RNC Says “Hope Isn’t Hiring” HRC Says: Hate Isn’t Winning

Despite Americans’ strong desire for a focus on jobs and the economy, the RNC today crawled into the “way back” machine and pulled a page out of Karl Rove’s old playbook attacking lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to score cheap political points.

The RNC’s web-based attack on President Obama’s re-election campaign, entitled “Hope Isn’t Hiring” resorts to the same tired and divisive politics that rightly make Americans think of Fred Flintstone when they think of the Grand Old Party.

“It’s just mind-blogging that with all of the challenges that face us as Americans, the Republican Party apparatus would resort to this demeaning fundraising stunt so that the red-meat crowd will become energized,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest civil rights organization dedicated to LGBT equality. “The garbage on this website makes it quite clear that the party continues to misread the priorities of the American people. Hate is never a winning strategy.”

In the RNC’s “Case Against Obama: Social Issues,” the party attacks the president’s support of basic principles of fairness and equality for all Americans: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, hospital visitation, housing nondiscrimination and relationship recognition. In growing numbers, Americans from all walks of life support treating their LGBT family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors equally.

The RNC’s vitriol is not consistent with the beliefs of Americans, including the members of their own party:

· According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll last year, 77 percent of Americans supported allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. According to a November 2010 Pew Research Center Poll, 63 percent of moderate Republicans and 47 percent of Republicans overall supported open service.  A May 2010 Gallup poll found that 53% of conservatives supported open service.

· Just a few weeks ago, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 53 percent of Americans support marriage equality. A growing number of Republicans are        beginning to support the same rights, benefits and obligations for all Americans irrespective of their sexual orientation. The same ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 31 percent of Republicans overall and 29 percent of conservatives support marriage equality. Last year, the Pew Research Center found that 41 percent of moderate and liberal Republicans supported marriage for all Americans.

· According to a 2009 Pew Research  Center poll, 58 percent of Republicans believe that gays and lesbians “face a lot of discrimination.”

It appears that the RNC has horribly misread the strong opinions of Americans. An HRC/Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Poll conducted last month found:

· Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe that the Republican Congress is doing a fair or poor job of focusing on issues important to the American people.

· Eighty percent of Americans believe that Republican Congress is doing a fair or poor job creating jobs and improving the economy.

· Seventy-one percent of Americans believe that the Republican Congress is doing a fair or poor job of keeping their campaign promises. And 74 percent believe that the Republican majority is doing a fair or poor job of dealing with the federal deficit.

· When giving a list of priorities, 54 percent of Americans rated the economy and jobs as their top priority; only 5 percent of Americans rated gay marriage as their top priority.