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Kenneth Mehlman, Bush campaign manager comes out as gay

Former Republican National Committee chairman and Bush-Cheney campaign manager Kenneth Mehlman has announced publicly that he is gay, CBS News chief political consultant and politics editor for The Atlantic Marc Ambinder reports.

"It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," Mehlman said. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I've told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they've been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that's made me a happier and better person. It's something I wish I had done years ago, but I didn't."

Mehlman was RNC chairman from 2005 to 2007 after serving as Bush-Cheney campaign manager in 2004. He also served as White House political director during President Bush's first term.

Mehlman told Ambinder that he had recently come to the conclusion that he is gay and was looking to become an advocate for gay marriage. He went public in part because he expected to be asked about his sexuality when it became known he was participating in a fundraiser next month for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), which is supporting a legal challenge to California's Proposition 8 initiative banning gay marriage.

Mehlman said President Bush "is no homophobe" but acknowledged that the Bush administration used antigay initiatives for political gain. In private conversations with senior Republicans, he said, he fought back against attempts to demonize same-sex marriage.

Activist Mike Rogers, as Ambinder notes, has waged a years-long campaign to force Mehlman out of the closet, including confronting him with questions about his sexuality on video. (Mehlman regularly denied that he was gay.) Rogers responded to the news that Mehlman was coming out by awarding him a "Roy Cohn Award" for "managing the most anti-gay presidential campaigns in history."

"Ken Mehlman is horridly homophobic and no matter how orchestrated his coming out is, our community should hold him accountable for his past," Rogers wrote.

Mehlman told Ambinder he understands that some people in the gay community will be upset that he did not come out until he was out of government.

"I can't change the fact that I wasn't in this place personally when I was in politics, and I genuinely regret that. It was very hard, personally," he said. He acknowledged that if he had come to terms with his sexual orientation earlier, "I could have worked against [the Federal Marriage Amendment]" and "reached out to the gay community in the way I reached out to African Americans."

General Petraeus Returns

By Mike Vilensky

Is David Petraeus KKR's Global Institute Chair stepping back into public life?

The former U.S. military general has kept a low profile since stepping down as director of the Central Intelligence Agency a year ago, but he turned up at a New York City gala in his honor Monday evening. "I am convinced that [Gen. Petraeus] has not served his last day in public service," said Jack Keane, another retired general. "He will be back, to be sure."

The New-York Historical Society bestowed Gen. Petraeus and businessman Roger Hertog with awards during a swanky affair at the Pierre. The organization's president and chief executive, Louise Mirrer, praised Gen. Petraeus's "groundbreaking work in Iraq" and Mr. Hertog's "dedication to the power of ideas."

Henry Kissinger and General David Petraeus Don Pollard

Pam Schafler, Roger Hertog and Louise Mirrer Don Pollard. Don Pollard. Don Pollard

The Historical Society maintains a Manhattan museum and library, founded in 1804, devoted to work involving New York's city and state history. Attendees at the event included former New York Gov.George Pataki, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, writer Niall Ferguson and a handful of hedge-fund managers.

Gen. Petraeus said the attendees included "masters of the universe, my goodness." The gala raised more than $3 million for the society.

Since his resignation from the CIA, after admitting to having an extramarital affair with his biographer, Gen. Petraeus has been lecturing at the City University of New York and working at a private-equity firm. Antiwar activists protested Gen. Petraeus's award on social media and outside the Pierre.

In wide-ranging remarks, he joked about "a midlevel executive working at a financial firm, frustrated at getting passed over for promotion" who visits a brain-transplant center where "an ounce of a television reporter's brains" goes for cheap, and an ounce of a four-star general's brain is expensive.

"Do you have any idea how many generals it takes to get an ounce of brains?" goes the punch line.

"That's just a joke, I think," Gen. Petraeus said afterward. "When you reach this point in life, you're only as good as the material they give you."

Paint it Red: the most stunning designs from Jony Ive and Marc Newson’s charity auction

After nearly two years in the making, a charity auction orchestrated by Jony Ive, Bono, and designer Marc Newson is set to begin this Saturday. While Ive and Bono have collaborated in the past to benefit the musician’s Product Red charity — such as in 2006, when Apple released a black-and-red, U2-themed iPod — Saturday’s auction takes Ive’s involvement much further: working with Newson, the two curated and customized over 40 different items, from chairs, to cars, to Apple products, all of which will go up for sale. 

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