Vernon Robinson Watch

You remember Vernon Robinson ... the seriously hateful Winston-Salem alderman who accused Virginia Foxx of being a liberal during last summer's Republican primary and run-off elections for the 5th Dist. congressional seat.

He's baaaaack.

But not for long, maybe. He's challenging Ferrell Blount of Pitt County as chair of the state Republican Party. The Republicans are convening today in Asheville to elect their leadership, and incumbent Blount has raised Robinson's ire by -- what else? -- not being sufficiently anti-gay.

"Robinson complained that a Republican-held state Senate seat in Wilmington 'was lost to a lesbian.' He was referring to state Sen. Julia Boseman, who is the first openly gay member of the Senate. And he criticized Blount for voting for Joann Davidson of Ohio for co-chairwoman of the national party, calling her 'a pro-homosexual rights candidate.' " (N&O coverage here.)

Blount fought back with his own anti-gay bona fides, pointing out that he single-handedly barred the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group, from setting up a booth at last year's state GOP convention in Greensboro. Blount to Robinsons: You wanna see bigotry? I can show ya bigotry.

(And incidentally, Jon Stewart had it right on The Daily Show recently when he pointed out that the most vocal anti-gay Republicans all end up being outed as ... G-A-Y. So it's only a matter of time, Vernon, before we find out what's stored on your hard-drive, if you'll pardon the reference.)

So irritated have the national Log Cabin Republicans become with North Carolina's brand of anti-homosexual bigotry that the group is spending $5,000 this weekend running ads on local Asheville cable channels accusing party leaders of being intolerant. Duh.

"The commercial starts with footage of former President Reagan's speech to the 1992 national convention in Houston. It quotes Reagan as saying, 'Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears.' The 30-second commercial then says the Republicans have a choice of following Reagan's lead in uniting the party or following the 'intolerant social agenda' of the likes of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Pat Buchanan and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania."

The early money was on Blount to win reelection as state party chair, leaving Robinson free to challenge Virginia Foxx next year in another primary. He might make some headway against her on his favorite topic if he notices that she was behind a $6.2 million loan (out of Agriculture Department money) to the Blowing Rock Community Arts Center, which as most people know has featured dramatic work by an openly gay author. Can't you see Vernon's direct-mail letter to 5th Dist. farmers? "Your Congresswoman, Virginia Foxx, took over $6 million out of the tobacco buyout program and gave it to people who want to put gay-themed plays on stage to corrupt your children!"

Works for me.