June 23, 2000, 4:55PM
Bizarre double standard permeates state GOP convention
By JULIE MASON
Last week's white-hot outrage over gun-toting black activists descending on the state GOP convention illustrates what a loony double standard some conservatives operate under.
Let's call it as it is: Some Republicans abhor gun control until armed black men show up at their state convention.
Texas Republicans, in their philosophy, practices and notably in their state party platform, consistently reject limits on gun ownership.
The party last week formally called on state and federal government "to reject the establishment of any mechanism to process, license, record, register or monitor the ownership of guns."
Conservatives also deeply resent most forms of government intrusion, such as anything that might compromise the civil liberties of Americans.
Yet, after the June 16 altercation at the George R. Brown Convention Center, conservatives are in the throes of a reactionary nuttiness that includes calling on police to start conducting "checks" of participants at outwardly legal public demonstrations.
The noise pollution has escalated to include violently aggrieved radio talk show hosts, outraged letters to the editor and laughable pandering from two conservative members of Houston City Council.
The hypocrisy and obfuscation are so thick, it's hard to know where to begin.
On the second day of the Republican Party of Texas State Convention in Houston, a dozen members of the New Black Panther Party, the National Black United Front and the New Black Muslim Movement arrived in a Hummer limousine to rally against the scheduled execution of convicted murderer Gary Graham.
Several carried shotguns, AK-47s and other rifles, all of which are legal in Texas as long the carrier is not a felon and doesn't take aim at anyone.
That a delegate was shoved (but not injured) by an unarmed protester while engaging in a shouting match with demonstrators is being treated after the fact by conservatives as the greatest of affronts to decency, democracy and the safety of all Americans.
That the uninjured delegate was a disabled veteran is only increasing the volume of outrage and aggrandizement.
In attempting to create a diversion, various parties fanning these flames contend their real issue is the shoving, or that the protesters were raising an issue unrelated to the convention, or that the delegates tended to be elderly -- anything but the fact that the protesters were armed and black.
In a letter to Police Chief C.O. Bradford, Councilmen Rob Todd and Bert Keller, normally the staunchest of gun-rights advocates, demand to know why "no action" was taken against the demonstrators.
"Why weren't there checks conducted on those individuals brandishing firearms?" ask the Republican council members. " `World Class' cities do not have `armed' demonstrators go unanswered by local law enforcement."
Yes, where are the police dogs, SWAT teams and fire hoses when you really need them?
What's amazing is how fast the vaunted principles of the Republican Party fly out the window once the very freedoms they perpetuate become threatening to its members.
Sadly, the reaction to armed black protesters was not the only example of this unfortunate duality coming out of last week's convention.
Another issue of great concern to Republicans is the need to suppress so-called activist judges who legislate from the bench. These judges are also known as Democrats.
Judge Sharon Keller, Republican nominee for presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, described to the delegates how Democratic judges were interpreting law to suit their agendas until the GOP subsumed the courts and put an end to it.
But apparently, a different standard applies when Republican judges interpret the law in a way that is contrary to conservative moral values.
After two Republican judges on the Houston-based 14th Court of Appeals ruled the law banning homosexual sex violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the state Constitution, Republicans singled them out for reprimand in the state party platform.
"We publicly rebuke (Chief Justice Paul Murphy and Justice John Anderson), who ruled that the 100-year-old Texas sodomy law is unconstitutional, and ask that all members of the Republican Party of Texas oppose their re-election," the platform states.
Although those Republican judges were ruling on the law, as their party elected them to do, it's not the law as conservatives want it legislated.
A lengthy passage in the state's party platform notes that "homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country's founders and shared by the majority of Texans."
Maybe at the next convention, the party can amend its platform to reflect their support of one set of laws for Republicans, and another for those who don't agree with them.