If You Hate Hillary, You Must Hate Yourself

Bill Clinton speculates that gay Republican consultant Arthur Finkelstein, who recently married his partner in a civil ceremony at their Massachusetts home, "may be blinded by self-loathing." Either that, or "this guy believes his party is not serious and he's totally Machiavellian." As far as Clinton is concerned, those are the only possible reasons why a gay man would work for Republicans, despite the GOP's opposition to gay marriage and its kowtowing to the religious right. And surely they are the only conceivable explanations for Finkelstein's current project, a group called Stop Her Now dedicated to the defeat of Clinton's wife.

But maybe Finkelstein, who in recent years has described his politics as libertarian, simply prefers the Republicans to the Democrats, despite his disagreement with the official GOP positions on issues such as gay marriage and abortion rights. Maybe he thinks that, on balance, they make a more credible claim to be the party of smaller government. I'm not sure I agree, and I admit that I find it hard to understand how a self-described libertarian, regardless of his sexual orientation, could have worked for Jesse Helms. (In truth, I find it hard to understand how anyone could have worked for Jesse Helms.) But Finkelstein's involvement in Stop Her Now seems much less problematic to me. I might even send him a check.