Senator John McCain has pledged to conservative leaders that he would spend more time emphasizing his anti-choice and other conservative social views to galvanize the Christian Right. McCain will be meeting with the son of Evangelical leader Billy Graham in hopes of receiving an endorsement.
Interestingly, McCain also met with leaders of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that represents the interests of gay Republicans. This contradictory meeting was not disclosed to the press. A McCain aide tried to downplay the meeting and emphasize that is not out of the ordinary for the senator to hold meetings that are not disclosed to the press. On June 26th, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, Patrick Sammon, told CNN that the group had met with McCain various times and plan on having more in the future. The group has yet to endorse McCain, but did endorse him in 2004 for his senate re-election.
McCain believes that marriage is union between a man and a woman, opposes a constitutional amendment and supports the right for individual states to make their decisions. What exactly is he trying to pull? This is again another example of McCain being a flip-flopper.
While George Bush received the support of 12 prominent gay Republicans in 2000 after a meeting in Austin, TX, this same group has failed to support McCain enthusiastically. Several members of the group have announced they are seriously considering voting for Senator. Barack Obama. Back in 2000, the Austin 12 met with George Bush and asked him to do three things to show his support for the gay community, he complied with their requests. Bush’s support of a marriage amendment in 2004 caused him to lose the full support of the Austin 12 despite his commitment to lessen the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic abroad.
McCain was once seen as an independent-minded republican, but to court Evangelical Christians, McCain has endorsed a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriages in California. Many members of the Austin 12 say they are not single-issue voters, but find it hard to support McCain after his opposition to a hate crimes measure and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
One member of the Austin 12, Carl Schmid, described McCain as not having “anything to earn the right of the gay vote.”
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