Maverick My Ass

I'm sick of this "John McCain is a maverick" bullshit. He is a political opportunist who embraced his party orthodoxy in exchange for embracing the far right-wing agenda. This week, for instance, he hinted that he might be willing to choose a running mate with non-traditional beliefs, but there were limits to how far a potential running mate could stray from the Republican Party line.

"I think it's a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a -- albeit strong -- but just it's a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far more so than Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights, pro, you know, a number of other issues."

Asked about it today, Bloomberg predictably dodged jumping into the mud by praising McCain as someone who's done great things for this country but then added this dig, "I think that choice and gay rights are personal things -- particularly if you are a conservative, the government should get out of the bedroom."

Let's put this issue in Republican words so we can get the full effect of his statement. John McCain is open to choosing a running mate who believes that it should be legal for women to murder their babies, but not a candidate who believes in equal treatment of heterosexuals and non-heterosexuals. In his eyes, being pro-gay is worse than be pro-baby-killing.

Why is pro-gay worse than pro-choice? Deep down, they hate gays more than they hate doctors who "kill" babies. The former is perceived as a "threat" to themselves, while the latter is not.

As the LA Times noted this week, anti-gay marriage advocates try to frame their arguments in terms of preserving traditions and protecting families. Despite this front, when given the opportunity to speak freely about their beliefs, the anti-gay affect comes to the surface. Before announcing it's opposition to Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, the editorial board met with supporters and opponents to allow them to make their case.

The measure's supporters are generally careful to avoid appearing anti-gay, probably because they realize that, for all the voter split on same-sex marriage, Californians generally support gay rights. They professed in our meeting to have no ill will toward gay people...until the talk went deeper.

At one point, the conversation turned to the "activist judges" whose May ruling opened the door to same-sex marriage, and how similar this case was to the 1948 case that declared bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional. According to one of the Prop. 8 reps, that 1948 ruling was OK because people are born to their race and thus are in need of constitutional protection, while gays and lesbians choose their homosexuality. So much for the expert opinions of the American Psychological Assn. and the American Academy of Pediatrics that people cannot choose their sexuality. Oh, those activist doctor types.

In any case, one Prop. 8 supporter said, gay rights are not as important as children's rights, and it's obvious that same-sex couples who married would "recruit" their children toward homosexuality because otherwise, unable to procreate themselves, they would have no way to replenish their numbers.

It's not clear that John McCain agrees with the anti-gay activists who push the homosexual recruitment conspiracy theory, but many of his anti-gay positions fly in the face of current social science research.

For example, despite the fact that study after study after study after study has shown that children raised by same-sex parents turn out no better, no worse, no gayer, no straighter than children raised by heterosexual parents, John McCain still believes that it is better for children to grow up without parents than it is for them to be raised by gays and lesbians.



And despite research which shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military would not harm readiness, John McCain still supports Don't Ask, Don't Tell.



John McCain is not a maverick. He's a conservative Republican adn a bigot. And if he'll sell homosexuals down the river to pander to the right-wing lunatic fringe, what do you think he'll do to the "McCain Democrats" once he's gotten your votes?

Don't fall for it!