Former Closeted Republican Tells Chris Matthews The GOP Exploits Gays To 'Gin Up Their Base' (VIDEO)

David Brock, CEO of Media Matters of America and a former closeted gay Republican, appeared on MSNBC's "Hardball" Wednesday night to discuss Obama's signing the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" into law.

Deeming the ban on gays in the military a "phony wedge culture war issue," Brock went on to say that right-wing leaders "exploit gay people and they exploit the fear of gay people to gin up their base. That's what they do. It's a totally cynical thing. Half of them don't even believe it. I know, I was in the right wing. So that's what's going on here."

When Matthews asked Brock how, as a gay man, he put up with the rampant homophobia within his party, Brock responded, "Self-loathing. I wasn't confident enough myself...to come out."

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Comments

[yoyo1900]

01:18 AM on 01/20/2011

Let's face it the Repubs and Dems both need gay people. The Dems to get their votes and the Repubs to get the right wing vote. It's all politics no matter which way you turn.

[sf omega man]

01:14 AM on 01/20/2011

The GOP knows their ideology cannot stand on its own merits. Therefore it must create the mirage of an enemy, and use the fear of that enemy to cater to worst base impulses of those who lack the ability to detect a con job on the make. By then channeling this fear to alter the political calculus ... permits wealth transfer to the ruling class to continue unabated.

[yeswecanjane]

08:14 PM on 12/27/2010

The Republicans use abortion as an issue that they will never truly try to work to outlaw! They need it!

[JonB2057]

04:14 PM on 12/27/2010

"Deeming the ban on gays in the military a "phony wedge culture war issue," Brock went on to say that right-wing leaders "exploit gay people and they exploit the fear of gay people to gin up their base."

And this is news to who??

[Retrofuturistic]

01:44 PM on 12/27/2010

I wish they understood this in Ohio. Especially when they vote....

[Matt Chernesky]

03:32 PM on 12/30/2010

If the Republicans who now control Ohio mess up, we sure won't let them stay here come next election.

[Marcus1]

10:50 AM on 12/26/2010

Just another in a long line of phoney republican politicians. Not that most politicians are not, just that most by far are republican. Need some snake oil?

[RuleofLawNow]

06:38 PM on 12/25/2010

Elite Republicans, with the exception of Romney and Huckabee perhaps, understand hate-based Christianity as a windfall and great way to achieve political objectives with almost no effort. Swarms of footsoldiers, fearing modernity...who could ask for more as a cynical politician?

[William1950]

02:50 PM on 12/24/2010

gay rights, abortion, socialism.. even the climate... all manufactured issues.. all magnified to create division of the ruled.. to give us angst and anger to distract us from the very real damage and looting that is being done to us all ... i venture to say even politics is fake... there is no right wing or left wing in washington.. they are on the green path, - green as in the color of money -

[DixieMay]

03:07 PM on 12/25/2010

Man William...you've cut right to the heart of the matter!

F&F'd!!

[Retrofuturistic]

01:45 PM on 12/27/2010

It's like that old Richard Pryor movie called =Blue Collar=. Management keeps the workers divided so they don't unite against management.

[Puller58]

01:33 PM on 12/24/2010

Brock was thrown under the bus years ago when he wrote a book and said something nice about Hillary Clinton.

[Eric8869]

10:54 AM on 12/24/2010

"the Democrats have led on this historic bill - starting with Bill Clinton" - WHAT? He's the one who put DADT in place in the first place! He instituted DADT instead of doing an executive order like he promised. Let's not whitewash history.

[Titan1nyc]

12:20 PM on 12/24/2010

DADT was put into effect to curtail military discharges of gays, when I joined in in the early eighties, I was asked if I'd ever had a "gay" encounter, I was young, lived in an anti gay home, the military was at the time my only way out. DADT was put into effect later, what Clinton did not expect from this law was that gays would still be witch hunted after it was in effect.

[conservicide]

02:48 PM on 12/24/2010

Thankyou for correcting Eric8869's half truth.

[Eric8869]

03:53 PM on 12/24/2010

Let's not rewrite history. Bill Clinton campaigned for President saying one of his first actions in office would be to sign an executive order allowing gay people to serve openly. It was after the right wing (and southern democrats) made it a huge scandal that he sold out gay people and signed in this compromise that actually enforced anti-gay bigotry by the military.

[SteveHansen]

07:23 AM on 12/28/2010

I recall that in 1993, there was serious talk about a constitutional amendment to say that homosexuals have no rights at all, and may not serve in the military or be employed in any other government position. The supreme court had just struck down an anti-gay state law in Colorado. Clinton had said that gays should be allowed to serve in the military, and work for the government. The right-wingers were up in arms, and clearly had enough support to pass an amendment. DADT was a compromise to get them to forgo the constitutional amendment proposal. As unsavory as it was, that "compromise" worked to prevent an amendment that would have had far worse effect.

[Eric8869]

10:52 AM on 12/24/2010

Yep the right wing and lunatic religious fringe used to fundraise based on fear of the "reds" or "the communists" - now they do it with fear of gay people. It's really all about greed.

Closeted Gay Republicans do so much harm to gay people and gay rights.

[bannorhill]

10:50 AM on 12/24/2010

And Democrats don't use gay issues to gin up their base?

[Titan1nyc]

12:23 PM on 12/24/2010

considering, 90% of gays vote dem, and are huge donors. you are wrong on this one.
Before the mid terms Cummings and other high profile gays were bashing Obama over gay rights, yet , it was the repugs that were blocking DADT.

[csavage]

03:57 PM on 12/24/2010

Of course-the phrase "somebody is being deprived of their civil rights" gets the left "ginned up" every time....
Look at which groups you can use in place of the word "somebody" and,mysteriously, the liberal base appears...blacks, browns, women, gays....

[bannorhill]

11:50 PM on 12/24/2010

However the US Supreme Court has never viewed same sex marriage as a right. That ginned up phrase is based on a lie.

[Clevelandinwi]

08:34 AM on 12/24/2010

One of the tenets of murdok: CREATE HATE

[Clevelandinwi]

08:33 AM on 12/24/2010

One thought on this: YA THINK !

[totalliberal]

07:24 AM on 12/24/2010

Common, Murdoch media specializes in ginning up hate, It's all they do.