Party officials caught saying they'll do everything to stop him, despite popular support.

I hope you didn't think I meant the Republicans and Ron Paul. No, this is the Tennessee Democrat party, Mark Clayton, and the US Senate race.

Less than 24 hours after a man espousing conservative and libertarian views surprised the state’s political scene by winning the Democratic nomination, the Tennessee Democratic Party disavowed him, saying he’s part of an anti-gay hate group.

The party said Friday that it would do nothing to help Mark Clayton, 35, who received nearly twice as many votes as his closest challenger in Thursday’s seven-candidate primary, winning the right to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker in November.

Clayton defended his work for Public Advocate of the United States, the pro-life, pro-marriage group in question, and said he was disappointed with the Tennessee Democratic Party’s “zero-sum politics.”

“It’s not necessarily surprising, unfortunately,” he said in a phone interview. “But that’s not the way I deal with my political opponents. I have good friends who are liberals.”

Clayton acknowledged his social conservative instincts but said he’d been deeply disappointed by the presidency of George W. Bush, the last Republican to occupy the White House.

The Clayton campaign’s Facebook page champions three major positions: strict adherence to the U.S. Constitution, family stances that are pro-life, and keeping the country from turning into “AN ORWELLIAN SUPER STATE.”

www.tennessean.com...

I remember when anti-abortion (or pro-life) influence groups within the Republican Party were criticised for being engaged in "single issue politics." Consider, if the only objection to him the party has is that he's big on traditional marriage and is pro-life (and in Tennessee that's probably the position to have), then the Democrats have become a one issue party, sacrificing every other principle on the altar of unlimited and infinitely varied sexuality.

If it is not just his positions on marriage and the family that upset them, then the party should really explain why it is opposed to adherence to the Constitution, and fighting against an Orwellian super state. Perhaps because they are in favor of such a super state?

Anyway, Libertarians, here is a candidate you might consider endorsing. And everyone in the country, you should be considering what the Democrat Party really thinks is important. A gay-friendly country which doesn't protect the Constitution and sees 1984 as an operator's manual isn't what I'm looking for.

With respect,
Charles1952

Sounds like he fits in more appropriately with the Tea Party, he's probably a tea spy.

Your link doesn't work though.

Being part of a hate group is likely only part of the reason. You cry the constitution but what about the parties constitutional rights? After reading about this guy it looks to me like he's a republican in a democrat's clothing. Because he has only voted democrat was for himself in this election.

here's another link.

Mark Clayton, Winner Of Senate Primary, Disavowed By Democratic Party For Hate Group Association

don't know anything about this guy but after seeing the pic of him with the dog ... i wouldn't trust him either. the animals don't lie.

Guys, I'm really, really soory. About 20 minutes after I started the thread a wind and thunder storm knocked me off the net. (At least I think that's what it means when there are problems with the DNS server, whatever that is.)

I checked my link and it seems to work.

I have a problem with this "hate group" thing. It seems to be just a code word for "group that does something that gays don't approve of." The only source I've seen for the "hate group" designation is the Southern Law Poverty Center, a group with a questionable record of calling people who disagree with them "hate groups."

So I'm still left with my initial question, will the Democrat party put allegiance to the gay movement above every other prinicple? Can you be a Democrat candidate for a significant post and not accept the gay position?

The Democrats have plenty of reasons to disavow this guy. If he really was a Democrat why would he belong to a conservative group that works against things that the Dems work for? He may look like a duck but he's walking kinda funny

Here's a link to another Huffington article about the group he's associated with:

www.huffingtonpost.com...

I'm with buster2010 and Realspoke...and I agree with honor93...animals don't lie

reply to post by acuna or anybody else

Dear acuna or anyone,

I'm really not clear about this. Is the only objection that he is opposed to gay marriage and acts on his beliefs? If there is more, I could understand the party's position on this. But with just this . . .

With respect,
Charles1952

reply to post by charles1952
That's the only thing that matters to gays. They don't care about job creation, infrastructure, the economy, and a million other issues that are far more pressing.

reply to post by VikingWarlord

Dear VikingWarlord,

Thanks for the response. I think that may be a little extreme, but it seems like that's the number one issue for sure.

What I don't understand is how, with about 4% of the population, are they able to wrap a national party around their finger? Gays aren't going to vote Republican, so how did they get such amazing influence?

With respect,
Charles1952

He's a fake democratic candidate. Not the first one, the Wisconsin elections had a number of fake Democratic candidates on the ticket;

‘Fake’ Democratic Candidates Survive Ballot Challenge By Real Wisconsin Dems

State election officials in Wisconsin have rejected a challenge by Democrats, who were seeking to knock out fake “protest” candidates that Republicans have registered to run in the Democratic primaries for the spring recalls.

Republicans have recruited a candidate, and collected ballot signatures, for each of the six recall Democratic primary elections for governor, lieutenant governor and four state Senate seats.

This guy Clayton was never a democrat and runs a "conservative" hate group.

Clayton is the vice-president of a conservative Virginia-based group called Public Advocate of the United States, which has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. (source)

In Wisconsin, even when the democratic party knew the 6 recall candidates were fake and registered by the Republicans, they still could not remove them from the election slate. All it takes is filling out a Declaration of Candidacy form with the state's Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections. There isn't really any screening beyond that - fake candidates have registered and ran against incumbents to give them an easy reelection is an age-old trick.

reply to post by charles1952
I am sorry if it came across as extreme, I just see so much hatred from them if you don't utterly and completely accept them in every way. I am not right wing or religious, however I get lumped in that category and vilified constantly for holding an opinion. I don't see them rallying to save jobs, or fixing the economy. I also do not understand how they have such a political vicegrip on things with their limited numbers.

reply to post by VikingWarlord

Dear VikingWarlord,

Absolutely no offense taken. You came across as very mildly extreme. And I agree that there isn't much coverage of events like "Gays Pick Up the Stream Week." (I think that's because it doesn't happen.) All of the activities I see mentioned are centered on them and their desires. I may be missing things, of course, and am willing to be corrected.

I just had a thought about their political influence. Could it be that they can raise a lot of money, and have no trouble attacking politicians they don't like in very public ways?

With respect,
Charles1952

Originally posted by buster2010
Being part of a hate group is likely only part of the reason. You cry the constitution but what about the parties constitutional rights? After reading about this guy it looks to me like he's a republican in a democrat's clothing. Because he has only voted democrat was for himself in this election.

here's another link.

Mark Clayton, Winner Of Senate Primary, Disavowed By Democratic Party For Hate Group Association

edit on 3-8-2012 by buster2010 because: (no reason given)

The "Party" is not a person. The "Party" has no Constitutional Rights. The Individuals within the Party do, but not the party itself.

And yes, apparently he admits he has always been a Republican. Did you not read the OP?

Clayton acknowledged his social conservative instincts but said he’d been deeply disappointed by the presidency of George W. Bush, the last Republican to occupy the White House.

Personally I do not see the problem and I would like to know what about this organization makes them a hate group? Just because the Southern Poverty Law Center calls it hate group, does not make it so. Have you actually checked out some of the stuff the SPLC puts out? In my opinion, THEY are the hate group! However, according to them the Patriot movement is composed of far right extremist, which they mention a lot about in their 2011 article discussing hate groups being on the rise. Think I'm kidding? Take a peek.

The SPLC documented 1,002 hate groups operating in 2010 – a 7.5 percent increase from the 932 groups active a year earlier and a 66 percent rise since 2000. It is the first time the number of hate groups has topped 1,000 since the SPLC began counting them in the 1980s.

But the most dramatic growth in the radical right came in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement. These conspiracy-minded organizations, which see the federal government as their primary enemy, grew by 61 percent over the previous year.

SOURCE

Of course the SPLC only focuses on issues concerning the "right" and openly admits they do not cover issues concerning the "left" as shown in this ATS thread from May of this year.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Of course it was not too long ago that the SPLC put out a report that was then echoed by the ADL. From memory it had a lot to do with "homegrown terrorist" and for evidence of this "terrorism" they quoted posts made on the internet from various websites, including ATS. You can read more about that fiasco on the following ATS thread.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Sorry but if the SPLC calls any organization or group a "hate group", I take it with a grain of salt. They have ZERO credibility in my eyes. Their only true purpose is to attack what they consider to be the "right".

Originally posted by acuna
The Democrats have plenty of reasons to disavow this guy. If he really was a Democrat why would he belong to a conservative group that works against things that the Dems work for? He may look like a duck but he's walking kinda funny

Here's a link to another Huffington article about the group he's associated with:

www.huffingtonpost.com...

I'm with buster2010 and Realspoke...and I agree with honor93...animals don't lie

Are you suggesting that there is no such thing as Pro Life Democrats? Or Democrats that believe in traditional marriage?

If this was the case, how do you explain what is known as "conservative democrats"?

reply to post by charles1952


This guy sounds like someone Diogenes would be pleased to find.

An honest politician perhaps?

Rare indeed.

All I have to say is SEE WHAT VOTING CAN DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Typical lazy uninformed Democrats.

As long as they have a "D" by their name they must be OK, I'll just pick the 1st one on the list.

FAIL

Originally posted by Carseller4
Typical lazy uninformed Democrats.

As long as they have a "D" by their name they must be OK, I'll just pick the 1st one on the list.

FAIL

Um no, I live in this state and I can promise you most of the people who voted for this guy know what he believes. The local GOP admits he only ran to insure Corker wins. I have no idea why they did that as this is Tennessee and Satan himself would win as long as he ran on the GOP ticket.

Originally posted by charles1952
So I'm still left with my initial question, will the Democrat party put allegiance to the gay movement above every other prinicple? Can you be a Democrat candidate for a significant post and not accept the gay position?

There is no such thing as the "Democrat" party. That is a Rush Limbaugh slur.

Can you be a Democrat and then stand against certain core Democrat values?
Should the Democratic party support you in fighting against their platform?

reply to post by nunyadammm


Well, they'd probably be up in arms if a Democrat pulled this crap on the GOP party. It's ok when their side does it. That's ats for ya.