Buried under the recent contretemps over Richard Grenell's misogynist Twitter posts was the fact that Grenell, a former Bush UN spokesman and newly-hired Romney foreign policy surrogate, was gay. PoliticOlogy only mentioned this in passing, as it seemed slightly relevant in the context of offensive tweets, but not in his role doing anything related to foreign policy.

Stupid me! Grenell stepped down from his post on Tuesday, citing problems over his sexuality:

I have decided to resign from the Romney campaign as the Foreign Policy and National Security Spokesman. While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign. I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.

See how he slipped Obama's "failures" and "weak leadership" into a statement that had nothing to do with Obama's foreign policy? That's why Grenell, a notably combative spokesman, would have been such a fiery and effective addition to the Romney team.

But since his appointment, Grennell had come under severe and absurd criticism from the right. Here's some bullcrap, via the Matthew Frack at the National Review: 

I agree that Grenell’s being openly gay is, in itself, of no consequence for his service in the Romney campaign. Nor is the fact that he supports same-sex marriage — if, that is, we were assured that this view would have no influence on American foreign policy. But Grenell has made a particular crusade of the marriage issue, with a kind of unhinged devotion that suggests a man with questionable judgment. And when the Obama State Department is already moving to elevate the gay-rights agenda to a higher plane than religious freedom in the foreign policy of the United States, it is reasonable to wonder whether Grenell, after taking such a prominent place in the Romney campaign’s foreign-policy shop, would be in line for an influential State posting where he could pursue his passion for that same agenda.

Romney's campaign could have overcome all of this pretty easily, except they had yet to use Grenell for...anything, suggesting that they were scared of conservative backlash from his appearing on behalf of the campaign. Via Jennifer Rubin, who's gotta be pissed right now: 

During the two weeks after Grenell’s hiring was announced the Romney campaign did not put Grenell out to comment on national security matters and did not use him on a press foreign policy conference call. Despite the controversy in new media and in conservative circles, there was no public statement of support for Grenell by the campaign and no supportive social conservatives were enlisted to calm the waters.

In response to Grenell's resignation, the Romney campaign released the following x-ray of its spine: "We are disappointed that Ric decided to resign from the campaign for his own personal reasons. We wanted him to stay because he had superior qualifications for the position he was hired to fill." You have to wonder if the first draft  had the phrase "stupid circular firing squad bigotry" in it.

Anyway, thanks, "Ric," for the service, and see you around. By the by, if Grenell truly did want to head over to the more gay-friendly side, as Frack says is his real, secretive intention, he now has all the more reason and opportunity to do it.

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Related: Somebody Tell Romney's New Spokesman That The Internet Is Forever

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