Tuesday, February 08, 2005

PoliSexual Ethics: What Constitutes "Over the Line"?

A post on Eschaton this morning got me to thinking - what is fair game in dealing with the wanker brigade, and what's not? Do the ends always / sometimes / never justify the means?

From AMERICAblog:

Ken Mehlman, the head of the Republican National Committee, again resorted yesterday to gay-baiting Democrats for political gain...

...Feel free to call the RNC and ask tell them that since they feel Senator Reid's relationships with the gay community are relevant, you want to know what Ken Mehlman's relationships are with the gay community as well...

The RNC phone number is listed on the AMERICAblog posting, and apparently quite a few people have been availing themselves of the number today.

This whole concept poses a major quandary for me. Do progressives use this as an opportunity expose GOP hypocrisy on gay / lesbian issues, or does it even matter? Obvious, Mehlman himself is doing little but pandering to the GOP base, and in a larger sense may be actually be doing himself and the GOP more damage than anything else by making such vapid press releases. I expect that Harry Reid can defend himself quite well.

So, help me out here.

From a purely progressive ethical standpoint, is an active campaign to "out" a Log Cabin Republican's sexual orientation fair game, as political (or personal) retribution? Or even as an exercise in exposing GOP hypocrisy on all issues gay and lesbian?