The saga:
Richard Grenell hounded from Romney campaign by anti-gay conservatives: Richard Grenell, the openly gay spokesman recently hired to sharpen the foreign policy message of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, has resigned in the wake of a full-court press by anti-gay conservatives…. Grenell says:
I have decided to resign from the Romney campaign as the Foreign Policy and National Security Spokesman. While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign. I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Grenell decided to resign after being kept under wraps during a time when national security issues, including the president’s ad concerning Osama bin Laden, had emerged front and center in the campaign…
Michelangelo Signorile: Among the women Grenell had insulted was MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, whom he ridiculed for looking too manly: "she needs to take a breath and put on a necklace." He also said she looks like Justin Bieber…. Callista Gingrich (wondering whether her "hair snaps on") and Hillary Clinton ("starting to look liek Madeline [sic] Albright")…. Maddow wasn't just another women whose appearance Grenell was critiquing; he was mocking her for expressing her gender as what he apparently views, negatively, as a stereotypical lesbian…. It was the kind of crack many people would expect from a homophobic straight guy. Why would a gay man make a homophobic comment about a lesbian? Actually, it's all too common. And much of it (but certainly not all) comes from gay conservatives, often Republican, who seem to be embarrassed by much of the LGBT community as they try to blend into society's idea of what good gays should be like…
Richard Grenell, New Mitt Romney Spokesman, Scrubs Online Attacks On Media And Women: Richard Grenell, a former Bush administration official who joined the Romney campaign Thursday as national security and foreign policy spokesman, appears to have deleted more than 800 of his past tweets following scrutiny over numerous swipes aimed at the media, prominent Democratic women and the Gingriches. Grenell also apparently took down his personal site, which featured writing on politics, foreign affairs and the media…
Jonathan Capehart: Richard Grenell… took me to task for going to the White House state dinner for the British prime minister and not pressing President Obama on his position on same-sex marriage. First, he did so over Twitter. Then, he took his finger-wagging to the pages of the gay newspaper the Washington Blade. But now that the openly gay Grenell is the new foreign policy and national security spokesman for Mitt Romney…. As a condition of accepting the high-powered post, did Grenell get assurances from Romney, who has been endorsed by the National Organization for Marriage, that he would support marriage equality? Would Romney do so publicly — before the election? If Grenell neither was given nor sought such assurances, why would a man of such self-proclaimed principle take the job? Grenell’s first tweet came in around 9:05 a.m. on March 15, the morning after the state dinner. I wish I could tell you exactly what it said, but I can’t. Most of his Tweets to me were among those he deleted after his appointment on April 19 in an effort to scrub his Twitter feed of problematic postings. But the gist of what he said was summed up in a Tweet at 9:31 a.m.: "@CapehartJ im an activist looking to make sure you and i get equal protection from the liberal media. i out hypocrites. 9:31 AM - 15 Mar 12"…
Mitt Romney’s Appointment of Gay Aide Richard Grenell Signals New Attitude - ABC News: Last week, Mitt Romney hired Richard Grenell as his new foreign policy spokesman…. Grenell isn’t the first gay person Romney has hired, and he probably won’t be the last…
Richard Grenell's other targets: Richard Grenell, Mitt Romney’s new foreign policy spokesman, and his penchant for tweeting about the Gingriches…. "Susan @AmbassadorRice's inaction on #Syria reminds me of her inaction on #Rwanda. when do we do something about ineffective leaders? [Feb. 28]"… "stop the apologies & start explaining that US military personnel were following the rules of Islam to destroy desecrated Korans #Spokesmen? [Feb. 27]"… "the winner for Best Actress by a Secretary of State in an Arab Spring Drama is...Hillary Clinton - for her role in Ignoring #Syria [Feb. 26]"… "South Korea buying oil from Iran but complaining about DPRK's nukes seems hypocritical. [Jan. 6]"… "ask any Californian if the GOP has a latino problem. We have no statewide GOP elected officials because we confuse illegals with legals"… "#FreeContraception is really Obama's population control strategy"… "im rick santorum and gay people should be deported"… "MeetThePress is a commercial for the Democratic Party & its radical feminist agenda. nobody is trying to outlaw contraception @davidgregory [March 4]"… "Richard Haass either has no core beliefs or he served in a Republican Administration & didn't believe what he advocated. #selfserving [Dec. 25]"… "First Lady slang? Michelle Obama tonight in North Carolina said: 'Because I got to get home after this'. is that transcript right?"…
Romney taps gay adviser as he veers toward middle: Republican presidential nominee-apparent Mitt Romney has begun his run toward the political middle, and one aspect of that shift appears to have been choosing an openly gay man to his team of campaign advisers…. Richard Grenell, 45…. The campaign’s announcement April 19 did not identify Grenell as gay, only that he was joining the campaign to serve as its spokesman on national security and foreign policy issues…
