Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu has been widely hailed in far-right circles as a rising star in Republican Party politics. The Pinal County sheriff has been a Fox News darling for quite a while; he's parlayed his celebrity status into a congressional campaign; and when John McCain's re-election campaign ran his "complete the danged fence" ad in 2010, the spot co-starred Babeu.
In light of new revelations, however, it seems likely that Babeu's career is finished.
Associated Press
The Phoenix New Times broke the news on Friday that the Republican sheriff has been romantically involved with a campaign volunteer, and that Babeu reportedly tried to intimidate his boyfriend about keeping their relationship secret.
The New Times reported that a Mexican man identified only as Jose alleged that Babeu and his attorney, Chris DeRose, threatened that he could be deported if he didn't sign an agreement not to disclose his romantic affair with Babeu, who has a national reputation as a border-security hawk. Babeu said Saturday that he had "a personal relationship" with Jose, who volunteered on his political campaign, and acknowledged that provocative photographs of himself that accompanied the story on the New Times website were authentic.
One of the photographs, reminiscent of former Rep. Chris Lee (R-N.Y.), shows Babeu standing in front of a bathroom mirror wearing nothing but his underwear. It's generally not the sort of thing congressional candidates want to see in the media during a Republican primary.
For his part, Babeu held a press conference on Saturday, in uniform, acknowledging that he's gay, but denying making any threats towards Jose. The sheriff's attorney also said Babeu had no reason to question his boyfriend's immigration status during their relationship.
Babeu also said he intends to stay in the congressional race and would not resign as sheriff.
Bruce Merrill, a veteran Arizona political scientist and a senior research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy, told the Arizona Republic that the denials probably won't be enough to salvage Babeu's career. "You can't overcome that, if it's legitimate," Merrill said.
The chairman of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors also predicted Babeu would resign.
As for the larger implications, it's also worth noting that Babeu has been one of Mitt Romney's highest-profile supporters in Arizona. On Saturday, the Romney camp and Babeu had severed all ties.
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I understand people have their own political ideology. I get that. But why would a gay man support a party that thinks being gay is a disease? Same principle as it pertains to women. Some women support the GOP even though the GOP wants to role back the hands of time.
There has to be something about the democrat party that conservative gays and conservative women hate more than themselves. The reason I say that is because they support candidates that don't believe in gay equality and sexual equality. They support a group of candidates that don't believe in equality period.
Maybe Rachel can find a Gay Conservative Woman (GCW). I would love to hear what a GCW thinks of the Democrat Party. I would love to hear why she supports the Republican Party over the Democrat Party.
It's Democratic Party.
"Democrat Party" is a Luntz approved slur word.
Because nobody is defined by any single characteristic of their makeup.
If the issues that a person feels the most strongly about are in line with the agenda of a certain political party, they will tend to support it. Maybe the issues of immigration and border control are more important to Babeu than whether or not "the party thinks being gay is a disease."
I think it's unfair to generalize the whole GOP as a group who does not want equality for women or gay people, but I understand that this is the message that the party is sending recently. I wish I had time to formulate a well thought out response to your comment because I am a conservative gay woman. Unfortunately, I don't have the skills or inclination to defend my position on this.
I'm not trying to start an argument or debate, but I don't hate myself at all. And although I am conservative, it doesn't mean that I blindly support the GOP, or any party for that matter. I vote for the congressional candidates that I feel will best represent my interests. In a nutshell, I consider myself to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. You bring up a good point, and I would also like to hear from other GCW's on this.
Are you a conservative troll or just stupid? What's a "democrat party"? I know of a "Democratic Party" or the possessive, "Democrat's party" but the only time I've ever heard "Democrat Party" (of which, you use 3 times) has been as a type of playground smear coming from the republicons (like Willard "Mittens" Romney).
As for your answer, the typical response is either "Fiscal Conservative" (which is factually, numerically, and mathematically false, but the conservatives don't let facts get in the way of anything), or, "I'm not a one-issue voter" which is asinine at best.
As you can see, Equality covers a broad range of topics from security to education to economics to healthcare. Anyone who says otherwise is, as I said, asinine and ignorant at best and actively incensed at treating their fellow citizens as something not worth being human.
With that said, marriage equality couldn't have gotten passed in Iowa, Washington, or New Jersey without Republican support. Those brave people who are willing to go against the narrative of their party are worth at least everyone's gratitude for that; for finally seeing and recognizing the humanity of their fellow Americans and not kow-towing to the boogeyman characterization of, "They're not like 'us'."
At the same time, in those states, there were Democrats (of the Democratic Party) who either abstained from voting or voted against giving same-sex individuals and couples equal treatment under the law. And if this continues, I can see a larger portion of "the gay vote" going to the Republic Party (see how stupid that sounds?).
EDIT: I think MeddlingMonk and The Huntress made my point. When I started writing my response there were no other responses to the first post.
People may not be defined by a single characteristic of their makeup, but ones sexual orientation is a pretty large characteristic, and to be gay while supporting a party that openly believes that gay people are about one click above pond scum does raise some legitimate questions.
Turns out us queers tend to be pretty diverse. What's that slogan again? It escapes me....
Celebrate Diversity
Oh yeah...that might have somethin' to do w/ it
It's a party that condones and writes genocidal legislation in foreign countries against gay people. Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill didn't come from a vacuum, nor is it dead.
It's also a party that turns down protection for lgbt children so they aren't abused by family members, beaten up at school, or kill themselves to end their misery.
Rachel Maddow has made clear that the program invited the Cheney family (and, I assume by extrapolation) their daughter, who would perhaps fit the bill. Unfortunately, many conservatives do not seem interested in a vigorous discussion about their views on TRMS.
Oh yeah, maybe it has something to do with the fact they might be ashamed of being gay. So they hide it, vote republican over the Democrat Party, get jobs as cops, pretend they are not gay.
Maybe gays should recognize some gays don't like being gay at all.
Also, now that he's "out" his own republican party will ensure he never gets re-elected as sheriff. Why support a party like that over a democrat party?
Yet another example of how we, the receivers of the messages others send, need to be hyper-alerted to how the level of vehemence a messenger uses to condemn an issue may indicate a threshold of projection regarding the messenger's proximity to the condemned issue! Just saying! -Kevo
"...Babeu had no reason to question his boyfriend's immigration status during their relationship."
Riiiiight. Why not? He had reason to question every other brown person's immigration status. Why not this guy? Oh right, nevermind...
Doesn't it make you wonder what the limits of hypochrisy are? How does one make such separate compartments in their life?
The right tests the limits of hypocrisy every day! Can't wait to see how Rush and Hannity spin this one!! ( he was framed by liberals!)
How do you live your life with such dichotomies? What makes you think you can be in so much control that you can bend everyone around you to your will? I guess you can't really even accept yourself. So, you have to create a persona that you can "act as." That's gotta be tough. And, it usually (always) ends in failure.
The sheriff's sexuality should not be an issue, but it will be because people are not able to look past it. We have not reached that point, but it is changing. Aside from that issue, it is more important to ask why the border has suddenly become an issue during Obama's administration. These high profile border hawks were not making noise during Bush's terms. All of these Republican faux issues existed prior to Obama. What changed? Just the president who happens to be a Democrat. That is the bigger issue.
Typical Teabagger hypocrite, gay but against gays, anti Mexican but has a gay Mexican lover. You just can't make this stuff up!!
First Paul is gay, second he has a relationship with a man who is an illegal alien and third he puts a provocative picture of himself on a website. He has shown himself to be a hypocrite and is unashamed of his mistakes. I respected him as being a tough no nonsense type of a guy until the end of last week. It didm't matter if he was a Rep or a Dem but all that has changed in my mind. I am not against people in general but being gay is considered wrong morally. I would treat anyone with respect as long as they dont flaunt it around like a badge of honor. But don't talk about fighting illegal aliens and then either bang one or get banged by one that should not be in the country.