Last edited: January 28, 2005


Bush Silence Opens Political Opportunity

The Data Lounge, April 23, 2003

WASHINGTON—The controversy surrounding Republican Sen. Rick Santorum’s anti-gay remarks have spilled into early jockeying for the Democratic presidential nomination, with several candidates using the outcry to highlight President Bush’s silence on the issue.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, one of nine Democrats seeking his party’s 2004 presidential nomination, Wednesday, called on Santorum to step aside from the leadership post.

“Gay-bashing is not a legitimate public policy discussion; it is immoral,” Dean said. “Rick Santorum’s failure to recognize that attacking people because of who they are is morally wrong makes him unfit for a leadership position in the United States Senate.”

Presidential candidate John Kerry issued a statement criticizing Santorum’s comments and assailing the White House for remaining silent “while their chief lieutenants make divisive and hurtful comments that have no place in our politics.” “Every day in our country, gay and lesbian Americans get up, go to work, pay their taxes, support their families and contribute to the nation they love. These comments take us backwards in America,” said the Massachusetts senator.

Democratic hopeful Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut said Santorum “is wrong. The Texas law is unconstitutional and an insult to the better America we need to build for all our people.”

The White House’s reluctance to offer its opinions about Santorum’s remarks stands in sharp contrast to its response to racially insensitive comments made by Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, in December, and remarks from Virginia Rep. Jim Moran about Jews and the war in Iraq. In both cases, the White House criticized those comments.

And in both cases, the two men gave up their respective leadership positions under pressure. Lott resigned as Senate majority leader and Moran resigned as a Democratic regional whip.


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