I’m not going to lie.I don’t understand it. I don’t understand how blacks, latinos, and gays can just smile and nod for the right when they actively dislike people like you so vehemently. In the case of Mehlman, he was RNC chair while Bush and the GOP team were running on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage back in 2004. It’s almost like a black man working to elect Strom Thurmond. Sick stuff.
It seems like a million years ago now. Every time one of these Bushistas sticks his head out of his hole and tells us all something we know very well — Ken Mehlman is gay, Laura Bush is pretty liberal, David Frum was wrong about the war(s) — it reminds me just how nasty all those years really were. Brings it right back to me, and I start wondering, “Is vodka an anytime food?”
I read a lot of blogs run by people fucking pissed off things are not better on the social front, that Obama’s not openly advocating for gay marriage, ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell faster, shoving things along. And I read a lot of blogs run by people who say Obama’s incremental, passive approach is the best way to effect lasting change, as opposed to Bush’s passionate advocacy for positions he had no fucking way of getting enacted in Congress (the gay-marriage-ban amendment, for example). And the latter simply cannot believe liberals in general are not more overjoyed with Obama for not openly waging war on gay people in every single speech, for generally being the liberal Republican he would be in another, non-Bizarro World political reality.
And here’s the thing. LOOK AT THAT DOUGHY LITTLE PUPPET FUCK. He wanted to tell gay people they couldn’t get married because stuff, and God would disapprove, and also the RNC needs money. His president stood up in front of the world and said we need to constitutionally ban two dudes from enjoying federally discounted fishing licenses and other such benefits. Plenty of people he supported still think we need to do this. Things were THAT BAD. Things got THAT STUPID and I know it seems like a million years ago but it wasn’t, really. It was just a moment ago.
We want something to balance that. We want not just incremental steps back from crazytown but a bullet train taking us away. We want passionate advocacy in the exact opposite direction, because people have spent the last eight years getting beat on and simply not being kicked anymore isn’t enough. Nobody’s gonna send a thank-you card to the administration for refraining from hitting them in the head with a hammer. “Oh, Mr. President, thank you for NOT pissing on me as you walked by, what a huge favor you’ve done me.” The fuck is that noise?
In addition to salving everybody’s feelings, passionate advocacy for gay rights, including marriage equality, has the advantage of being the right thing to do. So there’s that as well.
A.
He wins this week’sJohn Amaechi award for pathetic stab at retroactive courage. It really pisses me off when people wait until their positioning & effectiveness drops to nearly zero to stand up for what they believe in. This right now is a nice little story for Ken and his family. I’m happy for you, dude. But it could have been so much more. Announce it in a Marc Ambinder interview – in 2004. That’s taking a stand. Doing it now is just stroking your own ego.
Oh, and Ken: About Bush not being a homophobe? Tell it to Dr. Laura’s black bodyguard.
maybe obama hopes a smooth left turn will be stronger than clinton’s swift left turn that gave us the chimperor.
all i know is i am savoring and not tense EVERY FUCKING SECOND. AND ANGRY.
We want something to balance that. We want not just incremental steps back from crazytown but a bullet train taking us away. We want passionate advocacy in the exact opposite direction
That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking for the last 18 months. Obama is smart enough to know (especially as a “constitutional scholar”) that we needed a U-turn or all of Bush’s excesses would become precedent. I’m afraid that is what has happened.
We want not just incremental steps back from crazytown but a bullet train taking us away. We want passionate advocacy in the exact opposite direction, because people have spent the last eight years getting beat on and simply not being kicked anymore isn’t enough.
Daaaaay-yam. You always articulate exactly what I’m thinking so well. Thanks for that.
Somewhere I read that Mehlman said he “suddenly realized” he’s gay. WTF? For years the rest of us knew he’s gay. Now he’s saying he suddenly figured it out? What, did he catch it from a toilet seat? Did it crawl up his sleeves when he cashed those RNC donationa from the Log Cabin Republicans?
That is some lame shit right there. You didn’t “just figure it out” you asshole, you were too scared to admit it before. And you know what? THAT’S FINE. That’s perfectly acceptable. I get it. Hey, it might do your cause some good to explain to people what kind of pressure a gay politician faces, especially in the Republican Party. Explain to the nation how hard it is to live a lie but you feel you HAVE to. People will respect you for that.
But this, “oh I just figured it out” crap? That dog don’t hunt.
Some people are still getting hammered… every day’s Punch a Hippie Day with this administration.
And, since the hippies have mostly been right, they’ll go on getting punched…
I LOVE YOU
No, I don’t want a bullet train. A bullet train is too slow.