Posted on 05/13/2012 5:43:28 PM PDT by markomalley
"Gays are the next Jews of fundraising," declared Rahm Emanuel, who is now an Obama confidant, while hustling for donors for Bill Clinton back in 1992.
In that light, Obama's endorsement of gay marriage was at least the equivalent of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel -- a symbolic and controversial action that excites a donor base.
Jon Cooper, a gay Long Island legislator and an Obama fundraiser, told the Capital, a New York news site, that Obama's "expressing his personal support for same-sex marriage is going to make my life immeasurably easier raising money from LGBT donors and progressives in general."
One unnamed gay Obama bundler told BuzzFeed's Zeke Miller that after Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage, gay Obama fundraisers "across the country are raising more money than we've ever raised. And you'll see a lot more of that now."
This confirms what an adviser to Democratic fundraiser Jon Lewis told the Washington Post before Obama's Wednesday announcement: "A number of gay and progressive donors, unsolicited, have indicated to us that they aren't considering requests to donate to the Obama SuperPAC because of the president's refusal to the sign" an executive order making homosexuality a protected class in federal hiring rules. "And those are high-dollar asks, some in the seven digits. We have heard from at least half a dozen major gay and progressive donors that they stand united with us."
About 20 percent of Obama's bundlers -- volunteer fundraisers -- are gay, according to media reports, with many of them being gay rights activists. For example, Sally Susman has raised at least $500,000 for Obama's re-election. Millionaire banking mogul Eugene Sepulveda is another gay half-million-dollar Obama bundler. Rufus Gifford is the finance director for Obama's re-election campaign, and Andrew Tobias is treasurer of the Democratic National Committee -- and both are gay.
The Obama-friendly stretch of K Street is full of gay activists, too. Look at the lobbyists shaping Obamacare, for instance. Pfizer, where lesbian Obama bundler Susman runs the lobbying shop, supported the bill. Steve Elmendorf, a leading gay bundler for House and Senate Democrats, was hired by the top drug lobby to craft and help pass the health care package. Former Barney Frank staffer Robert Raben, also gay, runs a lobbying firm. The Raben Group has had such Obama-friendly clients as Google, General Electric and the National Education Association. Raben and his firm are Democratic bundlers.
Obama's support for gay marriage wasn't a money-raising ploy. It's commonly believed he has long supported gay marriage but stated otherwise until last week. That said, Obama's recent emphasis on the issue should be understood partly in the context of fundraising -- especially since the Obama campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out emails last week using Obama's declaration as a fundraising hook.
Just as politicians use symbolic gestures to drive the voter base to the polls, they also use them to drive the donor base to their checkbooks. Compare Obama's gay-marriage money bomb to Karl Rove's 2004 strategy of trying to turn out the GOP base with initiatives opposing gay marriage. You begin to see the pattern: Republicans exploit social issues mostly for votes, while Democrats exploit them mostly for money.
Look at abortion. Republicans regularly generate pro-life votes but not much pro-life money. Since the 2004 election, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, pro-life groups have spent $4.5 million on federal elections. Pro-choice groups, as defined by CRP, have spent $10.3 million -- and that doesn't even count the biggest pro-choice organization, EMILY's List, which has spent nearly $15 million in that stretch.
The Democratic fundraising network is as enmeshed with the pro-choice movement as it is with the gay rights movement -- Planned Parenthood and EMILY's list officials are regional Obama fundraising chairs and major super-PAC donors.
In elite Democratic circles, social issues are social, in a very personal sense. Not only do top donors share political and cultural attitudes, they often have close ties to each other and to White House officials -- and sometimes to Obama himself. Abortion and gay marriage are such highly charged issues that they define friendships. By contrast, an objection to foreign or economic policy is merely a difference of opinion.
Obama patched up some fraying friendships last week. And it paid off big.
Obama is now a wide receiver! (of homosexual money)
He’ll get cash but not votes.
Unless he is planning on buying them, of course.
“Unless he is planning on buying them, of course.”
Money manufactures votes, buys thugs to hang around polling places, and bribes officials to count them a certain way. Corruption at work....
>>>”Gays are the next Jews of fundraising,” declared Rahm Emanuel, who is now an Obama confidant, while hustling for donors for Bill Clinton back in 1992.<<<
Which means that the Democrats will treat gays as useful idiots, taking their money and their votes, all the while mistreating them and ignoring them until election times roll around... gee, just like Obama promising that he’s in favor of gay marriage while really not doing anything about it.
Translation: He’s queer as a three dollar bill himself, but Obama could give a flying fiddler’s damn about you, gays.
It’s ALL about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$........period. End of discussion.
Based on the article's names, I would say "gay Jews" are the next Jews, since about 75% of those listed are also Jewish, including Tobias and Susman (and the unmentioned massive Obama 2008 donor David Geffen).
Where Bathhouse Barry has miscalculated is none of those homos live in suburban Ohio, Colorado, North Carolina, etc. If he and his allies keep calling them bigots on a daily basis he is going to lose in a landslide in November. Nobody likes to be called a bigot and right now the meme is if you don’t support homo marriage you are a bigot. 31 states have already passed bans on gay marriage. Middle America ain’t buying what the dims are selling. I am not sure why they continue to pound us with that insult because it is electoral suicide.
Let’s just look at how incredibly stupid this strategy really is.
First, the Dims have fallen into their own trap. The uber-liberal media have done a superb job over the years (TV, movies, etc.) in portraying gays as the loveable fall guy, the funny foil, the nice guy in sitcoms and movies. They’re funny but harmless, right?
So....now that they feel America has fallen for this schtick (witness Biden’s strong reference to the abysmal “Will and Grace” sitcom), they feel it’s time to swoop in for the kill.
One little problem. Gays make up far less than 2% of the American population....that’s less than TWO percent. This means that 98 out of every 100 Americans are heterosexual; you know, as God made us to be.
This means that the Dims are catering to that 1-2% at the expense of support from a huge chunk of the remaining 98%.
Look, I’m no political genius....but I have nearly 30 years in sales, marketing, and business development. I can tell you flat out that this is BEYOND stupid. It belies an agenda that says “truth or reality be damned, full speed ahead!!!!”.
It’s more than suicidal.....it’s beyond idiotic.
When virtually every vote on the issue has produced a 60/40 margin, it is both suicidal and idiotic to play to the short side of that equation.
Hey Barry the fairy
Put up or shut up.
Go ahead and marry your butt buddy Sinclair in from of all your media.
Yeah that would be couragous.
But wait, that would really enrage your muslim buddies.
What a predicament he is in.
He's right: gays have no kids to look after, and they've moved steadily up the ladder. I daresay no other demographic has the expendable income that they have. But-- I don't imagine they're that different from us when it comes to their money.
Dims overplaying their hand? Whodathunkit! They think they can manage the issue and make it go away. But I think this is too juicy for the MSM to let up.
I don't like the distractions from the economy except in this case. Let the dems spend as much time as they want proclaiming themselves the pro gay marriage party. They just can't help themselves and all that homo passive aggressive stuff comes out; calling us hateful, bigoted, etc. That dim hubris is what will sink them.
Nailed it.
Their arrogance has convinced them that they can play both sides at the same time: milk the gays for cash (they don't give a s**t about them, one iota) while continuing the "Hopey Changey", "Forward" crap piled upon the middle class.
It ain't sellin'.
Obama and his handlers, may God have mercy on their souls, got away with this crap in 2007-2008. Not this time. Too many see that this little Muslim, homosexual, Marxist, fabricated-out-of-whole-cloth idiot is bad news for this country on every front, foreign and domestic.
His butt-kissing handlers won't acknowledge this...and it will prove to be their undoing.
naysty
And if “life styles” truly becomes an issue under Obamacare (hopefully overturned), i.e., eating habits, and other unhealthy risks, God help the homosexuals and their life styles. They need to realize that Obama is not president for life, nor the liberals in Congress. Not very “forward” thinking IMO.
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