Good job, Cathy. Way to provide a fascinating case study in what happens when you take Democratic constituencies for granted. Way to lose us elections.In case you're wondering, I'm talking about this recent article from Southern Voice. I'm talking about a (formerly) loyal liberal lesbian exhorting her friends to vote in the REPUBLICAN PRIMARY.
Do you have any clue what that means, Cathy? Do the incompetents you have running your campaign and writing your speeches and press releases understand even a small fraction of the ramifications? I'm betting not, because now you've gone and done it. You've delivered a gift wrapped steaming pile of “Fuck you” to a significant portion of the Democratic coalition one time too many, and now they're going to try to make sure that Ralph Reed, a man we can slap silly seven ways to Sunday in the general, loses the primary to Casey Cagle, a man neither Jim Martin nor Greg Hecht is well-positioned to defeat owing to the way they've made Ralph Georgia's “State Pincushion”.
The sad thing is that, unlike you and your campaign staff, the gay block isn't stupid, and they can see plain as day that you and Mark Taylor not only are completely uninterested in the cause of equal rights, you (or your speechwriters) are actively hostile to it. Why shouldn't the gay block decide to leave the choice between two Democrats falling all over each other to pander to the radical, rabid right in Georgia to the rest of us not directly marked for destruction by the Ralph Reeds and Sadie Fields infesting this state? Why shouldn't they cross over to vote against Ralph Reed, a vile pond-scum sucking porcine lying son of a bitch, a man who may very well be the most dangerous Republican running for an office of such importance in the entire country? The rest of us know that Casey Cagle is horrible on nearly every issue, from the economy to the environment, but then that's just another choice between two evils for a gay person, just like the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Let's just say this: Neither Mark nor Cathy were missed in the slightest at Pride this weekend, not when people like Allen Thornell and Karla Drenner are there to remind us what being a Democrat is supposed to mean. Maybe in 2010 we'll have some gubernatorial candidates who remember that for once. In the meantime, Cathy, if Casy Cagle is elected lieutenant governor, I'm going to blame you just like I'm going to blame you for re-electing Special Sonny.
15 Comments:
Don't you think Mark Taylor deserves some blame as well?
I think this is as good a time as any to reiterate to the itinerant reader that the views expressed in any particular blog article do not necessarily reflect any kind of consensus on the part of YDAtl. In other words, if by any chance you work for, support, or are Cathy Cox, please don't hate us, avoid our events, or put away your checkbook.
That said, I think Audacity has a point. To take it one step further, while it's obvious neither gubernatorial candidate with a (D) is a poster child for gay equality, the question that has to be asked, then, is why are these the only two candidates we could field? It's the chicken and the egg: the fact that we can't field a gay-friendly Democratic candidate for governor says a lot about why we don't have a gay-friendly Democratic candidate for governor.
I know, it's like a zen koan. Repeat it over and over and it'll make more sense. :-)
Also, I'm no more warm and fuzzy for anyone willing to screw friendly Democrats in order to screw other Democrats. If we're to take Ayotte's column (and this blog entry) at face value, the only two Dems worth any attention are openly gay: Thornell and Drenner. If you live in their districts, you'd better vote on the (D) ticket, because they need your help; if you live in a straight Dem's district, sod it, vote Republican. God forbid Ayotte exempt anyone living in the Senate district being sought by Nan Orrock, who really needs the support of die-hard Dems against someone who's trying to paint her as a closet Republican (as ridiculous as such mud-slinging is). I'm a big fan of Nan Orrock, but it doesn't look like Nan ranks so high on Ayotte's scale of priorities; why should I have any respect, then, for anyone who screws Democrats to uh, screw Democrats?
As an afterthought, this discussion isn't 100% aligned with this topic, but worth reading for anyone interested in the politics of being gay in Georgia: http://atlmalcontent.typepad.com/atlmalcontent/2006/06/pardoning_cowar.html#comments
Does Benson have any idea that the largest block of voters in the Democratic constituency is the African American vote? Does he not know that the majority of African Americans in this state are like the rest of the state in that they do not support gay rights and favor more conservative candidates when it comes to gay rights? Does he not understand the importance of attenting their event in Savannah this weekend? Does he feel that Cox or any other Democrat in Georgia should run a campaign that suits him but does not suit the majority of Democratic voters in this state? Last but not least, has there ever been a candidate for governor that has attended Pride?
Actually, I don't think Taylor deserves equal blame. The reason the LGBT community in Georgia doesn't have their own candidate in this race is that Cox presented herself as that candidate when the early money was coming in and the leaders in the community bought what she was selling.
Taylor has never been anything more or less than advertised. But Cox was different, or so we thought.
Shelby, we may have to add a disclaimer to my posts at this rate ;-) (For the record, this post is a consensus of the voices in my head, not of anyone else in YDAtl. They didn't mention "beer" for once...)
Anonymous #1, I know all of that, and it would sure be nice to have someone willing to try to build a coalition between our voting blocks rather than playing one off the other. A campaign that would suit me would stand for something other than just maxing out the Democratic vote - winning elections doesn't get us anywhere if we simply pander to the majority view on everything.
For the record, yeah, this Ayotte woman is really over the line on this one - all I'm saying is that Cathy radicalized these people.
Ben,
I thought you were a cathy supporter?
even Af/Am voters understand? what do you mean by that?
Oh for the love of all things covered in cheese, SIMMA DONNA anonymous! Your paranoid victim complex is turned way up past 11.
Jesus. Okay, so far this is what I understand: ydatl hates women and blacks. the candidates all hate gay people. Gay people give you a lot of money when you show clevage and serve beer with a smile, but Mark Taylor has more clevage than Cathy Cox, who is a lesbian. Who else can we offend here... I think we left the immigrants out of it. Maybe the Catholics and Jews as well. This is why since joining this organization my drinking habits have increased exponentially. And Am/Af is sort of sexy grammatically. It beats others... well, I'll leave the offending up to other people now, because the white papist mick is going to curl up with an audrey hepburn movie and go to sleep. Nice work, Benson! This is the most active blog in weeks!
Oh wait, I also missed the part above where one of the anonymouses insinuated that black people also dislike gays. My bad. I'm glad women just get screwed universally.
I think Christie is making a huge mistake in telling people to vote in the GOP primary. First, that will get you on their lists. You'll be getting Sadie Fields' mailers for the next two years. Second, the ballot has more than just Governor on it. There's Lt. Gov, SOS, and a host of Gen. Assembly offices. Yes, she gave a pass to people in Allen and Karla's districts, but that's not enough.
We had a whole contingent of legislators and candidates in the Pride Parade on Sunday, downpour and all. Reps. Doug Dean, Kathy Ashe, Pat Gardner, Mike Jacobs (who got called out by a protestor on a megaphone who said he should be "ashamed" to support deviance...mike's response was to smile, shrug, wave, and yell "HAPPY PRIDE!"), Nan Orrock, Jan Hackney, Bob Roche, and others all marched openly, unapologetically, and joyfully in the Pride Parade. These folks deserve our votes, even if they are unopposed. We have people like TJ Copeland in South Fulton who needs our help ousting an anti-gay incumbent in the Democratic primary. And if you care about holding on to the Lt. Gov and SOS offices, it's important to cast your vote in those primaries. It's NOT just about Governor.
You can express your displeasure in the Gov primary too. Bill Bolton, while generally a "free market" nutcase, does have an interesting take on gay rights, especially when two people are in a relationship. While not perfect, he's a damn sight better than MT or CC. You can see Bolton's position here:http://www.billboltongovernor.org/SameSexM.html
Yes, I know he won't win, but that's OK for me. It's the primary, and I can't stomach either CC or MT, although once July 18 is over, I will whole heartedly support whomever is the nominee against Sonny. But I refuse to be some candidate's "bitch" because he/she thinks I have no where else to go so he/she can treat me and my fellow LGBT Georgians any old way and expect us to come back for more. No thank you.
Well it's nice to know Democrats have a couple other options to register their displeasure with our two front-runners, but holy crap I have no idea what Bill Bolton is saying. I'm starting to suspect his communications director is the dude behind that "he who is known as Sefton" blog, but on acid. Just say "no" marriage? He's certainly got quite the taxonomy going.
OH but I'm sure the officers will be happy to know I've decided to outsource our website design to Bolton's Management by Computer company. teh d3sign is l33t!!1!1!!!@
As a Democratic-leaning independent, I am seriously considering voting in the Republican primary to vote against Ralph Reed.
First, I do not live in a district with any other races of real interest (other than the gubernatorial race).
Second, let's get real for a minute. Taylor, Cox, and Perdue are all southern conservative Democrats from south and middle Georgia. The difference between the three of them is measurable in inches and nothing more. Perdue has actually been fairly moderate as southern Republican governors go. If you do not agree, then just wait until we get a Cagle or a Reed as the next Republican governor.
Third, given the state of Georgia's Democratic Party - collapsed and generally incompetent at this point - I have NO confidence that the party can defeat even such a vulnerable candidate as Reed. I am not willing to risk it to the hands of political managers like the ones running the Cox campaign.
Tim, just because I strongly disagreed with Benson didn't give me an excuse to attack him personally or call him names. So I didn't. I was tough on him. But I wasn't personal about it. There's nothing about my original post that deserves that from you either. Just because you disagree with me doesn't mean you should read into my statements what you want.
All I said was that the majority of Democratic voters in this state are African American. I think we can all agree that that's a true statement. I think we can also safely assume that many of those voters are social conservatives closely tied to Christian churches that oppose gay rights. I'm not calling out whites in this instance only because they are not the ones we have to win over. It's the African Americans who aren't currently (we do have many on our side) on our side that we have to win. This has been a point of contention between our community and their's. It exists and it's hurting us. So please don't assume that I'm a racist because I choose not to ignore it. Ignoring it won't help us any. We have to do as Benson said and that's to bridge the gaps.
We've gotten a lot of national support from leaders like Revs. Jackson and Sharpton. Losing Mama King this year was a huge blow for our cause because she was as eloquent a friend as we have ever had. But in this state we aren't going to go very far even in Democratic primaries until we get the Bishop Eddie Longs of the state on our side. Until we do that we can't act shocked and outraged when candidates like Cox and Taylor take up positions that we don't like. They aren't running as hard as they are to lose.
Failing that we need to be looking to African American candidates for statewide offices who are gay friendly. White candidates who are on our side can only be effective in certain districts. Our best strategy seems to be to get behind the Shirley Franklins and work our asses off to get them elected to positions like governor. Not only is that socially responsible for African Americans and equality for them. It's going to be so for us as well.
A few months ago there was a meeting between African American leaders and activists and members of our community. The subject was their belief that there is racism amongst some Pride officials. But they also discussed other problems that we have. So I'm not pulling this out of my ass. I'm just not overlooking the obvious.
By the way, my biggest problem with gay people slamming Cox and Taylor is not because it isn't totally uncalled for. It's because we are allowing the Republican strategy to work. They planted the seed and they are done. Some of us around the blogosphere are taking their ball and running with it.
Hello four more years of Sonny freakin' Perdue!
First of all, all of the anonymouses are not the same. It's easily identifiable by syntax and content, for the most part. But, anonymous, while Am/Afs are a large population in this state (whether they're majority or minority is sort of a tangent I don't want to go down, but.) I agree with a lot of the points you made above, anonymous of 6/28 10am. Negative tactics work in dividing people with otherwise strong party ties. The thing is, I think it's realistic for people to get angry when a party they feel should be based on tolerance and promoting differences instead backtracks and puts forth a homogenized republican-lite agenda/campaign. I don't think debate within a primary is ensuring Perdue's election. All of us want the strongest candidate; this divide isn't going to continue after July 18th. We'll all pack it in and work together. I'd also like to remind you that racism can work both ways. Most of us here are not WASPs. We're women, gays, blacks, asians, hispanics, jews, sociopaths, whatever. Race, gender, and sexual orientation are not as important as the person, and frankly constantly focusing on it only increases stereotypes and racism. Similarly, I don't think it's so much 'can we trust a
Republican?' as 'Can you trust the candidate and your government?'. The government is what the people make it to be; Republicans are (scarily) still human beings. So, anonymous, are white people.
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