It would, but ultimately I don't think it would help in the long run. I agree with posts #19 and #24. There were people who showed up for Chick-Fil-A appreciation day who didn't agree with Cathy about gay marriage, they just did it to show they believe in freedom of speech. Even some gays ate there on Wednesday for the same reason.
If you have him speak at the national convention, you just give the Dems ammo to convince swing voters sympathetic to Cathy that it's been a GOP conspiracy all along and Cathy is just a sock puppet for the GOP. It now becomes a "Republican restaurant" that welcomes only social conservatives, instead of an open environment and a place where everyone opposed to fascism and censorship can go and be welcomed, regardless of their personal beliefs.
A better choice would be to have Dan Cathy do the catering for the Republican National Convention. He can offer to cater BOTH conventions so it's not "partisan", but of course we know the RATs will refuse and just reinforce the idea that THEIR guys are the ones being intolerant and hate-filled bigots. And the sight of delegates on national TV eating Chick-Fil-A (along with talking heads mentioning the Democrats REFUSED to eat the chicken) would have the same effect of "enthusing conservatives and set the libs heads on fire", without the baggage that would come from the other suggestion.
I think that’s a reasoned opposing opinion, but I see some problems with it. Let me run this by you.
First of all, this is sort of the model for what we do when confronted. We triangulate to the point of our own destruction. “Well, this may offend some people, and it will discredit some people, and someone might think bad of us, and we might not fare so well, and...”
We should be proud of what we stand for. The Lefties are. What’s wrong with our values? Why should we shy away from them?
If Cathy were to stand up there and say this, who could object?
- - -
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is Dan Cathy. By now it’s safe to say you have probably heard of me. And not all of what you have heard about me was good. Among other things, you’ve probably heard that I hate certain groups of people. You’ve probably been somewhat convinced I want to make life hard for certain people. I’d like to use this opportunity to speak to you, to clarify a few issues.
The first thing I would like to make clear, is that I don’t hate anyone, let alone groups of people. This is a false premise that has been established concerning me, and I think it applies to Conservatives as a whole. Folks, we may not approve of what others do, but that is a product of free will. What isn’t a part of our nature, is to hate people. It isn’t in our makeup to persecute others. It isn’t in our makeup to try to ruin others, or hobble them economically.
What is in our nature, is to respect others we disagree with. What is in our nature, is to defend old standards that have served civilizations well for thousands of years. What is in our nature is to abide by standards of moral character that we have been endowed with by our Creator.
I have never tried to cause injury to individual persons or groups just because I didn’t like their life-style. I wouldn’t do that, and I don’t know anyone else who would. I wouldn’t hang out with people like that. What I would do is hold up my own values system, and ask folks to join me.
Folks, I have a values system. I’m not ashamed of it. I try to live a decent life. Like many other U. S. Citizens who think of themselves as Conservatives, I try to live a decent moral productive life. I do this for selfish reasons, and I also do it because it actually helps other people in life. My success contributes to thousands of other people’s success.
We encourage our employees to be good people. We strive to produce good products that the public can enjoy and benefit from.
For some time now, a certain splinter group in our society has been trying to spread the idea, that somehow old traditional values were outdated and needed to be discarded. Do you agree with that? I do not. What’s more, I am proud of values. I am not shy about them, and I hope you aren’t.
Honesty, friendliness, courtesy, faithfulness, an industrious nature, a productive nature, a self-supporting nature, a charitable nature, and a moral nature was somehow either instilled in my genes, developed in my nature, or both. I can’t help it. It’s who I am, and I am proud of this. I do not want to see these traits abandoned or even diminished.
I am not perfect. I am trying to live each day as best I can. I will fail at times. When I stated that I thought it best if we support the marriage definition respected for thousands of years, it was not a failure. It was an act of standing up for what I believe in. It was not intended to harm others. I’m sorry some folks took it that way. I think they are mistaken.
You, each one of you have a values system. I think it’s safe to say that our values systems are not all identical. I still think that I and others who think as I do have a right to stand up and explain our positions without fear of ostracism or being destroyed as a person, a corporation, or even as a family as a result.
If you were to stand with me on principle, it would warm my heart, but you have to do what is right in your heart. I fully support that. I want you to have the freedom I have exercised myself, but that will never include my support for the bit by bit destruction of what I and millions of other U. S. Citizens recognize to be true and honorable.
I believe in school prayer. I do not want God taken completely out of our daily public lives. I do not want to surrender values that are dear to me and have been for billions of other humans through history.
Thankfully, the Republican party shares enough of my values that I have been asked to come here and address you tonight. It’s my hope you will respect the party for that.
Good night, and may God bless you.
The image of libs running around with their heads on fire/exploding is music to my eyes.
There is truth to what you say and Dan Cathy himself would probably be inclined to decline for that reason.
But I still think Cathy making a positive Speech about owning a business and Christian values and families and loving his employees would be a plus, I would save Allen West for the fire-breathing rallying against the libs.(that would be fun)
Republicans have a serious problem. They have a candidate who motivates few who probably believes in nothing and who appears to be terrified to fight (so far anyway) and is on the defensive as Dems launch personal attack after personal attack against him. Its very demoralizing for us to watch, Republicans need a jump-start.
Dont worry, Republicans don't listen to me anyway :)
Al Sharpton did a segment on Chick-fil_A/Cathy on Friday reporting that Cathy gave money to the Family Research Council, which he called :’ A well known hate organization’ . I will see if I can post it.