Bush Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I'm Gay

[jefferson_dem]

Bush Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I'm Gay
Aug 25 2010, 5:45 PM ET | Comment

Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay.

Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview. He agreed to answer a reporter's questions, he said, because, now in private life, he wants to become an advocate for gay marriage and anticipated that questions would arise about his participation in a late-September fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group that supported the legal challenge to California's ballot initiative against gay marriage, Proposition 8.

"It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," said Mehlman, now an executive vice-president with the New York City-based private equity firm, KKR. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I've told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they've been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that's made me a happier and better person. It's something I wish I had done years ago."

Privately, in off-the-record conversations with this reporter over the years, Mehlman voiced support for civil unions and told of how, in private discussions with senior Republican officials, he beat back efforts to attack same-sex marriage. He insisted, too, that President Bush "was no homophobe." He often wondered why gay voters never formed common cause with Republican opponents of Islamic jihad, which he called "the greatest anti-gay force in the world right now."

Mehlman's leadership positions in the GOP came at a time when the party was stepping up its anti-gay activities -- such as the distribution in West Virginia in 2006 of literature linking homosexuality to atheism, or the less-than-subtle, coded language in the party's platform ("Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country..."). Mehlman said at the time that he could not, as an individual Republican, go against the party consensus. He was aware that Karl Rove, President Bush's chief strategic adviser, had been working with Republicans to make sure that anti-gay initiatives and referenda would appear on November ballots in 2004 and 2006 to help Republicans.

Mehlman acknowledges that if he had publicly declared his sexuality sooner, he might have played a role in keeping the party from pushing an anti-gay agenda.

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http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/08/bush-campaign-chief-and-former-rnc-chair-ken-mehlman-im-gay/62065/

[hlthe2b]

1. Breaking news:; Water is Wet!

:sarcasm:

[Uzybone]

2. he can go fuck himself

"Mehlman said at the time that he could not, as an individual Republican, go against the party consensus."

Pathetic

[BlueIdaho]

3. You can smell the self loathing...

How very sad.

[tabatha]

4. "Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently"

I think he was prevented by Republican "values" for seeing something probably many others recognized.

[msanthrope]

12. Was Ken Mehlman the last to know that he's gay? n/t

[tabatha]

14. I think so, unless he is lying.

[msanthrope]

15. I don't doubt his capacity for self-delusion in the least. n/t

[nemo137]

5. I had the impression that this was an open secret?

I certainly heard it mentioned on DU back in the day.

[PopSixSquish]

9. Which is One of the Reasons I Hate That Slimey Asshole

the gay-bashing and baiting that went on during the 2004 campaign was cooked up by Karl Rove and Ken just looked the other way...

[deminks]

6. For a load of money, one can not declare a lot of things, right Kenny?

[Botany]

7. Gee Ken did it bother you to send out the fliers in W.V. that showed ...

.... 2 men kissing and the family bible taken from the home as a warning
about a Kerry Presidency?

You made your money by selling hate of your own people Ken.

[jillan]

8. More Right Wing Hypocrisy. It's non-stop!

[JoePhilly]

13. Reminds me of a scene in the Bourne Identity ...

Jason Bourne is in a farm house and has to kill the assassin who has been sent to kill him.

Bourne is able to shoot the assassin, and before the assassin dies, he says to Bourne (paraphrase) "look what they make you give".

The assassin knows he has been used.

Maybe Ken figured out that he too has been used.

[LAGC]

10. What a fucking coward!

These closeted gays who go along with the homophobia in the Republican Party just because they agree with the warmongering or tax cuts to protect their wealth. Talk about sell-out.

At least he's come around on gay marriage now. Hopefully more high-profile Republicans break ranks and end the resistance once and for all.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. No shit

This is coming out of the Liberace variety.

[BootinUp]

17. lol nt

[boppers]

16. Uganda and The Family want to kill you for being gay, Mehlman.

Islamic jihad is not the enemy, religiously-motivated politics is the enemy.

[stopbush]

18. "He often wondered why gay voters never formed common cause with Republican opponents of Islamic

jihad, which he called "the greatest anti-gay force in the world right now."

Geez, Ken. Now, why on Earth wouldn't gays bond with Rs against Islamic jihad?

Could it be because Rs were busy trumpeting their own anti-gay venom at the same time?