FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A political advertisement in the current issue of the Florida Agenda, an LGBT weekly newspaper distributed throughout central and south Florida, and paid for by the Broward (County) Log Cabin Republicans of Florida, attacked Democrats and President Barack Obama — using an image of the lifeless body of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in the aftermath of last month’s attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
Ambassador Stevens and two other Americans were killed a month ago Thursday, on the anniversary of the September 11 attack on the U.S. in 2001.
The advertisement echos an unsubstantiated claim by a right-wing extremest blogger that Stevens was gay, and that U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton had intentionally sent a “gay” man to represent U.S. interests, which in turn provoked the Islamic fundamentalists into attacking the consulate.
“The Broward Log Cabin Republican Club of Florida has cravenly disrespected the life and legacy of a United States civil servant with this ad,” said Jerame Davis, Executive Director of National Stonewall Democrats. “Put bluntly, they have crossed the line of civil discourse and good taste by including an image of the corpse of slain US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens being carried through the streets of Benghazi, Libya.”
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“Their shameless and callous use of the image of Ambassador Stevens’ body aside, the confused hatchet men at Log Cabin are conflating a number of unrelated issues in order to attack Democrats and President Obama. First, they latch onto right-wing rumors that Ambassador Stevens was gay and then they insinuate that President Obama is responsible for the attack because he did not protect the Ambassador from ‘Sharia Law’.
“Then, in a very bizarre turn, they state their support for Israel as a ‘beacon of hope’ in the Middle East and urge voters to, ‘support Israel in this hour of darkness: vote Republican!’
“It is simply unimaginable to me how any political message, let alone the muddy and ludicrous message of this ad, in any way justifies disgracing the memory of a man who gave his life in service to his country. This level of depravity and moral indifference must not be allowed to enter our political discourse.”
R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of National Log Cabin Republicans, also condemned the advertisement.
“This ad does not represent the position of Log Cabin Republicans, and we reject it completely,” said Cooper. “The 9/11 attack on Americans in Libya was a straight up act of terrorism. There are plenty of reasons to vote Republican on protecting U.S. interests abroad, but such an ad is fallacious, simple minded and irresponsible.”
The ad can be found on page 27 of issue #151 of the Florida Agenda ,dated October 10, 2012.
This is a developing story.
