The rapist/murderer-releasing, Christian Reconstructionist-supported, Man-On-Dog wannabe, former Arkansas governor, and Baptist minister-without-a-theology-degree Mike Huckabee is back in the news — at least at U.S. News & World Report, in its Capital Commerce column.
A top McCain fundraiser with access to McCain’s inner circle, as well as one of those infamous “top GOP strategists” are saying that the Arizona senator has Pastor Huck at the top of his VP pick list. U.S. News’s James Pethokoukis on the purported logic of picking Huckabee.
1) He is a great campaigner and communicator who could both shore up support in the South among social conservatives (Huckabee is a former Baptist minister) and appeal to working-class voters in the critical “Big 10″ states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio.More below the fold.2) As any pollster knows, voters search for candidates who “care about people like me,” and Huckabee would probably score a lot higher on that quality than millionaire investor Mitt Romney. Plus, given all the turmoil on Wall Street, 2008 would seem to be a bad year to pick a former investment banker for veep.
3) Economic conservatives and supply-siders may balk, but the threat of four years of Obamanomics and higher investment, income, and corporate taxes might be enough to keep them on board.
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“Independent Democrat” Sen. Joe Lieberman is ready for his close up. (The Hill):
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee, is leaving open the possibility of giving a keynote address on behalf of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) at the Republican National Convention in September.Republicans close to the McCain campaign say Lieberman’s appearance at the convention, possibly before a national primetime audience, could help make the case that the presumptive GOP nominee has a record of crossing the aisle. That could appeal to much-needed independent voters.
…“If Sen. McCain, who I support so strongly, asked me to do it, if he thinks it will help him, I will,” Lieberman said in a brief interview. Lieberman said he doubts McCain will ask him to give a keynote address, but acknowledges the subject has yet to come up in the two senators’ discussions.
The Hill article also notes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), despite Lieberman’s cleaving to Bush/McCain-lite positions, is going to protect the Connecticut Senator’s seniority re: chairmanship even if the Dems manage to pick up several seats in the fall, no matter what Rethug posturing Holy Joe does.“I can tell you Sen. Reid had talked to me a few times and said he knows there will be talk if we get more than 51 Democrats next year,” Lieberman told The Hartford Courant this month. “As far as he is concerned, I will retain my seniority, et cetera, no matter how many Democrats there are next year.”Jim Manley, a Reid spokesman, said he would not comment on the senator’s private conversations, but acknowledged that the two men spoke.
When asked Tuesday if Lieberman’s chairmanship was at risk next Congress, Reid said succinctly: “No.”
(UPDATE: Oh, the hilarity - you know what Kern is now citing as “proof” of the Homosexual Agenda? The drivel of Matt Bam Bam Barber, policy director for Concerned Women for America and The Peter! — hat tip, Alvin.)
(UPDATE 2: I’ve added contact information for the OK City Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau below the fold. These entities have much at stake since this is Sally Kern’s district. Are her views as a public official representative of the business climate that the city wishes to project? They should be on the record.)
Heaven help the LGBT citizens and allies who are in Oklahoma; there’s a lot of work to do in terms of turning the tide of ignorance and hate when an outrageous homophobe like Sally Kern receives a standing ovation in the legislature. Let all the bigots stand up and be counted, I say. Her colleagues should proudly hold a press conference to declare their support of Kern.
A state lawmaker who declared that homosexuality is a greater threat to the United States than terrorism said Monday that she received a standing ovation from her fellow Republican legislators Monday.More below the fold.Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said she has been barraged with more than 5,000 e-mails since she made national headlines over the weekend. Most of the communications were critical, and several contained language that Kern said she has never heard before.
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Last night I posted about the psycheldelic, craptacular McCain ad now up on YouTube and a lot of you noted that there are some nifty dog whistle calls to the the far-right voters wary of the Arizona senator’s credibility on social conservative issues.
Yesterday there was no need for any dog whistles as John McCain went to kneel down before Daddy Dobson (who said he would never vote for McCain) and the other leaders of the far right.
The Council for National Policy held one of its closed-door, press-not-invited sessions — with John McCain headlining, ostensibly to shore up his social conservative cred, since they’ve been blasting him all primary season.
“This is the most distinguished collection of conservative leaders and donors, and he was anxious to appear as part of his ongoing effort to consolidate support for his candidacy within the conservative movement,” said Charlie Black, Mr. McCain’s campaign adviser.Who is in the CNP? We’re talking far right. (H/t Right Wing Watch):…Mr. McCain and his advisers, several of whom are CNP members, have admitted he has much work to do to secure and excite the Republican Party’s conservative base. Prominent figures on the right agree.
“McCain should contrast his approach to Supreme Court appointments with that of Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told The Washington Times.
The depth of disaffection from Mr. McCain among prominent members of CNP is so strong that some are already questioning the group’s bona fides.
“It will say more about the state of the conservative movement than it does McCain,” a veteran CNP member said. “If he is accepted at CNP, this will mark the official end of the conservative movement as we knew it.”
The council was founded in 1981, just as the modern conservative movement began its ascendance. The Rev. Tim LaHaye, an early Christian conservative organizer and the best-selling author of the ‘’Left Behind'’ novels about an apocalyptic Second Coming, was a founder. His partners included Paul Weyrich, another Christian conservative political organizer who also helped found the Heritage Foundation.Other luminaries of the womb-control and bedroom peeping crowd at the CNP include Daddy Dobson, Phyllis Schlafly, Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association, and Richard A. Viguerie.They said at the time that they were seeking to create a Christian conservative alternative to what they believed was the liberalism of the Council on Foreign Relations.
How did McCain do?
Say it, brother. How many ways can you say Charles Barkley is the bomb? A gay-affirming black man in American team sports, calling out the bigotry of the fundies, and bluntly blows them out of the water on live TV. Look at what he said on CNN.
A fundie press release was quickly issued blasting the former NBA star. It’s after the jump.Hey, I live in Arizona. I have got great respect for Senator McCain. Great respect. But I don’t like the way the Republicans are taking this country. Every time I hear the word “conservative,” it makes me sick to my stomach, because they’re really just fake Christians, as I call them. That’s all they are. But I just — I’m going to vote Democratic no matter what.
…BLITZER: All right. One quick point before I let you go. You used the phrase “fake Christians” for conservatives. Explain what you’re talking about.
BARKLEY: Well, I think they — they want to be judge and jury. Like, I’m for gay marriage. It’s none of my business if gay people want to get married. I’m pro-choice. And I think these Christians — first of all, they’re supposed to be — they’re not supposed to judge other people. But they’re the most hypocritical judge of people we have in this country. And it bugs the hell out of me. They act like their Christians. And they’re not forgiving at all.
BLITZER: So you’re going to get a lot of feedback on this one, Charles.
BARKLEY: They can’t do anything to me. I don’t work for them.
BLITZER: You feel comfortable saying all that?
BARKLEY: I feel very comfortable saying I’m pro-choice, and I’m for gay marriage. Very comfortable.
BLITZER: But you can’t lump all these conservatives as being fake. A lot of them obviously — most of them are very, very sincere in their religious beliefs.
BARKLEY: Well, they should read the part about they’re not supposed to judge other people. They forget that one when it doesn’t fit what they want it to say. “
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John Gibson is a sick, sick man. (Think Progress, which has audio):
Opening his radio show with funeral music yesterday, Fox News host John Gibson callously mocked the death of actor Heath Ledger, calling him a “weirdo” with a “serious drug problem.”It’s apparently great fun to mock the 28-year-old actor’s death simply because he played gay in Brokeback Mountain, a film that made John Gibson terribly uncomfortable, as he recounted in 2006’s “Most People Don’t Want to See Two Guys Get It On“:Playing an audio clip of the iconic quote, “I wish I knew how to quit you” from Ledger’s gay romance movie Brokeback Mountain, Gibson disdainfully quipped, “Well, he found out how to quit you.” Laughing, Gibson then played another clip from Brokeback Mountain in which Ledger said, “We’re dead,” followed by his own, mocking “We’re dead” before playing the clip again.
I’m sure it will be a critical hit. Hollywood may in fact want to give every Oscar it can find to the first gay cowboy movie.But I just think most people do not want to go into a darkened room with a tub of popcorn and munch away watching two guys get it on.
I just don’t.
I had one prominent writer say he wouldn’t come on my radio show because I made hate encouraging speech when I said I couldn’t figure out which was going to be harder to watch: the guys smooching in “Brokeback” or Bob Baer getting his fingernails ripped out in “Syriana.”
I said, “Hey, I know people who are gay and I have nothing against them, but I don’t want to see this movie.”
… I still think it’s a gay agenda movie and as such it might sweep the Oscars.
You can contact FOX News (probably in vain) to tell them Gibson has gone way over the line.
More tasteful Gibson:
* John Gibson calls for white breeding ASAP
In my post below, I suggest that Laura Session Stepp’s determination that college girls by and large want to stop having sex and go on chaste, quite possibly chaperoned dates, is based on some very flawed evidence. The evidence? Four out of five college women will raise their hands when asked if they want a return to “dating” (i.e. going on dates without the possibility of sex during the evening) after hearing a hard sell about how the only way you’ll avoid dying a lonely old cat lady is by “dating” the way Stepp prescribes. Since, by the time the question is asked, it’s clear that, “Do you want a return to dating?” means, “Do you want to have love and happiness within this lifetime?”, the only option in a group pressure situation is to raise your hand and affirm that you do not have a freakish desire to die a lonely old cat lady, even if you may have objections to the bullshit about how ladies without hymens never find true love.
I find the use of group pressure dynamics in the anti-choice movement to be fascinating. The Dark Avenger sent me this link about the inefficacy of virginity pledges, which is mainly information we already knew. (The kids who take them rarely follow through, etc.) But I found this particular bit of information quite telling:
One thing that never ceases to amuse me is how feminists are constantly derided as being unromantic, a view which presumes that nothing is more enticing and romantic for women than being treated like a pussy-dispensing servant that gets paid back with occasional flowers and pats on the head. From Sara at F-Words, I see that Idaho lawmakers don’t even try to conceal that they think marriage and motherhood are special traps laid just for women.
Thayn said more two-parent homes and fewer working mothers could be both a social and economic boon. The Emmett Republican sees the breakdown of the traditional family structure as the root of societal ills such as drug abuse, crime and domestic violence.
That’s why, as chairman of the Idaho House of Representatives’ Family Task Force, he and others are considering controversial solutions such as repealing no-fault divorce laws and finding ways to encourage mothers to stay home with their children.
He’s not even trying—the very idea that making it much, much harder for women to escape abusive marriages by denying them their own income and the right to divorce defies all common sense and reason. It’s almost like he doesn’t give a shit, or maybe figures the best way to reduce domestic violence is to make it so hard to get out that women just accept it and quit fussing over it. It’s a common thread throughout this article, the idea being that the cure for divorce is not to reduce the number of bad marriages, but make it impossible for women to leave them. And that the best way to “strengthen marriages” is to strengthen male privilege and the sense that you can do whatever the fuck you want to your wife, with the knowledge that she has to take it because she’s not allowed to leave.
Controversially, the group is using the typical family of 1950 as its benchmark, though Thayn says it’s simply a baseline and not a suggestion that families were perfect in 1950.
The Daily Telegraph is publishing its list of the 100 most influential conservatives and 100 most influential liberals in America, compiled with the input of its DC correspondents. The Telegraph's criteria:
To qualify for the lists, people have to live and work in the United States. conservatives are people identifiably – though not always self-described – as right of centre. liberals – though the term is an unpopular one in the US, with even Hillary Clinton preferring “progressive” – are those identifiably left of centre.There are interesting choices, take a look at the top 20. I’ll pick a couple of ones further down the food chain to feature, look at who made #89 on the conservative list:Although there are many Republicans on the conservative list and many liberals on the Democratic list, not all 200 are aligned with a party. The key to inclusion was the term “influence” – which people do, and will, most affect American politics both in terms of ideas and the enactment of policy.
We have chosen political candidates, pollsters, campaign operatives, members of think tanks, journalists, bloggers, fundraisers, big-money donors and the occasional celebrity.
89. SENATOR LARRY CRAIG
Senator for Idaho
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He tried to make the issue go away by pleading guilty quietly. Then when the news broke he changed his mind but said he would resign from the Senate. The courts have rejected his bid to alter his plea and in another about face he is trying to cling on to his Senate seat. An unseemly ethics scandal Republicans could do without.
If you want to see a really offensive choice on the “liberal” side, look at this selection —
95. HAROLD FORD
Chairman: Democratic Leadership Council
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The centrist DLC is much less of a player than during the rise of the New Democrats under Bill Clinton but expect it to come much more to the fore if Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination and needs to attract moderate voters.
An able congressman, he narrowly lost a bid for a US Senate seat in Tennessee in 2006. The son of a congressman and still only 37, Ford might run against for the Senate next year. Whether he does or not, his future is bright and if Obama fails this time, Ford would be an outside bet for first black US president.I can’t wait to see your comments on the list…
In a moving, pointed and rare response to a question about the Terri Schiavo controversy, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee Monday afternoon described details of the death of his own daughter, Elizabeth “Betsy” Thompson Panici, and said that neither federal nor local governments should play any role in making a family’s end-of-life decisions……
GOP hopeful Thompson said that “making this into a political football is something that I don’t welcome, and this will probably be the last time I ever address it. It should be decided by the family. The federal government — and the state government too, except for the court system — should stay out of these matters, as far as I’m concerned.”
Betsy Panici died in January 2002 at the age of 38 from a brain injury following cardiac arrest after what was deemed an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
On one hand, I feel bad for him. On the other hand, the right to an abortion is a moral walk in the park compared to end of life issues, but he’ll happily throw women under the bus to get votes. The decision to let go of an actual person, not a potential one, is far more sticky and troublesome, but I do fundamentally agree with Thompson that it’s a private matter.
He’s underestimating how much of the Republican party is fueled by a bunch of busybodies that just know that they are the final moral arbiters on other people’s lives, and they don’t need to be bothered with things like facts or understanding before declaring other people unfit to make the most private decisions about their lives. In other words, he’s toast.
Neil linked an article that’s making the rounds again about the way the Allies effectively broke down Nazi resistance to testifying after WWII through kindness and playing games of wit with them. It’s very interesting and more evidence against the use of routine torture to “get information”, which is the official excuse for torturing from the Bush administration and all their defenders. It helps to watch lots of “24″ to convince yourself that there’s just oodles of people out there who are one electroshock to the genitals away from spilling all sorts of life-saving information. The article is good—all a refutation of the idea that torture is an effective way of obtaining information.
I have a concern, though, and the thread below the post devolves into a discussion about whether or not torture is an effective interrogation technique, which indicates that a lot of well-meaning people are getting sucked into the discussion of “how to interrogate for information”, when the entire discussion is a red herring. The assumption behind a lot of the “torture doesn’t work” discourse is the idea that those who made torture a policy are perhaps well-meaning (want information) but misguided. Which then devolves into a whole discussion about when torture is useful for the goal of getting information or not, and people lose sight of the fact that “information” is an excuse used to conceal the real reason for torture.
Ah, it’s a bumper crop of new entries for the conservative family values monitor.
Case #1: Minnesota State Rep Mark Olsen. The co-sponsor of a (failed) state marriage amendment to ban gays and lesbians from marrying was convicted by a jury for domestic assault. Olsen cried before news cameras last year when he was charged — he allegedly shoved his wife to the ground several times. He was not sent to the pokey; he received two years probation and must pay fines and court costs. Bonus points: his campaign literature boasts his support for “tougher penalties for crime” and “holding legislators accountable for unethical/illegal activities.” Avidor at Dump Mark Olsen has courthouse video.
Case #2: Angelo Cappelli. In St. Petersburg, Florida, he was hailed as a rising GOP star, with an uncanny ability to raise funds, a hot banking job, lots of friends in the local Republican party and he made it a close race for a seat in House District 52. Unfortunately, Angelo’s got a little problem.
After a six-week investigation, police arrested Cappelli on Wednesday morning at his lawyer’s office on Central Avenue. He faces grand theft and perjury charges, according to St. Petersburg authorities.Case #3: Lewis County (Washington State) prosecutor Liam Michael Golden. As reader Paul Barwick noted, “another Republican can’t keep it in his pants.”Cappelli, 37, is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the trust of a deceased bank client. By Wednesday evening, Cappelli was out of jail on $55,000 bail. He could not be reached for comment.
The tomcatting of the elected prosecutor in this conservative rural town has jeopardized as many as four cases brought by his office and prompted a complaint to the state bar association.Liam Michael Golden, a Republican who ran unopposed for Lewis County prosecutor last November, is facing allegations that he did not properly disclose past sexual relationships with the mother of a victim in one case and the mother of a defendant in another. His office also charged someone with cyberstalking a woman Golden had slept with, though Golden recently turned that case over to a prosecutor from neighboring Thurston County.
And now, as message about abstinence
“Boys, keep it in your pants…keep your clothes on, keep your clothes on…wait till you're married to get it on.”
– Robert Breaud, “Abstinence” via GodTube
Hat tip, Calling All Wingnuts.
Reader Ann Paige of Out in Asheville tipped me off on this outrage going on out in the western part of North Carolina:
Pam…..check this out….happened right up the street from me and my partner. The folks had a upside down flag on their porch with “OUT NOW” along with a pic of GW pinned to the flag. Well, Buncombe County deputies ended up arresting them for…..well….you got to check this out.From the Asheville Citizen-Times:
Mark and Deborah Kuhn were arrested on two counts of assault on a government employee, resisting arrest and a rarely used charge, desecrating an American flag, all misdemeanors. The Kuhns were released from custody Wednesday afternoon.Here’s the photo. If you read the rest of the article, it was a real fracas — basically a fight breaking out and charges that the deputy assaulted the Kuhns. The newpaper’s web site has the 911 call and other audio interviews with those involved.“This is surreal,” Deborah Kuhn, 52, said moments after her son Mark Stidham paid $1,500 bond to get the couple out of jail.
Arrest reports show Buncombe County Sheriff’s deputy Brian Scarborough went to the Kuhns’ home on 68 Brevard Road about 8:45 a.m. Wednesday to investigate a complaint of an American flag on display after being desecrated.
State law prohibits anyone from knowingly mutilating, defiling, defacing or trampling the U.S. or North Carolina flags. Lt. Randy Sorrells of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said the Kuhns desecrated the flag by pinning signs to it, not by flying it upside down.
An upside-down flag typically is flown as a distress signal. The Kuhns said they flew it this way not out of disrespect but to symbolize the state of the country.
Deborah Kuhn said the signs pinned to the flag included an explanation on the meaning of an upside-down flag and asked to “help our country.” One of the signs was a photo of President Bush with “Out Now” written on it, they said.
…Mark Kuhn, who said he had flown his flag upside down before without any problems, said he plans to fight the charges. The Kuhns each face a maximum 420 days in jail if convicted on all of the charges.
“We are going to do our best to get a civil liberties lawyer from the ACLU,” Kuhn said.
WingNutDaily runs this regular feature called “MR. PRESIDENT! — Your questions for George W. Bush and his spokesmen.” It’s usually a haven for bitching and moanings sessions by the readers about “King Jorge” allowing The Brown MenaceTM to stream across the border unimpeded. I’m not sure if the moderator has been deep-sixing the flood of angry questions/comments on this forum, but the immigration issue seems to have taken a back seat to the war on “Islamofacism.”
Take a look at this winner, who’s ready to drop the nukes…
Kid GlovesMore insanity below the fold.
Posted by The Chiefster on Jul 21, 2007 08:59When are we going to take off the kid gloves in the war against IslamoFascism? Have we become such slaves to Political Correctness, Public Opinion, and just downright wimpishness that we no longer have the courage to fight a war in an all-out fashion by totally annihilating the enemy and wiping them off the face of the earth to win the war? The last time we did that was WWII and this fight is no less important. It’s time we end our concerns for collateral damage. Since the enemy only respects strength, it’s time they see the full strength and fury of the US. We need to unleash every weapon in our arsenal to not only eliminate them but also their breeding grounds and thus end this war once and for all much like we did in WWII. World opinion be damned. They’ll thank us in the end.
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From one of Digby’s 4th of July posts comes this interesting book review from Rick Perlstein of a book called The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat In Winner-Take-All America by Daniel Brook. The book is a look at how conservative attempts to dismantle the middle class have stymied intellectual and creative growth in the U.S., as middle class people have to choose between jobs where you keep your head down and your mouth shut (to stay middle class) or giving up on a chance to be in the middle class. Growing college debt, health care debt, and other conservative policy initiatives to shut down the middle class are essentially anti-freedom. When conservatives say, “Freedom isn’t free,” they seem to mean that it exacts a price, but perhaps a more accurate translation would be, “Freedom is slavery.”
Perlstein graciously offers that conservatives might just be too stupid to understand the relationship between economic stability and freedom, which is nice of him.
I knew that the Freepi were rightfully suspicious of Rudy Giuliani running from his pro-gay, pro-choice past, but I had no idea that supporters in the swamps of the former New York mayor (who cleaved to his 9/11-War-On-Terror persona), were being purged from the member rolls, by none other than the Supreme Freeper, founder Jim Robinson. He has deemed Rudy a non-starter.
On April 21, Robinson threw the gauntlet down, flaming him on choice, gun control and just about everything else.
Giuliani as the GOP presidential nominee would be a dagger in the heart of the conservative movement (and a knife in the back).Ouch. A day earlier, Robinson outlined why he thought pols like Giuliani were taking the GOP down the wrong path, and that Robinson was going to be the one to take up the torches and pitchforks to save the party. Read the hysteria after the jump.The only difference in a Liberal Rudy Giuliani and Liberal Hillary Clinton is the fact of which bathrooms they select to use and there are some who are willing to even question that.
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Just regular folks, honest!
Why is it that when John Kerry has hair that doesn’t go out of place, windsurfs, and has money, he’s an “elitist” who’s out of touch with the masses, but Mitt Romney, whose hair doesn’t go out of place, waterskis and goes horseback riding, and has scads and scads of money isn’t?
For that matter, why is it that our President, a man who comes from a moneyed Texas family, who attended Philips Andover Academy, Yale, and Harvard, and who has a ridiculous amount of money “just a regular guy”? I live in Massachusetts, and believe you me, Philips Andover and Harvard are not schools where the hoi polli go. From what I gather, Yale isn’t either, and Skull and Bones really has nothing to do with the great unwashed masses.
Hey, look. I’m not a fan of the system that paves the way for the wealthy to get into power. It stinks. I’d just like to see some consistency on the part of the conservatives, that’s all.
Mouth-foaming wingnut racists have been busy outing Devious Diva.
The racists have found me and are posting my real life identity (including my real name) around the internet. I guess it was only a matter of time. I am not that hard to find so, in a strange way, I’m quite surprised that it took them so long. I have asked as politely as possible for these individuals to remove that information even though I am pretty pessimistic about the outcome.
I have been approached by several journalists recently to cover this blog and the Roma series etc. I have grappled with the issue of how much I can/should reveal about my real life. I have family and friends and colleagues to think about and I have always been concerned about putting them at risk. I have led a fairly public life, having been involved in the arts for most of my adult life. I have experienced what it is like to have both fans and stalkers. The difference is that I have a child now and would never knowingly put him in harms way. I like to believe that even the most rabid of my detractors could understand that.
DD, writes about racism and human rights in Greece. Being a foreigner there, this is apparently unforgivable. She has been trolled and harassed by the flying monkeys. Some of them are posting under multiple handles.
Granted, I realize that some internet idiots will dither on about freedom! of! speech! even though yet again, someone is being silenced and intimidated. Because freedom of speech means freedom for spineless thugs to out you, slander you, and threaten you.
And I’m sure on the heels of that, we’ll hear more crap about how it wasn’t that big of a deal and how DD should just get a thicker skin. Because ignoring bullies and shrugging off threats always works wonders, you see.
So, I will reiterate. Again. Since I’m pretty damn sure that some folks will simply never get it. Harassing people isn’t okay. Posting threatening messages isn’t okay. Outing someone isn’t okay. And calling them out for it isn’t the same thing as a lynching or mob justice.
Do you know where the mob is? The mob is in the groups of people going after individuals, flooding their comments sections with threats, hate, and slander. The mob is the horde of unseen, oh-so-anonymous tough-guys posting threats and outing people.
These people, they are spineless. They deserve nothing but contempt.
We can’t let this slide. Any attempt to silence one of us is an attempt to silence us all.
The model of responsible conservative manhood.
Your Infernal Majesty:
We good Christian men are horrified by these wanton harlots who show their flesh without regard for our dirty minds. We are trying to stay upon the righteous path but are beset by breasts, legs, and bare arms. This is disgusting! These women and girls should stop tempting men. They are being stumbling blocks in our quest for righteous living. We cannot help our actions if we see such abominations as boobies.
It’s hard being a man! Hard! We notice the opposite sex and and want sex all of the time (we swear! we do!). Women don’t. We know this because we are men and we know everything. It’s hard for us, who are human beings, to gaze upon those non-human boobie carriers known as “women.”
What do you plan on doing about this?
Sincerely,
Lech R. Ous
Dear Miss President:
We at the Prissy Victorian Ladies Society are outraged that yet again, immodest attire is being featured in proms, on the streets, and in church. Women have
dirtypillowsbreasts, and the very outline of them is most upsetting to the menfolk, who are driven to mouth-foaming lust. It is beyond horrific that women get themselves raped by wearing revealing clothing, going outside of their homes, and existing. It’s time they showed respect to men who can’t help themselves (poor dears!) and cover up, stay home, and keep quiet.What do you plan on doing about this?
Sincerely,
Miss Victoria Del Usion
Dear Lech and Vicky:
Well, you all have me in a right pickle, I must say. Here I am, forming a men’s-only religion and monastery, and it’s not good enough. Some of you refuse to join and free yourselves from the scourge that is me and my fellow women.
The menfolk here insist they are in thrall to the female form. Apparently, it’s enough to drive some men and the women who love them insane to see a hint of boobies, or the shape of boobies, or some leg or female arm. One would think you holy boys would spend as much time preaching to the speedo-wearing, shirtless masses of men to cover up. Then again, I will probably making discouraging this a punishable offense. I’d like to see more hot guys in as little clothing as possible.
Which brings me to my solution, of course. Since you’re that sure that women can handle seeing all of this manflesh, but men can’t cope with seeing things like a woman’s bare arms or collarbone, I have a two part proposal:
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Background
Last week there was a ton of commentary about General Peter Pace’s remarks about homosexuality and military service, as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff cited his personal views as a reason to keep Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in place.
“I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts. I do not believe that the United States is well served by a policy that says its is okay to be immoral in any way.”A reader, Nash, sent me a link to one piece, Running At The Wrong Pace, at The Evening Bulletin, and I thought I was going to fall out of my chair as I read it. It was a blazing indictment of the American Family Association’s nearly single-minded fixation on anything gay, calling out Don and Tim Wildmon’s use of fear and smear tactics in support of Pace’s bigotry.
The author of the editorial was none other than Joe Murray, a columnist and a former staff attorney for the AFA, which is based in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists it among “A Mighty Army” of religious right organizations that promotes homophobia through its direct mail appeals, email action alerts and columns. In an October 2004 article, the AFA Journal suggests that the Homosexual Agenda is leading to a “grotesque culture” that will include “quick encounters in the middle school boys’ restroom,” and SPLC notes that one of its fundraising letters included this gem — “Since homosexuals cannot reproduce, the only way for them to ‘breed’ is to RECRUIT! And who are their targets for recruitment? Children!“ I’ve posted quite a bit on the organization as well.
Murray’s work is well-known here at the Blend because he’s written some of the most entertaining anti-gay columns for the AFA I’ve ever read (see my posts Bring on the Sodomy Squadron and Joe Murray, Man-on-Dog, and the Buggery Blitzkrieg). I couldn’t believe that this was the same person writing this about the AFA regarding Pace’s comments:
The American Family Association, a pro-family organization and former employer of this writer, sprung into action sending out this “action alert”: “Homosexuals working to get Marine general punished for comments calling homosexual act immoral.”I blogged about it here.AFA then warned that the homosexual lobby “already forced [Pace] to back down a step,” and urged supporters to defend Pace and “take a stand for our troops who cannot get involved in this political situation.” AFA, like others, had pulled out its red herring.
This is not a political situation, but instead it is a situation where a high ranking official made comments that judged individuals, not ideas. Pace singled out gay soldiers during a time of war and told these men and women that they were immoral. His comments, as a military official, were over the line and not defensible.
AFA, like other “Christian” groups, chose to run to Pace’s aid and such an act suggests borderline bigoted behavior from an organization claiming the mantle of Christianity. This is disturbing.
I decided to write Murray after putting up my post, because I really wanted to know where he was coming from, and to thank him for seeing things so clearly. I was hoping that he would agree to a discussion on how his position on LGBT issues had evolved — and I was pleasantly surprised when he enthusiastically agreed to do a Q&A.
Joe, who has also served as National Director of Correspondence for Patrick J. Buchanan’s 2000 bid for the GOP nomination, joined the AFA because it aligned with his pro-life outlook, is today uncomfortable with the label “conservative” because he feels that its definition has been hijacked by the fringe, though he’s clearly not on the progressive side of the fence politically.
While in the environment of the AFA, however, he noticed troubling signs that the efforts of the organization often didn’t resemble compassion, concern or principles of Christianity that he believes in. The hypocrisy that he saw there opened his eyes.
You’ll see that he has done a lot of soul searching about his record of homophobic commentary, and has concluded that he got it wrong.
I give Joe a lot of credit and kudos for opening up like this for Pam’s House Blend/Pandagon. It’s a rare opportunity to engage with someone who’s been on the inside of the anti-gay movement, and I appreciate the effort he put into answering some pretty frank questions; he has my respect.
*** The interview is after the flip ***
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Don Wildmon and the rest of the gang at the American Family Association will NOT be happy with this editorial by former AFA columnist Joe Murray.
You might recall that some of Murray’s columns were Blend and Pandagon-worthy because of their over-the-top homophobia. Actually, I wasn’t so much offended by those columns as amused by his creativity — he gets credit for adding Sodomy Squadron and Buggery Blitzkreig to the gay lexicon. Even bloggrrl Shakes Sis spent hours lovingly preparing a graphic to go with the post (left).
Today, Joe no longer works for the AFA, so now he can speak freely about how Don and Tim have handled the General Pace dustup. Murray is concerned that the knee-jerk response by the AFA in support of Pace’s slur against gays and lesbians serving their country — calling them “immoral,” reflects an organization blinded by its homophobia. Its actions in response to the criticism of Pace reveals the AFA is hardly concerned with morals or Christian values.
From Murray’s column Running At The Wrong Pace, in The Evening Bulletin:
The American Family Association, a pro-family organization and former employer of this writer, sprung into action sending out this “action alert”: “Homosexuals working to get Marine general punished for comments calling homosexual act immoral.”I’m impressed with Murray’s new approach; he openly questions the blanket bigotry and fear that the AFA is trying to generate that is not only hateful, but illogical if they truly care about soldiers, regardless of orientation.AFA then warned that the homosexual lobby “already forced [Pace] to back down a step,” and urged supporters to defend Pace and “take a stand for our troops who cannot get involved in this political situation.” AFA, like others, had pulled out its red herring.
This is not a political situation, but instead it is a situation where a high ranking official made comments that judged individuals, not ideas. Pace singled out gay soldiers during a time of war and told these men and women that they were immoral. His comments, as a military official, were over the line and not defensible.
AFA, like other “Christian” groups, chose to run to Pace’s aid and such an act suggests borderline bigoted behavior from an organization claiming the mantle of Christianity. This is disturbing.
If troop safety is AFA’s primary concern, and not fear-mongering, why hasn’t AFA demanded Bush bring these soldiers home? Does it really think the “political situation” of gays in the military presents a greater harm to soldiers than the bullets flying in Baghdad or are other motives being subtly conveyed to an America populace who are already fearful, thanks to past action alerts, of the “homosexual agenda?”Wow. Thanks for taking down the AFA hate machine a few pegs, Joe. Don’t expect any love letters postmarked from Tupelo (AFA HQ) in the mailbox.Conservative groups had an opportunity to bring a sense of Christian compassion to this debate, but opted instead to scare supporters into believing homosexuals were trying to raise the rainbow flag over the Pentagon. This is not political activism based upon Christian principle; it is fear mongering based on the politics of man.
This is the siren song of the Chicken Little trick. By demonizing a whole group of individuals and characterizing them as storm troopers coming for the children of Main Street America, pleas for increased donations can be issued to fight this epic battle. Translation: Fill the coffers by fueling fear. Is this what family values have become? If so, we best be preparing our last will and testament.
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How horrible is the AFA? Aside from all the wingnuttery and bible beating on its web site and the dumb boycotts against Disney and Ford, it is an organization of truly misguided, hateful and dangerous people who have no problem placing gays and lesbians at risk of being on the receiving end of physical violence in places where it is not safe to be out.
The petty and vile behavior of Don and Tim Wildmon was exposed quite nicely in the documentary small town gay bar. Interviewees said that Tim Wildmon and the AFA had people scoping out a local bridge in a small town in Mississippi taking down the tag numbers of people who were going over the bridge to go to the gay bar, which was far out of town, away so that people could socialize in privacy, since in rural America the closet is alive and well and necessary in many cases for your own safety.
The next day on his radio show, Don would read the tag numbers on the air. This, he said, “would keep people accountable.” Evil does exist.
Hat tip, Nash.
Well, it’s nice to see that members of the elite live down to their reputation as misogynist inbreeds. I realize we should all be weeping and gnashing our teeth over the Duke lacrosse players, who are of course! Suffering just like Emmet Till! but I just can’t.
Let’s compare, shall we, the plight of men who have money, who have truckloads of sympathy from people and the media, and who have defense attorneys who have turned them into saints. The plight of men who can have their day in court.
Compare that to women who are lied about, harassed, and stalked online.
Jill’s already covered this–a bunch of chugging law-school morons who need to hit the books and type with both hands decided that it would be fun to take pictures of women at law schools, post them, and comment about their bodies. Then they thought it would be hilarious to note when one of the women went to the gym, and encouraged each other to take cellphone pictures of her. (Which isn’t stalking, because a law student who specializes in yelping and whining said so.) They fantasized about raping one of them. They posted false information about others–rumors and lies that they had STD’s. And Jarett Cohen and Anthony Ciolli, the swine who run the site, whine that it’s all about free speech.
Actually, it’s not.
You don’t have the right to lie about someone. That’s called slander, morons. I’m pretty sure if someone was to post pictures of one of these spineless piles of dumpster cheese with their names and contact info, along with lies about them and exhortations to take cellphone pictures of them, they’d be shocked and outraged. It wouldn’t be so funny anymore.
This is nothing new.
Ann Coulter threw about anti-gay slurs, and now people are horrified, horrified I tell you!
Let’s review: Ann Coulter is the same bigot who spoke enthusiastically of invading Arab countries, killing Arab leaders, and converting Muslims to Christianity, a la the Crusades. She is the same hate-filled snake who said that she wished Timothy McViegh bombed the New York Times. She’s the same sociopath who said that liberals should be executed. She claims to be a Christian, mind you.
No where did I see a huge outcry by conservatives over her prior remarks. Now, suddenly, they’re all concerned, and I have to wonder if it’s because they know people are sick of their crap.
Now. I have no sympathy at all for her. It’s about time this snivelling bully got flambed. But let’s face it–the very people who are suddenly shocked by her slur are the same people who laughed off her wishes for invasion and mass murder, who thought that the idea of taking away women’s right to vote was cute, who thought that her racism and prior homophobia was no big deal.
The same people who now disagree with her saw fit to call gays disordered and perverted, to throw up roadblocks to full civil rights for gays (since it’s so oppressive for the law to accept those nasty people as equal). The same people who complain and whine about how Ann Coulter is done, done, done! We tell you are the same people who agree with her that Christianity is best, that invading sovereign nations is a great idea, and that liberals are traitors.
I’m supposed to be shocked by her rhetoric because. . .why? I’m supposed to give her new detractors cred because. . .why?
Hell, yes, we should condemn her for the slur. It’s high time she was held to account. But frankly, I’d be interested to see the outrage of the oh-so-concerned right-wing conservative Christians who decried the bigoted comments about Christianity (and by bigoted comments about Christianity, I mean statements that expressed disagreement with Christianity, and expressions of resentment over the RWCC’s attempts to legislate their beliefs).
Pam already has examples of why anti-gay slurs aren’t okay. She has gone over, in great detail, the physical peril that awaits anyone who has the gall to be different. The assaults and beatings given to gays–often at the hands of good, “normal” people who love God and America.
So yes. Pile on the bully–she deserves it. I am ecstatic that the Daily Lancaster New Era dropped her column, and I hope more papers follow suit. But this does make me wonder–why was she so popular up until now? Did ghosts just buy her books? Cheer her on Leno? Praise her verbal bombthrowing? Nod in agreement that people like me should be shot?
Michelle Malkin, herself a frothing bigot, is still published. Bill Donohue, an anti-Semetic, anti-Muslim, homophobic nutjob, is still given air time. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and the other nutroots bigots spew the same garbage. No one bats an eye at their hate speech.
I’m supposed to believe that the folks who are condemning Coulter really, really mean it? Please. Don’t insult my intelligence.
Yes. Pile on her. She deserves it. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that her rhetoric is alive and well in other corners of the right wing, and no one on that side is breaking a sweat to condemn it.
Auguste was out of the box first, but I wanted to toss in my two cents on this mess.
Ann Coulter is easy. She’s a buffoon and a loose cannon who should be marginalized by conservatives. No one should be surprised when she opens her pie hole and “faggot” drops out. This is her shock-jock-political-chick schtick. It’s sold a lot of books, gotten her on the boob-tube, and allowed her to travel around the country earning a living speaking to horny young Republican Yellow Elephant frat boys.
She was a useful tool for the Republicans for a while, but, as Tim Hardaway and the Snickers folks learned, blatant homophobia isn’t selling like it used to. Coulter’s remarks are simply stale bad theatre and it should have been treated as such.
The auto-generated condemnation statement by HRC is a given; no news here. This incident should have presented an easy opportunity for the DNC and all of the Democratic presidential candidates to not just condemn Coulter’s comments, but to ask aloud why she feels compelled to use homophobic commentary to make a political point and how it directly affects gays and lesbians in the real world.
To address what Coulter’s remarks mean on anything besides the superficial level we are seeing — and to generate real discussion about homophobia in the political debate, I guess we have to look elsewhere.
As I was mulling about what else to say on this topic, this popped in my mailbox (see after the flip)…
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Via City Pages.
So there are still people yelping and bleating over the supposed anti-Christian bigotry espoused by liberals–and by anti-Christian bigotry, I mean the promotion of civil and human rights for LBGT people, women, the poor, religious minorities, atheists and agnostics, and people of color. One cannot object to ignorant rhetoric and laws that would codify and further institutionalize bigotry and discrimination, you see, as that is anti-Christian.
Well, sorry. You don’t get to whine about how you’re oppressed when you make up the majority of people in this country. You don’t get to bleat about your special snowflake status when the freaking President is a born-again, evangelical Christian. You don’t get to cry and whine about anti-Christian bigotry when you push for legislation that discriminates against gays, that subjugates women, that marginalizes other religions (and those without religion), that interferes with our educational system, and that promotes human rights violations in the name of anti-terrorist paranoia.
No. You don’t.
I don’t get it. Given that his position on Choice isn’t discernably different from that of Mario Cuomo or John Kerry, I don’t see Rudy making it across the Hudson.
And Choice isn’t his only problem with Conservatives. Check out this comment from ProLifeBlogs.com:
I challenge those who think conservatives should vote for Giuliani to name *a single issue* that is a) controversial and b) relevant to contemporary politics on which Giuliani takes a clearly conservative position. Abortion? No. (He even supports legal PBA.) Gay marriage? No. Immigration? No.
So, let me get this straight. We’re supposed to think we have lots of “common ground” with him because he supported NYC police in stopping people from urinating on the public streets and breaking windows in New York City and because he made impressive frowny faces after 9/11? Spare me. Conservatives have no common ground with this guy at all.
Why do you think I’m lying?
It’s amusing how those on the right dodge and weave when the facts are coming right to them. Despite their best efforts, they’re trying to forget all about the fact that our administration committed treason in outing Valerie Plame. It made no sense from a purely practical point of view–why endanger the very staff who is supposed to gather intelligence about the nations that have you worried? But no matter. This was never about intelligence gathering, it was about shoving the square peg into the round hole and declaring it a good fit.
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The science may not be sound, but it’s quite glamorous.
Scientists say that the administration tried to pressure them into downplaying climate change. This shouldn’t be a surprise, given the history of this administration. However, it’s obvious that this is like, totally not the case, since everyone knows that climate change is controversial and very disputed. I mean, it’s only the actual climatologists in every major scientific organization in the world that buys into it.
Thankfully, the good rational intellectuals over at the Heartland Institute has a real problem with this, and is skeptical. By “skeptical” I mean, “unwilling to acknowledge reality at all.” They claim that “experts” question the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which says that yes, climate change is real and OMG IT’S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW HOLY CRAP PEOPLE. We all know that there is no such thing as global warming, but even if there is, there could be benefits. At least so says the economist who wrote the thing. And he’s qualified to debunk experts in the field because he saw something about it on PBS one day. Or something.
But fear not! We have the solution! My fellow Americans, we can create giant space mirrors to block out the sun!
The press release from the American Family Association should be out shortly, blaming the automaker’s problems on pressure from the fundies:
Ford posts worst loss in its history.
Don will credit God for punishing Ford for its inclusive and gay-supportive employee policies and marketing instead of the obvious:
* Ford mortgaged its assets