Bush supporters speak out

Ecto_One said:
Via Best of the Web:

Here are some quotes from voters explaining their presidential choice:

* "When 9/11 happened, I thought President Bush was so wonderful because he brought the country together. He began the war on terrorism, which I strongly support."--Michael Winn, 62, of Deerfield Beach, Fla.

* "Right now, the No. 1 issue is terrorism. I watched John Kerry waffle on that issue. I'm not comfortable with that."--James Warren, 41, of Overland Park, Fla.

* "I look at gay marriage as a way for attorneys to make money. That's why this has gotten into the media."--Warren

* "I don't agree with gay marriage. I think a marriage should be between a man and a woman. I do feel civil unions should be approved."--Winn

* "I base my vote mostly on national defense and economic issues, like taxes and free trade. Basically, I'm a small government kind of guy. The only area I want government to be strong is national defense and law enforcement."--Chris Taylor, 42, of New York

* "I believe in the flat tax. You can't overtax someone for being successful. I support privatizing Social Security for people 40 years old and older. I'm for school vouchers."--Ben Barkai, 24, of Washington

* "It is totally wrong for liberal judges to change the definition of marriage. . . . It was the liberal judges and the radical, liberal gay community that created the push for the marriage amendment. Nobody is disagreeing that homosexuals should have their civil rights."--Maurice Bonamigo, 44, of Palm Beach, Fla.

These men have two things in common: They voted for Bush. And they are gay. The quotes come from the Washington Blade, a gay newspaper.

http://www.washblade.com/2004/11-12/news/national/explain.cfm

Fenchurch said:

For now...with environmental policies like these, check back in 2 years......

Ecto_One said:

These men have two things in common: They voted for Bush. And they are gay. The quotes come from the Washington Blade, a gay newspaper.

http://www.washblade.com/2004/11-12/news/national/explain.cfm

Ecto_One said:
I'll take partisan echo chamber for $300, Alex.

/nevermind that an entire thread on the opinions of one anti-war soldier were fawned over for a week on these boards. no one's ever heard of a soldier who criticized Bush, right?

s5 said:

i didn't read that other thread, but i can tell you one thing. your post is based on a political caricature of the gay community.

you seem to find it significant that a gay man would want to vote republican, despite the republican stance against gay marriage. i'm going to turn it around: the fact that so few gay men voted republican is what is really noteworthy.

in san francisco, we voted in a conservative mayor (yes, gavin newsom, despite his dip into same sex marriage policy, is a conservative) after the last conservative mayor served his final term. newsom is hated by the left in san francisco. even after his attempt at legalizing gay marriage, the left still hates him. he ran on a platform of cutting benefits to the homeless population, against rent control, and as a friend to business, the hotel industry, and homeowners. he was elected in part through the support of the sf republican party and the gay community, and he will be handily reelected.

many gay men tend to be wealthy or upper middle class white men who would be thrilled to pay as little in taxes as possible. they would want to vote for the (supposedly) fiscally conservative republican party, but find your party's historical stance on AIDS research to be repugnant, and despise the religious fundamentalists who own your party.

you would expect to see more gay men as your party's natural constituents, and to hear that two of them happen to be writers who care more about tax cuts and terrorism than they do about their own civil rights doesn't surprise me in the slightest. marriage is still considered by many to be a heterosexist institution. the fact that enough of them see a large enough assault on their community to vote against their own interests should signal big red flags for you.

think about it for a moment. why would upper middle class gay men even want to be democrats in the first place? they would certainly enjoy more tax cuts, they don't have abortion to worry about, and couples already enjoy dual incomes, no kids, so welfare is probably less of a concern. so, you would expect the party split in the gay community to be at least around 50/50. but it's not. now why could that be.

so, this article is the exception that proves the rule. you've reminded everyone that, yes, there are gay men who would naturally be more inclined to vote republican, and i'm here to remind you that they don't, because of the constant attacks from your party and its platform against gays and lesbians.

just look at andrew sullivan. he was one of the biggest bush cheerleaders of all. pro-war, pro-tax cuts. then bush attempted to enshrine homophobia in the constitution, and that was the final straw. andrew sullivan was republican to the core, but sometimes you just get pushed too far.

what will it take to push these two guys too far? maybe nothing. maybe they're in the closet and content. maybe they're out and proud and just don't care about anyone else. it's pointless to speculate. all i know is that there are far more gay men like these two guys than you'd expect, but the thought of voting republican turns their stomachs.

[Edited on Nov 15, 2004 by s5]

...the nationwide exit poll conducted for a consortium of news media outlets showed that four percent of the electorate identified itself as gay male, lesbian, or bisexual.

Of that total, Kerry won 77 percent of the gay vote compared to 23 percent for Bush, the exit poll showed. Independent presidential contender Ralph Nader received less than one percent, the poll showed.

Although the poll shows that Kerry won handily among gays, many gay activists said they were baffled over why 23 percent of the gay electorate — which translates into more than one million gays — would vote for a president who pushed for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

An exit poll conducted four years ago showed that Bush received a nearly identical percentage of the gay vote when he ran against Vice President Al Gore.

Patrick Guerriero, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, the national gay group that chose not to endorse Bush, said he was not surprised over the size of the gay vote for Bush.

“I predicted that Bush could get as much as 30 percent of the gay vote in the middle of a war on terrorism,” Guerriero said.

Gay Republican activist Carl Schmid of D.C. said he, too, wasn’t surprised over the gay GOP vote.

“Obviously, gay people vote on issues other than gay issues,” said Schmid. “Everyone knows who is better on gay issues. But there are other issues that people think are important.”

s5 said:
considering the degree to which you've defended bush and conservative policies on these boards, that's the information i have to go on. obviously no one falls into neat boxes. even stockula is anti-death penalty. however, i have no access to your voting record so i do what i can with the data i have in front of me.

regardless, substitute "your party" for "the republican party" if it makes you feel better. my point remains the same.

Ecto_One said:

I find myself defending so-called conservative policies because the general membership here is so rabidly partisan and utterly disconnected with reality it's mind-blowing.

Even living in New York I don't see anything comparable to the echo chamber that is SG.

But as the saying goes, keep telling yourselves lies often enough and you'll begin to believe them. If the majoritty of the country disagrees with you on the most relevant issues of the day, I suppose it's a small comfort to climb into a hole with people who think exactly like you and shoot down anyone who approaches carrying a different ideology.

Viva diversity.

Ecto_One said:

Ecto_One said:

I find myself defending so-called conservative policies because the general membership here is so rabidly partisan and utterly disconnected with reality it's mind-blowing.

Even living in New York I don't see anything comparable to the echo chamber that is SG.

But as the saying goes, keep telling yourselves lies often enough and you'll begin to believe them. If the majoritty of the country disagrees with you on the most relevant issues of the day, I suppose it's a small comfort to climb into a hole with people who think exactly like you and shoot down anyone who approaches carrying a different ideology.

Viva diversity.