Today, Mullah Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council gives us this
Daily Briefing.
There are three items in this report. The first is an utterly repulsive attempt to link tolerance to homosexuals with coddling sexual predators. Now, they could lay this at the feet of the 'homosexual lobby' or even the Democrats.
But they don't.
Democrats seeking to exploit the resignation of Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) are right to criticize the slow response of Republican congressional leaders to his communications with male pages. But neither party seems likely to address the real issue, which is the link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse. . . . Ignoring this reality got the Catholic Church into trouble over abusive priests, and now it is doing the same to the House GOP leadership. They discounted or downplayed earlier reports concerning Foley's behavior--probably because they did not want to appear "homophobic." (Ha!) The Foley scandal shows what happens when political correctness is put ahead of protecting children.
Fine, okay, a bit of homophobic lashing out. Right?
Wrong. Next item: Jack Abramoff.
The news involving now-resigned Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) has deepened GOP concerns that scandal, as much as political issues, may tip House races against them next month. Last week a House Committee report examining the billing records of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff found charges for more than 400 contacts with the White House, far more than the White House records show. Abramoff's reputation for dirty dealing puts a huge question mark behind the 400, and no one has yet produced proof of White House favors for the disgraced lobbyist. As pundits assess whether "values issues" like marriage protection and abortion will figure in the 2006 election the way they did in 2004, the scandals have become a values issue in their own right. In Ohio's 6th Congressional District, an open seat in a district that went narrowly for President Bush in 2004, Democrat Charles Wilson seems confident of victory. However, both Wilson and Republican opponent Chuck Blasdel emphasize their conservative credentials and identify with the 6th District's pro-life convictions. It's another example where GOP candidates may have difficulties as a result of values issues - not for their votes for life and marriage but for the misdeeds of a handful of state and national officeholders.
When the FRC states that Republicans "may have difficulties as a result of values issues," it is not engaging in dispassionate analysis. It is making a threat. Kind of like one's employer stating that an employee "may have difficulties in keeping his job" due to concerns about his or her behavior.
Note also that they're explicitly linking the Foley matter and the Abramoff matter as part of a larger deficiency on values for the Republicans. "Values issues" are 100% of the ballgame for these folks.
Do you hear that sound? It's the sound of millions of rightwing Christian activists not rushing out to the polls.
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