So-called "Moral Values"=homophobia and anti-choice
values...
... in case you weren't aware
In 2000, the Democrats blamed Nader for their loss. That's up for debate. But now it seems that they're blaming the Supreme Court of Massachusetts for ruling in favor of same-sex marriage (I've already heard several people on NPR making this argument).
Yes, that's right. Apparently the voters who turned out were more concerned with stopping sinful homosexuals visiting each other in hospitals and eating wedding cake and being loving parents than with, say, HAVING A JOB or HEALTHCARE, or BEING PAID A DECENT WAGE or NOT BOMBING THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS TO KINGDOM COME. (Update--Scott Bateman nails it in his cartoon today).
I can't tell you how comforting that is. And I can't tell you how angry that "blame the Massachusetts court for advancing civil rights" argument makes me. If anyone's at fault, it's George W. Bush for shamelessly flogging his homophobic agenda while giving lip-service to tolerance, and the Kerry campaign, for not being consistently anti-war, and not speaking enough to the Democratic base (minority voters, for example). And it's the 23% of openly gay voters who VOTED FOR BUSH, presumably because tax cuts meant more to them than civil rights. Yes, you heard me--it's Mary Cheney's fault. Check the exit polls and you'll see that I'm right.
Would anyone now go back in time to tell the courts that made landmark civil rights decisions in the 1950s and 1960s that they should have waited until the whole country agreed with them? Hell no. Grrr. I think I'm going to vomit.
Update. Kerry conceded. My temptation is to cry and call him a loser, but as the Nation reminded me in an email today: "don't mourn, organize."
3 Comments:
The Nation is right. All of our lives just got a lot more important. Personally, I don't blame anyone on "our side." The truth is that the Republicans aren't afraid to just plain make stuff up on the campaign trail. Kerry would have won if not for the constant barrage of distortion and out-of-context quotes promulgated by the Bush camp. Simply put: Bush told enough lies about John Kerry to scare enough people away from him. It's tempting to look inside ourselves and think we did something wrong as Democrats, but the fact is, it's hard to win an election when your opponents don't have truth as a value in campaigning. Cheaters win.
OK, OK. I still think Kerry could have appealed more to the Democratic base and been more consistent. But you're right--it's really about the success of a devious Republican smear campaign (and the mobilizing of the evangelical vote, of course). Bush was an inarticulate liar with a bad economy and a disaster in Iraq, but THERE WERE WOLVES AND HOMOSEXUALS AT THE DOOR just waiting to get us, so he won anyway. Sigh.
Just noticed that August picked up on this as well.
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