RUDY STEPS IN THE MACACA (AGAIN!) Only two days ago, His Honor was back on message. Now he’s off anew.
First he offends Republicans of almost every ideological flavor with his support for publicly funded abortions (and then drops eleven points in the WaPa/ABC News poll). Now he offends the GOP’s social libertarians — his most likely supporters — with his flip-flopping and obvious pandering on civil unions.
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His flip is a flop. |
What’s worse, it’s stupid pandering. Rudy now says that while he opposes civil unions, he favors domestic partnerships.** Does he think this change in nomenclature will win points with religious conservatives? The religious conservatives don’t give a damn what you call it: marriage, civil union, domestic partnership, sacred sacrament of the sodomite. If you acknowledge the very existence of gay couples, you’re up the religious cons’ craw.
All Rudy has done today is come across as fainthearted to his supporters and as unpersuasive to his detractors. Where’s the payoff in that?
[**—In fairness, Rudy has often spoken of his support for domestic partnerships. But he’s also spoken of his support for civil unions. And while this might be a distinction without a difference, depending on how you write the law, it looks like he’s attempting a climb down. That’s certainly how it’s being taken.]
Tags: Giuliani, civil unions, Republicans, 2008 election
To revive a term once coined by — of all people — Richard Nixon, I believe there is a “silent majority” in the Republican Party that is perfectly willing to be fair and reasonable about gays. They are probably tired of being lumped together with the bigots. These largely-ignored, decent people are the ones whose votes Rudy needs. If he punts them away with cowardly flip-flops, he may not be able to woo them back.