Republicans for Family Values

Republicans For Family Values is back online, just in time to highlight this report from the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade — which aptly explains both social conservatives’ ambivalence toward Sen. John McCain and the reason why, when faced with a potential President Obama, most are reluctantly supporting the Arizona Republican.

McCain’s Human Rights Campaign 2006 Congressional Scorecard rating of 33 percent, though way too high from the perspective of most conservatives, is in stark contrast to Obama’s 89 out of 100 in the same HRC Scorecard. McCain voted against HRC on all but one key vote (he opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment), while Obama voted with HRC on all but one vote (he did not support a pro-homosexual immigration bill).

Here is another way to compare the two senators’ records: Human Rights Campaign’s analysis of Obama’s co-sponsorship of pro-homosexual legislation backed by HRC, versus the same analysis for McCain.)

The fact that McCain’s spokesman reports (below) that the senator was “proud” to receive the endorsement of the homosexual Log Cabin Republicans — a group that crusades for homosexual “marriage” and routinely demonizes Christian conservatives just as all the other “gay” activist groups do– will stick in the craw of pro-family Republicans.

We eagerly wait to see if McCain smartly makes a serious play for pro-family, conservative voters in the wake of California’s homosexual “marriage” ruling, or opts instead to try to split the middle of the GOP’s “big tent” — perhaps even making bolder pro-homosexual overtures to court “moderates.” — Peter LaBarbera

The following is excerpted from a Washington Blade report June 6 (emphasis added):

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Republicans For Family Values

www.rffv.org

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; rffv@comcast.net

Peter LaBarbera, founder of the website Republicans For Family Values (http://www.rffv.org/), issued the following statement today:

We who know his real record celebrate the news that the media’s favorite fake “conservative,” Mitt Romney, has abandoned his GOP presidential bid.  Congratulations to Mass Resistance’s Brian Camenker and all those who worked so hard to expose the truth about this man who, frankly, deceived many. Camenker’s report, “The Mitt Romney Deception,” was the linchpin of our campaign to expose Romney’s incredible string of flip-flops, anti-family sellouts and conveniently-timed conversions to the pro-family cause.

Said Camenker: “It’s quite astonishing that a rag-tag army of truth-tellers was able to take down the most well-funded and best organized political campaign in modern times — which was also in collusion with the “mainstream” conservative movement.”

Sadly, Brian is correct: the facts about Romney’s record that should have been reported by major “conservative” and pro-family leaders - such as his continued embrace of homosexual “special rights” laws and the $50 co-pay for abortion as a “benefit” resulting from his state health insurance plan — were left untold. Curiously, major conservative opinion-leaders like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Hugh Hewitt - who readily bashed Mike Huckabee and John McCain for being too liberal — couldn’t bring themselves to expose the Real Romney.

Worse yet, some major Christian pro-family leaders failed in their role to inform the public about Romney’s social liberalism. Curiously, some embraced Romney even though his (post-pro-life-conversion) record on abortion paled in comparison to Mike Huckabee’s 100% pro-life record — and despite the fact that Romney’s (current) pro-homosexual-special-rights advocacy broke with decades of pro-family tradition. We know that some of these groups accepted large donations from Romney.

Right up to Super Tuesday, millions of Christians and conservatives - relying on talk radio and not hearing the truth from some major Christian organizations - were ignorant of Romney’s pro-homosexual, liberal record, demonstrating the lack of fair play of key conservative and pro-family leaders who — at the very least - should have exposed equally the warts of all the GOP contenders.

Politics is a tough business, but is it wrong to expect conservatives - and especially Christian leaders - to conduct it with more integrity?

This was a David vs. Goliath battle, and shows that truth is more powerful than fiction.  Now we must be vigilant as many of the same opinion-leaders will try to perpetuate their own myth by selling Romney as the “conservative” standard bearer waiting in the wings.

Says Rick Scarborough, founder and president of Vision America and a national leader among pro-life and pro-marriage advocates:

“I cannot support Mitt Romney.  His conversion to the pro-life position is suspect and his ongoing support of homosexual rights is not. His position on the deity of Christ does not align with orthodox Christianity and his positions on abortion and Gay rights does not align with orthodox Mormonism. He flip flops on the core values which drive Christian conservatives.”

Scarborough is supporting Mike Huckabee for president.

Republicans For Family Values
www.rffv.org

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; rffv@comcast.net

Super Tuesday Exposes Folly of Pundits Proclaiming Pro-Gay Romney as ‘Conservative’

Peter LaBarbera of the Republicans For Family Values website (www.rffv.org) offered the following lessons and observations from Super Tuesday’s surprising Huckabee performance:

• Perhaps Mitt Romney should pull out of the race: he cost the more conservative Huckabee a victory in both Missouri and Oklahoma; says Texas pro-family leader Kelly Shackelford: “You’re not a conservative if you can’t win the south.  The south has spoken clearly- Huckabee is the conservative. … Losing in third place across the south, Romney needs to leave the race so true conservatives can coalesce around Gov. Huckabee.” 
• Factoring the anti-Huckabee bias of both the liberal media and pro-Romney conservative pundits like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh (which should be worth at least 10 percentage points) – plus Romney’s huge personal spending advantage — and it is clear that the real “two-man race” in the GOP is between McCain and Huckabee;
• The voters rejected the pundits’ and broadcast reporters’ promotion of Romney as “the conservative” candidate – since on social issues, which matter most to the GOP’s loyal grassroots base of religious, pro-life voters, Huckabee is the true conservative (e.g., he opposes “gay rights” laws, in contrast to Romney, who said state gay rights laws “make sense”);
• Evidence of conservative pundit bias: Ann Coulter’s trashed Mike Huckabee’s alleged past liberalism while she ignored Mitt Romney’s longtime pro-abortion-on-demand, pro-gay record and his current liberalism – including Romney’s public support for state homosexual “special rights” laws and his creation of a state health insurance plan in Massachusetts that ended up including a $50 co-pay for abortion as “benefit.”  Later, after McCain moved ahead in the race, Coulter made a fool of herself by asserting that she would vote for Hillary Clinton — who is competing with Barack Obama over which Democrat is more pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality — rather than John McCain;
• FOX News’ Sean Hannity and other conservatives should stop blatantly promoting Mitt Romney and belittling Mike Huckabee as a candidate; Hannity reached a new low when he led his viewers to believe (erroneously) that Huckabee had quit the race in Florida;
• Evidence of the liberal media bias: the reporting on Huckabee’s speech urging a Human Life Amendment and Marriage Protection Amendment – making the Constitution more in line with “God’s standards.” News media like MSNBC (Joe Scarborough; see broadcast HERE) bristled at Huckabee’s religious reference while NOT reporting that the former Arkansas governor was merely offering rhetorical support for two planks that enjoy deep support among the GOP’s social conservative grassroots;
• How much of the above bias and distortions surrounding anti-Huckabee/pro-Romney coverage result from standard anti-evangelical-Christian bigotry?
• If Romney had been “Huckabee’d” by the conservative pundits – i.e., had they fully exposed the former Massachusetts governor’s extremely liberal past social record, unprecedented flip-flops, and current liberal positions – Romney likely never would have emerged as the purported “conservative” alternative to McCain; 
• Some social conservative leaders are clearly putting politics over principle by opting for a candidate – Mitt Romney – who fails in two critically important areas for religious conservative voters: opposing all aspects of the homosexual activist agenda and being consistently pro-life (we applaud Romney’s pro-life conversion, but since that conversion he has supported or enabled some anti-life policies such as subsidizing abortions as a health insurance “benefit“). We understand why the Club for Growth chose Romney (although Romney is not a genuine economic conservative), but for key evangelical leaders to downplay Romney’s liberal policies – especially his current and novel pro-homosexual positioning as a Republican FAVORING passage of state homosexual “special rights” laws  – has damaged these leaders’ credibility;
• There appears to be strong bias among conservatives in general that economic issues are more important than social issues (which is not to imply that Romney has a true conservative economic record); pro-life and pro-family voters should reject this.
• Many pro-lifer and pro-family Republicans remain ignorant of Romney’s pro-homosexual-agenda record and his dubious pro-life record, including his support for stem cell research using excess embryos created during fertility treatments. Conservative media and some pro-life/pro-family leaders are complicit in not reporting or even covering up these crucial facts exposing Romney’s liberalism.

Says Rick Scarborough, founder and president of Vision America and a national leader among pro-life and pro-marriage advocates:

“I cannot support Mitt Romney.  His conversion to the pro-life position is suspect and his ongoing support of homosexual rights is not. His position on the deity of Christ does not align with orthodox Christianity and his positions on abortion and Gay rights does not align with orthodox Mormonism. He flip flops on the core values which drive Christian conservatives.”

Republicans For Family Values

www.rffv.org

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; rffv@comcast.net

Peter LaBarbera, founder of Republicans For Family Values (www.rffv.org), today criticized GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his “novel pro-homosexual positioning in the GOP.” On Dec. 16, Romney (the alleged “conservative” in the race) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it makes sense at the state level” to enact pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” laws.  Last week, CNN’s Roland Martin reported that Romney told him that he opposes “gay marriage,” but supports “gay rights.”

LaBarbera issued the following statement:

Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it on the homosexual agenda, and if he doesn’t get at after serving as governor of liberal Massachusetts — where “gay marriage,” homosexual adoption and pro-homosexuality indoctrination in schools ALL were advanced by the sort of pro-gay “sexual orientation” laws he’s now espousing — then he’s not going to get it at the federal level.

Romney is already using his bully pulpit as a candidate to affirm “gay rights”– even AFTER he’s earned the backing of pro-family leaders who seemingly would have much to teach him about the danger and misuse of pro-homosexual laws. (Note that Romney uses gay-affirming “discrimination” rhetoric even with regard to the Boy Scouts’ ban on homosexuals.) 

I don’t know any serious pro-lifers who are pro-homosexuality. We all have compassion for homosexual strugglers, but we draw the line at laws that would distort “civil rights” to include sinful and changeable homosexual behavior — because these laws will be used to compel individuals, business and even ministries to violate their beliefs and support homosexual relationships (see the Weekly Standard article, “Banned in Boston,” about Boston Catholic Charities electing to close down its historic adoption agency rather than place kids in homosexual households.

Romney is trying to shift the GOP’s pro-family paradigm on homosexuality, and it’s an unwise shift — much like retreating from a principled position on pro-life (e.g., “I’m pro-choice but not pro-partial-birth abortion”). Due to Romney’s potential for being the “Nixon-goes-to-China” president who advances pro-homosexuality agendas in the GOP — I cannot support him.

Why do the same conservative pundits who have assailed Mick Huckabee and John McCain as too liberal, promote the fiction that Mitt Romney – who strongly defended abortion-on-demand and who remains in favor of anti-Christian homosexual special rights laws as a Mormon – is a “conservative”?

If this were ’Huckabee-care,’ Ann Coulter would be writing another hit piece against him 

 Abortion is listed as a $50 or $100 co-pay under “Benefit” in the “Commonwealth Care” plan touted by Gov. Romney. Click HERE for the Commonwealth Health Insurance Program benefit cost sheet PDF from which this is taken. (Emphasis added above.)

Hmmm. Abortion as a covered “benefit” under Gov. Romney’s vaunted health care insurance plan (the Commonwealth Health Insurance Program).  How did “CEO Romney,” a pro-life convert, let this get through?

The co-pay charge for this “benefit” is $50 for premium members or $100 for regular members. See the upper left side of page 2 of the PDF link. I wonder if Ann Coulter saw this before endorsing Romney…. – Peter LaBarbera

See page 2 of this:
 
http://www.mahealthconnector.org/portal/binary/com.epicentric.contentmanagement.servlet.ContentDeliveryServlet/About%2520Us/Connector%2520Programs/Additional%2520Resources/cc_benefits1220_pt234.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Saturday, January 12, 2008
 
Contact Peter LaBarbera, Republicans for Family Values (www.RFFV.org): 630-717-7631 

What:  Two Press Conferences - Saturday & Sunday

When:  Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 1:30 p.m.
Where:  Westin Detroit Airport Hotel, 2501 Worldgateway Place, Detroit, MI
 
Also:
 
When:  Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 1:30 p.m.
Where:  Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, 187 Monroe NW, Grand Rapids, MI

DETROIT, Mich. –  Mass Resistance  (www.massresistance.org) and Republicans for Family Values (www.RFFV.org) will be holding two major press conferences today and tomorrow in Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s home state of Michigan to warn voters about the “real Mitt Romney,” whose liberal, pro-homosexual record is a far cry from his pro-family campaign image.
 
Massachusetts pro-family leaders Brian Camenker and Amy Contrada, who co-authored the online report, “The Mitt Romney Deception”, will speak at the news conferences, joined by former homosexual Stephen Bennett and pro-natural-family advocate and RFFV founder Peter LaBarbera.*
 
LaBarbera notes that Romney recently endorsed homosexual special rights (”sexual orientation”) laws for other states — even though the array of “sexual orientation” laws in his own state of Massachusetts led to the imposition of homosexual “marriage” and “gay adoption.”  
 
“Mitt Romney’s recent endorsement of pro-homosexual state laws on ‘Meet the Press’ shows that he still doesn’t have his pro-family conversion story straight,” LaBarbera said, “Of course, it disqualifies him as a pro-family leader.”  
 
One of the spokesmen for RFFV will be Stephen Bennett — a FORMER homosexual man — now married to his wife of 15 years and the father of the couple’s two children.
 
Bennett is a former resident and taxpayer of Massachusetts. He now resides in Connecticut.
 
“As a conservative, and foremost a Christian man, I am going to Michigan with one purpose: to tell the truth about Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Do not be deceived — Mitt Romney is the furthest thing from being a conservative, pro-family advocate. He in no way represents my pro-family, conservative views,” said Bennett.
 
“Romney’s record proves he doesn’t deserve the office of President of the United States of America. However, there is one title I’ll grant Mitt Romney: the ‘Father of Gay Marriage.’”
 
Bennett continued, “As Governor of the State of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney illegally imposed so-called homosexual “marriage” licenses on the citizens of the Bay State  — after refusing to support a marriage-protection amendment years earlier (when he was courting the Log Cabin Republican homosexuals). In doing so, he opened a tragic Pandora’s Box. What the courage-less Romney did in Massachusetts will affect our entire nation for years to come.” 
 
In Boston, following the imposition of “same-sex marriage,” Catholic Charities’ adoption services was forced to closed its doors after refusing to place children in homosexual-led homes.  Due to pro-gay laws and policies in the Bay State, parents who believe homosexuality is morally wrong are chastised and one, David Parker, was even thrown in jail because he protested his six-year-old child’s public elementary school ’s refusal to commit to inform parents about in-class lessons promoting homosexuality. 
 
In then-Gov. Romney’s Massachusetts, state employees were threatened with firings if they refused to accept Romney’s unnecessary and illegal order to distribute ‘gay marriage’  licenses. 
 
“And yet Romney has the audacity to now recommend these same oppressive pro-homosexual laws to other states?” Camenker said. “Mitt Romney is running for President as a pro-life, pro-family conservative, but we in Massachusetts know the REAL Romney — and the liberal social record he tries to keep hidden from the public makes him a threat to American families and our nation’s children if he is elected President.”
 
Camenker and Contrada wrote the “Mitt Romney Deception,” (http://www.massresistance.org/docs/marriage/romney/record/), a devastating report documenting Romney’s liberal record and flip flops on homosexuality, abortion and other issues.  Many conservatives are unaware of Romney’s long pro-abortion and pro-homosexual record — the latter which continues today with his recent endorsement on NBC’s “Meet the Press” of state “gay rights” laws (see “Mitt Romney’s Christmas Present to the Gay Lobby,” at www.rffv.org).
 
###
 
*For identification purposes only, LaBarbera is also president of Americans For Truth about Homosexuality.

Michigan native Romney trails after outspending former Arkansas gov $1 million to none on Michigan airwaves

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wed., Jan. 9, 2007
CONTACT:   Gary Glenn:  989-430-0652
 
Shock poll: Huckabee leads in Michigan
 
“According to the latest Rossman Group/MIRS/Denno-Noor survey, the GOP contest in Michigan is now shaping up as a battle between Mike Huckabee (at 23 percent), Mitt Romney (at 22 percent) and John McCain (at 18 percent).” http://www.rossmangroup.com/press_releases/article_read.cfm
 
“I think the big stor(y) shaping up in Michigan (is) Huckabee’s leap to the top of the GOP field…,” said John T. Reurink, president of Michigan Information & Research Service Inc. (MIRS) newsletter.
 
The poll was conducted Jan. 6-7, after Romney had spent at least $1 million in television advertising in Michigan, as reported Jan. 2nd by the Detroit News, while Huckabee had had no paid advertising in the state. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/POLITICS01/801020375
 
Gary Glenn, Midland, a volunteer spokesman for grassroots supporters of Huckabee in Michigan, said the new poll results “will put the motivation level of Gov. Huckabee’s volunteer army here in Michigan through the roof in the final push to next Tuesday.”
 
“Gov. Huckabee doesn’t have to win Michigan to show well, but the fact that he’s in a position to even threaten Mitt Romney in Romney’s native state is a testimony to how strongly Gov. Huckabee’s message appeals to voters in Michigan and nationwide.”
 
“Just to stay even, Mitt Romney has had to spend a million dollars on TV ads to buy the support he has,” Glenn said, “but it’s Gov. Huckabee’s heart for the values and concerns of the average American family that is obviously winning the hearts of Michigan voters.”
 
Glenn said he expected that the socially conservative voters who dominate Republican presidential primaries will continue to move to Huckabee the more they learn about the issues.
 
“Gov. Huckabee has been a life-long defender of prenatal life and traditional family values, while until running for president, Mitt Romney had a long record of promoting abortion on demand, the homosexual agenda, and gun control.,” Glenn said.
 
For example, he said, Huckabee helped lead the campaign for a Marriage Protection Amendment to the Arkansas state constitution, while Romney as a candidate for governor in 2002 opposed a marriage amendment to the Massachusetts constitution and Sen. John McCain was one of only a handful of Republican lawmakers who voted against a federal marriage amendment.
 
# # #

Janet Folger of “Faith2Action” is among the new signers on the coalition letter: “A Stern Warning to the ’Conservative Elites’ about Mitt Romney.”

Republicans For Family Values Media Release
www.rffv.org

Contact: Peter LaBarbera (630)717-7631; rffv@comcast.net

January 4, 2008

Election Story the Media Missed: Pro-Family Truth Campaign Helped Sink Romney in Iowa

Peter LaBarbera, founder of the Republicans For Family Values website, issued the following statement on Mitt Romney’s stunning Iowa Caucuses defeat Thursday:

There is a story the media missed in its reporting of Mitt Romney’s humiliating loss in Iowa to the comparatively vastly under-funded Mike Huckabee: how a dogged “truth campaign” by pro-family advocates –– mostly from Romney’s own state of Massachusetts –– to educate social conservatives on his liberal record on abortion and homosexuality helped seal his defeat.

Much as Romney tried to run away from his pro-abortion and pro-gay past –– and as hard as Romney backers like Hugh Hewitt and Jay Sekulow worked to paper over it and discredit his socially conservative critics –– the truth got out, cracking Romney’s carefully-built facade.

While conservatives leaders tore into Mike Huckabee’s record –– and appropriately knocked him for some past liberal policies –– there seemed to be a kid-gloves approach among most conservative media power-brokers toward Romney and his liberal social record. 

Where were the Ann Coulter hit-pieces against the man who once promised that he could do more for Massachusetts homosexuals than Ted Kennedy?

Part of the silence stems from Romney’s (present) strong rhetoric against “gay marriage,” which obscures his past as a strongly pro-homosexual politician who supported “domestic partners” legislation in Massachusetts and failed to back the original state amendment that could have preserved marriage as between a man and a woman in Massachusetts.

Ironically, had Romney done the Reagan-esque thing and stood up to the Massachusetts judges on ”gay marriage,” he’d be a national hero now and running away with the nomination.  Instead he went overboard the other way and needlessly (and illegally) passed out “same-sex marriage” licenses.

Romney continues to equivocate on homosexuality: why are pro-family leaders who have spent their lives fighting against homosexual activism now supporting a candidate who, despite experiencing firsthand the effects of radical pro-homosexual laws in Massachusetts –– legalized “same-sex marriage,” state-enforced homosexual adoptions, and pro-homosexuality programs in pubic schools –– is still recommending gay ‘special-rights’ laws to other states? (Meet the Press interview, Dec. 16) 

In addition to all his money –– and perhaps in large part because of it –– Romney has the backing of some key pro-life and pro-family leaders, such as Sekulow,  Hewitt, pro-life attorney James Bopp and Rev. Lou Sheldon.  But try as they might, these accomplished men cannot re-construct Romney’s liberal social record.

“The Mitt Romney Deception” –– Mass Resistance’s devastating report documenting Romney’s long pro-abortion and pro-homosexual history –– is there for all to see. 

The question remains: will “pro-family” Romney apologists respect the Republican pro-family grassroots enough to stop carrying water for a candidate who is widely regarded as a phony on the very issues –– life, marriage and preserving the natural family –– that are most important to them?

For identification purposes only, LaBarbera is president of Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (www.americansfortruth.org). RFFV can be reached at rffv@comcast.net, or: RFFV, PO Box 2721, Naperville, IL 60567-2721.