Brody's Notes... National Republican Senatorial Committee Denounces Dan Savage Over It Gets Better Controversy

U. S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA)
Official Senate Photo

By Brody Levesque | WASHINGTON D. C. -- The Massachusetts Democratic Party has accused Massachusetts Republican U. S. Senator Scott Brown, whose refusal participate in that state's delegation's video for the It Gets Better Project has been criticised, of taking part in a concerted pattern of failure to support rights for LGBTQ individuals.
LGBTQNation reported yesterday:

The Massachusetts congressional delegation on Wednesday released their video contribution to the “It Gets Better Project,” aimed at inspiring LGBT youth facing adversity and depression.
All 10 U.S.House representatives from Massachusetts participated in the project, as did U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass). Republican Sen. Scott Brown’s office said he declined an invitation to take part.

Massachusetts Democratic Party, state Rep. Carl Sciortino (D-Medford) talking about Brown's refusal in a press phone call he hosted said:

"Sen. Brown's absence in our congressional delegation's video sends a message that he supports kids being bullied or harassed," said Sciortino. "Now, I don't think that's the message that Sen. Brown wants to send. I'm asking him, as a senator for the commonwealth, to stand up and show some leadership on behalf of his LGBT constituents, our young people that are facing violence in our schools, our young people that are being bullied in our schools."

Sciortino also noted that in 2006, when Brown was still a Massachusetts state senator, he was the only member of that body voting to uphold then-Governor Mitt Romney's veto of a Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.

Yesterday, Senator Brown's office argued that the senator has had a "strong record" on bullying and said his "main focus right now is on creating jobs and getting our economy back on track."

This morning the National Republican Senatorial Committee fired back at Brown's critics. In an e-mail to Politico's senior political analyst and columnist Ben Smith,  NRSC communications director Brian Walsh wrote:

If, as the old saying goes, you’re known by the company you keep, than the voters of Massachusetts deserve to know who Democrat Party operatives are teaming up with to spread outrageous attacks on Scott Brown’s character.

It’s truly reached a new level of desperation in their efforts to tear down Scott Brown, but we look forward to hearing whether state and national Democrat leaders agree with Dan Savage’s long history of lewd, violent and anti-Christian rhetoric. Given their press conference call today, one has to presume at this point that they do.

Savage, who edits the Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger, is best known as an often-raunchy syndicated sex columnist and vocal LGBTQ activist who has taken aim at Republican politicians that Savage sees as anti-gay hate mongers. (Most notably former Pennsylvania U. S. Senator Rick Santorum, whose last name as been redefined on Google searches as the by-product of anal sex.)
NRSC's Walsh wasn't the only person to defend Senator Brown as  Eric Fehrnstrom, a political adviser to Brown offered a sharper response telling reporters:

"Senator Brown believes all people regardless of sexual orientation should be treated with dignity and respect. He has been a leader in fighting for anti-bullying legislation at the state and federal level. His main focus is creating jobs and getting the economy moving again. In this case, the individual behind the video has made vile and sexually crude comments about Senator Brown. It's reprehensible for Senator Brown's opponents to associate with this person in order to score cheap political points."

Late this afternoon, Savage released the following response:

I am not the IGB project. The project has had the reach and impact that it's had thanks to tens of thousands of people from all over the world who've participated. [A]nd no one who participates is required to crawl into bed with me. ..:

It is interesting, though, that not a single GOP elected official can bring himself or herself to make a video, or participate in the creation of one. No GOP elected official can risk being seen letting bullied LGBT kids know that life isn't high school and that it will get better for them. it doesn't require signing off on the entire gay agenda (the president made a video, and he doesn't support gay marriage). No GOP elected can back the seemingly radical notion that LGBT kids shouldn't kill themselves, that they should have hope for their futures.

No GOP elected official can do even that -- David Cameron, meanwhile, made a video months ago. Which tells us a lot about the noisiest part of the GOP's base — lewd (have you seen their websites?) hate groups like Focus on the Family and Americans for Truth About Homosexuality — and how feared they are by even "moderate" senators like Scott Brown.