Friday, May 19, 2006

The last refuge of the principled

Posted by Craig Westover | 6:42 AM |  

Credit where credit is due. Eva Young makes some insightful observations then asks the right question.
Outfront Minnesota often uses the word "conservative" when they are referring to anti-gay activists. This is unfortunate - because there are a number of limited government conservatives such as Craig Westover and Peg Kaplan - who have been publicly supportive of gay marriage. Then there are liberals - such as Mike Hatch, who say "there is no difference between Governor Pawlenty and myself on gay marriage". . . .

Now there's a new campaign training group modeled on Camp Wellstone for conservatives. The Academy for Conservative Leadership mentions that Outfront Minnesota is part of "the competition". . . Outfront Minnesota claims to be bi-partisan, but their main lobbyist, C Scott Cooper also works full time with the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action. Liberal groups such as Moveon.org, Wellstone Action and MAPA like to have conservatives to be viewed as anti-gay. That way they have an issue they don't deserve. Unfortunately, this new conservative campaign training group is playing right into the DFL script.
[Note: I think that Outfront Minnesota, by associating itself with the left as closely as it does, deserves the “competition” moniker. But to Eva’s point, it is the “gayness” rather than the “leftness” of Outfront that seems to incite conservatives.]
Where do the many gays in Minneapolis go, who are disgusted by the way local government is run in Minneapolis, but are also appalled by the way the Leviticus crowd has taken over the Republican party at the state level?
Perhaps the last refuge of the principled -- the Libertarians? (Motto: “It’s not the size of your tent that counts, but how stiff the pole is holding it up.”)