Bush-Cheney campaign manager, ex-chairman of Republican Party Ken Mehlman set to come out as gay

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Bush-Cheney campaign manager, ex-chairman of Republican Party set to come out as gay

By John Byrne
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 -- 4:10 pm



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/0825/background-mehlman-story/

Ex-RNC chairman, who Raw Story identified as gay, reportedly to come out

Ken Mehlman, the erstwhile chairman of the Republican National Committee and campaign manager for George W. Bush's 2004 reelection effort, is set to come out of the closet as gay in a column that's been scheduled to be published online, RAW STORY has learned.

Mehlman, 44, spearheaded the Bush re-election campaign. The campaign used aggressively anti-gay tactics, including the mailing of a flyer in some states which suggested liberals would allow gay marriage and ban Bibles. Some believe Bush’s support for anti-gay marriage measures carried him to victory, particularly in Ohio, which had a gay marriage measure on the ballot.

Mehlman's coming out will mark a significant reversal for the Republican Party and those who devised the Bush-Cheney re-election strategy. The onetime chairman of the RNC has previously refused to discuss his sexuality in both public and private settings, but has been having conversations about coming out with advisers and at least one prominent reporter.

The onetime RNC chairman's sexuality received treatment in the 2009 documentary "Outrage," which was aired in theaters and was later broadcast on HBO. Michael Rogers, who outed Mehlman on his blog, blogACTIVE, as well as this author, discussed the media's complicity in keeping the conflict between Mehlman's private and public life under wraps.

Prior to the 2004 presidential election, two New York newspapers received calls urging them not to publish information suggesting Mehlman was gay. Raw Story revealed this in November 2004. Raw Story was party to an investigation of claims Mehlman was gay in the run-up to the 2004 election but no one was willing to go on the record.

When asked about his sexuality in 2004 by blogACTIVE's Michael Rogers, Mehlman hung up the phone.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/0825/background-mehlman-story/

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Well, I am just shocked.

He's ONE person I don't want in my pew, thank you very much!
:puke:

[SpiralHawk]

13. Why would a gay person support a political party that HATES them?

I just cannot figure...

Same as I cannot figure why any Black person would support the Republicon racist party?

Incomprehensible...

[name not needed]

2. No thanks, you fuckers can keep him.

[RainDog]

3. LOL!! who didn't know he was gay?!?!?!

Americablog was all over his lies years ago.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. I know!

:rofl:

[driver8]

6. I was thinking the same thing. n/t

[Botany]

5. The gay thing was just the cover story for the theft of the election in Ohio.

"Some believe Bush’s support for anti-gay marriage measures carried him to victory, particularly in Ohio,
which had a gay marriage measure on the ballot."

Actually it had more to do w/ these guys.




As a straight guy I never got the gay republican thing ..... kinda like jews for Hitler.
Ken ran a bottom of the barrel campaign in 2004 in West Virginia he had fliers that
showed 2 men kissing and the family bible being taken from the house if Kerry won.


BTW Ken Mehlman gay? And this news please. Who is next Larry Craig?

[valerief]

17. BREAKING NEWS! RIP TAYLOR, former US Senate page, PURPORTED GAY!!!! NT

[gratuitous]

7. And before the usual questions are asked

Because Mehlman was so aggressive in using gay-baiting and homophobic campaign tactics to further the political agenda of his masters and to line his own pocket, which makes him a world class hypocrite.

[joeybee12]

8. So a self-loathing gay man is in the news again, eh...

color me...phuck you, Kennie.

[Uzybone]

9. fucking scumbag

[QC]

10. This is very, very old news. n/t

[blogslut]

11. Well, I'm torn about this

If Mr. Melman chooses to come out publicly, I am glad for him on a personal level and would hope that his doing so blasts a big hole in GOP/Conservative anti-gay rhetoric. However, Ken Melman is one slick fellow and I fear he will find a way to absolve his party of its clear LGBT bias.

[Brickbat]

12. Get OUT!

:rofl:

[valerief]

14. Duh. Why should anyone care now? The religious zealots have forgotten about him and

no one else would care. Well, except for the Anti-Republican Hypocrisy Team. But most of us expect nothing but hypocrisy from the repubs.

[bluestateguy]

15. Unless that comes with a reversal of his postion in favor of marriage equality, screw him

In 2004 THE leading domestic issue for the Bush campaign was not the economy, not health care, not the environment, not education. No. It was a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. And Mehlman was one of the architects.

So he comes out as gay. Big deal. He needs to 1) apologize for his role in that campaign and 2) come out in favor of marriage equality.

That would be a start, though only a start.

[mike r]

16. "Newspapers received calls urging them not to publish information"

Figures.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

18. blog ACTIVE on Ken:

http://blog.blogactive.com/



The three people most responsible for the anti-gay actions of the Bush reelection campaign are Mehlman, Karl Rove and Bush. In addition to his role at the RNC, Mehlman served in the first Bush Administration as White House Political Director. In 2004 he was the general chairman of the Bush reelection campaign.

In 2004 Steve Schmidt (then the Republican National Convention spokesman and later the McCain campaign's senior strategist) lied to me when I asked him point blank about Mehlman. "Ken Mehlman is not gay," he proclaimed.

In 2006, Mehlman told the New York Daily News, "I am not gay, but those stories did a number on my dating life for six months."

It's so nice to be proven right, me that is, not ken.

If this move doesn't call for a Roy Cohn Award, I don't know what does. Ken Mehlman is horridly homophobic and no matter how orchestrated his coming out is, our community should hold him accountable for his past.