With (Anonymously Quoted) Friends Like These….
| May 10th, 2006From the Washington Blade:
Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean fired the party’s gay outreach adviser Donald Hitchcock on May 2 less than a week after Hitchcock’s domestic partner, Paul Yandura, a longtime party activist, accused Dean of failing to take adequate steps to defend gay rights. [...]
Hitchcock’s dismissal came after Yandura created a stir among party activists, both gay and straight, by sending an open letter on April 20 to gay Democrats criticizing Dean and the party for not getting involved in state ballot measures seeking to ban gay marriage.
Yandura charged that the DNC failed to counter efforts by Republicans to promote the anti-gay ballot measures as a wedge issue to win elections. He suggested that gays withhold donations to the Democrats until the party formally addresses issues he raised.
The Dems, of course, are claiming that the firing wasn’t retaliation. I don’t buy it.
The Democrats’ slogan should be, “We’re less awful to queers than the other party, so send us lots of money.” If the Republicans ever decide to stop supporting anti-queer policies, it will cost the Democrats millions every election cycle.
The article is notable as well for an example of exactly the kind of “anonymous” quoting that journalists shouldn’t print:
A third DNC insider, who also requested anonymity out of concern for sounding critical of Hitchcock, said Dean and other DNC officials decided several months before Yandura’s public criticism of the party that Hitchcock “was not the best fit” for his job.[...]
Hitchcock disputes this assessment. “I never had any bad performance review or anyone telling me I was not doing a good job,” he said.
The first two anonymous quotes (who are only identified as DNC insiders retroactively, by the phrase “a third DNC insider”) have reason to not speak on the record: They’re afraid of retaliation from Dean. If they work for the DNC, as seems likely, they might be afraid of losing their jobs. Under such circumstances, printing anonymous quotes is reasonable.
The third DNC insider, however, is hardly a whistleblower, or in danger of being fired for saying something supportive about his boss. He’s not concerned with “sounding critical of Hitchcock”: he is being critical of Hitchcock, after all. He just wants the convenience of slamming Hitchcock without being held responsible. I think it’s likely this leak was set up by Dean’s office. There’s no reason journalists should aid politicians with this sort of anonymous leak. If Dean or other DNC people want to slam Hitchcock, let them do so in their own names, or not at all.
Crossposted on Creative Destruction. My threads on “Alas” are heavily moderated; if you have trouble posting comments here, please try commenting on the crosspost instead.
May 10th, 2006 at 10:40 am
[...] Today, Ampersand drew attention to a Wash. Blade article on Dean’s miniaturized version of Plamegate: Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean fired the party’s gay outreach adviser Donald Hitchcock on May 2 less than a week after Hitchcock’s domestic partner, Paul Yandura, a longtime party activist, accused Dean of failing to take adequate steps to defend gay rights. [...] [...]
This comment was written by Stop trying so hard to win and you will at PunkAssBlog.com.Report this comment to the moderators
May 10th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
swell.
This comment was written by belledame222.Report this comment to the moderators
May 10th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
05/10 Yes, Cathy, Victim Advocates Should Believe Rape Victims 05/10With (Anonymously Quoted) Friends Like These….
This comment was written by FeministBlogosphere.Report this comment to the moderators
May 11th, 2006 at 4:14 am
s domestic partner, Paul Yandura, a longtime party activist, accused Dean of failing to take adequate steps to defend gay rights. […] Hitchcock’s dismissal came after Yandura created a stir among party […]Continue reading at Alas, a blog … posted 8:43 am at Alas, a blog
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May 11th, 2006 at 5:20 am
But if the Republicans ever do stop supporting anti-queer policies, they’ll alienate what the ultralib Democrats call the “Flyover States” that the Reps depend upon.
It’s a shame. Most Reps, in the privacy of their own homes, probably don’t give a damn who the voters boink. But it’s always those ultracons that spoil it for the rest of us from the sociallib/economiccon area of the right wing.
This comment was written by Josh Cohen.Report this comment to the moderators
May 11th, 2006 at 6:03 am
Yeah, and you wouldn’t want your elected reps. to actually challenge homophobia, because that would be rude and they’d risk their nice gig and stuff. Only actual queers should have to risk their livelihoods, not the people they pony up money, votes, and time to.
It’s very important to roll over for bigots and their apologists wherever they are. That’s how you get real positive change in this country in the grand tradition of labor, civil rights, feminism, and– oops. :p
Sort of. They don’t care who “their friends boink,” because their friends tend to be affluent people. Family, too. Affluence has the darndest way of blunting the nasty effects of homophobia and a whole host of other “phobias,” too. If Howard Dean’s son came out of the closet tomorrow, yeah, it would be a shame that he couldn’t marry his true love. Still, he’d probably be able to provide handsomely for his partner in a way that the average queer schoolteacher or cashier could not in a comparable situation. SSM wouldn’t make the difference between getting by and getting to live on the street for a guy of Mr. Dean’s class. So, honestly, Howard’s defense of his inaction would be pretty much like Dick Cheney’s vis-a-vis his daughter Mary: My family’s protected. To hell with yours.
Isn’t the two-party system wonderful ?
This comment was written by alsis39.9.Report this comment to the moderators
May 11th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Mm. Remind me when the last “miscegenation” (there’s a word you don’t hear much these days) law was taken off the books? Right around the same time as Roe, wasn’t it? Early seventies? I am wondering what I’d find if I dug up some archived politicians’ speeches and platforms (and newspaper editorials, and…) from the relevant areas around that time. I’m guessing quite a bit of stuff that sounds suspiciously…familiar.
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May 14th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Tom at Just One Minute takes note of the supposed lack of reaction to Howard Dean’s flirtation withhomophobia: I have every intention of keeping this incident in mind when, as the months and years unfold, folks on the right are asked to endure diatribes about our homophobia and pandering on this issue. The silence greeting Dean tells me all I need to know
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May 30th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Original post:With (Anonymously Quoted) Friends Like These…. by at Google Blog Search: friends
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