George Bush and the scarlet letter.
It is immensely satisfying seeing the Bush administration squeezed in a vise between the mouthfoamers at the widely read, rabidly right-wing website WorldNetDaily and a Christian church that ministers to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. The vise is of their own making, of course, with the Bushies cynically pushing their compassionate conservative pap while playing to a party base that is anything but compassionate. It's hilarious to watch them caught red-handed now and then, scrambling not to offend anyone but losing points on all sides.
The latest skirmish began in the middle of last month, when the White House sent out a proclamation?for the most part, under the radar of the lazy media?in support of "Marriage Protection Week," a nasty smear campaign sponsored by over 20 Christian conservative groups that brought in millions of dollars.
"The sacred institution of marriage is under attack," blared the website for the week of events, spewing the standard lies about gay activists' fight for marriage rights. "There are those who want to redefine marriage to include two men, or two women, or a group of any size or mix of sexes: One man and four women, one woman and two men, etc. If they fail to secure legal protection classifying these arrangements as 'marriage,' they want to include all these mixtures under the definition of 'civil union,' giving them identical standing with the marriage of one man and one woman."
The proclamation from George W. Bush backed up the fundies' toxic rhetoric: "Marriage is a sacred institution, and its protection is essential to the continued strength of our society. Marriage Protection Week provides an opportunity to focus our efforts on preserving the sanctity of marriage and on building strong and healthy marriages in America."
But the White House's zany misstep occurred when it sent out a letter during the very same week to the Metropolitan Community Church at its Los Angeles headquarters, congratulating it on its 35th anniversary.
"By encouraging the celebration of faith and sharing of God's love and boundless mercy, churches like yours put hope in people's hearts and a sense of purpose in their lives," stated the letter signed by Bush. "This milestone provides an opportunity to reflect on your years of service and to rejoice in God's faithfulness to your congregation."
Did Karl Rove or anyone else in the White House know that the MCC is a gay-founded, internationally recognized church whose mandate includes legalizing same-sex marriage and that performs more than 6000 same-sex unions worldwide each year?
It's highly doubtful, particularly since the Bush administration freaked upon learning about it?from the wacky, far-right crowd at Joseph Farah's WorldNetDaily. The right-wingers found out about the letter after MCC sent out a press release last week in which its puzzled pastor asked, "How does one denounce the right of gays and lesbians to marry in their churches and suggest they are incapable of having healthy marriages in one moment, and in the next rejoice in God's faithfulness to a gay and lesbian congregation that performs such same-sex marriages?"
That's a question that vexed the wingnuts as well, and they went on the attack: "Bush cheers 'gay' church after 'Marriage Week,'" read the WorldNetDaily headline early last week. "Attempts to please family advocates, homosexuals baffle both groups."
By Friday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan was sweating it out, dancing around the issue like a Rockette on acid when a reporter, referencing the WorldNetDaily story, asked at the daily briefing, "Since both this church as well as the American Family Association have deplored this presidential inconsistency, can you tell us, who wrote this letter to the homosexual church? And did the president ever see it before it was mailed?"
McClellan: Now, let me be very clear on the president's view?
Reporter: No, I know?
McClellan: The president has always been a strong supporter?a strong believer that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. And he is a strong supporter of defending and protecting the sanctity of marriage.
Reporter: But why won't he?
McClellan: Now, what you're asking?well, what you're asking about now are I think greetings?
Reporter: It's a letter that went out at the same time.
McClellan: ?are greetings. When requests are sent in?and churches all across the country send in requests for greetings?and I think that it was a standard greeting that was sent out, that's been sent out to, I think, more than a thousand churches since the president has been in office and some over 300?
Reporter: So he hasn't?he hasn't seen them?
McClellan: ?in the last year. But the president's views are very well known on the issue of the sanctity of marriage, and they've always been clear and consistent.
While gay activists saw the response as an attempt by the White House to distance itself from the church by claiming it was a standard greeting that went out to any church that asked for one, the crowd at WorldNetDaily wasn't satisfied either, since McClellan didn't answer the pertinent question regarding Bush's knowledge of the letter.
"McClellan defends letter president sent congratulating denomination," blared the site's latest headline on the debacle.
Just as in the case of kooky Sen. Rick Santorum's comparisons between homosexuality and adultery, polygamy and incest?and his call for retaining sodomy laws?the White House didn't want to alienate either side. Though the letter was more than likely a mistake, with the White House ignorant about MCC, the administration couldn't go full force and denounce the church and apologize to the fundies if it wanted to retain that compassionate-conservative edge. At the same time, the Bushies had to distance themselves from the letter or risk looking as if they were actually courting gays. The outcome: Nobody's happy, and all the goodwill Bush built up from Marriage Protection Week with the religious right might be lost, which has to make you chuckle.
No word yet on just how the letter got to MCC in the first place and whether or not MCC asked for the letter of best wishes with all of this in mind. If that were the case, it was a damn brilliant plan.