Power trumps politics trumps principle– every single time.

The Republican National Committee has named a prominent gay Republican to its finance committee, marking an important fundraising outreach effort to a constituency long ceded by the party.

R. Clarke Cooper, who is executive director of the gay group Log Cabin Republicans, will help the RNC’s fundraising efforts for the 2012 cycle. Cooper is one of the first openly gay members of the party to serve in such a prominent role, and his appointment is a signal that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus is willing to reach out to communities that have traditionally been neglected by the party.

“I am honored to be a part of the Republican National Committee’s effort to advance a pro-growth, pro-free enterprise agenda, especially while working to elect and reelect pro-equality Republicans to office all across the country,” Cooper said in a statement. “Chairman Priebus has demonstrated that he believes inclusion wins and that our party is strongest when we reach every community. I look forward to working within the party to help ensure we are victorious next [sic] November.”

Stroke a few egos, invite someone on a prestegious board, and suddenly the LCR is endorsing someone they never would have endorsed eight years ago. The LCR now has its constituencies crossed. It is not an advocacy group on behalf of LGBT Republicans. It is an advocacy group on behalf of the Republican Party to LGBT Republicans.

“Ben Adler of the Nation called me at quitting time today. Said he had been given assurances by Log Cabin Republicans that Romney’s camp has privately promised them he will support ENDA after he’s elected…

It’s always fascinating to watch the far left and the far right buddy up to accomplish their shared goal of discrediting those who are neither.

“The current form.” I will take the liberty of plagiarizing my comment from the previous thread. (feel free to delete the comment if this is verboten):

This sounds like the perfect ploy for Romney and the christianist House. He backs a watered down, non-exclusive version of ENDA which has no chance of passing because 95 percent of the House Republicans won’t vote for it. The GOP reps from moderate districts get to vote for it and burnish their reputations for being tolerant and ‘non-partisan,’ all the while knowing it will never become law. And the House Democrats and the “lgbt community” implode again.