Same old story. The Romney campaign hired Richard Grenell as a foreign policy spokesperson. Grenell is a wingnut who thinks John Bolton has good ideas. Grenell is also gay. So, of course, the frothing pitchfork gang on the Religious Right went after him, led by Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association hate group, whose mental health I am beginning to seriously call into question.
And now he’s resigned:
Richard Grenell, the openly gay spokesman recently hired to sharpen the foreign policy message of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, has resigned in the wake of a full-court press by anti-gay conservatives.
In a statement obtained by Right Turn, Grenell says:
I have decided to resign from the Romney campaign as the Foreign Policy and National Security Spokesman. While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign. I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Grenell decided to resign after being kept under wraps during a time when national security issues, including the president’s ad concerning Osama bin Laden, had emerged front and center in the campaign.
At the above link, the official statement from the Romney campaign is posted, where they assert that they actually tried to persuade him to stay.
Never one to let a little detail such as that stand in his way — The Romney campaign probably was keeping him under wraps for a minute just hoping that the wingnuts would stop barking — Bryan Fischer is over the moon about how important he thinks he is now:
Today, during the second hour of Fischer’s daily radio broadcast, the news broke the Grenell had in fact resigned from the campaign and Fischer could barely contain his glee, declaring it a “huge win” for the Religious Right because it means that they have forced Romney to back down and taught him that he cannot do anything like this again.
Haha, okay, Bryan, keeping telling yourself that, at least until the next time the establishment GOP jams something in the Religious Right’s eyes, like they’ve been doing for decades, because they never really have respected you. Enjoy your little dance on the grave of Grenell’s job.
