What a political season it's been. In addition to watching the Democrats finally getting some traction in the national political debate, it appears we are headed for a big victory in one week.
BlogACTIVE visitors have supported the site's work on reporting about right wing closeted members of congress. And we're not done. There are plenty more of these jokers to expose after the election, too. And, as the media covers more and more of this, it's clear we're having an effect. (Click for clips from O'Reilly, Tucker and Nancy Grace.)
Over the past two years, we've seen this topic, one that radio and TV hosts avoided like the plague to one that is now affecting the right:
More after the jump, including info about the commercial being released later today.
Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) - Just three days after he was 'outed' Bill Maher was talking about Craig by name on his show with Barney Frank.
Ex-Rep. Mark Foley - The site first reported that Foley was a danger to the gay community in March of 2005. His former Chief of Staff, Kirk Fordham was one of the very first cases reported on the site. At the time, Kirk, a gay man, was working to elect Mel Martinez to the US Senate. Martinez is a vehement homophobe.
Ex-Rep. Ed Schrock - BlogACTIVE posted seven audio recordings of Schrock seeking sex with men. At the same time he was doing that -- a felony at the time in Virginia -- Schrock was beating up gays and telling constituents that Don't Ask, Don't Tell was too lenient!
In addition to blogACTIVE, I've established Proud Of Who We Are, an organization which calls upon closeted gay officials to come out of the closet and be proud of who they are and to be honest with the American people.
As head of Proud of Who We Are, I am spending hours each day calling evangelical and social conservative leaders to inform them just how many members of what they call the "homosexual lifestyle" are asking them for their support and votes on Election Day. I take my message to leaders like James Dobson, Tony Perkins and Gary Bauer. I've also spent time calling such leaders in places like Idaho (home of Larry Craig).
It's odd being one of the people on the left engaging the far right. But trust me, when they have a chance to hear audio confirmation of a gay man who had sex with an elected GOP official, they become very concerned. Of course, most of them are truly surprised to learn how many closeted gay men are in the highest echelons of the Republican Party they are being asked to support next week. It's quite an education for them.
A blogACTIVE.com response to Ken Mehlman and his race baiting of Harold Ford:
Hey, Ken, two can play your game, pal. By late Tuesday afternoon BlogACTIVE will have produced and posted a response to your ad, which I suspect will get the same flavor of coverage as the original ad you used to interject your own brand of hate into the election.
I have engaged a writer, director, cameraman, actors, actresses, post production team, and a publicity team to help push this top-notch video into the mainstream as quickly as possible.
Here are some of the screenshots. The original RNC is on the left... My response ad is on the right:
How you can help:
1. Blog, Blog, Blog - When the ad comes out tomorrow, tell everyone about it. Blog and email about it.
2. Email, email, email - Help me push the ad far and wide. I've seen the final draft. It's fantastic!
3. Support the ad with a donation via PayPal - Every penny helps. The creative team behind the ad hopes you will have trust in the accomplishments of blogACTIVE and Proud Of Who We Are to take a gamble on this response ad. The video will be made widely available, for free, in multiple formats. We are researching placing the ad on in selected media markets as well.
It would ruin the effort to give too many specifics away, but you can see a couple of screenshots above that we're taking the fight right back to the on their home turf. I hope you will take a moment to help this effort out with even small gift toward the ad. To donate via PayPal, click here.
And yes, there is an end line which says "Call me...." ... well, somethig like that.