Margaret Cho Dissed, Take 2

Michael in NY posted below about Margaret Cho getting uninvited to the HRC event at the Dem Convention. Michael, like many of you, was understandably outraged. I wanted to take a moment to present another side. Not necessarily a defense of HRC, but rather, a presentation of the "rock and a hard place" I think HRC found itself in over this issue.

In a nutshell, apparently, Margaret Cho's was due to speak at an upcoming HRC event at the Dem Convention. Margaret Cho's people informed HRC and/or the folks organizing the event that Cho was going to present an "incendiary and controversial" performance. After what happened to Whoopi two weeks ago, when the Republicans used her Bush-bashing to make Kerry look bad, and after previous successful attempts by the Repubs to make similar hay with criticism from Michael Moore and others, either HRC, the Kerry folks, or some other organization involved in this event started to worry that the same thing might happen with this event. I.e., the Republicans would take this wonderful week of Democratic solidarity - something very important for giving the Dem candidate a big bump in the polls - and make the week instead about how Kerry surrounds himself with hateful supporters who have no sense of decency.

Now, I don't think her comments about Bush would be hateful and indecent. I think Cho's expected criticism of Bush would be hilarious and well-deserved. But. Do I think the Republicans would successfully use such a performance to destroy Kerry? Yes, I do.

So now I have a choice. I can either go ahead with the performance, knowing that the Republicans will likely use it against me in a successful effort to harm the candidate. Or, I can try to find a way to make the performance less controversial. Were it me, I'd vote for option 2. Free speech is all well and good, but I'm not going to be a sucker when the Republicans have already telegraphed what they're planning to do to me.

Does that mean "uninviting" Cho? I hope that wasn't the first choice of the HRC or the Kerry people. Margaret has always seemed damned bright and politically savvy - I would hope she'd understand and sympathize with a request to tone down the nasty stuff since this event is a very public one to which Kerry's name is attached, especially in light of the Republicans known desire to twist this event to their own purposes (not to mention, it's more than a bit interesting that they chose a 'gay' event to bash Kerry over).

I have no idea what HRC did or didn't do in this matter. I will say that for a "GLBT Unity Event" to become this much of a mess - NGLTF has already pulled out - it sure doesn't bode well for our unity coming up to the most important election our community has faced in a generation. And in that regard, the Republicans have already accomplished all that they would have liked to do with regards to this issue.