So by now I’m sure you’ve all seen Rick Perry’s absolutely terrifyingly boneheaded and bigoted campaign ad. In it, the governor decides to reveal a deep, dark secret about himself – he’s a Christian. Yep, it’s finally out there, and he’s not ashamed. What he is ashamed of, however, is the fact that gay people aren’t ashamed to serve in the military. He’s ashamed of the fact that other Christians can’t proselytize in government buildings. And he’s ashamed about a third things too, and it’s… uh… oops.
What you may not have seen is his follow-up act on CNN where he tries to defend that ad:
This is what journalists are supposed to do, and which Sarah Palin has apparently scared them away from. If someone leads with their chin as obviously as Perry does in his ‘defense’ of his bigotry, you’re supposed to oblige them and deliver the knockout punch. “The Israeli military’s pretty good, right?” is the question that every single person who defends “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should be forced to answer.
And also there’s this:
But I’m intentionally avoiding reading anything into that.
So America, you seem to have a choice between the party that this knucklehead of a homophobic asshole represents, and then the other guys:
And the fact that this is actually a difficult choice for your country absolutely floors me.
Like this article? Follow me on Twitter!
What an evil, hateful man. DADT was a horrible policy that led to witch hunts. Integrity is solidified into every soldier as a key part of their service, and yet gay and lesbian members had to lie about who they were.
I don’t even know what he’s talking about with the Catholic Church thing – his major reason for the war on religion he kept spouting off about.
I really hope Perry pulls a Cain and realize he done fucked up and pulls out of the race. That would be a beautiful thing: boast about Christianity, attack homosexuals, receive backlash, drop out of running. That sort of thing will send a message to all the other nutjob candidates: yes, you can go too far, and yes, there are many fans for all your shit to hit.
Also, I’m glad that his video is one of the most hated on Youtube. That fills me with pride. I love you, Internet.
He’ll pull out when he drops the first 3 primaries, provided he finishes lower than Bachmann in all of them. She’ll aggressively court his endorsement (as fellow fundagelicals) but he will withhold it until a clear frontrunner emerges on Super Tuesday. He’ll endorse the frontrunner and try to position himself as VP, because he can bring in the south.
Pfft, nobody told me for the 4 hours this post was up that the embedding was broken, yet Monday’s post was awash with comments about one word out of >1000. The things we choose to care about 😛
“And the fact that this is actually a difficult choice for your country absolutely floors me.”
Try being sane and living here. this new-ish rise of the right has taken lots of folks like myself by complete surpise. What pisses me off the most though is our utterly worthless self-castrated MSM. I despise them. I mean, as great as Rachel Maddow is, we shouldn’t have to be going to shows like hers for actual information and analysis simply because the Big Boys can’t be bothered with doing real journalism.
So Rick Perry thinks that Catholic churches, that he calls private organizations, should be able to get federal taxpayer dollars “if those dollars are being used in an appropriate way.”
So, I guess he’s also fine with Planned Parenthood receiving taxpayer dollars since those dollars don’t go toward funding abortions?
I had that exact thought too. My biggest disappointment with this whole brouhaha is that Perry is such a nonentity right now. If this were something we could all ridicule Romney for, I’d be a lot happier to see it.
I mean, who knows, nobody thought Newt would make a comeback; maybe Perry could somehow snag the nomination… but I’m not seeing it.
The conspiracy theory is that Repubs are keeping Perry around to make Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich look moderate. I’m more inclined to think he’s just around because he’s not bright enough to realize he’s done yet.
You misspelled “pfft.”
Possibly, many people don’t care for embedded video. I’ve known quite a few sites where people complain about it. But gratuitous pedantry seems to be popular.
Yeah, I don’t think anybody’s got that much control over the situation or unified thinking regarding it; to me, it looks like the GOP is just generally floundering in terror of having another McCain experience.
I mean, I never thought a dark-skinned man with “Hussein” and “Obama” in his name would ever win the presidency, so what do I know, but from the minute I first heard Perry’s voice I figured he was a non-starter because he actually IS the Dubya-2.0 that Obama tried to paint McCain as.
But anyway, in the end it doesn’t actually matter if there’s a conspiracy or not because the effect may well be happening regardless. Gingrich concerns me because he’s surprisingly intellectual; the Republican brand has always run a fine line courting the
idiot“common sense” and “simple values” vote, and I think the latest parade of nimrods has pushed it too far in the public consciousness – and the GOP knows it. So while it’s all fine and good to point out nimrodicity where we see it, if we fatten ourselves on that low-hanging fruit, we’ll leave ourselves open to the real threat of a non-nimrod candidate.Try being sane and living here. this new-ish rise of the right has taken lots of folks like myself by complete surpise.
I guess you missed Reagan the Scumbag and the 80s?
I think that it is appropriate to mention that there are rumors all over the internet that Governor Perry is Mr. AC/DC. It is alleged that he had an affair with somebody named Geoff Connor, who is, apparently, his Secretary of State, which alleged affair almost caused his wife to say sayonara. This, of course, would be nothing new in the history of gay bashing by closeted gays, vis former Maryland Congressman Bob Bauman, who bashed gays during the day and cruised gay bars at night.
Meh, until there’s some kind of evidence I’m going to withhold any judgment. This is fairly run-of-the-mill homophobia, not the rampant anti-gay crusading that you usually connect with closet homsexuality.
I was around in the 1980s (I started college in ’81), and if you had told me then that in 30 years Reagan’s policies would be to the left of the positions the Democrats were willing to espouse I’d have thought you crazy. I mean, in the 80s we stilled had people like Goldwater spitting on the Christian Right movement, people that thought the world was only 5000 years old were in the same category as Flat Earthers.
But, no, when the so-called “Patriot Act” was passed it was obvious that my beloved USA was gone, that for systemic reasons the abuse of power and shredding of the Founder’s principles could not be stopped.
It has not been a good 10 years since then.
One final irony has surfaced; I’m told that the background music chosen for the piece is by Aaron Copland. The Aaron Copland investigated by HUAC and blacklisted for his support of Communist and progressive candidates.
The Aaron Copland who was (for his time) pretty openly (for his time) a gay man.
I loved watching his eyes, you could read the “oh shit, oh shit, oh shit” running through his mind after every question. And what about his argument “… those are the NATO allies, this is the United States of America”. What the hell is that about? He can ignore what works elsewhere because the US is different, populated by aliens or something?
Try not to take it too hard, Crommie. I’ve been watching American politics slide downhill since the start of the Reagan administration, and my jaw has hit the floor increasingly often since 2001 or so.
I never would have thought it, but we’ve come to a point where our current crop actually makes Reagan himself look moderate.