[Greta Christina] Why I DO Care about John McCain’s Gay Chief of Staff
After last week’s Sarah Palin hullaballoo (thanks to everyone who commented!), you’d think I’d be sticking like glue to the “I don’t care about the sex lives of people who are attached to Presidential campaigns” line.
But this story, I care about.
Sort of.
Let me explain.
First, in case you haven’t seen the story yet: John McCain’s Chief of Staff, Mark Buse, is gay.
With a reported penchant for multiple partners, and a sling in his home to boot. (In, of all places, his closet. Sometimes the irony is just too obvious.) The story broke on the BlogActive site of the legendary Mike Rogers, who has given Buse the not so coveted Roy Cohn award “for working against the interests of the lesbian and gay community while living as a gay man.” And it’s corroborated by Michelangelo Signorile.
And I do, in fact, care. But I don’t care about Buse per se, or his ex life, or what it says about him and his character.
I care about what it says about McCain.
Because the point of this story is not, “McCain’s Chief of Staff is gay.”
The point is about McCain. It’s about McCain’s hypocrisy, and lack of integrity, and willingness to suck up to the hatefully homophobic far-right wing of the Republican party — in direct contradiction to what seem to be his own personal beliefs.
John McCain’s policy positions and voting records have been dismally homophobic. He has opposed every single gay rights measure of recent years. He opposes same-sex marriage, supports the Defense of Marriage Act, and — contrary to the “let the states decide” mantra of more moderate Republicans — has endorsed the California ballot initiative that would overturn the existing right for same-sex couples to marry. In fact, he’s even more extreme than that — he opposes any sort of recognition for same-sex partnerships, actively campaigning for a ban on them in his home state of Arizona. He is opposed to gays serving in the military — even in wartime, when recruiting is down and the military is desperately understaffed — and supports the discriminatory “don’t ask/ don’t tell” policy. He fought and voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would have protected gays and lesbians from being fired for their sexual orientation.
And his campaign was heavily involved in writing the Republican Party platform — a right- wing extremist platform that, among other things, supports keeping gays out of the military, a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, and the right of federally- funded faith- based initiatives to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. His record on gay rights issues has been consistently pathetic.
Plus, let’s not forget the Sarah Palin nomination. His pick for Vice-President is a far- right- tip- of- the- right- wing extremist wackaloon, who not only opposes same- sex marriage, but supported banning gay books from a public library, and is an active member in a far- right- wing apocalyptic evangelical church that not only believes in demons and witchcraft, but believes you can pray the gay away.
And yet apparently, John McCain doesn’t have any actual problem with gay people in his personal and professional life.
According to the best information that we have at this time, McCain knows that his Chief of Staff is gay. Has known for some time. Buse was apparently only semi-closeted, in that special “all the insiders know but we just don’t talk about it in public” way that used to be standard in Hollywood and is now standard among D.C. Republicans. And according to reports, McCain definitely knows — either overtly, or in an “I’m not a complete idiot” way.
Yet Buse is John McCain’s chief of staff. And has been closely and loyally affiliated with McCain for many, many years.
So apparently, John McCain doesn’t have any actual problem with gay people in his personal and professional life.
So. Now. Let me sum up.
Either John McCain is genuinely opposed to gay rights in all its forms, but is willing to tolerate the presence of gay people in his life if they can help him in his career . . .
. . . or, as seems far more likely, he doesn’t have any real problems with gay people. He has a close, long-standing professional connection with at least one, a man who is one of his most trusted and high-ranking staffers. And yet he is perfectly happy to sell out the queers to the far right wing of the Republican Party, in a pattern of homophobic bigotry that is relentlessly consistent, in order to gain political advantage.
If you have any remaining illusions about John McCain as an independent, straight-talking maverick with deep personal integrity who’s willing to buck the political system, I suggest that you abandon them here and now. McCain’s “maverick” schtick is, as I have written elsewhere, one of the biggest snow jobs in the history of American politics. And the hypocrisy that is crawling all over the Mark Buse story is just one more shiny, snowy example of it.
If it weren’t for McCain’s hypocrisy, the Buse story would be no more than a mildly interesting bit of “Famous Person (X) Is Gay” gossip. Which is getting less and less interesting every day. (Was there anybody on this planet who was surprised by Clay Aiken?) And I have now seen so many stories about the gay Republican mafia in D.C. that I can’t even pretend to be shocked by them. I care almost not at all about Mark Buse’s sex life, and I care only marginally about Mark Buse’s hypocrisy, and lack of integrity, and willingness to gain personal political advantage by sucking up to the hatefully homophobic far-right wing of the Republican party.
But I do care — a great deal — about John McCain’s.
Tip o’ the hat to The Bilerico Project, the source of many of these links on both McCain’s and Palin’s records.
This entry was posted on Thursday, 25 September 2008 at 10:11 pm and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
on Friday, 26 September 2008 at 3:10 pm Nentuaby wrote:
I had a very intense case of deja vu about Clay Aiken until I remembered he is, in fact, a different person from Lance Bass.
I mostly agree with what you’ve said here… But I still really dread the howling sandstorm of hate that this will inevitably generate. The worst part is a lot of it will probably come from the Democratic side, just out of political expediency. Too many politicians who otherwise support equal rights rights- most days of the week- can’t be bothered with the nuances of attacking the hypocrisy when something like this comes up, they just go for the straight for the bigotry.
on Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 4:25 am Mike Haubrich, FCD wrote:
One of he most striking themes to run through David Brock’s book “Blinded by the Right” was the prevalence of this sort of nudge, nudge, wink, wink attitude of the right wing power brokers towards gay Republicans. They publicly campaign and rail against the whole “gay agenda” thingy, and for “family values,” but they also know that the best cocktail parties include gays and lesbians. It was this hypocrisy that Brock could no longer deal with which led him to abandon conservatism all together and to start Media Matters for America.
It doesn’t amaze me that “Log Cabin Republicans” are tolerated in the Jesus Party, they have money. What amazes me is that they tolerate the Republican party. Mark Buse may be a Republican because of his economic views, but his refusal to stand up to McCain on social issues such as DOMA is the part that bothers me the most. The gay power brokers who are Republican need to grab these family values politicians by the short hairs and say “Stop it!”
I have a friend here in Minneapolis whose manhunt.com page had been rather quiet over the last few years because he was going steady with someone. He ha nearly forgotten about it until the RNC came to St. Paul and its activity suddenly picked up and he was getting hundreds of messages per day through the convention. Some offered him quite a bit of money, and many were from guys who said they were married and wanted to have a good time while away from their wives.
If I had known they were willing to spend that much money, I would have been able to be gay for a week. My point is that the closeting of gays as a matter of party platform is making liars and hypocrites of thousands of people. If they would only stand up to the party, they could solve many of the problems of civil rights regarding gays. But they won’t. Mark Buse, I puke on your shoes.
on Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 4:52 am Greta Christina: Why I do care about John McCain’s gay chief of staff : PinkNews.co.uk wrote:
[…] Read more…. […]
on Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 4:52 am Greta Christina: Why I do care about John McCain’s gay chief of staff : PinkNews.co.uk wrote:
[…] Read more…. […]
on Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 9:52 am Elise Conolly wrote:
I’m not at all convinced by this. I’m not much of a McCain fan, but I think that “Gay people shouldn’t be allowed to marry but I’m perfectly happy to work and socialise with them” is a valid position. I disagree with it, but I don’t think it’s inherently hypocritical.
on Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 12:17 pm Greta Christina wrote:
Fair enough. So let me ask you this: Do you think that “Gay people shouldn’t be allowed to marry — AND they shouldn’t even be allowed to enter in domestic partnerships — AND they shouldn’t be allowed to serve in the military — AND employers should be able to fire them simply because they’re gay — AND, in fact, I’m going to vote against every single gay rights bill that crosses my desk… but I’m perfectly happy to work and socialize with them”… do you think that is a valid, non hypocritical position as well?
on Sunday, 28 September 2008 at 8:15 pm John Bisceglia wrote:
I think that “Gay people shouldn’t be allowed to marry but I’m perfectly happy to work and socialise with them” is a valid position. I disagree with it, but I don’t think it’s inherently hypocritical.”
This caught my eye also. Here the word HYPOCRITE refers to “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue” (Merriam-Webster), which is exactly what McCain is doing. Those like him who live this hypocrisy remind me of a “Christian” acquaintance who brags how she always “killed them with kindness” when facing a dispute or conflict. She erroneously thinks she is the better person, despite how her INTENTION is pure condescension and arrogance…hardly “Christ-like”. I mention this only because there are MANY Republican “Christian” types who wanna ease their own guilt of their perpetuation of social slavery and unfair taxation by befriending the LGBT community with one hand while holding civil rights outside of our reach with the other hand. Nice.
I choose to NOT be around Republicans, not because I’m pouting and cannot hear different opinions, but because I cannot be in the same room with someone I do not trust. I cannot be in the same room with someone who feigns friendship one day and votes away my civil rights the next. They call ME intolerant?! What a fortunate place to be in….THEY have all of the rights!
on Sunday, 28 September 2008 at 8:26 pm Holly wrote:
Honestly, I don’t see why “John McCain votes against gay rights but has a gay Chief of Staff” is worse than “John McCain votes against gay rights and won’t hire gay people.” If someone’s doing something wrong and discriminatory to begin with, I don’t see why it would be better for them to be consistent in their wrongs.
(Also, he’s the Chief of Staff, har har har…)
on Monday, 29 September 2008 at 5:35 am Elise Conolly wrote:
Greta - I think so. I mean, it’s a problem that he’s voting against those rights, and it makes me very glad that I’m in the UK, but I just don’t see why who he chooses to work with is particularly important. I have major disagreements with plenty of my friends’ and colleagues politics, and with friends we argue about it, but I’ve never seen it as a reason not to interact with them.
on Monday, 13 October 2008 at 5:20 pm Anon Ymous wrote:
I think I read something once which talked about how homophobia is inversely correlated with wealth, education, and general prosperity. McCain is wealthy and educated. He no doubt has no personal problem with gay people. But he knows a large amount of his base are poor and ignorant, and want a leader who shares their prejudices, and based on this he votes to hurt people who he doesn’t really have a problem with.
Holly, I think that’s what makes it so bad. No, it wouldn’t be better if he made himself look less hypocritical by not hiring gay people - because if he is still the same person he is still the same person, and the lie would just be better executed.
The problem is that it shows his character. It shows him to be a man who doesn’t care that he stomps on good people to get where he’s going. If he honestly believed that gay people were less than - well, he’d be a slimy arsehole, but he’d at least have some integrity. The fact that he votes to harm people who he *doesn’t* believe to be less than? That just makes my blood run cold. That’s a man you can’t reason with - you can’t show him that gay people are humans, with real feelings and real lives, because he already knows it. And he stomps on us anyway.
on Thursday, 23 October 2008 at 11:23 am The Blowfish Blog wrote:
[…] John McCain’s record on gay rights is consistently dismal. He has opposed every single gay rights measure of recent years. He opposes same-sex marriage, and supports the Defense of Marriage Act. He even opposes domestic partnerships and any sort of recognition of same-sex partnerships. He is opposed to gays serving in the military. He opposes adoption by same-sex couples. He thinks employers should be allowed to fire people simply for being gay. […]