The NRCC plays the gay marriage card against the House's recent vote on ENDA, which addresses workplace discrimination, framing the vote as a slippery slope toward same-sex marriage. The Minnesota GOP has chosen echo this Beltway strategy, which frames the vote as an example of the Congressman's "ultra-liberal" "Washington" politics.
At Lloydletta's Nooz, Log Cabin Republican Eva Young questions the honesty of the approach in a recent post, while reminding readers of the ineffectiveness of the GOP's 2006 attacks on Walz over the gay marriage issue:
It's also worth noting that Congressman Tim Walz didn't claim to oppose gay marriage when he ran for office. He said that he believed everybody should be able to participate in an institution that has been so good for he and his wife. Taking that stand did not hurt him with voters even though the usual suspects tried to use it against him.
We are also entertained by Carey's use of a Beltway-concocted message to try to define Representative Walz as "Washington," given the congressman's heavy schedule of open, unscripted district public meetings about the Iraq War, the Farm Bill, veterans issues, seniors issues, small business issues, environmental issues, and economic issues.
If Carey thinks that meetings in St. James or Albert Lea are Washington politics, we suspect he simply hasn't been to any. We recommend Google maps or MapQuest for our pachyderm friends trying to sort out the difference. Perhaps their DC message makers can be of assistance.
Update: Young lists the Republican crossover "yes" votes on ENDA and Democratic "no" votes. She notes that Minnesota's Jim Ramstad is among the 30-plus Republicans voting for ENDA.
I don't understand why the opposition to ENDA connected the issue to Gay Marriage What are they so afraid of? Check out our trailer on Gay Marriage. Produced to educate & defuse the controversy it has a way of opening closed minds & creates an interesting spin on the situation: www.OUTTAKEonline.com
Posted by: Charlotte | November 10, 2007 at 09:52 AM