GOP Urged to Rethink Gay Marriage

The political strategist who handled John McCain's campaign is saying that the GOP risks becoming a 'sectarian' party. It's refreshing that someone within the GOP is demonstrating that there is still some intelligent life in the party, not that I foresee the lunatic base of the party going along with such smart advice. With the changing views of the younger generations of voters towards gays, time is not on the side of the Kool-Aid drinkers who in a matter of time will simply die off in sufficient numbers to allow pro-gay measures to pass. Meanwhile, the GOP will have turned itself into a religious dominated relic of a political party. How the small rational element in the party rescues the GOP from the Christianist is a huge question since much f the party grass roots consists of church directed extremists who live in an alternate reality from the rest of us. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post on Steve Schmidt's heretical views on gay marriage (Note: the article quotes the Traditional Values Coalition which is an identified anti-gay hate group):

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Adding a prominent Republican voice to the ranks of those supporting same-sex marriage, the man who managed Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign yesterday warned members of his party that continued opposition on the issue could turn the GOP into a "sectarian" party. Steve Schmidt, a California political strategist, has long held more moderate views on social issues than do many top GOP officials. Yesterday, he used a speech in front of the gay rights group Log Cabin Republicans to urge the party to shift its views on same-sex marriage. Otherwise, he said, it will continue losing voters who are younger than 35 or who live outside the South. "For the party to be seen as anti-gay, that is injurious to its candidates in places like California and Washington," Schmidt said.

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Pushing the party to reconsider the issue are a handful of GOP figures, including Meghan McCain, the 24-year-old daughter of last November's Republican standard-bearer. She will speak tonight at a dinner for the Log Cabin Republicans, whose name reflects the birthplace of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln. McCain and her mother, Cindy, attended a Log Cabin reception last night at the home of former congressman Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) who was one of the few openly gay members of Congress during his tenure.

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Other Republicans disagreed strongly with Schmidt, noting that an initiative defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman passed in California, a state President Obama easily won. "We've seen over and over people come out and support marriage between a man and woman," said Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition, a District-based conservative activist group. "It absolutely doesn't threaten the election of Republicans. The campaign [on gay marriage in California] won the support of Republicans, independents and some Democrats."

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Schmidt added that his lesbian sister's relationship with another woman helped change his views on the matter. . . . People under 40, they don't care," said Martin Sokoll, a trustee of the group [Log Cabin Republicans] who lives in Iowa. "It's absolutely age-related. It's going to change as those folks who are older die off."

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As I have said before, it would be nice if the mainstream media would challenge statements like those of Ms. Lafferty who makes a comfortable living peddling hatred.