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One Georgia Log Cabin Republicans Member's Reaction to Tonite's "McLaughlin Group"

July 17, 1998

Tonite, PBS's "McLaughlin Group" had an extensive discussion of gay issues; especially in regards to gays and the GOP [transcript]. Patrick Buchanan typically agreed with Lott's comments and supported the ex-gay ads in last week's papers around the country. Eleanor Clift and Jay Carney took the gay friendly stance as one would suspect they would.

However, the most interesting comments came from Bear Stearns chief economist Larry Kudlow. Kudlow is economics adviser to New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman and presidential candidate Steve Forbes. He said on the "McLaughlin Group" that he was confused by the whole issue of homosexuality, not really knowing its causes and origins. He said that tolerance was definitely the winning strategy on this issue for the GOP. He stated that due to his own past problems (some personal challenges in the early 1990s), he had no right to point fingers at anyone. His best comment was that "the Republican Party would make a huge mistake if it runs the Log Cabin group out of the party. These gay men and women are very effective activists for Republican issues in the gay community, such as less government and lower taxes."

I was quite pleased by that last comment. On the negative side, he did lump homosexuality in with other social ills by stating that "with so many other social problems to worry about such as divorce, abortion, and unwed motherhood, it baffles me why conservative Republicans want to focus on the issue of homosexuality. It's a vote loser in my opinion."

I have always respected Larry Kudlow's free market economic views and political acumen. He advised Christie Whitman to adopt a Reagan-style tax cut in New Jersey's gubernatorial race in 1993. At that point she was running 10 points behind Democratic incumbent Jim Florio. Two weeks later she scraped to a 1 point victory with most voters saying the tax cut had made them vote for her. Larry's comments on the McLaughlin Group show that we Log Cabin Republicans are slowly but surely moving hearts and minds on this issue among prominent GOP thinkers and strategists. Let's keep up the good work!