The Pink Purge

It was bound to happen. The fallout from the Foley/Hastert scandal has sparked an internal uproar that may bring down the Republican house of cards.

There was a time when the GOP was seen as the party of narrow interests, the buttoned down types. The Democrats were the eclectic gang, more tolerant of diversity. That's how the Dems drew minorities.

Then the Republicans sought to target these same voters and went for the "big tent" strategy by claiming their party offered a home where minorities - blacks, gays, etc. - could feel welcome. The core Republicans, the fiscal conservatives, moved over as chairs were added to seat these minority groups. A lot more chairs were added to accommodate the social conservatives - the Christian right. Everybody sort of learned to live together. For the gays, it was a matter of "don't ask/don't tell." That worked, more or less, until the Foley scandal.

Mark Foley, of course is the gay Republican congressman who sent lewd e-mails to underage, congressional pages. When he was exposed he resigned and took off scurrying for the safety of rehab. If that had been the end of it, the Big Tent probably would have carried on without too many ripples, but it wasn't. The much bigger story was about house speaker Dennis Hastert and why nobody did anything about Foley when his predilictions toward these pages had been known for quite a while.

In case you haven't heard, the Christian right doesn't like gays. No, that's not quite right, they love the gay but hate the gayness. Yeah, sure. Not much point splitting hairs over a gang of sinners who are going to burn in hell for eternity anyway, is there?

Well the Foley, no, make that Hastert scandal has given the evangelical right the spark that may set fire to the Big Tent. They want the gays driven out of the Republican temple (the money lenders, they can stay).

Talk about bad timing but just last week Condi Rice, with Laura Bush looking on, swore in her new global AIDS co-ordinator, Mark Dybul, while Mark's partner, Jason Claire, held the bible. Yikes! Condi even referred to Jason's mum, who was in the audience, as Mark's "mother-in-law." Mother-in-law? Gay marriage? OMG!

This, from the L.A. Times:

"'The Republican Party is taking pro-family conservatives for granted,' said Mike Mears, executive director of the political action committee of Concerned Women for America, which promotes biblical values. 'What Secretary Rice did just the other day is going to anger quite a few people.' It's not just anger at Rice that worries Republicans; it's the possible effect on evangelical voters next month.

"The Dybul incident 'was totally a damper to the base that we need to turn out,' said the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, a California lobbying group that focuses on religious and social issues.

Adding to the conservative Christians' disaffection has been a new book asserting that the White House used President Bush's faith-based initiative for political purposes while mocking evangelicals behind their backs.

The tension between Republican gays and evangelicals has been highlighted in recent weeks by the scandal involving Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), who resigned over explicit messages he sent to underage male House pages.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in a television interview last week that there should be an investigation into whether gay congressional staffers were responsible for covering up for Foley.

Perkins also has questioned whether gay Republican staffers on Capitol Hill have torpedoed evangelicals' priorities, such as a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. 'Has the social agenda of the GOP been stalled by homosexual members and/or staffers?' he asked in an e-mail to supporters.

Some social conservatives deny they are interested in removing gay staffers from the party.'We're not calling for what I've heard referred to as a pink purge,' McClusky said. 'We're asking that members [of Congress] might want to reflect on who's serving them: Are they representing their boss' interest?'

"Mears of Concerned Women for America said purging gays from the GOP would not necessarily help the evangelical cause. 'If you get rid of all the homosexuals in Congress and on the staff, you'd still have Republicans like Chris Shays [the Connecticut congressman] and Susan Collins [the Maine senator] pushing the gay agenda.'

"This week, a list that is said to name gay Republican staffers has been circulated to several Christian and family values groups — presumably to encourage an outing and purge. McClusky acknowledged seeing the list but said his group did not produce it and had no intention of using it.

"Still, gay Republican staffers on Capitol Hill say it feels as if the noose is tightening. Fearful of having their names on such a list and losing their jobs after the election, they are trying to keep a low profile."

The Political Action Committee of the Concerned Women of America is headed by - Mike Mears? Oh I guess those gals just can't figure it out for themselves. Go figure.

Well, the cat's among the pigeons now. The fixers must be running around furiously trying to throw wet towels on the burning straw. The tensions are palpable. The fiscal right, the Brooks Brothers crowd, never much cared for the religious right. It's the religious right, however, that has been the powerhouse at turning out their faithful to vote Republican. They've always sort of co-existed but never comfortably. Now, I guess, the question is how much the Republican elite are willing to do to supplicate the religious right?

Here's something to toss around. How would this thing have played out if Mark Foley had been a heterosexual with designs on underage female pages? Would that have caused such a fracture in the Republican ranks? I think the answers are obvious.