CATO’s Favorite Homophobe

Former Congressman Dick Armey has long been the Cato Institute’s favorite politician. He’s given many speeches there, was the featured speaker at the dedication of the Institute’s F.A. Hayek auditorium, and former Cato employees such as Steve Moore made stump speeches on his behalf while still employed by Cato. Armey has also served as the chairman of Cato’s sister organization and Koch Foundation appendage, Citizens for a Sound Economy.

Armey is also apparently Cato’s favorite homophobe. He once referred to his congressional colleague Barney Frank of Massachusetts as “Barney fag,” causing quite a stir in the Washington Post, New York Times, and elsewhere. He also once made the grade schoolish remark that “if there was a dick army Barney Frank would be in it.”

This does not necessarily prove that Ed Crane, David Boaz, and Tom Palmer are homophobes or self-hating homosexuals. Such a conclusion could only be drawn if one applied the Cato/Reason magazine hate speech/Lyndon LaRouche style of “journalism.”

Unlike the smear campaign against Ron Paul that is being orchestrated by Cato, there is no question of whether or not Armey actually made these bigoted remarks.