Blogcasting from the worldwide headquarters of the not-so-vast gay right wing conspiracy.
Representing the millions of patriotic gays and lesbians across the USA by standing up for freedom, fairness, free speech, privacy and true American values.
So I’m currently reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (I know, I know… But anyway…).
I won’t go into how it’s killing my mother, the effect it’s having on my prospects for finding a boyfriend, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Point is, I just went through Chapter 11 of Part 2 (“Ellsworth M. Toohey”). Howard Roark had just selected Steven Mallory to craft a sculpture for the Stoddard Temple. After what can only be called an epiphany of spirit, Mallory explains what the commission (and by its nature, Roark’s great understanding of his own demons) helped him discover. Tell me if it reminds you of anything:
“I know that the terror exists. I know the kind of terror it is. You can’t conceive of that kind. Listen, what’s the most horrible experience you can imagine? To me—it’s being left, unarmed, in a sealed cell with a drolling beast of prey or a maniac who’s had some disease that’s eaten his brain out. You’d have nothing then but your voice—your voice and your thought. You’d scream to that creature why it should not touch you, you’d have the most eloquent words, the unanswerable words, you’d become the vessel of the absolute truth. And you’d see living eyes watching you and you’d know that the thing can’t hear you, that it can’t be reached, not reached, not in any way, yet it’s breathing and moving there before you with a purpose of its own. That’s horror. Well, that’s what’s hanging over the world, prowling somewhere through mankind, that same thing, something closed, mindless, utterly wonton, but something with an aim and a cunning of its own. I don’t think I’m a coward, but I’m afraid of it.”
Who knew Ayn Rand could so perfectly describe the Speaker and the “drooling beast” that the Stalinization of Health Care Act of 2010 has become, way back in 1943?
What anybody who lives here knows, Denver is the best place in the world. Now, no less an authority than Pew Research has verified what we all know: You can’t get better than Denver.
Our old friend, VtheK (whose site, if you haven’t been there in a while, is still as fun as ever) recently wrote me he fears that in Denver, “the Californication has gone too far.” This should help assuage that fear:
Denver is the favorite city among Republicans
And believe me, with politics the way they’ve been going out here, we could use some more conservatives. So mount up, young Republicans, and Go West!
Tis a slow news day and Bruce & Dan are off doing, well whatever they do when they’re not online, so I figured this would be a good time for an open thread question. Besides, I’m having a bit of a bad day anyways…
Just a wee bit of advice for the future: never, ever drive over a recently filled trench on a construction site right after a torrential rain. Not good. Car’s fine but my pride is still in trauma.
So anyways, how about it? What if the guy you don’t want to be president actually wins this year? What are you most concerned about them doing if they end up in the Oval Office come 2009? Is there anything good you think they might do that your candidate won’t do himself?
Seems Obama supporters are really trying to mitigate the damage of the media focus on his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. First, they find gay-baiting in a clumsy remark by a Hillary supporter and now we learn (via the Washington Blade‘s Blogwatch) of yet another voice on the left decrying John McCain’s alleged hypocrisy for his association with John Hagee.
In yesterday’s Huffington Post, Valerie Tarico said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee had “positioned himself as a hypocrite” when he called Wright’s remarks “beyond belief.” Tarico claims that Bill Moyers “in an hour long interview last Friday showed the world the broader context in which the remarks were made.”
Valerie, that’s because John McCain didn’t sit in Hagee’s church on a regular basis for two decades and call him his “spiritual mentor.In fact.” it appears the Arizona Senator met with the Texas pastor only once–when he received his endorsement.
There’s a huge differnce between getting the endorsement of a narrow-minded preacher and associating with one on a regular basis over a twenty-year period.
Judging by the latest Gallup poll, it appears that gay rights are making some headway among Americans. Every year that goes by more and more seem to be leaning towards acceptance, which should not be confused with moral approval. Bear in mind that this poll has a margin of error of +/- 3% but let’s take a look:
I. Whether gays should be allowed to serve openly, maintain the current DADT policy or return to pre-DADT policies of discharging all gays:
1. Serve openly: 46%
2. Serve under DADT: 36%
3. Discharge all gays: 15%
The first gained 5% since 2000, while the second and third each lost 2% during that time. See also part VII which tends to cloud these results IMO.
II. Whether homosexual relations should be legal or not:
1. Legal: 59%
2. Illegal: 37%
That’s a significant change since the question was asked in 1977 when both sides were evenly split at 43% each.
It seems like the general buzz for McCain’s speech is good…
The blogger who was sitting right beside me was the guy from “My Man Mitt”… he left about an hour ago and so now there is just an empty seat with the placard “My Man Mitt” in front of it… lots of folks are stopping to take pictures of it, pretty much sums up where things for Mitt and company…
Jeff Gannon stopped by… he is pimping a book called “The Great Media War”
I am always reminded why I am a Republican at events like this… lots of clean-cut, good looking folks in suits and not a single dirty hippy with an f-ing Che shirt on…
More than one person is confused about why I am sitting here instead of Bruce…
Oh, and best line so far, from a young woman walking by me “Why do all of you have to be so good looking. It’s just not fair. All the good ones are gay.” Hard to argue with that.
In case folks haven’t noticed, I have an adult ADD approach to blogging… unlike GP or GPWs thoughtful and well considered posts, you are likely to get short, rapid fire posts from me. I really am easily distracted, so this approach is about the only one that works for me…
I know that a great deal of the animosity towards McCain is a result of his position on immigration reform. I thought folks might want to read what McCain had to say on that issue today. It won’t make everyone happy, but McCain gets points in my book for both telling folks the truth about his record (He could have just tried the Mitt approach and said “I have always been for a secure the borders first approach”) and for admitting that he was wrong:
Surely, I have held other positions that have not met with widespread agreement from conservatives. I won’t pretend otherwise nor would you permit me to forget it. On the issue of illegal immigration, a position which provoked the outspoken opposition of many conservatives, I stood my ground aware that my position would imperil my campaign. I respect your opposition for I know that the vast majority of critics to the bill based their opposition in a principled defense of the rule of law. And while I and other Republican supporters of the bill were genuine in our intention to restore control of our borders, we failed, for various and understandable reasons, to convince Americans that we were. I accept that, and have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a wa y that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration.
McCain’s closing is powerful. No matter how folks may feel about McCain or about some of McCain’s positions, the bottom line is that he is a real American Hero – someone who has sacrificed more for this country than either Hillary or Obama could ever dream of…
You have heard me say before that for all my reputation as a maverick, I have only found true happiness in serving a cause greater than my self-interest. For me, that cause has always been our country, and the ideals that have made us great. I have been her imperfect servant for many years, and I have made many mistakes. You can attest to that, but need not. For I know them well myself. But I love her deeply and I will never, never tire of the honor of serving her. I cannot do that without your counsel and support. And I am grateful, very grateful, that you have given me this opportunity to ask for it.
Maybe someone should ask the folks over at the Obama campaign or the Hillary campaign or their buddies over at HRC why they don’t seem to give a damn about the treatment of gay people, women, and religious minorities at the hands of tyrannical Islamic regimes. They don’t get – at all. John McCain does:
Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will withdraw our forces from Iraq based on an arbitrary timetable designed for the sake of political expediency, and which recklessly ignores the profound human calamity and dire threats to our security that would ensue.
I intend to win the war, and trust in the proven judgment of our commanders there and the courage and selflessness of the Americans they have the honor to command. I share the grief over the terrible losses we have suffered in its prosecution. There is no other candidate for this office who appreciates more than I do just how awful war is. But I know that the costs in lives and treasure we would incur should we fail in Iraq will be far greater than the heartbreaking losses we have suffered to date. And I will not allow that to happen.
They won’t recognize and seriously address the threat posed by an Iran with nuclear ambitions to our ally, Israel, and the region.
I intend to make unmistakably clear to Iran we will not permit a government that espouses the destruction of the State of Israel as its fondest wish and pledges undying enmity to the United States to possess the weapons to advance their malevolent ambitions.
Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will concede to our critics that our own actions to defend against its threats are responsible for fomenting the terrible evil of radical Islamic extremism, and their resolve to combat it will be as flawed as their judgment.
I intend to defeat that threat by staying on offense and by marshaling every relevant agency of our government, and our allies, in the urgent necessity of defending the values, virtues and security of free people against those who despise all that is good about us.
He looks great today and is delivering a great speech… He has taken the bull by the horns in addressing his absence at CPAC last year and his wildly unpopular position on ending our illegal immigration crisis.
This was the speech John McCain absolutley had to give today and the crowd – outside of the bitter Romney folks – seem to be eating it up.
“Thank you for inviting me. It’s been a little while since I’ve had the honor of addressing you, and I appreciate very much your courtesy to me today. We should do this more often. I hope you will pardon my absence last year, and understand that I intended no personal insult to any of you. I was merely pre-occupied with the business of trying to escape the distinction of pre-season frontrunner for the Republican nomination, which, I’m sure some of you observed, I managed to do in fairly short order. But, now, I again have the privilege of that distinction, and this time I would prefer to hold on to it for a while.”
Right now the single best Senator in the entire US Senate – Dr. Tom Coburn – is introducing John McCain… lets see, first George Allen offers his intro and now Dr. Coburn – very smart on McCain’s part to have 2 real conservatives introduce him.
OK, so I am here on bloggers row at CPAC pinch hitting for GP. I am way sorry I missed seeing Romney drop out in person.
McCain speaks in 15 minutes and the line to get in to see him is unbelievable. Not sure how many of those folks are lining up to cheer him or as GP wanted to do “throw a tomato at him”…
Just in, a statement from Patrick Sammon – President of Log Cabin.
“Mitt Romney’s decision to withdraw from the Presidential race was a smart one. After Super Tuesday, it became clear that Mitt Romney had no chance to win the GOP nomination. Governor Romney ran an aggressive campaign, spending tens of millions of dollars to hide his record and to distort the record of his opponents. In the end, voters did not find this version of Mitt Romney to be credible. Too many voters learned the truth about his record, and that record didn’t match his new found conservative rhetoric.
Log Cabin led the way in telling voters the truth about Governor Romney’s record. In both Iowa and New Hampshire we ran an aggressive advertising campaign pointing out the litany of Romney flip-flops.
Today is a great day for the Republican Party. Nominating a candidate like Mitt Romney would have been a recipe for disaster in November and would have ensured a White House victory by the Democrats.
Log Cabin is proud to have played an important role in sparing the party from a nominee like Mitt Romney.”
Ouch, that hurts. Of course, sometimes the truth does hurt.
(GP Ed. Note – We will see how Mr. Sammon and LibertyDC feel when McCain gets his clocked cleaned in November….)
Mitt Romney withdrawing at CPAC as I type… Spends most of the beginning of his speech trying to impress people with his new found social conservative positions. Hey note to Mitt, voters didn’t buy it.
Today is a good day for the Republican Party – Mitt Slick Willie Romney is out.
McCain ain’t perfect, but now is the time to unite the party and defeat the Democratic nominee in the fall.
Bruce Bawer has a troubling piece today in Pajamas on the increasing amount gay bashing in Europe. One guess as to the religious background of the bashers.
To suggest that the culprits, far from being fragile, sensitive flowers who’ve been pushed over the line by something we did, are in fact bullies driven by an overweening sense of superiority and a deep-seated malice – both of which they’ve been carefully taught at home, at school, and, yes, in the mosque – is verboten.
Europe is on its way down the road of Islamization, and it’s reached a point along that road at which gay people’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is being directly challenged, both by knife-wielding bullies on the street and by taxpayer-funded thugs whose organizations already enjoy quasi-governmental authority.
Both the article and the book should make it clear that the enemies of the West hold a particular animosity toward gay people. And the more you understand the nature of this enemy, the more you’ll understand why gay people should champion our side in this long struggle.
