That paragon of virtue and ethics, Andrew Breitbart is taking his gay little ball and going home. The bombastic ethic-challenged media personality has quit the board of LGBT Republican group GOProud over the alleged outing of one of Rick Perry's campaign staffers.
He's shocked—shocked!—some gay Republicans he worked with didn't agree to cover for another gay Republican involved in the releasing of one of the most homophobic and widely "disliked" campaign ads in recent memory.
Breitbart smash!
From Brietbart's blog:
Why I’m Stepping Down from GOProud Advisory Council
It is with sincere regret that I announce I must step down as a GOProud advisory member. On numerous occasions I have spoken with Jimmy LaSalvia and Chris Barron of the significant impact the practice of “outing” had in my evolution from the political left to the right. I was under the absolute impression that both agreed. I have a zero tolerance attitude toward the intentional infliction of vocational and family harm by divulging the details of an individual’s sexual orientation as a weapon of political destruction. As an “Advisory Board member” I was not consulted on this extreme and punitive act. Clearly, there are more productive means to debate controversial ideas and settle conflicts. Therefore, I cannot in good conscience stand with GOProud. I still stand by gay conservatives who boldly and in the face of much criticism from many fronts fight for limited government, lower taxes, a strong national defense as well as the other core conservative principles.
Perhaps we should consult with the principals of ACORN or Shirley Sherrod about what they think of Breitbart's "good conscience?"
From New York magazine:
Except it seems that the group's director and chairman (inadvertently, they claim) created a gay-bashing brouhaha of their own by letting slip the true sexual orientation of Tony Fabrizio, a top strategist on the governor's presidential campaign. In an e-mail to the rest of the board — acquired by the Daily Caller — GOProud leaders Chris Barron and Jimmy LaSavlia defended themselves, basically by claiming that Fabrizio's in-or-out status wasn't exactly a closely held secret.
Both Jimmy and I have known Tony for years and have known that he was gay for years. Multiple media outlets contacted us after the Perry “Strong” ad debuted asking our opinion of Fabrizio’s role in the campaign given the anti-gay nature of the ad. Every news outlet that called asked our opinion of a gay man being a part of this campaign’s leadership.
Meh. Fabrizio’s playing with the big boys and politics has always been a contact sport. If he felt a glass closet would stop the press from asking obvious questions, he was wrong. At least that's the new rule book. And that's a good thing.
For what it's worth, it's important to keep in mind that Federal Election Commission reports available at OpenSecrets show that GOProud had a grand total of 86 donors nationwide for the 2010 cycle.
Or put another way: approximately 0.000043% of the American electorate.
OpenSecrets shows GOProud has collected a whopping 52 donors in 2012.
GOProud's little novelty act doesn't really warrant the outsize attention it gathers from the media. Wouldn't it be nice if you could gather 85 of your friends and prompt the media to breathlessly repeat your press releases and seek you out for comment all the time?