How McGreevey's 'Sleaze' Will Hurt Kerry and Help Bush
Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2004
New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey's outrageous attempt to win sympathy as a confused "gay American" instead of admitting he is a corrupt American will hurt John Kerry and help President Bush, suggests Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
"The governor wrapped himself in the rainbow flag of gay rights to cover up some most unappealing warts. First, his administration has been surrounded by the stench of corruption almost from the beginning – and there is certainly more to come," Sabato writes in his popular e-mail newsletter, Crystal Ball.
"Second, the people of New Jersey seemed to smell a rat virtually from the beginning of his term; McGreevey has been consistently unpopular, so low in the polls that few would have bet that he would even have been nominated by the Democrats for a second term.
"Third and most important, McGreevey has led a governorship of personal sleaze. He has intentionally used two older women – his wives – and two younger women (his daughters) as props to cover up his double life. (Thanks to our correspondent Steve Wells, we were reminded of the ironic New Jersey tourism ads from the past two summers, with McGreevey holding his current wife and their daughter at the Jersey shore, while exclaiming, 'COME OUT – and see what's new in New Jersey.' Folks, you just can't make this stuff up.) As the truth unfolds, it will be abundantly clear that McGreevey's homosexuality was no recent revelation to him, but rather has been his norm in a long political career that could fairly be described as one long deception of the public for his own personal gain. Some details, if revealed, are sure to shock even the cynical among us," Sabato writes.
"McGreevey's corruption, deception, and sleaze are well illustrated in his outrageous decision to appoint his male lover, an Israeli citizen, to a critical, intelligence-sensitive, and extremely well-paid post in homeland security. The taxpayers funded his extramarital relationship – not unlike the infamous 1970s case of Congressman Wayne Hays of Ohio, who put his mistress, Elizabeth Ray, on his payroll as a secretary despite the fact that, as she later revealed, she could not type. (A powerful committee chairman, Hays was forced out of his chairmanship and eventually Congress as a result.)"
Even the people of New Jersey are realizing that the guv has been forced out because of his corruption, not his sexuality.
Sabato doubts if the laughably corrupt Democrat-daffy land of Robert Torricelli will vote for Bush instead of Kerry, "but the Republicans can squeeze some advantage out of the messy McGreevey matter in some of the key battleground states."
Democrats are so terrified of same-sex marriage, a ballot issue on 11 states in November, that in the battleground of Missouri they finagled to move up that question to the August primary to avoid damaging Kerry. Seventy-one percent of voters in the Show Me State supported the proposed constitutional amendment.
The 11 states holding referenda in November include closely fought Ohio (normally a GOP state, but unpopular tax-crazed Gov. Bob Taft has damaged Bush), Arkansas, Louisiana and Oregon.
"We'll bet the referenda pass everywhere, even in liberal states, and by large margins in most places. This helps George W. Bush," Sabato says.
He concludes: "The Crystal Ball's Assessment: Unintentionally, Jim McGreevey's scandal has helped to raise the prominence of gay rights on the Campaign 2004 agenda across the nation. McGreevey has instantaneously become a well recognized albatross for the Democratic Party and John Kerry, and thus a plus for George W. Bush – playing into the ballot initiatives on gay marriage in crucial swing states. Oddly, then, McGreevey's coming-out is proving to be a come-down for John Kerry." |
