Introducing KenOnTheIssues.com
Today American Bridge launched KenOnTheIssues.com to educate voters on Ken Cuccinelli's extreme views on everything from sexual orientation and climate change to Medicare and reproductive freedom. The statements show that the focus of Cuccinelli's career has always been on furthering his extreme agenda rather than finding mainstream solutions for Virginians. Check it out - https://kenontheissues.com/ Some examples... [gallery link="file" ids="10227,10228"]
BRIDGE BRIEFING: Romney And LGBT Issues
Romney Promised Not To Fight Against Same Sex Marriage But Did Anyway
In 2002, Romney Told Log Cabin Republicans He Would Not “Champion” A Fight Against The Massachusetts Ruling On Same Sex Marriage. According to the New York Times, “Mitt Romney seemed comfortable as a group of gay Republicans quizzed him over breakfast one morning in 2002. Running for governor of Massachusetts, he was at a gay bar in Boston to court members of Log Cabin Republicans. Mr. Romney explained to the group that his perspective on gay rights had been largely shaped by his experience in the private sector, where, he said, discrimination was frowned upon. When the discussion turned to a court case on same-sex marriage that was then wending its way through the state’s judicial system, he said he believed that marriage should be limited to the union of a man and a woman. But, according to several people present, he promised to obey the courts’ ultimate ruling and not champion a fight on either side of the issue. ‘I’ll keep my head low,’ he said, making a bobbing motion with his head like a boxer, one participant recalled.” [New York Times, 9/8/07]- Romney’s Deputy Political Director Confirmed Romney Promised Log Cabin Republicans He Would Not Champion A Fight Against Same Sex Marriage. According to the New York Times, “Calling Mr. Romney a flip-flopper on gay rights would be overly simplistic, Mr. Spampinato said. But he conceded that his old boss had promised the Log Cabin members that he would not champion a fight against same-sex marriage. ‘It’s definitely a shift in political priorities and strategy,’ he said.[New York Times, 9/8/07]
Drop Huck
Log Cabin Republicans have fought to promote LGBT equality for many years. But right now, they’re on the eve of an important choice: Should they endorse Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan for President and Vice President of the United States? We’re calling on Log Cabin Republicans to stand in solidarity with our community: LGBT Americans and straight allies. Add your name to our letter asking Log Cabin Republicans to withhold their endorsement of the Romney / Ryan ticket.
Mitt Gets Worse Releases Statement On Overwhelming Support Of Log Cabin Republicans Petition
WASHINGTON - Mitt Gets Worse founders David Brock of American Bridge and Rick Jacobs of Courage Campaign Super PAC released the following statement after the campaign's petition urging the Log Cabin Republicans to refrain from endorsing the Romney-Ryan ticket: "In just 24 hours, more than 15,000 people have joined our effort urging the Log Cabin Republicans to refrain from endorsing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. We have enormous respect for the Log Cabin Republicans and all they've done to make life better for LGBT Americans. After examining their records, we're certain that under a Romney-Ryan administration, things would get worse. Much worse. We're hopeful that Log Cabin Republicans will live up to their reputation for independence and stand up for what they know is right. After all, If they didn’t endorse George W. Bush, why would they endorse Romney-Ryan, whose policies are as bad or worse than Bush's for LGBT people?”
American Bridge and Courage Campaign Partner To Launch “Mitt Gets Worse”
Rapid Response Campaign To Highlight Romney’s Anti-LGBT Agenda MittGetsWorse.org
WASHINGTON -- Today, American Bridge 21st Century and Courage Campaign Super PAC partnered to launch Mitt Gets Worse, a new oral history project and rapid response campaign to educate voters about Mitt Romney’s extreme anti‐LGBT agenda. Romney has earned a reputation as a flip-flopper -- changing his positions in whatever direction advances his career. But when it comes to LGBT issues, there’s one thing you can always count on: Mitt Gets Worse. Year after year, Mitt has moved further and further toward the extreme right. The Mitt Gets Worse campaign is an oral history of Mitt Romney’s efforts to diminish the rights and the freedoms of LGBT Americans, told by supporters, activists, and LGBT advocates that have personally been impacted by Mitt’s anti-equality agenda. Over the next few weeks, the campaign will be releasing first person accounts of LGBT activists and organizers who have played key roles in this fight.MOTHER'S DAY MEMO: Romney's Record On Issues Important To Women And Families
As families across the country celebrate Mother’s Day and honor the women in their life, it is also a good opportunity to reflect on the policies that allow women to pursue equal pay for equal work, protect women and families from violence, and help to prevent serious illnesses. Unfortunately for women and their families, Mitt Romney has consistently advocated against these policies. With the Republican Party consistently advocating an anti-women agenda, they have found the perfect standard bearer in Mitt Romney.
Daily Beast: Mitt Romney Secretly Supported Anti-Gay-Marriage Group
On March 30, the Daily Beast reported:
Given recent revelations about NOM, liberal operatives see an opportunity to discomfit Romney and, once the general election is underway, paint him as a right-wing extremist. “As a leading contender for president of the United States, for him to be funding a group whose strategy memos lay out such a hateful way to divide African-Americans and the LGBT community, it’s shocking,” says Chris Harris, communications director of American Bridge 21st Century, the super PAC founded by Media Matters’ David Brock. “When he initially donated in 2008, he may not have known that this is their strategy, but as a political leader and as an opinion leader, he has a responsibility to speak out and condemn their intention of dividing Americans.”
Daily Kos: How Much Racial Division And Hostility Did Mitt Romney Buy With His $10,000?
On March 30, 2012, the Daily Kos reported:
When Mitt Romney cut his $10,000 check for Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown's National Organization for Marriage did he know that money would be used to "to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies?" Did he know his money would be used to purposely and cravenly fan hostility between his fellow Americans? It's a question American Bridge 21st Century is asking, and thus far almost 5,000 people have signed their Change.org petition asking Romney to denounce his ties to National Organization for Marriage.
Demand Mitt Romney Disavow NOM's Hateful, Homophobic Strategy
Secret strategy memos from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) reveal that they are actively seeking to "drive a wedge" between the African-American and LGBT communities in order to advance their agenda. A judge ordered that the memos be released as part of a court case in Maine, exposing highly detailed plans for using African-Americans as pawns in NOM's state-level campaigns to fight marriage equality. From the memos:
"The strategic goal of the project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks — two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots."NOM was a crucial funder of the Prop 8 campaign to deny Californians equal marriage rights, and the organization continues to use their hateful, divisive tactics to fight equality across the country. In response to yesterday's news, equality advocates across the country immediately spoke out and condemned the group's race-baiting, divide-and-conquer strategy. NAACP's Julian Bond, a civil rights icon, said:
“NOM’s underhanded attempts to divide will not succeed if Black Americans remember their own history of discrimination. Pitting bigotry’s victims against other victims is reprehensible; the defenders of justice must stand together.”Why This is Important Mitt Romney has made a lot of backroom deals with the extreme right wing in order to win the Republican nomination. We need to hold him accountable as a candidate for president of the United States for backing hateful and bigoted organizations like NOM. Does he support NOM's race-baiting, divisive tactics? We deserve to know. Mitt Romney bet $10,000 on NOM and a cynical strategy to divide Americans, and we need your help getting the word out. Sign our petition now -- demand that Mitt Romney disavow NOM's hateful strategy and instead bet on equal rights for all Americans.
Washington Post: Liberal Groups Join In Fla. Ad War Against Mitt Romney
On January 25, 2012, the Washington Post reported:
Broadcast ads aren’t the only tactic available to Democratic-aligned groups hoping to influence the Republican contest. American Bridge for the 21st Century, a liberal super PAC that focuses mostly on opposition research, blanketed Columbia, S.C., with hundreds of hot-pink leaflets trumpeting Romney’s support for gay rights during the Massachusetts phase of his political career. The group said the leafleting was aimed at sowing doubts among Republicans in the state about Romney’s conservative bona fides. “It’s not that we were trying to portray him as a quote-unquote liberal, but to show that he’s flip-flopped on so many key issues,” American Bridge spokesman Ty Matsdorf said. “It’s highlighting his lack of core beliefs.”