Like a Stripteaser, the Right Wing GOP Has to Have a Gimmick

March 5, 2002

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

In the old Broadway musical about the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, there's an eye-catching number called "You Gotta' Have a Gimmick." It's meant as an instructional song and dance, which leads Gypsy Rose Lee to the idea of using fans as her distinctive contribution to striptease.

BuzzFlash was recently forwarded a letter from Congressman Henry "Windbag" Hyde, which brings to mind the tip on stripping from "Gypsy." For Hyde, the issue at hand is not striptease (perish the thought), but rather fundraising for the right wing. The gimmick is a bizarre cover letter supporting the work of the "Alliance for Marriage" in passing "A NEW Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: The Federal Marriage Amendment, to once and for all time legally define marriage solely as the union of a man and woman. And it is critical that this Amendment pass."

Of course, the amendment will never be passed, but it will be used as an ongoing gimmick to fatten the pockets of the right wing extremists.

"If we don't pass a Constitutional Amendment to protect marriage, the Supreme Court could decide to abandon marriage," the actual fundraising letter exhorts, "just as they abandoned the Right to Life of our unborn children with the horrendous Roe v. Wade decision."

"The battle for our Constitutional Amendment to protect marriage against the onslaught of the homosexual movement and activist courts is being fought by my new organization, Alliance for Marriage (AFM)."

In addition to Henry Hyde, the bilious and bitter Robert Bork has signed on, as has Senator Rick Santorum.

As Gypsy Rose Lee found out, you got to have a gimmick. And the Grand Hypocrisy Party (GHP) knows how to take advice from a stripper.

The direct mail piece from Alliance for Marriage can be seen here:

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/03/AFM/030502_AFM01.html