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Gay Romney aide steps down, citing backlash over sexuality

TheDemSocialist

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Richard Grenell, whom Mitt Romney chose last month as his presidential campaign’s national security and foreign policy spokesman, stepped down from his post Tuesday, suggesting that the conservative backlash over his sexuality prevented him from being effective in his role.
In a statement provided to The Washington Post, Grenell, who is openly gay, said: “While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign.” He added: “I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.”

Read more @: Gay Romney aide steps down, citing backlash over sexuality - The Washington Post

As much as I dislike his views its still a damn shame he has to step down just because he is gay... I wish we could get over this issue in our country already..

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response?
 
Richard Grenell, whom Mitt Romney chose last month as his presidential campaign’s national security and foreign policy spokesman, stepped down from his post Tuesday, suggesting that the conservative backlash over his sexuality prevented him from being effective in his role.
From the link above.
Liberals are now conservatives?
 
I agree his sexuality should not impact his job...thats just wrong....I do believe the liberals were attacking him over statements he had made about women....not positive but thats what I thought i had read on him...he got in trouble as a news reporter in the UN...he was accused of doing alot of lieing.
 
I agree his sexuality should not impact his job...thats just wrong....I do believe the liberals were attacking him over statements he had made about women....not positive but thats what I thought i had read on him...he got in trouble as a news reporter in the UN...he was accused of doing alot of lieing.

Did you read the story linked?
But it was social conservatives who balked most over the choice.

Matthew J. Franck, director of the William E. and Carol G. Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution at the Witherspoon Institute, called Grenell a “loose cannon” with a passion for the “gay agenda.”

“My problem is that by his own description he is an ardent activist for same-sex marriage who went to go work for a candidate who wants to defeat same-sex marriage. It doesn’t look good to the people that Romney needs support from to have an advocate for same-sex marriage in such a high-profile position,” Franck said. “The Romney campaign needs to be unequivocally opposed to same-sex marriage and to appear to be. The campaign has remedied a problem that was bound to get worse.”
 
Did you read the story linked?

Yes and I can link another if you want me too...

Grenell drew harsh criticism from reporters during his tenure as a spokesman for the United Nations. Former Reuters reporter Irwin Arieff told HuffPost that Grenell "often lied," adding that he was the "most dishonest and deceptive press person" he'd worked with in over two decades on the job.

The Huffington Post recently reported that days after joining the campaign and coming under fire for numerous sexist and impolitic statements he had made about prominent women and members of the media, Grenell scrubbed over 800 tweets from his Twitter feed and deleted his personal website.

Now that is from Huffington post a more liberal site...quoting exactly what ive quoted...he came under fire for his statements about women and he was accuse of being an incredible liar at the united nations.

I did not state liberals had him fired...Anti Gay conservatives did that...and I strongly disagree that he should have been fired for his sexuality...but if he was lieing and made comments about women he should have been fired for that..

Richard Grenell, Controversial Mitt Romney Spokesman, Resigns
 
Yes and I can link another if you want me too...

Grenell drew harsh criticism from reporters during his tenure as a spokesman for the United Nations. Former Reuters reporter Irwin Arieff told HuffPost that Grenell "often lied," adding that he was the "most dishonest and deceptive press person" he'd worked with in over two decades on the job.

The Huffington Post recently reported that days after joining the campaign and coming under fire for numerous sexist and impolitic statements he had made about prominent women and members of the media, Grenell scrubbed over 800 tweets from his Twitter feed and deleted his personal website.

Now that is from Huffington post a more liberal site...quoting exactly what ive quoted...he came under fire for his statements about women and he was accuse of being an incredible liar at the united nations.

I did not state liberals had him fired...Anti Gay conservatives did that...and I strongly disagree that he should have been fired for his sexuality...but if he was lieing and made comments about women he should have been fired for that..

Richard Grenell, Controversial Mitt Romney Spokesman, Resigns

Sorry, I misunderstood and I agree.
 
Yeah, I'd like to live in a country where people are actually judged on their character, accomplishments and what they stand for rather than their sexual orientation. Homosexuals are the last minority that are being legally discriminated against in this country. It's a damned shame. It appears to me from his statement that he realized Romney might lose the ultra-conservative vote if he stayed in the campaign. That's just plain wrong. His assessment is probably correct, but the fact that it is probably correct is what is wrong. :(
 
Well, it is the WaPo...could be a lie.


j-mac

Yea lets go off a statement from you with absolutely no factual backing and just wing it...
 
Ironic that he was hounded out of the campaign for his sexual preference and not all the jackass things he's actually responsible for.
 
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Ironic that he was hounded out of the campaign for his sexual preference and not all the jackass things he's actually responsible for.

What I find humorous is that anyone thinks that Willard "Mit" Romney is against same-sex marriage. All you have to do is look at his record as Governor of Massachusetts to know that isn't true. He was Governor when Same-Sex Marriage became legal in the State.
 
What I find humorous is that anyone thinks that Willard "Mit" Romney is against same-sex marriage. All you have to do is look at his record as Governor of Massachusetts to know that isn't true. He was Governor when Same-Sex Marriage became legal in the State.


....Ahem....

""The story on same-sex marriage is that I have the same position on that I had when I ran from the very beginning," said Romney. "I’m in favor of traditional marriage. I oppose same-sex marriage. At the same time, I don’t believe in discriminating in employment or opportunity for gay individuals. So I favor gay rights. I do not favor same-sex marriage. That has been my position all along."

How Romney’s Flip-Flops on Gay Issues Come Haunt Him :: EDGE Boston

Still....by the time November rolls around, this will likely change....Again
 
What I find humorous is that anyone thinks that Willard "Mit" Romney is against same-sex marriage. All you have to do is look at his record as Governor of Massachusetts to know that isn't true. He was Governor when Same-Sex Marriage became legal in the State.

Err.. Same Sex Marriage became legal because he lost in court.... and was forced to accept it.
 
Err.. Same Sex Marriage became legal because he lost in court.... and was forced to accept it.

I am well aware of the means for it becoming legal here in the Communistwealth. I am also well aware that he chose not to force the issue through the higher courts and other means. He sat by and allowed it to happen rather than seriously fighting against it. He refused to put anyof his personal or political life on the line to fight it; therefore he at least passively supported it so far as I'm concerned. Just as his passiveness on the gun control issue does NOT equate to support of gun owners.
 
I agree his sexuality should not impact his job...thats just wrong....I do believe the liberals were attacking him over statements he had made about women....not positive but thats what I thought i had read on him...he got in trouble as a news reporter in the UN...he was accused of doing alot of lieing.

Typical nonsense from you. The article clearly states it was the conservative backlash.
 
What I find humorous is that anyone thinks that Willard "Mit" Romney is against same-sex marriage.

Can't imagine where anyone would have gotten the idea that he is against gay marriage. Well other than the fact that he himself has said so countless times.

There's this thing called Google. There's this thing called Youtube.

 
Read more @: Gay Romney aide steps down, citing backlash over sexuality - The Washington Post

As much as I dislike his views its still a damn shame he has to step down just because he is gay... I wish we could get over this issue in our country already..

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response? [/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

You apparently didn't read your own source, and you didn't bother to check the things it linked to.

He has a long history in Republican leadership, and these were the most bountiful complaints against him, having nothing to do with being gay and coming from the left:

Shortly after Romney announced that Grenell would join his team, the former spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations was forced to remove entries from his Twitter account that some considered offensive. Grenell came under fire for a series of snarky tweets aimed at women, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow; and Callista Gingrich, the wife of GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

The tweets included posts about Clinton’s appearance, Gingrich’s hair and Maddow’s lack of jewelry, but Grenell was forced to address complaints that his comments were sexist even before he moved into his new role.

And some longtime reporters openly complained about Grenell’s confrontational style, which sometimes included calls to editors and freezing reporters out of stories. Among Romney’s biggest champions in the twitterverse, Grenell often used his Twitter account to call out reporters and to criticize U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.

And then the piece asserts:

But it was social conservatives who balked most over the choice.

But in support of the idea that they "balked most," it only links to a blog post by one guy, Matthew Franck.

In it, that one conservative said:

I agree that Grenell’s being openly gay is, in itself, of no consequence for his service in the Romney campaign. Nor is the fact that he supports same-sex marriage — if, that is, we were assured that this view would have no influence on American foreign policy. But Grenell has made a particular crusade of the marriage issue, with a kind of unhinged devotion that suggests a man with questionable judgment. And when the Obama State Department is already moving to elevate the gay-rights agenda to a higher plane than religious freedom in the foreign policy of the United States, it is reasonable to wonder whether Grenell, after taking such a prominent place in the Romney campaign’s foreign-policy shop, would be in line for an influential State posting where he could pursue his passion for that same agenda.

And the ORIGINAL source had this to say:

Right Turn has learned from multiple sources that the senior officials from the Romney campaign and respected Republicans not on the campaign contacted Ric Grenell over the weekend in an attempt to persuade him not to leave the campaign. Those were unsuccessful.

So 1) it wasn't about him "being gay"; 2) it's a HUGE stretch to say he was "forced" out by anyone, and 3) the biggest ruckus about him came from the left.

You would do well to look deeper into these things and not stop once you've read only what you want to believe.
 
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Yes and I can link another if you want me too...

Grenell drew harsh criticism from reporters during his tenure as a spokesman for the United Nations. Former Reuters reporter Irwin Arieff told HuffPost that Grenell "often lied," adding that he was the "most dishonest and deceptive press person" he'd worked with in over two decades on the job.

The Huffington Post recently reported that days after joining the campaign and coming under fire for numerous sexist and impolitic statements he had made about prominent women and members of the media, Grenell scrubbed over 800 tweets from his Twitter feed and deleted his personal website.

Now that is from Huffington post a more liberal site...quoting exactly what ive quoted...he came under fire for his statements about women and he was accuse of being an incredible liar at the united nations.

I did not state liberals had him fired...Anti Gay conservatives did that...and I strongly disagree that he should have been fired for his sexuality...but if he was lieing and made comments about women he should have been fired for that..

Richard Grenell, Controversial Mitt Romney Spokesman, Resigns


From you link:


"Hours after Grenell's resignation was announced, competing stories emerged as to what had caused it. The initial report suggested that pressure from social conservatives had forced Romney's hand. But that same report, written by the Post's Rubin, later clarified that aides to Romney had urged Grenell to stay. He left, the piece added, in part because he hadn't come on board at a time when foreign policy issues were dominating the campaign. "
 
I am well aware of the means for it becoming legal here in the Communistwealth. I am also well aware that he chose not to force the issue through the higher courts and other means. He sat by and allowed it to happen rather than seriously fighting against it. He refused to put anyof his personal or political life on the line to fight it; therefore he at least passively supported it so far as I'm concerned. Just as his passiveness on the gun control issue does NOT equate to support of gun owners.


Seriously....you can pedal backwards all you want....You're still not moving.

The internets never lie....


Posted by Tigger
What I find humorous is that anyone thinks that Willard "Mit" Romney is against same-sex marriage. All you have to do is look at his record as Governor of Massachusetts to know that isn't true. He was Governor when Same-Sex Marriage became legal in the State.
 
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