocrisy. You clearly don't know us, the complexity of our thinking or what you have helped to unleash on Democratic candidates in the coming election. And just a little of it may come from the gay community you liberals hypocritcally claim to champion, but which now are using their preferences as a weapon in this sexual McCarthyism you are playing with.

I suggest on November 8th you will wake up not only feeling cheap and low, but feeling you made a grave miscalculation and helped to unleash the whirlwind on your party's candidates. Good luck sleeping between now and then, and after. You will be spending years Ophellia-like trying to wash out this "Damned spot" Mr. Corn.

[marron]

The senders... seem to be hoping to set off a civil war within the GOP...

These guys really don't get it. It isn't going to happen.

If you agree with me on the issues, I'm not going to pry into your private life. If you agree with me on 80% of the issues, I'm going to argue with you about the 20% and still not pry into your private life.

Corn's point seems to be that there is something wrong with a pervert voting Republican. He can't imagine that, first, there are other issues, and second, that someone might not favor making his private perversion public policy.

For a guy like Corn, evidently, if you are a pervert you must by definition be a Democrat; if you are not, you are a traitor to your own kind.

There are times when you have to let Democrats make your case for you.

Still, if someone gets "outed" by the Democrats I see no reason to go into a frenzy. If you agree with me on the war, on the Constitution, on budget matters, that doesn't give you a pass on your moral character but I'm not going to kick you out of the party either. Just don't go "Foley" on me, and we'll be fine.

[icwhatudo]

The list is there on one of the blogs. Just follow the links. It's on a left-side sidebar.

I'm not going to publish it here, but I read it.

No need to publish it, just link it. Why the big secret? "Pssst, the beer is in the cooler hidden in the room, 3rd door on the left-BUT I"M NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU BEER"

lol

[cwb]

Great letter!!!

[MikeA]

Thanks. I know Corn is pretending he has nothing to do with this, but apparently he is a facilitator of it. He's just trying to protect himself from possible lawsuit by claiming some lone ranger is doing this.

[thegreatbeast]

The list is there on one of the blogs. Just follow the links. It's on a left-side sidebar. I'm not going to publish it here, but I read it.

No need to publish it, just link it. Why the big secret? "Pssst, the beer is in the cooler hidden in the room, 3rd door on the left-BUT I"M NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU BEER" lol

Yeah, put up or shut up.

[dangerdoc]

I think that all Republican members of Congress should step out and announce that they are gay is solidarity with the gay men that the Democratic party are victomizing.

"I Senator Foghorne would like to standup for the persicuted minority and say that I stand with my brothers of all race creeds and sexual orientation. If the Democratic party wants to persicute gay man, then persicute me."

[piytar]

Excellent post, MikeA. You hit the 10 ring with that one!

[MikeA]

Thank you!

[dalight]

Corn seems to think the Republican Party and normal Religious people think like the folks from the Westboro Baptist Church!

Religious folks are deeply concerned about the "Gay" agenda but Conservative gay people are on the whole not working to advance the most offensive bits of this agenda.

Religious people who are rational reach out to folks who struggle and try to help if they are trying to live a "good" life.

[ichabod1]

it'd be a short list.

[6SJ7]

gay people of a non-Republican bent...

Must... resist... comment...

[backhoe]

Excellent essay, MikeA, and I'm completely in agreement.

[poobear]

You've drastically underestimated and miscalculated who we are Mr. Corn. And in so doing you've awoken a sleeping giant ready to knock you Democrats back on your heels on election day with the voter turn-out juggernaut that's coming your way. You have shown us the sleaziest and ugliest in human nature as it lusts for raw power and the blow-back from this is going to be massive. During a time of national danger, you Democrats hypocritically tried to change the subject from terrorism, national security, the need to be successful in Iraq and our continued prosperity to the private sexual lives of people many of us have never even heard of, and this after spending the late 1990s telling us how President Clinton's sexual escapades, not mere dirty talk or preference, in the Oval Office were "private matters" and "none of our business."

By George Mr. A, you've nailed it!

[A Citizen Reporter]

LOL!

[6SJ7]

Gee, I seem to recall a "list" from several decades ago that Liberals despised...and still bring up till this day to silence their critics. It's interesting that they'd now employ a similar tactic.

David Corn, Have you no sense of decency sir?

[thoughtomator]

Pretty damn insane that everyone should know who is on the list but us. So here's "the list":

US Representatives
Rep. Ed Schrock (VA)
Rep. David Drier (CA)
Rep. James McCrery (LA)
Rep. Mark Foley (FL)

US Senators
Sen Barbara Mikulski (MD)

Senior GOP Staff
Jay Timmons, NRSC
Dan Gurley, RNC
Jay Banning, RNC

Senior Senate Staffers
Robert Traynham, Santorum
Jonathan Tolman, Inhofe
Kirk Fordham, Martinez
Dirk Smith, Lott
John Reid, Allen
Paul Unger, Allen
Linus Catignani, Frist

Senior House Staffers
Jim Conzelman, Oxley
Lee Cohen, Hart
Robert O'Conner, King
Pete Meachum, Brown-Waite

Bush Staff
Israel Hernandez
Jeff Berkowitz

Local Officials
Vincent Gentile, NYC

The rest...
Ed Koch, NYC Mayo
Jennifer Helms-Knox, Judge
Armstrong Williams, Radio host
Matt Drudge, Headline writer
Steve Kreseski, MD Gov.
Chip DiPaula, MD Gov.
Lee LaHaye, CWA
John Schlafley, Eagle Forum


If I were on the list I would sue the hell out of Mr. Rogers there. For example, I seriously doubt that Koch is or ever was homosexual.

This list represents a major political blackmail scheme that should be considered an act of sedition, and all those involved in creating it and using it to issue threats should be brought up on the appropriate felony charges.

[Two-Bits]

The problem with the hate filled delusional Left is that they think that our voters are as stupid as theirs.

There is so much truth in that statement.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Fantastic letter!

[BelegStrongbow]

Pretty short list, actually, and I know at least one personally. That person is definitely gay and so what.

Very cheesy effort, and thanks for putting the list out so the whole thing can deflate quickly.

Sort of like how Democratic policies and initiatives work: nice idea, maybe, but definitely flat in the delivery.