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. |
They're a bunch of trouble making rabble rousers and we must ridicule them and not let this create a fissure where there is none.
I wonder if George Soros money is involved here.
Tom, you are irrelevant to everything by your own choice. Go back to your insignificant little “third party” and stop pimping it here on FR. You have NOTHING to offer anyone.
It’s my state, too. So you can pound sand, old friend.
You chose to make yourself irrelevant.
I’m thankful you think so.
Name some names buddy. Pearson and Massie just left as did Hamerlinck and Schulte and Sweeney - all extremely conservative. Shaw is still there, there’s Windschitl, Highfill, Upmeyer, Sorenson, Hagenow, Paulson, Behn, Sinclair, Roby Smith, Greiner, Sheets, Dix, Hess, Landon, Pettingill, Brieitbach, Klein,. Kapucian, Heartsill, Ernst, Rozenboom, Whitver, Kaufmann, Zaun, Fry, Sands, Maxwell and on and on.
I know or know of alot of those guys personally and I know the legislation they’ve sponsored. Who amongst them isn’t uber conservative?
Look at the legislation that’s being put forth this session...have you even looked? HF65 and 66, the Voter ID bill, making Right-to-Work constitutional. That’s just a few.
Your opinions are crap.
Hardly anyone know who Kochel is! I’m all over the 2nd district and I’ve never seen or heard of the guy directly or in conversation.
Deal with it - the RINO in Iowa is a White RINO. Most of them have died off or faded into irrelevance. The only one of significance is Gross and that’s only because he’s tied to Gov B.
Please, name the influential RINO’s in Iowa that can actually raise real money and win anything other than a caucus. If the Paulbots can take over the RPI, then I’d say the RINO faction is pretty damn dead.
Because they are on the downhill slope and they know it. It’s a desperation move. We’ve had enough convos on TIR and FB that I don’t have to tell you that the big worry in Iowa politics is the Paulshivek wingnuts not the RINOs.
Grow up.
BWHAHAHAHA! When confronted with the truth Tom, you try to act as if you are the adult in a parent-child relationship. The classic stance of a control freak without authority or credibilit, and typical liberal tactic. You’re just like the loons at RPI, wrapped in flag and freedom, Marxist/Alinsky tactics to the core.
There is nothing wrong with "keyboarding" (putting pen to paper) and many powerful movements, both good and bad, have started with overwhelmingly convincing arguments circulated in a well-written piece.
But, what would you recommend in its place?
It’s a paraphilia,just like all the other sick and perverted sexual acts like auto-erotic asphyxiation. (I think I misspelled that).
Normal people do not do those things.
Indeed. I fail to see anyone’s “need” for a 2nd Democratic party(the 1st one is terrible enough).
You’re acting like a juvenile.
And you’re acting like a Marxist.
Really? You’re the one who came on this thread and has consistently acted like a teenaged disciple of Alinsky.
The fact that you keep avoiding addressing the facts that I’ve put forth and have done nothing but attempt to personalize and vilify me in the argument is classic Alinsky. You then trying to accuse me of what you are doing yourself is yet more Alinsky.
Bottom line is you are without substance. You got called on your fake meme trying to present the Iowa GOP as a bunch of RINOs when the exact opposite is true, in a snivelingly arrogant punk attempt to bolster your own party that has zero legitimacy in Iowa politics. The fact that you keep shifting the argument away to personal attacks only damns you more.
How ‘bout you start acting like an adult and use your energies to get someone from your party elected instead of huffing and puffing BS lies and serving your own ego? The sophomoric anklebiter routine is getting stale Tom. Just shut up and deliver the goods.
LOL...
I’m “personalizing and vilifying” you?
All I have to do is scroll back up the page to see your repeated juvenile personal attacks, starting with:
“Your opinions are crap.”
You’re a hoot.
All I’ve done is point out your tactics, and the age level they represent.
Spare me. Your post itself is the tantrum of a petulant child serving his own deluded ego. You got called to the mat by the adults pointing out your deluded fantasies of false information, and you chose to deflect and misdirect with personal slams, because you know you had nothing.
And now that you’ve been called to the mat again on your juvenile antics, you attempt to claim it is I who’s engaging in juvenile antics in typical of the narcissistic control freak throwing a fit like a toddler. It’s obvious that you neither have facts or able to accept that fact.
So put this on me all day bub, because it’s all on you. You can’t refute one thing I put forth, you were just trying to use FR to promote your little pet project with lies.
Look, in the first place, you don’t understand a thing about our party. You think you do, but you don’t.
We make our political associations and affiliations, and endorse candidates, based solely on proven adherence to core principles, not mere party labels. In a real sense, our party is beyond party.
http://www.selfgovernment.us/affiliate.html
http://www.selfgovernment.us/leadership-pledge.html
To date, in Iowa, that has so far meant that we have narrowly focused our limited resources on intensely backing a small handful of principled real republicans. (http://www.aprealrepublicans.com/what-is-a-real-republican.html)
If we were instead given to making political decisions based on the continuous juvenile personal attacks of Republicans like you and certain others here, we’d go out and recruit candidates to run against many, if not most, of your buddies.
For example, we would recruit someone to run against every single one of your “uber-conservative” heroes of the GOP who are now pushing an increase in the gasoline tax.
We would recruit someone to run against every single one of your “uber-conservative” heroes who promised Iowa gun owners they would support constitutional carry and then did not.
We would recruit someone to run against every single one of your “uber-conservative” heroes who cut a deal with the Democrats on the last day of the session to put all the Planned Parenthood funding back in the Medicaid bill - after principled real republican legislators had stripped it all out.
We would recruit someone to run against every single one of your “uber-conservative” heroes who opposed legislation to equally protect all the babes in the womb.
We would recruit someone to run against every single one of your “uber-conservative” heroes who supported the most liberal governor in the history of the United States for President of the United States.
How many of your “uber-conservative” heroes could pass that test, do you think?
I mean, is that your goal? To try to provoke us to make all of your elections a whole lot tougher from now on?
Is that what you want, scorched earth?
So far, we have taken a very careful, selective, “first do no harm” approach to steadily reforming the politics of this state.
But, we could easily create total chaos for you and your party if we wanted, especially in this political environment where most of the base of your party is completely fed up with your “leadership.” After all, we actually represent the principles of the base of your party much more consistently and thoroughly than almost any of your party’s leaders you could name.
Is that what you want?
Do you want to provoke us to total, all-out political warfare?
Because if that is what you want we know how do that.
And there are discussions going on throughout our party all across the country about how we continue to approach this. Your attitude, and the attitude we see coming our of other Republicans, is being weighed by many.
So far you’re not making your party very attractive, frankly.
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