Rob McKenna's support for anti-Gay candidates draws ire in blogosphere

The blog, Pam's House Blend, has taken aim at Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna for his support of anti-Gay candidates. She makes a compelling argument in each endorsement about why McKenna should have known better.

November 20th, 2010:

Washington State's Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna likes to portray himself as a moderate, as noted recently. That false image was shattered when he endorsed numerous virulently anti-gay candidates in the 2010 elections.

As if to reinforce the point that he is ardently anti-gay, on Friday Mr. McKenna posted an email asking supporters to do ballot rehab for two outspokenly anti-gay candidates Vincent Buys and Hans Zeiger.

See SGN reporting on Zeiger here, here and here. He currently leads by 40 votes in the race against incumbent Democrat Dawn Morrell in the 25 LD, Pos. 2, race.

November 11th, 2010:

Always genteel, Washington State's Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna likes to portray himself as a moderate. Being relatively new to Washington, I only started to think about Mr. McKenna's political positioning recently as LGBT friends & allies started mentioning that they had spotted him at this or that event. Delighted at the prospect of a Republican Attorney General (or even future Governor) who is good on LGBT issues, I went into due diligence mode and looked over the public record. What I discovered was that Mr. McKenna may play the moderate, but his own history and his endorsement of a bevvy of virulently anti-gay candidates this election tell a very different story.

With an eye on the Governor's mansion in 2012, McKenna has crafted a public persona gauged to appear inoffensive on social issues. This is necessary for any Republican running for statewide office because although Washington is closely divided along party lines, the electorate has proven itself to be fair-minded on issues like a woman's right to choose, the right of terminally ill people to choose to die with dignity, and civil equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) families.