Retract the Graham Gay Smear

A xenophobic, anti-immigration group has come up with a way to draw attention to themselves while brutally injuring a political foe.

William Gheen of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC)  has called on Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to “come out of the closet” and admit he’s gay:

News of ALIPAC’s request for Senator Lindsey Graham to come out of the closet, so his constituents will be on even footing with corrupt special interests in Washington regarding his secret lifestyle, is being reported nationally and William Gheen will appear on the Thom Hartmann and Lou Dobbs radio shows today.

[…]

William Gheen called on Senator Lindsey Graham to be honest with American voters about his homosexual lifestyle to assure that Graham’s desire to keep it a secret could no longer be potentially used by political insiders to manipulate Graham’s behavior. There are many precedents in American politics where affairs, corruption, addictions, and other situations that politicians wanted concealed were used to manipulate them with unfair advantage.

Two words: prove it.

What bona fides does Gheen carry that would make him an expert in this matter?

William Gheen has worked for multiple gay candidates before as a campaign consultant for the North Carolina Democratic Party in the 90s. He is also experienced with political corruption issues in the Carolinas as a campaign consultant with over 44 campaigns of experience and five years as the President of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, which has been dealing with elite corruption issues designed to deprive Americans of constitutional governance and national sovereignty.

Ooooh — he “worked for multiple gay candidates.” Well, that settles it. I bow to Mr. Gheen’s superior judgment.

Except for one thing. While there has been speculation for years, no one has ever come forward to say they have proof that Graham is a homosexual. Graham denies it. And unlike other gay Republicans who are still in the closet who have been exposed by the professional “outers” in the Democratic Party, Graham has not been fingered.

Those “outers” include perhaps the most despicable character in American politics today. Mike Rogers of BlogActive said today on the Ed Schultz Show that he has “no evidence” that Graham is gay. What’s significant about this is that Rogers’ standards of “evidence” would make Joe Stalin’s show trials look like a model of fairness and impartiality by comparison. If Mike Rogers won’t say that Graham is gay, the fact that Gheen would give credence to the rumor is outrageous.

And that’s all it is — a rumor. Graham is an unmarried male in his 50s and for some troglodytes on the right, that’s enough “evidence” to smear the senator with a charge that they are well aware would do him great harm in conservative South Carolina. Certainly one can oppose Graham based on his positions and policies. In the past few months, several county Republican organizations have censured Graham for that reason.

So why the smear? Gheen is a loser — a second-rate politico working for a third-rate organization. These guys are so obscure Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry for them. So what better way to raise cash for your PAC and elevate your little PAC’s profile than make a scurrilous charge against a politician you oppose and watch as the MSM and the left gleefully pile on?

Graham came to Washington in 1992. If he really is gay, for 18 years he has been one of the most discreet homosexuals in the history of that town. The psychic burden of constantly being on guard against betraying who you really are is usually too much for a closeted homosexual in a place where you are under the microscope of the press as well as the opposition. There are bound to be slip-ups, as I’m sure Mike Rogers could tell Mr. Gheen.

Last year, an openly lesbian politician “outed” Graham on FireDogLake but later admitted she had no personal knowledge of Graham’s sexual orientation. She was simply repeating the rumors that have swirled around Senator Graham almost from the moment he declared for public office.

Perhaps even more of an outrage was the intimation by Gheen that Graham was being blackmailed by proponents of immigration reform and other “corrupt” interests with whom Gheen disagrees:

I personally do not care about Graham’s private life, but in this situation his desire to keep this a secret may explain why he is doing a lot of political dirty work for others who have the power to reveal his secrets. Senator Graham needs to come out of the closet inside that log cabin so the public can rest assured he is not being manipulated with his secret.

“Beyond the pale” is an understatement. Not a shred of evidence exists that Graham is anything except misguided and just plain wrong about some issues. On others, he has proved to be a reliable Republican vote. To even hint that he has been co-opted as a result of his sexual orientation is the kind of politics that was once common in America, but has blessedly been relegated to the fringes where lowlifes like Gheen hang out.

The point being, the people of South Carolina have made their feelings known about the senator twice. They will get another chance in 2014 to express their approval or disapproval. Since Mr. Gheen apparently believes he can’t beat Senator Graham on the issues, it is perhaps understandable that he would resort to the kind of gutter politics that was once the hallmark of the American political system. It just doesn’t get much lower than repeating rumors with no basis in fact. No subtlety, no hedging, no caveats — just a straight right jab below the belt.

Unless Mr. Gheen can prove his wild accusations, he should retract his statements and apologize. But that would take the courage possessed of men — something small-minded guttersnipes like Mr. Gheen have in short supply.