Just asking: If Trent Lott had to give up his leadership position because he said kind words about Strom Thurmond, would a Republican politician who called a Democratic rival a "faggot" be allowed to get off with a simple apology? I didn't think so. Where is the Human Rights Campaign when you need them?
But then again, a Republican president who was credibly charged with rape, sexual assault, and sexual harrassment wouldn't be given a pass by NOW, either.
3 hours ago
2 comments:
I think this is less of an incident than Dick Armey's "Barney Fag" comment of nine years ago, because they aren't really gay people that were being discussed. There used to be a time when young boys didn't know what a "faggot" was and yelled it at each other constantly anyway, and old habits die hard. What's more, I think the gay community is far more accepting of the use of the term than a lot of other minority groups are, regarding the corresponding epithets. The real problem is when the actual sexual preference is used against them in unrelated arguments.
For this guy, I think it's going to be a matter of whether his constituency appreciates temper tantrums or not. Calling people faggots was dumb. I mean, it was really dumb, but I don't see a direct way that it necessarily reflects on his policy, considering how many poeple on this earth say mind blowingly stupid things when they are angry, without much regard for what the words mean.
Trent Lott's incident was different because he was really showing his insensitivity on a deep personal level. It was directly in relation to his role on capitol hill, and he didnt have any emotional unrest to blame it on either. I'm going off on a tangent, but It reminded me of this kids in the hall sketch:
http://www.kithfan.org/work/transcripts/two/thanks.html
Strom Thurmond, while he was bad, was no hitler; I'm not trying to compare them, I just thought it was funny and I saw a parallel on a very superficial level.
btw, have i mentioned that I love reading this blog?
Also, your blog seems to have a hidden link to your previous blog's (thesubstandard?) RSS feed instead of the current one. I am new to RSS so it took me a while to figure out why it was only showing old updates.
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