Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 18:17:55 -0500 From: Kevin Ivers Subject: GOP Candidates Quizzed About Gays Off-Camera at NH Town Meeting LCR NEWS ALERT: GOP Candidates Questioned Both Off-Camera and On-Camera about Gays The following email was received by an activist in New Hampshire who participated in the warm-up session before the GOP Town Meeting in Hanover last week, televised on CNN, featuring 5 of the 6 GOP presidential candidates. Below the text of the email is the New York Times article it refers to. Note that the quotes from Keyes and McCain were from the warm up session, where this member asked his question, and Forbes' quote is from the televised event, where another gay conservative in New Hampshire asked a similar question. Press inquiries for both questioners can be handled through LCR - please phone or reply to this email. --- Kevin Ivers, LCR Director of Public Affairs --------------------------------------------- >>MESSAGE: I live in Hanover, NH and was at the Republican debate last week >>here, which, as you know, was covered at length by the New York Times >>(and plenty of other media) in its 10/29/99 front page article, "5 G.O.P. >>Candidates Gather for Talk but Little Sparring." There was a half an hour >>before the actual broadcast, so the moderator said, "Let's give the >>candidates some practice, so they took questions which the Times covered. >>I asked this question, "My question is for each of you, or all of you: >>Why should anyone who is gay or lesbian vote for you?" Here's what the >>Times reprinted: On tolerance, Keyes said, "Homosexuality is an abomination" and called the comparison between racism and discrimination against homosexuals "absurd." Bauer added that "marriage is between a man and a woman, not between two men, two women or any other combination." McCain took a different view, saying, "We're the party of Abe Lincoln and will not tolerate discrimination." Thought you might want to pass this on to your members; it's pretty emblematic.<< --------------------------------------------- THE NEW YORK TIMES October 28, 1999 5 G.O.P. Candidates Gather for Talk but Little Sparring By RICHARD L. BERKE with MELINDA HENNEBERGER HANOVER, N.H. -- Five Republican candidates for President sat side-by-side on a stage here Thursday night but paid little heed to one another as they offered views on issues ranging from military spending to campaign finance to overhauling the tax system. Until the closing minutes of the 60-minute gathering at Dartmouth College, the candidates also resisted turning their fire on the candidate who was not there, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the front-runner. Finally, Steve Forbes, the wealthy publisher who is financing his own campaign, attacked the Governor for being obsessed with amassing a war chest and not subjecting himself to debates. "Perhaps in the future in a forum like this, if we call it a fund-raiser, he might show up," Forbes said, adding, "They want a coronation and not a real contest -- that's fundamentally wrong." The format of tonight's forum did not lend itself to give and take among the hopefuls. Randomly selected people from New Hampshire posed questions, and there was no opportunity for the candidates to quiz one another directly. There was far more sparring when these five candidates gathered in a debate last week. Tonight, the candidates put forth largely self-contained speeches, turning each question to make their own case. Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is in second place behind Bush in polls here, repeatedly discussed his passion for reforming the campaign finance system. He described the tax system as "a nightmare, a chamber of horrors for ordinary citizens" because "special interests rule in Washington." Another Senator in the race, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, spoke repeatedly of his experience in Congress as his biggest asset. "I want to be President because I have more experience than anybody running," he said, "including the two Democrats." He also emphasized his experience in the in the justice field; he said the next President could pick 50 percent of the next Supreme Court - and that he was best equipped to do that. Gary Bauer, a leader of conservatives, put himself forward as the candidate of grassroots conservatives. He also sought to establish his leadership credentials, saying he presided over 17,000 bureaucrats when he was an official at the Education Department. "America's a great nation militarily," he said. "But it also has a terrible virtue deficit." And Alan Keyes, a former State Department official who is also fighting for the mantle of spokesman for conservatives, spoke forcefully about decaying American values. "This nation is in the worst moral crisis it's ever faced," he said. The buildup to this event has been more about the candidate who did not show up than those who did. In an unusual move, WMUR-TV, the largest television station in New Hampshire and a sponsor of the debate, invited Bush for an interview at the opening of its 6 P.M. news program to explain why he was not here. Sitting beside his wife, Laura, in Dallas for the live interview, Bush said he regretted missing the debate. But he said that months ago he committed to an event today at Southern Methodist University, where Mrs. Bush received a distinguished alumni award. "I'm sorry I'm not there," Bush said. "I look forward to the debates. I have a lot to say. But I hope the people understand I love my wife and I want to honor Laura." Although Bush invoked his wife today to explain his failure to attend, only a few weeks ago his campaign said it had no intention of taking part in debates before next year. But mindful of the early primary schedule -- and perhaps of inroads in polls here by McCain -- Governor Bush seems more sensitive to criticism that he was neglecting the state. As the forum got underway, it was disrupted briefly by a woman in the audience who began shouting about the dangers of nuclear proliferation, but was shouted down and then ignored. On tolerance, Keyes said, "Homosexuality is an abomination" and called the comparison between racism and discrimination against homosexuals "absurd." Bauer added that "marriage is between a man and a woman, not between two men, two women or any other combination." McCain took a different view, saying, "We're the party of Abe Lincoln and will not tolerate discrimination." Asked whether he would hire openly gay people in a Forbes administration, Forbes said, "If a person wants a job to make a statement, they're not going to get it. If they want to do a job, they'll be strongly considered." Forbes summed up his position as "Equal rights for all, special rights for none." All candidates said they more or less approved some version of a flat tax, which appeared to thrill Forbes, who began advocating such a system during his 1996 campaign. "When I ran four years ago, virtually every Republican denounced the flat tax," he said, "so education works." Log Cabin Republicans Kevin Ivers (202) 347-5306 phone Director of Public Affairs (202) 347-5224 fax http://www.lcr.org