Maggie Gallagher adopted dubious claim that Dems used "threat[s]" in NH gay marriage debate
SUMMARY: Maggie Gallagher repeated the dubious claim that the Democratic Party "threaten[ed] [New Hampshire Democratic] state senators" if they did not support the state's same-sex marriage bill, without noting that the state's Democratic Party chairman has disputed the allegation.
In a May 4 post on the National Review Online blog, The Corner, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, claimed that "gay-marriage advocates ... got the national Democratic party to threaten [New Hampshire Democratic] state senators with retaliation if they didn't toe the line" by supporting the state's same-sex marriage bill, and that these "threat[s]" included "primary opponents, or even moving the presidential primary date out of NH." Gallagher sourced the claim to an April 30 entry on the Now! Hampshire blog by former GOP consultant Patrick Hynes, who cited anonymous "Democratic State House sources" in alleging that New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley "played [the] primary card" during "closed-door negotiations." However, Gallagher did not note that Buckley has disputed Hynes' allegations, calling them "fabricated lies by the NH Republican party."
In an email posted on the blog DemConWatch, Buckley wrote of Hynes' claims:
The lie of any pressure by me or the lie of any connection to the primary are fabricated lies by the NH Republican party. The source is a new website created by the NH Republicans to spin lies, it is their latest effort as they flail away as they sink lower and lower into total irrelevancy. Patrick Hynes (crushkerry.com), a NH mudslinger operates nowhampshire.com. (Google Hynes and you will be fascinated with his efforts).
The reason for the lie is they refuse to believe the truth: the state senators chose to support marriage equality because they felt it was the right thing to do. Each of the senators came to that conclusion on their own. Two of the senators have gay children and three have gay nieces or nephews. Others who have faced discrimination for one reason or another in their lives felt compelled to support the legislation others heard from hundreds of their constituents supporting marriage equality.
The Republicans are trying to make the vote into something sinister and ugly. Don't let them get away with it.
As Media Matters for America has noted, Hynes was reportedly hired in May 2006 by Straight Talk America, Sen. John McCain's political action committee, but failed to disclose his involvement with the McCain campaign until July of that year. During those two months, Hynes wrote several posts on his now-defunct blog AnkleBitingPundits.com promoting McCain's candidacy and criticizing McCain's opponents in the 2008 Republican primary. According to National Review Online blogger Jim Geraghty, Hynes wrote Geraghty an email acknowledging that he should have disclosed his ties to McCain.
Hynes has also made inflammatory comments, including calling the Democratic Party "anti-Christian" and suggesting that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) be nicknamed "Pig Man." A poster on the conservative website FreeRepublic.com using the pseudonym "Kerry Crusher" -- identified on FreeRepublic as Hynes -- also characterized Chelsea Clinton as "hideously ugly."
Hynes has a history of being hideously ugly. It's no surprise that he just makes stuff up, which gets picked up by the right-wing noise machine and far too often, into the corporate media.
Basically I don't believe anything I see or hear until I verify it. Yes, it takes time but; you know, sometimes you learn something as you go through the process.
It is like they used to say, back in the day, if it is difficult it tends to be rewarding.
Personally, I think most people in Congress need a primary opponent. A lot of them are advancing their own interests rather than representing the interests of their constituents. Primary opponents will help keep them honest and respectful of the wishes of those they represent.