Posted on 01/29/2013 12:54:46 PM PST by EternalVigilance
| Very few prominent Iowa Republicans have endorsed same-sex marriage rights since the Iowa Supreme Court's 2009 decision striking down the state's Defense of Marriage Act. Every Republican now serving in the Iowa House and Senate is on record supporting a constitutional amendment to reverse that court ruling. When former State Senator Jeff Angelo created the Iowans for Freedom movement in 2011 to support marriage equality as consistent with conservative values, only a handful of Republicans signed on. One of them, Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson, was later warned against seeking the GOP nomination for the special election in Senate district 18, in part because of his position on marriage. Last night some heavy-hitter Republican strategists and activists met in Des Moines to urge the Iowa GOP to change its stance on marriage equality. |
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Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who worked on George W. Bush's first presidential campaign in Iowa, was the featured guest at yesterday's Iowans for Freedom event. As RNC chair, Mehlman collaborated on a strategy to place "one man, one woman" marriage initiatives on state ballots to improve GOP prospects. He came out as gay in 2010 and has been working ever since to reverse some of the damage he did to LGBT couples denied civil marriage rights. O.Kay Henderson covered the event and posted the audio at Radio Iowa. Mehlman's remarks run for about ten minutes. "How can smaller and less intrusive government not include the right to choose the person that you would like to marry?" Mehlman said during brief remarks at the gathering. "...How does standing in the way of two adults who love each other not discourage rather than promote family values?"
Mehlman emphasized that civil marriage laws protect religious liberty and the right of religious organizations not to perform or recognize same-sex unions. He also talked about the hardships LGBT couples endure in states that don't grant legal status to their relationships. He said Iowa is "a better place today, a freer place, a juster place" because of civil marriage rights, and said opponents of equality can't provide a single example of how they have been harmed by other people's marriages. David Kochel, who managed Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign in Iowa, helped organize Mehlman's Iowa visit. On January 27, he came out for marriage equality on WHO-TV's show "The Insiders." On that program, Kochel referred to a "demographic shift," including his own young adult children, who want to "move past" some of the social issues that have been a focus in Republican politics. Kochel asserted, "Frankly, the culture wars are kind of over. And the Republicans, largely, lost." He said that if Republicans are the party of "freedom and liberty," that should extend to personal freedom and the right to marry. Kochel told last night's gathering that he usually stands in the back of the room at political events, but feels it's time to "step to the front of the room" on this issue. He said his children had called him to congratulate him after Sunday's WHO-TV program. For them and their generation, "it's a settled issue." Kochel said he had quietly felt this way for many years. While he understands that many Republicans will disagree with him on marriage, he urged them to recognize the need to "update our message," "reach out" and be more inclusive." Henderson listed some of the other notables at last night's Iowans for Freedom Event. They included longtime RNC Committeeman Steve Roberts, Bob Dole's 1988 Iowa caucus campaign manager Tom Synhorst, Linn County GOP activist Kathy Potts, and (most surprising to me) Eric Woolson, who managed Mike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign in Iowa and the 2010 gubernatorial campaign of Bob Vander Plaats. No Iowan has been more relentlessly, some might say obsessively opposed to marriage equality than Vander Plaats. I am seeking comment from Woolson on whether he supports same-sex marriage rights or attended last night's event just to see Mehlman. Stan Thompson, the GOP challenger to Representative Leonard Boswell in 2002 and 2004 was there as well. Toward the end of the event, Angelo asked supporters to "like" the Iowa Republicans for Freedom Facebook page, while Kochel jokingly asked people to defend him on twitter @ddkochel. They deserve that support. It takes courage to step as far out of the Iowa Republican mainstream as they have done. The sooner marriage stops being a partisan issue, the better it will be for everyone. |
Damn, this constant redefining of everything from the left has gone far enough.
Gay is really SSAD (Same Sex Attraction Disorder) to be kind and sodomy to be truthful.
Marriage is between a Man & Woman period.
If the SSAD group wants some kind of phony bonding then instead of ruining the meaning of Marriage, call it “Mirage”. the fudge packers will think it is french for Marriage but just like them it is all fake.
Hard to avoid the obvious, that the US has put up no resistance to the inevitable and is now gone the way of Europe. Conservative keyboarding was never the answer to impending doom, so now it’s here.
Our hollowed out military is put now in a skirt and its a given that we are well into an era of state run media and religious intolerance placing only Christianity in the crosshairs, as well as dissolving the Constitution before our eyes.
Conservative media is still around only to keep a punching bag before the people, to see us brought down by nose twisting.
The shock is that collapse was all so damn easy. Barely a murmer, or last gasp. But that happens with keyboarding. Not a sound is made, none is heard. Sheep.
Will this include polygamy or polyandry or incest?
I mean equal is equal, right?
Imagine any perverted relationship you can possibly think of, any perverted act that you can possibly dream up ...
The sexually promiscuous and perverted left has already thought of it ... and worse ... and is trying to make it the "new normal".
The perverts are ahead of you on this, because they're perverts ... and you're not.
Oh for heaven’s sake. We already have marriage equality. Laws of marriage apply equally to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation.
Yep.
Tell me again why I should bother voting Republican?
Hard to avoid the obvious, that the US has put up no resistance to the inevitable and is now gone the way of Europe. Conservative keyboarding was never the answer to impending doom, so now it’s here.
Our hollowed out military is put now in a skirt and its a given that we are well into an era of state run media and religious intolerance placing only Christianity in the crosshairs, as well as dissolving the Constitution before our eyes.
Conservative media is still around only to keep a punching bag before the people, to see us brought down by nose twisting.
The shock is that collapse was all so damn easy. Barely a murmer, or last gasp. But that happens with keyboarding. Not a sound is made, none is heard. Sheep.
Sorry. I can’t think of a thing.
Well being heavily involved in Iowa politics, let me give you a rundown of the above names:
Ken Mehlman - Not from Iowa so who gives a crap.
David Kochel - Who? Not a common name in political circles.
Steve Roberts - Again, not from Iowa so who gives a crap. Even if he was...1988 Bob Dole chair? Really?
Tom Synhorst - I’ve heard the name, don’t know a ton about him.
Eric Woolson - Ah, the first legit player. Notice he gave no opinion. He might have been there for opposition research.
Kathy Potts - Also legit, but again no opinion given.
Stan Thompson - Boswell challenger in 2002 and ‘04? Those are Model T days in Iowa politics years.
Jeff Angelo - Legit, probably the only one with weight here that’s pro-marriage.
Brent Oleson - Legit. Paulbot I believe. He may be pro-gay marriage but it’s from a Libertarian perspective.
If you want to get a real litmus on where our state GOP legislators are. Almost all would be a resounding NO.
Correction, Synhorst ran Dole’s campaign, Roberts was former committeeman from the Model T days, so both are has beens.
Well, you may be very active now, but if you don’t know most of the names involved, you haven’t been active for that long. Those are some of the heaviest hitters in this state over the last twenty-five years. And, don’t kid yourself, they all maintain a great deal of influence in the GOPe, both in Iowa and nationally.
“Mehlman emphasized that civil marriage laws protect religious liberty and the right of religious organizations not to perform or recognize same-sex unions.”
Civil marriage laws PROTECT religious liberty?! And insure that the state never punishes those faiths that won’t buy into whatever impossibility the state is calling marriage at the time? That’s the ticket, more state involvement to protect us from the state, makes perfect sense.
Civil marriage laws are whatever judges, pols, or 51% of the voting public think they should be at any one time. That’s all they can be.
Freegards
BWHAHAHA! Bullcrap Tom. They have near zero influence and less every day. They don’t even have much influence over the money people. Every election in Iowa is a half-life, and any big name that’s been out of things more than 6 years is politically dead. If anything, that list of has beens shows you exactly where the Iowa GOP is today - totally against gay marriage.
We have one of the most conservative group of legislators on the GOP side in Iowa history, and you know full where the Paulbots and not the Establishment run RPI. There is no way this situation could exist if the conservatives didn’t have control over both the conventions and the primaries. Do you forget that Santorum won the primary and Paul came in third in the caucuses? Had the conservatives been able to rally around a candidate, Romney would have gotten stomped.
The only vestige of the old Establishment is Branstad and Grassley, and even they are markedly more conservative than the old days. So please, don’t try and sell your snow to this eskimo.
What’s Kochel, like forty or forty five years old? For such an old “has been” he sure did a number on you all. Got Romney a political win even when he didn’t get an actual win.
And I know quite a bit about the current Republican ranks of legislators, and about Branstad and Grassley. I wish they were half as conservative as you make them out to be.
But, your perspective is obviously a bit different than mine.
I gotta admit, that one made me laugh out loud.
Marriage equality is when a man offers to make a sandwich for his wife.
Yeah...
Well played!
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