1:40pm EST
THE NEW TACTIC TO DESTROY MARRIAGE: Convening meetings this month New Yorker politicans have decided to try to re-target the debate on the Marriage Protection Amendment. From the New York Blade - here is a look at the strategies they intend to use.
New Talking Points
Quinn said LGBT leaders will also be developing new talking points for the MPA vote beyond a set of seven circulated at the meeting from the Human Rights Campaign. Those points generally diverted attention away from the matter at hand without emphasizing the inherent dignity and value of LGBT relationships and families.
One statement read, "...President Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress have chosen to put politics ahead of real progress..." Another read, "Many legal experts agree this amendment also would close the door on civil unions..." Perhaps the most explicit talking point said, "This ban on same-sex unions undermines the Constitution, which has never once been amended to deny rights to a group of Americans."
Ethan Geto, longtime political consultant and president of the firm Geto & de Milly, said the messages lacked the personal elements that connect with people. "It was missing some of the kinds of messaging that we should be focusing on in these situations, which is to be talking about our lives, our families, personal stories—how people are deeply personally affected as human beings, as parents, as children, by this kind of stuff," he said.
Geto knows from experience. He headed up one of the nation’s first gay political battles in 1977 when Anita Bryant led the charge to repeal a gay-rights ordinance passed in Dade County, Fla. Geto said his ad campaign failed to sway public opinion and the ordinance was repealed.
"They were very well written ads, but they were all about the Constitution and basic human rights and civil liberties—all without the human face," he said. "Every single time, what we learn is when we can put a genuine, compelling human face and human story on our message, that really should be the front line," he said.
Back to the Base
The Task Force’s Foreman said the diversion approach of the talking points underscores a fundamental problem with Democratics. "The right wing puts marriage on the table, and our allies talk about everything but marriage," he said. "So much of the Democratic message has been focus grouped to death that it is lacking a sense of genuineness and authenticity."
Foreman said this causes two problems at the voting booth. First, Democratic candidates come across as weak. "Polls have said this over and over again—people who disagreed with the positions of George Bush in 2000 and 2004, still voted for him because they thought he had values and he expressed them clearly and stood by them," Foreman said. "There’s this whole swath of voters who respond to leadership, even if they disagree with what’s being said," he added, noting Sen. John McCain’s appeal.
