I think it was a little more than a decade ago that my dear friend Susan tragically died.  Elizabeth Furse came to the memorial in her honor and was one of the speakers that took to the stage to say nice things about her.  I knew that Susan must have been so proud and grateful, because political activist and feminist that she was, Susan had worked awfully hard to get Furse elected.  And it is in the midst of this absolutely insane electoral season that I have to ask:  “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, what on earth has happened to you?!”  I’ve just seen not the first but the second commercial for Gordon Smith’s reelection that she has become a talking head for, this time championing him as someone who’s “stood up for gay rights.”  Stood up for gay rights??!!!  Puh-leeze!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I admit it, for some people, in some cases, I have a long memory.  And some memories never die.  I remember, shortly after I moved to Portland in the early 90s, the sturm and drang over Measure 9 and the sleazebucket director and spokesman of the Oregon Citizens Alliance, Lon Mabon.  “What kind of godforsaken town have I moved to?” I had to question myself about.  It really soured my introduction to Portland and made me wonder about just what kind of people were living here.  Mabon, the typical slimey, pedagoguic opportunist that always spearheads such hatemongering groups.  [And by the way, I remember that good ol' John McCain spoke at a fundraising dinner for the OCA here in 1993.]  So along comes 1996 and it’s Smith vrs. Wyden for the Senate, and among his other “achievements”, Smith had the full-throttled backing and support of Mabon and the OCA in his bid for Senate.  Did Smith “stand up for gay rights” then?  What do you think?  He did NOT renounce nor stand against the OCA in any way and, thankfully, at least then, Wyden prevailed and won the seat.

In Furse’s first commercial endorsing Smith this season, she repeated the absurdity that Smith stood against the President and was “one of the first voices” (or something like that, if I remember the commercial with any accuracy) against the war in Iraq.  To that I say, again, puh-leeze.  When did Smith get on his high horse and “come out” agains the Iraq war?  Well, that I don’t recall exactly, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of about four Years after it began — wasn’t it last year sometime? — when the overwhelming majority of America’s population were polling as being against the war, and anyone in even a remotely “blue” state would be hurting to continue to support it.  His posturing at the time about his decision of “conscience” was one of those classic Political moments where you can’t help but say “oh, spare me, wouldja?”.

Gordon Smith to me is the quintessential, classic “politician” with all the usual bad “vibe” that the term has come to denote.  I think of him as someone who would do or say anything for a vote, spineless, without any measure of integrity or righteous principle.  A panderer, a meanderer, a bullshitter, a weak-kneed, finger-in-the-wind, do-nothing Republican politician who has brought absolutely zero credit to our State.  And it’s time for him to go.

Zach Newman is a writer and political junkie. His “day job”, though, is as an experienced, reliable and trusted Realtor in the Portland area. He is a longtime member of PABA - Portland’s GLBT Chamber of Commerce. Call Zach at 503.287.8989 or visit his website at: http://www.equitygroup.com/zach.

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