“This handsome bar and restaurant draws young people on the prowl”— From the Washington Post’s “Going our Guide”
What was the Sowers campaign thinking when they scheduled a fundraiser at a Washington, D.C. gay bar?
Paul Begala, Howard Dean, and Jack Dorsey (the founder of Twitter) held a fundraiser for Sowers at Local 16, a noted fixture of the DC gay community. There is no way that his campaign did not know about the bar’s reputation. A simple Google search is enough to find that Local 16 is not just any bar. One of their normal events is an infamous twice-monthly “Sunday School” – not a family-oriented discussion of religion, but a night of alcohol-fueled debauchery targeted at the gay community.
Why did he choose to host a high-profile fundraiser at a gay bar? Is it because he just didn’t know better? Is it because he thought it would be a good venue to capitalize on his recent announcement that, unlike many former members of the military, he supports allowing openly-gay men and women to serve in the military? Is it because he wanted to show his support for the radical gay agenda? The residents of southeast Missouri deserve an explanation for his decision.
Why someone running for Congress in a conservative district would choose to hold a fundraiser in a gay bar is beyond comprehension. Clearly, the Eighth District does not support the gay agenda – the 2004 amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman passed in every county in the district; only two counties in the district had less than 80% of the population vote for the amendment, and both of those counties exceeded the state average of 70.6% by at least 6.5%.
It just goes to show that Sowers is too out of touch to be able to effectively represent the people of the Eighth District. If Sowers doesn’t have the judgment to determine that a gay bar is not an appropriate place to hold a fundraiser, he clearly doesn’t have the judgment to serve in Congress.
You can read more about this in a letter to the editor that was published today in the Southeast Missourian.
Related:
SE Missourian LTE: Questions about Tommy Sowers
Sowers Urges Opponent to Check Facts, Forgets to Do So Himself
Video: Rachel Maddow on Ike Skelton’s Discomfort with Gays
0 responses so far ↓
1 Mark // Jun 10, 2010 at 5:57 pm
“Unlike many former members of the military” is a statement that is designed to misinform since many means only three or four. By the same standard, it would be accurate to say that many former military members favor abolishing don’t ask or tell starting from members of the Joint Chiefs and prominantly, Colin Powell, among other things a Chair of the Joint Chiefs. In sum, your article could have lead with “Sowers agrees with Powell.” That you chose another tack, one designed to conceal the facts, indicates a strong bias and willingness to manipulate readers.
I suggest that you come out of the closet with your bias and stop billing yourselves as non-partisan. I am asking what side you are on and perhaps you could tell us all. I have yet to hear about the young Republican LA nightclub fiasco here. I can only assume since you report this story and not that, you must think the Republicans had a great idea using that venue and paying for it.
I have to wonder about your Facebook relationship being “It’s complicated.” The only thing complicated is billing yourself as a date for the non-partisan when every word says you love someone else. Cheating makes things very complicated.
2 Dawn // Jun 10, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Thank you, Mark!!
3 Paul Ground // Jun 10, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Ken is absolutely right, by gum. I don’t think a blogger has any right to comment on public events without disclosing his or her partisan position. That right is reserved to those who buy ink by the barrel, like the fine folks at the St. Louis Post Dispatch. They still love to cower behind the fatuous, self-laudatory bluster of Joseph Pulitzer about belonging “to no party,” when everyone knows they haven’t endorsed a Republican in a serious race since the Roosevelt Administration — and I mean Teddy.
4 JJ // Jun 10, 2010 at 9:51 pm
As a disabled veteran who belongs to numerous veteran organizations and in touch with many who are still serving, Mark, I find your dishonesty as distasteful as those who want gays in the military. What are your qualifications? Have you ever served. If not you need to shut up because you have no credibility. You liberals constantly lie and deceive to push your agenda. I have seen first hand what gays in the military can do. Our service members have enough on their mind in combat zones than to worry about being eyeballed in the shower or shared bunking facility. More than once i have had to call the MPs and EMTs to fix up a soldier who thought it was okay to put the moves on another soldier of the same sex, sometimes forcing themselves. I have written numerous reports and briefs on those who think it is ok to crawl in with a sleeping roommate. You have no credibilty and are the intolerant bigoted one, just like all liberals are. Even worse you are a hypocrite because of your intolerance. So take you lies elsewhere because we are buying.
5 JJ // Jun 10, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Sorry, Mark, we are NOT buying your lies.
6 bud // Jun 24, 2010 at 11:34 am
Why not let DoD finish their military-wide study of gays in the military before politicizing this issue? The persistent questions about Sowers’ sexuality have no place in this campaign, which is why Emerson and her campaign have said nothing. However, announcing your support for circumventing the military study of the impact of gays openly serving in all military units, followed closely by a fundraiser at a gay bar is worth studying. Either Sowers is blatantly using the gay community for sinister fundraising purposes, or he supports the vast gay agenda. Which is it? That is a legitimate question.
7 Tar Heel // Jun 24, 2010 at 12:22 pm
The author of these posts obviously has no idea what he’s talking about. This comes from a fellow Southerner who’s lived in D.C. for about a year.
Local 16 is definitely NOT a gay bar. Yes, there are plenty of them in D.C., but Local 16 is not one of them. Some gay group may hold an event there sometimes, but, gay bar? No.
Also, the U St. area where Local 16 is located is NOT the gay area of D.C. — that’s Dupont Circle.
Way to go, pal. Seems like you’re more interested in grinding your ax than getting the facts right.
8 DC resident // Jun 24, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Lived in DC for 7 years and 4 blocks from Local 16 for 2. Never once heard anyone say Local 16 is a gay bar (as if it mattered).
9 Liz // Aug 12, 2010 at 9:39 am
It’s not a gay bar. When this came out (no pun intended) locally, I took the time to research it. It just seemed so outlandish.
I’m a resident of the 8th and a supporter of Emerson. I’ve spoken to Tommy and find him to be a silly little upstart. The only thing he can talk about it “the bailout”. That’s it. Nothing more substantive than that. He’s clueless.
10 Bigots-R-UnAmerican // Sep 15, 2010 at 5:58 am
@JJ
Sorry, the 73% of the Vets who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are not as afraid of “the gays” as you apparently are. I don’t think there is a separate section at Arlington National Cemetery for the countless thousands of same-sex oriented soldiers who have lost their lives in defense of this ungrateful nation while fighting for everyone else’s freedom — with the exception of their own equality which is constantly being trashed by bigots like you. They are the patriots — you and your kind are not.
PS – Get over your closeted sexual fantasies about Gay people “eyeballing” you. Don’t flatter yourself.
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