The Washington Blade weighs in with an article about recent gay-baiting campaign tactics in Virginia and a bipartisan call to cut it out, co-signed by Equality Virginia, Log Cabin Republicans and Virginia Partisans.
The article is primarily about the push poll calls attributed to the Lynn Chapman campaign, insinuating that Delegate David Poisson is “a closet homosexual.” See previous posts here and here for our analysis of that situation. It would have been nice if the Blade had picked up on the Patricia Phillips gay-baiting attack on Republican John Andrews as well, and the joint statement by Andrews and Poisson condemning these ugly, dishonest tactics:
Public service isn’t for the faint of heart. We – one a Republican, the other a Democrat – know that only too well. We have always recognized that we must be fully prepared to present and defend our positions. We also recognize that any decisions we make, whether professional or personal, are fair game for our opponents.
But we are concerned that with each new election cycle politics is becoming uglier and more dishonest, damaging not only our public discourse but also tearing at the very fabric of our democracy.
This “latest round of dubious campaigning echoes the previous House of Delegates 2005 election cycle, when the Blade reported two incidents of gay baiting,” a fraudulent flyer about Vivian Paige distributed to NAACP members and a bizarre letter to constituents from former Delegate Bradley Marrs about a contribution to his opponent Katherine Waddell from a “wealthy homosexual businessman.” At the time, Marrs insisted that his overheated rhetoric was “standard political campaigning.”
Closer to home, that 2005 cycle also included the “standard” gay-baiting attacks on David Poisson by former Delegate Dick Black. Notably, both Black and Marrs lost. One would hope that a lesson was learned from this.
In some cases, however, what has worked in the past is being tried again, albeit with a different group of “others” filling in as scapegoat. What’s the difference between the following two statements?
…I have just been sent a tip that a local pro-illegal alien organization, has been in contact with the ACLU and the left-wing group Legal Aid in a plan to sue Loudoun County…Even worse, they hope their lawsuit will “set a precedent” and repeal other sensible zoning laws across the country. The plan is to throw open our communities to an invasion of illegal aliens and turn neighborhoods across the country into dangerous, crowded slums…
…Help me stop their plan to make our neighborhoods a crime-infested “sanctuary community” for illegal aliens…groups like La Voz and others now threaten war against CURRENT law enforcement, hoping to sue away the Delgaudio Ordinance and repeal laws across the country aimed at stopping invasions of illegal aliens who turn safe neighborhoods into filthy, crowded slums…Pro-illegal alien activists are already invading Sterling, never mentioning their actual agenda and spreading lies in an effort to defeat me…
…Last week the pro-homosexual special interests including mislead and mistaken young people and a former opponent swarmed into the School Board room. They openly spoke against Christians who wish to not have government endorse immorality. There were community leaders like Barbara Black, Andy Wallo, Paul Goze and others who spoke against the use of taxpayer monies to promote obscene acts on children…The School Board…is going forward NOW with plans to create a policy PREVENTING the continued promotion of bizarre and obscene immoral practices that offend all traditional pro-family religions in America and the world…
…At the same time they attacked me, an explicit “student” play was being organized by a high school principal, with the active help of other pro-gay rights activists implementing a defacto school board policy to condemn Christians and other traditional morality promoting citizens…in fact the teacher and students involved stridently assert they have the unlimited right to promote pro-gay rights philosophies on school grounds…Strident anti-Christian pro-gay rights leaders and their misguided followers will swarm Tuesday night urging the school board to encourage pro-homosexual plays, productions, surveys, curriculum and other propaganda. They do not want this proposed policy passed…
If there is one, I can’t find it. Hate is hate, and lies are lies.
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