I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’ve talked with my GayOP friends and it was evident to me that they were falling in line behind McCain. When you look at the ridiculously low bar that they lay out, it’s evident why. To sum it up, you don’t have to support gays and lesbians, just don’t go out of your way to slight gays and lesbians.

“On the most important issue that LGBT Americans faced in the last decade—the federal marriage amendment—Sen. John McCain stood with us. Now we stand with him,” said Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Sammon.

Never mind that McCain campaigned heavily for a gay marriage ban in his native Arizona.

Sen. McCain is a different kind of Republican. He understands the GOP lost its majority in Congress in 2006 largely because the Party focused on divisive social issues.

Not divisive? I turn to these two recent comments by McCain:

“I think it’s a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a — albeit strong — but just it’s a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far more so than [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights, pro, you know, a number of other issues.”

“I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption.”

He certainly isn’t making these comments to secure the gay vote. He’s playing to the religious right because he feels like he needs to give them something for their support. The Log Cabin Republicans just offered their support for free.

To be fair, I don’t blame them entirely. Because Democrats (read Clinton) couldn’t provide anything of value in regards to gay rights, gay Republicans who relate more closely to the GOP principles don’t have any good reason to jump ship.

That said, what I saw last week in speeches from Obama, Teddy Kennedy, and both Clintons was respect. John McCain has not shown that respect (certainly not in the above comments).

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