When conservative Republicans ratchet up their anti-gay rhetoric, it usually means one thing: Election Day is approaching. We saw this gay-baiting during the 2000 and 2004 presidential races, and we're seeing it now in various hotly contested congressional and Senate races across the country. As voters prepare to go to the polls November 7, Republicans from President Bush on down are attempting to shift the debate from the administrations utterly failed policies in Iraq to heaping blame on gays and so-called activist judges.
Last week, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution requires equal protection for same-sex couples that they might enjoy the same benefits of marriage as heterosexual couples. The decision does not allow same-sex marriage. But true to form, GOP candidates who are trailing their Democratic opponents, particularly in the red states, would have voters believe that wedding bells are already ringing for same-sex couples in the Garden State. Another important aspect of the ruling – and an ironic twist – is that the three Republican-appointed justices actually went further in their dissent by stating that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, as opposed to "civil unions." So if the president insists on criticizing what he calls "activist judges" – which he is doing – he's actually referring to Republicans in this case. But that distinction, too, is lost amid the frantic last days of campaigning.
And when the right wing isn't using gays explicitly to rile up the base, there are always indirect means like guilt by association. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is poised to become speaker should the Democrats take back the House. In this election cycle, Republican candidates have zeroed in on Pelosi and bemoaned what they call her "San Francisco values," which of course is just a roundabout way of gay bashing using code words.
Then, there's the ever-present racial and sexual hypocrisy of the National Republican Committee. The NRC paid for a race-baiting "bimbo" ad against black Democratic Senate candidate Harold Ford in Tennessee. The ad used a white, blonde model posing as a Playboy Playmate, who winked into the camera and said, "Harold, call me." The ad was so disgusting that even Ford's opponent asked the RNC to remove it. Now to add to the mix comes word, thanks to Joshua Micah Marshall and his Talking Points Memo blog, that the RNC, currently headed by Ken Mehlman, has accepted money from Nicholas T. Boyias, CEO of Marina Pacific Distributors, a gay porn company. There's certainly nothing wrong with gay porn or any other type of adult entertainment, but "cultural conservative" Mehlman has been exposed as a hypocrite. And, we should add, he continues to dodge those pesky bloggers intent on outing him.
Meanwhile, the real issues confronting the administration are front and center, as they should be. More than 100 service members were killed in Iraq in October alone, making it one of the deadliest months of the three-year-old conflict that should have never started in the first place. Bush has jettisoned his vapid and overused "stay the course," policy for Iraq, and his mouthpiece, Tony Snow, had the audacity to tell the White House press corps last week that the president only used the phrase "eight times." Sorry, Tony, it's been at least 30. And in the latest twist, Bush has gone on the attack against his 2004 rival, Senator John Kerry, who mangled a joke this week that gave Republicans an opening to criticize him for disparaging the troops. Hasn't Kerry learned that Bush will seize on anything to divert attention from his bungled war?
In these last few days before the election, the GOP will stop at nothing in its battle to retain power. Don't be fooled – and don't take the blame pundits are certain to heap on us if the Democrats lose.