The Lesser of Evils

Yesterday at lunch, I read an article in the Globe about conservative activist Brian Camenker and his mission to prove that Mitt Romney is not the conservative that he fancies himself, but is in fact the dreaded "flip-flopper." I've talked about Brian Camenker here before in less than flattering terms because his politics and mine certainly don't match up. Frankly, I think Brian Camenker is a bigot, as his record of bullying Macy's into removing a gay pride week display from their Downtown Crossing store last year, his petition to stop domestic partnership benefits, and his very questionable attempt to sit in on a gay rights celebration at Newton North High School illustrate. I'm sure lots of people agree with the guy, but I think he's a bigot with too much time on his hands. A coworker of mine came in while I was reading the article and told me that a friend of his had debated Camenker once on a radio program.

"About halfway through the debate, my friend realized that he was dealing with a person who would never listen to another person, ever, and that he was just talking at someone, not with someone."

But, as the article states, Brian Camenker hates Mitt Romney. Granted, he hates Mitt Romney for the exact opposite reasons that I do. I think Mitt Romney is a conservative moron. Mr. Camenker believes Mitt Romney isn't conservative enough a moron and wrote a report called "The Mitt Romney Deception" detailing Romney's previous close and cuddly relationship with gay rights activists and pro-choice groups in his now notorious Senate bid.

This leaves me with a very unsavory feeling. I disagree with Camenker's politics in just about every conceivable way, but I love that he's caused Mitt Romney to flip his coiffed lid about some jackoff with good research skills and a typewriter. I'm not the only one, either.

"I love it," said Marc Solomon, campaign director for the gay rights group MassEquality. "It's sort of ironic, but I think that in this case, Brian Camenker actually has a point, and I think that's the first time I've ever said that. He is highlighting Romney's just total political expediency on issues related to gays and lesbians."

I really dislike the term "flip-flop" because it makes light of the fact that people can change their views over time. But it's one thing to wish gay couples a happy gay pride week in one decade, and then cut funding to many gay rights groups in the next. It's like Mitt Romney was visited by three spirits that gay pride weekend to show him that if he continued down his liberal path he'd end up dead with people stealing his Aqua Net while cackling about what a liberal he was and he woke up determined to be as strict on individual liberty as possible. If it takes a bigot like Brian Camenker to bring Mitt down a few pegs, I guess I'll have to take it. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, I suppose, but I'm not going to buy him a beer or anything.