Centerblue.org

The Providence Journal is reporting today that GOP Republican primary challenger Stephen Laffey, who is running against incumbent Lincoln Chafee, penned several anti-gay columns during his college years, 1983 and 1984. Excerpts:

“I have never once seen a happy homosexual. This is not to say there aren’t any; I simply haven’t seen one in my lifetime. Maybe they are all in the closet. All the homosexuals I’ve seen are sickly and decrepit, their eyes devoid of life.”

and

“Why is the pop music of today so bad? Because it is communist to the very core. It’s turning the children of America into sissies and preying on the minds of every American, making them weaker and weaker.

“And how about this humanoid (I’d hesitate to say person, and I would never use the word MAN) Boy George. It wears girl’s clothes and puts on makeup. When I hear it sing, ‘Do you really want to hurt me, do you really want to make me cry,’ I say to myself, YES, I want to punch your lights out, pal, and break your ribs.”

Confronted with the comments, Laffey had this to say–asked if the columns reflected his views, he said:

“No. Not now, nor then, or ever . . . Do I regret writing some of these things? Sure. But at the time, we were just having fun. We thought it was funny.”

So Laffey thought that advocating violence towards a gay singer was “funny.” Mind you, this came at a time when gay men were being decimated by a mysterious new disease that ended up killing hundreds of thousands….and this pathetic excuse of a politician saw fit to find amusement in holding gays up to scorn and ridicule. Is this the kind of person Rhode Island wants representing the state in the US Senate?

I hope Chafee knocks him on his ass the way he deserves in the upcoming primary.

I would love to see GOP candidates skewered in November as part of a Democratic takeover of Congress. However there is one vulnerable GOP candidate, Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee, who I would be saddened to see defeated. He is one of those rare few GOP mavericks that’s often on the right side of the issues. He’s committed to stewardship of the environment, recently meriting an endorsement from the Sierra Club (which drew the outrage of liberals with charges that “centrism is for suckers.”) He opposes opening ANWR to oil drilling. He favors conservation, increased efficiency, and alternative fuels as part of a national energy policy. He supports increased education funding. He opposed the Iraq war and favors a phased troop withdrawal.

The Left’s gunning for Chafee is understandable in an election year where a switch to a Democratic Congress is in reach. Chafee is not just being attacked from the Left, though–the far Right also has it in for him. The conservative so-called “Club for Growth” is endorsing GOP challenger Stephen Laffey in his bid to unseat Chafee in Rhode Island’s GOP primary next month. They are angry he voted against Bush’s tax cuts and refused to vote for Bush’s re-election.

It’s tough to be a moderate these days. I disagree with my more liberal friends who believe that all Republicans must be defeated as the only acceptable condition for victory. Not only is this unrealistic in a relatively conservative nation, it also hampers the chances of succeeding at the important things we need to do. Rare open-minded individuals like Chafee should be valued, not derided.

If I lived in Rhode Island and had to choose between Chafee and Democratic control of Congress I’d reluctantly choose the latter because the national GOP leadership has completely lost its way and is steering the country on a ruinous course. If it weren’t for such pressing issues, though, he’d be the rare Republican who would tempt me to cross party lines (something I have yet to do, ever.)