Gay-Baiting Poll Used Against Pro-Equality Candidate

Krystal Ball (pictured at left) is one of the three gay supportive candidates running for Congress in the Hampton Roads region. Krystal is running for the 1st Congressional District, Glenn Nye is running for the 2nd District, and Bobby Scott is running in the 3rd District. The incumbent running for re-election in the 4th District is my former classmate, Randy Forbes who I can only assume has had a nervous breakdown or submitted to a "Stepford Wife" like program to turn him into a hard right Christo-fascist. All of the Democratic candidates face the prospect of running against an energized GOP base while their traditional base id apathetic due to the endless broken promises of Barack Obama and the weak kneed Congressional Democrat leadership. Part of my undisguised anger at Obama, Jim Webb and others who are throwing the LGBT community and other elements of the Democrat base under the bus arises from the fact that good candidates may well be defeated because of the "what difference does it make" feeling that is palpable among many people that we know (This article in the Washington Post looks at this severe problem for the Democrats). Pam Spaulding looks at the sleazy anti-gay tactics being used by Krystal's opponent, Rob Wittman. Here are some highlights:
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Pro-equality ally and Virginia U.S. Congressional candidate Krystal Ball attended her second Netroots Nation this year, and she's doing extremely well in the race to represent the 1st district in Virginia.
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Her opponent, anti-gay Republican incumbent Rob Wittman, is a real bible beater: As a member of the Values Action Team, I will continue to support pro-life, pro-family legislation. I will work in defense of parental rights, religious liberty, and the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Furthermore, I support efforts to curb internet pornography and obscenity.
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Now one would assume, even with those fundie credentials, Wittman would not want his supporters or his party, given the state of the economy and how it affects his constituents, focusing on gay-baiting Krystal Ball. Well how wrong is this - the Blend has learned that a push-poll in support of Wittman, dialed up voters in the district with lines of questioning that harken back to the 1990s-2004 gay-baiting bullshite of the highest order.
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First of all, the lead-in statement is for the caller to tell the resident the questions are about "Krystal Ball's obsession" regarding support for "special rights" for the LGBT community. And then the caller is asked this (I sh*t you not): "Krystal Ball has a strange infatuation with gays and lesbians. It makes one wonder what is in her past."
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It's pretty disgusting, yet folks like Wittman may well be re-elected because of the failure of Democrats to keep campaign promises in any significant way. If Democrats are massacred in the 2010 mid-terms, Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Jim Webb and others will bear the ultimate responsibility. They will have taken a golden opportunity to effect real change and they demonstrated a reverse Midas touch - gold turned to sh*t.