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Subscribe to RSSSenior Adviser Eric Fehrnstrom responds to Richard Grenell's resignation and also responds to today's jobs report saying it is extraordinarily weak, and that the Obama campaign should change their slogan from "forward" to "backward."
Mitt Romney’s campaign was weathering a minor controversy by week’s end related to the resignation of a foreign policy aide who was gay, forcing the campaign to deny it had caved to fringe social conservatives who’d pressured Romney to fire the aide.
“We wanted him to stay with our team. He's a very accomplished spokesperson, and we select people not based upon their ethnicity or sexual preference or gender, but their capability,” Romney said Friday on Fox News of the aide, Richard Grenell, who stepped down from the Romney campaign on Tuesday.
Grenell was hired to act as Romney's spokesman on foreign policy and was, in fact, a veteran Republican aide, having served as U.N. Ambassador John Bolton's spokesman. He’d also built up a reputation over time for being especially combative with reporters.
But his resignation, announced on Tuesday after just two short weeks with the Romney campaign, has become ensnared by gay rights politics. In a statement Tuesday to the Washington Post, Grenell suggested that his sexual orientation had prompted social conservatives to sructinize the Romney campaign. In order to avoid causing a headache for his employer, Grenell said he had decided to step down, despite never having begun in earnest.
“I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team,” he told the Post.
There was a degree of dyspepsia from the Family Research Council and Gary Bauer surrounding Grenell’s hiring, but the conservative outrage at the hiring was far from widespread.
Rather, voices on the right and press accounts of Grenell's ouster describe a more mixed set of variables that contributed to his resignation. After receiving blowback associated with Grenell’s combative reputation and controversial tweets on his account (which have since been scrubbed), Grenell was kept under wraps. That period overlapped with a fairly active cycle of foreign policy news, which, reportedly, drove Grenell’s frustration.
Complicating matters was the Romney campaign’s short leash with social conservatives, who have been stubborn in rallying around the presumptive Republican nominee.
“I don't think this has unfolded the way [the Romney campaign] wanted it to unfold. But I also think the initial reaction and initial assumptions people made weren't particularly surprising,” said Liz Mair, a Republican strategist who serves on the board of GOProud, a Republican group that advocates for gay rights.
She suggested that even if the Romney campaign hadn’t parted ways with Grenell because of his sexuality, the haphazard way in which the former Massachusetts governor had previously courted conservatives fed into a storyline that the Romney campaign caved to social conservatives.
“The ‘pander-bear’ narrative is a problem, because it led to people concluding he did something for reasons I don't think he did,” she suggested.
What NOW?!: Richard Grenell, an openly gay spokesman for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, resigned on Tuesday, citing the "hyper-partisan discussion" surrounding his personal life. The NOW panelists discuss.
Moreover, the whole issue has put the Romney campaign on its heels when it comes to gay rights, forcing them to walk a fine line between allaying social conservatives’ concerns and not appearing to be intolerant to the general electorate.
That’s reflective of the evolving public views on same-sex marriage. A March Gallup poll found that a 53 percent of Americans said marriages among same-sex couples deserve recognition – the first time a majority had expressed support for legal gay marriage. (That same poll found that 28 percent of Republicans favor same-sex marriage.)
“Let me say this about Mitt Romney: when it comes to hiring, he strictly looks at the qualifications of the applicants. He does not consider extraneous factors like the race, ethnicity or sexual orientation,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said Friday morning on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown.”
Fehrnstrom referenced “voices of intolerance” that had come forth during the debate over Grenell, and described his boss, Romney, as someone who’s “confronted” those voices.
Romney has been relatively unambiguous about his support for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution intended to define marriage as limited to one man and one woman. And he hasn't shied away from using that to his political advantage.
"On my watch, we fought hard and prevented Massachusetts from becoming the Las Vegas of gay marriage," he said at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in reference to his state supreme court's decision during the Romney governorship allowing same-sex marraiges. "When I am president, I will preserve the Defense of Marriage Act and I will fight for a federal amendment defining marriage as a relationship between one man and one woman."
But in other instances, Romney has sought to be a moderating influence within the GOP.
"Poisonous language does not advance our cause. It has never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind," he said at the Values Voters Summit last fall. (This line was the instance Fehrnstrom had cited as an example of Romney confronting intolerance. However, that remark was directed toward another speaker who had called Romney's Mormon faith a "cult," and wasn't specifically referencing same-sex marriage.)
But well before the Grenell flap emerged, Romney also described himself as an opponent of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
"I am in favor of gay rights, but I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman," he said last summer on CNN. In that same interview, he declined to say whether he thought homosexuality was a sin.
And at the "Meet the Press"/Facebook GOP debate in New Hampshire, Romney made this declaration: "If people are looking for someone who -- who will discriminate against gays or will in any way try and suggest that people -- that have different sexual orientation don’t have full rights in this country, they won’t find that in me."
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I find this interesting. As an Af-Am, I don't think I could work on the campaign of a member of the KKK. Even if he wasn't necessarily running on that platform, the fact that the belief is there would be a problem.
On the other hand, the fact that you hired someone contrary to your beliefs might be proof that you're beliefs are not valid... even to you.
Maybe Grenell was hoping to change their attitudes from within (or maybe he just didn't care - these days a paycheck is a paycheck.)
It's interesting.
He wanted to prove he was 'open minded' to woo the gays and those that think we all have rights, and then he fired him to prove he is a decisive leader, and he doesn't want these gay guys flaunting their gayness. Flop Flip Flop, etch-a-sketch, sitting on a fence, spinning like a top - whatever you want to hear, Romneycare's here!
What presidential material you have there. Whatever your beliefs, they are Rominnee's. You are for gay rights, Romney is with you. You are for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, Romney backs that, too. Sometimes you have to wait a day or two, but he'll come out in support of your views. Then it will change, but don't worry. He'll be back again soon!
The ‘pander-bear’ narrative is a problem, because it led to people concluding he did something for reasons I don't think he did,” she suggested. ... That's right, he did it for exactly the reason we all know he does anything...to get elected. Romney walks and stands and postures like he was born with a silver-spoon up his a$$ but was obviously born without a backbone!
Hi OOOOOH, Etch-A-Sketch, rides again! Romney is not fit to be President of our Country.
There aren't as many conservative responses on this topic as there usually are on other topics. (Except, of course, calling someone a jello head....how infantile). I suppose that if a conservative defended Romney's decision to hire this man, he'd be labeled as anti Christian. If a conservative applauds the removal of this guy for his sexual orientation, his bigotry would be exposed. I bet Romney finds himself in this same position. Better to remain silent on this one and hope nobody remembers in November.
I was literally JUST thinking this. Normally there would be nearly 1,000 post on an article like this, but mid 200s? I think its painfully obvious what is going on here... But as I said below, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what Mitt will say/do to get elected. As a whole it only speaks in volumes about the republican parties beliefs, what it says about how they treat ANY person different than their core masses?
As conservatives, we concede the homosexual and transgender vote to Obama. Now lets move on.
Not until you concede the women's vote too!
As liberals, we concede the rich white guy and inbred hillbilly redneck vote to Romney.
Republicans have to concede the latin, black, gay, woman and intelligent votes as well. Let's see that leaves the homophobic, fringe, tea party, rich, white and stupid, boy that's a group I could support? NOT
Grinnel wasn't removed, he wasn't fired. Grinnel resigned to avoid his sexual preference being used against Romney.
...by his own party!
Nice try Bob, but your whitewash of Romney's conduct doesn't hold up to examination. What did Romney do? Nothing, not one way or the other? Romney didn't defend his employee against bigotry, but he allowed him to resign, he took the path of least resistance. Only his own stated principles stood in the way, but that's no problem for the perfectly-lubricated weather vane which spins in the wind.
So what does it say about Romney's character if he personally doesn't discriminate against gays in hiring, but neither does he stand-up for his fair-minded principles when bigots push him? Jellyfish come to mind?
Riiiiiiiiiight!!!!!
Whatever you want to believe, bob.
Bob,
The "family values" guy that kicked up the stink about Grinnel, is NOW calling out Romney for "caving" to him....
sheeeesh, this clown will do anything, say anything to become president!
I think Romney is a "spaceman sent to take over earth"! (By the Mormon God) Empty suit sent down here, trained from birth.....wooooohoooooo.......spooky.....
LOL
Except when the right wing screamers jerk his chain.
Reading Romneycare's comments about gay marriage and this fired gay guy leaves me totally confused. Is he for gay rights or against gay marriage? Like every other issue, he is both for it and against it, depending on who is present.
Resigned not fired. Annother lie from a another liberal.
Riiiiiiiiiight!!!!!
Whatever you want to believe, bob.
This story is a perfect example of how it's those on the left who are obessed with the differences of Amercians rather than focus on what makes us the same. If this aide who resigned was straight, the left and the mainstream media wouldn't spend five seconds talking or writing about it. I'm sure Romney has had a number of others on his campaign staff resign; why is it this one that you lefties are obessed with?
Romneycare mistook the spokesman for a troubled company, and his razor sharp Bain Vulture Capitalism skills sprang into action. When he found that there were no assets to sell off, he did what he could - he layed the guy off.
The GOP keeps on givin...... all Obama will have to do is "Phone it In'
Poncero the problem is ROMMNEY wants to divide America he wants to deny the LGT community the same right to get married as straight people, which should be unacceptable to anyone. RIGHT TO LIFE LIBERTY AND PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Those things apply equally to everyone or they should. It's a matter of denying rights to a not insignificant amount of the populace.
Romney caved to right-wing nut groups. This is what we can expect if Mitt becomes POUS. I saw one of the cretins boasting how his group bullied the Romney campaign into forcing the resignation. Then he stated that they won't try that again. Romney could have stood up to these extremists but chose silence. He's no leader, for sure.
One major reason Romney CAN NOT GET ELECTED the religious group he is following will not /cannot have any leeway on Americans values/situations for ALL. Go ahead and spend your money Mitt you will never be considered to be a leader of a FREE country .
Romney doesn't care about gay rights or equality one way or the other. As a politician, he's trying to be all things to all people, and as a spineless Republican, he's too terrified of the religious right to stand up to them on any issue.
Until the Republican party breaks with the fundamentalists in this country, it has no relevance in civil discussion.
Nathan, Amen! ... er ... uh ... well ... you know what we mean :c)
Mitt Romney reversed his stance from a week ago? What a shocker. If not for Citizens United, voter suppression laws and the typical Democratic party supporters voter turnout apathy, this race wouldn't be close.
It is becoming more apparent every day that the republicans can not win the White House this year. The party is far too fractured to defeat a united Obama front.
It's a non-issue. 95% of the gays that vote will vote for Obama. So, we're only talking about 1000 votes or so.
Ralph, since approximately 5-10% of the population is gay, that would equate to quite a bit more than 1000 votes.
Repeating your lies will not make them true.
Saying 5-10% is gay doesn't make it so!
According to statistics, about 4% of the population identifies themselves as gay, but the government believes the actual figure is from 5-10% due to so many who are unwilling to come out.
Learn to do research before you post.
Depend upon whose statistics you look at.
The military is a fairly good cross section of a countries population as a whole.
Let's look at the Dutch Military, the first country to allow homosexuals to serve openly. About 10% of their total man power self report as being homosexual.
An extimated 2% of the US Military was believed to be gay but keep in mind this number was determined before the repeal of DADT.
Still trying to find figures for places like Canada and the UK.
Romney talks out of whichever side of his mouth he believes will garner the most Votes at any meeting he appears at. This much is clear.
Even though I've always been a staunch Republican before, I simply cannot vote for someone who waffles for his own gain in this way. He's either a Liar, a Scoundrel, or Both.
The sad part of this (OK, one of many sad parts) is that we suspect that underneath it all, Mitt Romney really does not care about this issue, and may personally support equality in this matter. If this is true, then he is effectively lying to receive the nomination, as any reasonable human would have to, to receive it.
Like any other running within the small minded, zealot infested, fanatic party for which he currently seeks the nomination, he must cow tow to the small minded, 'puritan tyrants' who now dominate it. He must bow before those who in the name of their self-created dark deity, seek to control the private decisions and indeed the very thoughts of all. That is most assuredly not Liberty.
We are of sufficient age to remember when the Republican party stood for Liberty. That began to end when they made a deal with the dark lords who were then known as the 'moral majority' who were neither. As sad as this is for that party, it is far more sad, even tragic, for our nation. It leaves us with no party who actually stands for the principals upon which our nation was verily founded.
All this should tell you is that NOBODY should be voting for Mitt Romney. 1) The man is so douche-bagish that he wont even stand up for his own foreign policy aide and 2) If Mitt won't find the courage to stand up for this guy, why do you think he would stand up for ANYONE? Because you just so happen to be one of the people who is enough like him, so you're fine with him and his party treating others like crap? I'm sure most people commenting on this article are not gay yet it outrages them as well! Mitt Romney himself may not have anything against gays, but he is a jelly fish point blank period.
I've been saying it for a long time and I hope this opens the eyes for a lot of republican voters. They do NOT have your best interest at heart, unless your a 40+ year old white male / millionaire at least / hetero-sexual / gun nut / who praises Jesus more than the next guy while not ever practicing Christianity or what Jesus himself would have wanted you to do... That is not the majority of country, and then you should be utterly offended at the idea of such politicians being remotely in power.
"douche-bagish"
Lol, what a great insult and it seems to fit Mitt just perfectly!
I thought teatards could pray the gay away....
The gay vote is stronger than the black male vote. Even though there are more black males than homos, of the 6% black male population only about 1/2 can vote for Obama due to that damn felons cannot vote law! Homos rarely commit felonies just sexual nasties.
ok everyone has a rt to happiness!! everyone has the rt to make a living ect.... but i feel gay marriages r wrong sorry! i dont live by what the norm is in the world ive beleived the holy bible is the truth and thats how our country and its laws were first given to live by, i will not vote for him hes another fat cat showing off with his money and a bunch of promises we schould all research each candiate before you beleive only what the media is tellin r lettin u see? he really doesnt tell us what he will do to better any thing wrong in our world some of this some of that????? i know some will say i'm wrong that s ok you have a rt to your opinion as well ps.... god as i love the person that is gay but i dont condole r beleive the gay persons life style schould be legal r pushed down our throats r the school system throats thank u have a nice day...
Elizabeth there are millions of the "silent majority" that stand with you on these issues. Approval of homosexual marriage only comes from liberal judges and runaway legislatures; not from a direct vote of citizens.
That's because civil rights cannot be put to a vote, as the tyranny of the majority will deny rights to the minority -- which is why we are not a country of majority rule.
Elizabeth, did you never learn to spell or write properly? Or are you just 12 years old?
Just wait and he will say something in favor of pro-choice. He is fooling everybody and nobody has a clue where he stands.