Rick Perry’s gay-baiting Iowa ad didn’t just anger human rights activists, gay service members, and gay Republicans. It roiled some of the people who work for him.
“You don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know that there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school,” Perry says in the spot.
The anti-gay message rubbed Perry’s pollster Tony Fabrizio, who has done consulting work for gay causes, the wrong way. According to the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, Fabrizio e-mailed the Perry staffer behind the ad, Nelson Warfield, to tell him the spot was “nuts.”
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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