Religious right groups like the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America are boycotting the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February because GOProud, a group of gay Republicans, will be in attendance.
Sarah Palin isn’t going to CPAC this year, either. She turned down an invitation to speak, but not because gays and lesbians have been invited. Instead, as she told CBN’s David Brody, she can’t make time for the conservative extravaganza, and she isn’t troubled by the inclusion of GOProud.
But when it comes to and David, perhaps what it is that you’re suggesting in the question is should the GOP, should conservatives not reach out to others, not participate in events or forums that perhaps are rising within those forums are issues that maybe we don’t personally agree with? And I say no, it’s like you being on a panel, shoot, with a bunch of the liberal folks whom you have been on and you provide good information and balance, and you allow for healthy debate, which is needed in order for people to gather information and make up their own minds about issues. I look at participation in an event like CPAC or any other event, along, or kind of in that same vein as the more information that people have the better.
I’m not sure Palin would find much disagreement with GOProud members. Their website touts their dedication to “limited government, individual liberty, free markets, a strong national defense and a confident foreign policy.” I think Palin would agree with all of that. Perhaps, though, this belief may be the sticking point: “We believe that every individual should be equal under the law.” Discuss …
The American Family Association’s pit bull Bryan Fischer took umbrage at Palin’s refusal to condemn the presence of the “deviancy cabal” at CPAC:
Perhaps Ms. Palin doesn’t understand GOProud’s role at CPAC. If so, she can walk these comments back when she finds out. Of greater concern is that she may well understand GOProud’s agenda, and its mission of destroying the institution of marriage through redefinition, and may still think it’s a wonderful idea to give them an honored place.
That would be alarming, because it would mean she simply does not understand the danger that homosexual activism represents to the family, the institution of marriage, the education of our children, and constitutional freedoms of religion, speech, press and association.
Fischer brings out his biggest bludgeon though when he muses that this incident creates “serious questions in the minds of this social conservative about whether she can be trusted with the power of the Oval Office on the moral issues that are the bedrock of the American political experiment.”
See, Palin can’t be president because she won’t openly bash gay people and call God’s wrath down upon them, like Fischer.
Not so fast, though. Palin has hardly been a friend to the gay and lesbian community. She has supported many anti-gay candidates including Christine O’Donnell. She has also defended her daughter Willow’s use of a anti-gay slur on Facebook, which is something else she has in common with GOProud, who also defended her daughter.
With only a 38 percent favorable rating – it would seem that there are more things troubling Americans about Palin than any perceived softness toward gay people.
