Our reader Peter Hughes alerted me to Tim Graham’s post over at Newsbusters reporting that Aaron Sorkin “wants Romney to tell ‘Homophobes’ to ‘Drop Dead’“:
Did you ever read Mad magazine as a kid? Do you remember the feature called “Scenes We’d Like To See”? . . . . So: Romney had a gay foreign-policy spokesperson who resigned. And the tweet or the post from the family-values guy who was really upset that Romney had a gay spokesperson was, “Romney has just said to the family-values community, ‘Drop dead.’ ” What would have happened if Romney had said, “I’m not telling the family-values community to drop dead. I’m telling homophobes to drop dead”?
Maybe Romney should have told anti-gay social conservatives to “drop dead.” Just as Barack Obama should tell race-baiters to drop dead — and he should say the same thing to those who express prejudice against gay conservatives in juvenile (and mean-spirited) terms. And those who call Tea Party protesters racist. And those who hold Sarah Palin responsible for the actions of a schizophrenic.
How does one qualify as a homophobe?
Who’s Aaron Sorkin? Am I supposed to care?
(after googling) Oh yeah, he’s that left-wing writer whose writing has become so preachy and cliched that even liberals pan him now.
“How does one qualify as a homophobe?” Excellent question, Richard R. Another question for B. Daniel is, what is an “anti-gay social conservative”? Dan has implied several times on GP that people who oppose gay marriage aren’t necessarily anti-gay. So then, how is Dan defining “anti-gay” in his accusation of “anti-gay social conservatives”? I think his answer will be interesting.
Seane-Anna – well until Daniel rings in, let me take a stab at your question. In my return to conservatism, I soon realized that there were a good number of adults who were very respectful in their opposition to technicality of same-sex marriage for understandable reasons and also clearly loving of their gay family and friends and were more than willing to support and sometimes celebrate any loving same-sex couples in their lives. They may oppose what is a core issue to many gay people, including some who are conservative, but I won’t tag them with the “homophobic” or “anti-gay” label.
To me, a social conservative who is homophobic or anti-gay includes those pastors in the news recently who made blanket pronouncements of interning all gay Americans in camps and starving them to death. Those who are haters include those who proclaim to know God’s will includes irrevocable and eternal damnation for the souls of those people who were created gay regardless of how they lived their lives. The “anti-gay” would also insist that every same-sex couple be ripped apart at the first opportunity including barring hospital visits or nullifying legal contracts between same-sex partners. And even the ones who claim “compassion” and want to “cure the homosexual” are also flying in the face of God’s plan IMHO just so they can stay wed to their personal fears and inadequacies (the Bachmans).
While I’ve discovered this type of person doesn’t consist of nearly the majority of Americans I was originally led to believe by the Left (or even a simple majority), they still exist and too many of them still get to influence policy that effects all Americans, not just the ones they want to separate out of society, even over actual criminals who are proven dangers to society (Gov. Barbour pardoning spouse killers et. al.).
I hope that somewhat answers your question.
PopArt at #5, thanks for giving me your definition of an “anti-gay social conservative”. It remains to be seen if Dan’s view is the same as yours.
“(A)nti-gay social conservative” is a straw dog the writers of this blog create to justify their own contempt of people who practice their religion openly and without apology.
Julie – I’d say your half right. Many liberals smack the label “anti-gay conservatives” on an overly wide swath of Americans, and for those who happen to be gay, the Left is all set with the label of “self loathing.”
But as I indicated in comment 5, some do indeed exist and they still have enough influence to muddy issues that are already complicated by the Democrats and their RINO sycophants like Boehner and McCain. In fact, many of the Republicans who are alleged conservatives such as Rick Santorum and Chris Smith use their anti-gay rhetoric as a bright, colorful object to distract us from the fact they are both fiscally quite liberal.
As for Daniel and Bruce, overall I think they are quite in tune with noting who is truly a homophobe and who is being unfairly and inaccurately being labeled one.