Candidates for the GOP nomination for president universally describe themselves as friendly to family issues, but a California organization has issued a report card indicating they aren’t listening to the same drummer, and former Gov. Mike Huckabee and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul are leading the pack.
“With seven states holding primaries or caucuses this month and the nominees for the Democratic and Republican parties to be decided on Super Tuesday, February 5, it’s high time that conservative voters get the facts on which candidates will defend the natural family – a father, mother, and their children,” said the Campaign for Children and Families.
The organization, a leading West Coast pro-family group that researches and advocates for the natural family, said its “Report Card on the Natural Family” highlights the positions the GOP candidates have taken on issues of protecting the basic family unit.
“While all of the leading Republican candidates claim to embrace family values, let the record show that they’re marching to different drummers on marriage rights, adoption, school children, and the destructive ‘LGBT’ agenda,” said Randy Thomasson, the chief of the organization.
“Many pro-family voters will be surprised with the results of this carefully researched report card. But as always, what a candidate does means much more than what they say. Facts are stubborn things,” he said.
Huckabee and Paul both scored a “7” on the organization’s grading scale that ranged from 0-7 on issues including protecting marriage rights for one man and one woman, adoption issues, protecting the Boy Scouts and protecting school children.
“It’s already apparent that the leading Democratic candidates support nearly all of the homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual agenda,” said Thomasson, whose non-partisan group will compare candidates from both major parties later in the year.
The report card was based on presidential candidates’ positions as stated in published votes, policies and public statements and documents.
“No coordination was done with any candidate or supporting campaign,” the group said. “For scoring purposes, the greatest weight was given to actual votes, actions and policies, rather than to contemporary statements that differ from past policies or statements [that] contradict previous actions.”
Huckabee received “yes” grades on protecting marriage and marriage rights, opposing domestic partnerships, opposing homosexual adoption, opposing forcing private business owners to support homosexuality, opposing establishing or expanding pro-homosexuality “hate crime” laws, refusing to support “gay pride” and opposing teaching school children to support homosexuality.
He did not have a recorded statement or vote on the issue of homosexuals in the Boy Scouts, the report card said.
Paul’s score was the same, but he had a statement on record opposing homosexuals in the Boy Scouts but did not have a recorded vote or statement regarding protecting marriage and marriage rights, the report card said.
U.S. Sen. John McCain scored a 4, getting points for opposing demands that private business owners support homosexuality, opposing “hate crime” laws, refusing to support “gay pride,” and opposing teaching school children to support homosexuality.
Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson earned a score of 3, for opposing forcing private business owners to support homosexuality, opposing “hate crime” laws, and refusing to support “gay pride.”
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani earned a single point, for opposing teaching school children to support homosexuality, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney earned a zero.
The organization compiled a 24-page report documenting the statements the candidates have made, and the actions they have taken. Only the six candidates were assessed by the report.
For Paul, for example, in 2004 he voted against amending the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as only a man and a woman, according to U.S. house voting records. But during the Values Voter Debate in September, he said the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is proper and “takes care of all the problems.”
“True Christians believe that marriage is a church function, it’s not a state function. I don’t think you need a license to get married,” he said.
He also voted for an amendment prohibiting the use of federal funds for the District of Columbia domestic partnership act and voted to support a ban on gay adoptions in Washington.
For Huckabee, during a 2002 Project Vote Smart event, he said Arkansas should not recognize civil unions and should restrict marriage to a union of a man and a woman. He also told the Boston Globe just a few weeks ago that civil unions should not be recognized. “When you create a validity and actually put a sort of governmental approval on the behavior, I think that is a different set of rules than, say, a person makes a lifestyle decision, and that’s choice,” he said. He also as governor supported a state ban on homosexual couples becoming foster parents.
For Romney, the group took his some of his perspectives from interviews he granted to a homosexual newspaper, where he said he would not support a Protection of Marriage Amendment because it would outlaw domestic partner benefits.
The report card also noted he did not take a strong position against giving children from foster care services to same-sex couples, and at one point in 2002 issued a promotion for a “gay” pride weekend.
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