Update: Well, I’m an idiot. I went to bed prior to them declaring Romney the winner by 8 votes; we went to bed with Santorum being the winner. Yeah, I’m a loser. :)
We watched the caucus in Iowa last night mostly because I’m married to an Iowan, so he wanted to see what his home state decided. We are a house (and family) of Democrats, so we didn’t have a vested interest in any of the candidates. If we had to choose the lesser of evils, we would probably be a Ron Paul house. His stance on marriage – that the government should be completely out of it – makes him the only candidate that would indirectly protect my rights. Plus he’s kind of crazy, which I like.
What I didn’t like (but accurately predicted) was a Santorum win in Iowa. This guy is pure poison but I had a bad feeling going into the caucus that he’d take the state based on the fact that he’s the most viable candidate for people still struggling with Romney’s Mormonism (and Iowa has a huge old school evangelical population).
This clip outlines my major concerns about Santorum. Mark this occasion as probably the only time you’ll see a clip from Fox “News” on my site:
I could write a very long, very terse post about this clip. But I’m just picking a couple things to highlight that show why Santorum is out of his mind (in my opinion).
First off: his contention that allowing gays to serve openly in the military will make other soldiers uncomfortable. Seriously? (I feel like I’m doing Seth Meyers now. SERIOUSLY!?!) Here’s the problem with that: why are you more concerned with the comfort level of the straight soldiers than the basic human rights of the LGBT soldiers? These are men and women who are fighting and dying for our country and you feel they shouldn’t be allowed to speak of their spouse and family? They can fight and die for YOUR freedom but not for their own? That’s of less concern to you than some middle school insecurity that another man may look at your pee pee in the shower? Get over it! LGBT men and women have ALWAYS been in the service and – the last time I checked at least – there weren’t massive sing alongs to the Showgirls soundtrack happening in the bunk houses. There weren’t hot, steamy orgies occurring every fortnight.
We’re not talking about the right of LGBT individuals to serve this country. They always have. We’re talking about their right to not have to hide who they are to keep others comfortable. If someone has an issue serving with a LGBT peer, that’s not the issue of the LGBT soldier; that’s the issue of the offended officer and you should consider diversity training. In the time that DADT has been off the record, the armed forces have not crumbled. Heterosexual soldiers have not been converted by the gays. The bases are not woken up with Cher’s “Believe” instead of reveille. Miss J isn’t teaching a course in bootcamp on how to walk in combat boots. In short: gays now serve openly and the world is still turning, the armed forces are still functioning and no one’s pee pee or bottom has been violated (anymore than normal).
My other issue with this video..Santorum repeatedly says that the LGBT community is trying to turn this into a civil rights movement similar to what the African-American community went through in the 50s and 60s, and says there’s no comparison because we’re talking about the color of your skin versus activities.
Okay, what?
How is being gay an activity? It’s not backgammon you uneducated weirdo. Is being heterosexual also an activity? If so, when did you decide which activity to partake in? That’s just like choosing between joining the basketball or football team, right? One’s sexuality is a genetic trait that we have little-to-no control over. Sure, we can all choose to go against what our orientation is, but that doesn’t mean that our orientation has been altered.
I strongly disagree with his assertion that conversion therapy has been successful. Every credible psychological organization in the world has spoken out saying that conversion therapy is not only unsuccessful but it does more harm than good, often leading to severe depression or suicide in the patients. In fact, the only groups still pushing or championing conversion (or reparative therapy) are religious organizations, which, at least to me, is mind blowing! The message of Christianity is not one of assimilation – that’s the Borg. I think Christians are confused.
What really chaps my hide is how dismissively he speaks of the current gay rights movement – literally saying it’s not an actual civil rights movement and the LGBT community is fabricating the whole issue.
Here is the definition of civil rights:
civil rights (plural of civ·il right)
Noun: The rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality.
To me, I would think that the legal right to marry your partner and to have a family would fall under political and social freedom and equality. We’re in an era where most states in our country have allowed the majority to vote to eliminate the rights of a minority class. That minority group is now standing up, fighting for their right to be equal from state-to-state. That, by definition, would be a civil rights movement.
Just because you don’t understand homosexuality – or just because you want to pander to a conservative base – doesn’t change reality. It doesn’t take away from the fact that there IS a new civil rights movement happening in America, and one’s that steadily making progress. You can’t put your head in the sand and act like the world isn’t moving in the direction that it is. And you can’t change reality simply by speaking a few words.
This guy is not only uneducated, homophobic, but he’s pure poison to the American public. It’s these sort of severely misinformed statements and biases that can’t be permitted to be in a place of power, especially in the office of President.
My only hope is that a Santorum win in Iowa is actually a win for Obama. If I were a Republican, I would be super disappointed in my primary candidates, in the debates they’ve had and in the almost entirely negative campaigns they’ve all run. I don’t care what you think your competitors didn’t do well – tell me what you DID do well. To me, there’s not a president among the contenders.
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This sums up good old Rick perfectly. As a PA voter, where we FINALLY voted him out, I just don’t understand how the country as a whole can see him as a viable candidate. When did common decency and respect for others that are different from you become passe? I mean, I know we have a problem with protecting civil rights in this country sometimes but it’s 2012 and to have a candidate that openly says some of the things he does (without shame) is beyond me.
Plus, I hate when people say that LGBT rights are not the same as what was fought for during the civil rights movement in the 60s. Uhm, seriously? That’s the definition of civil rights as you so kindly gave above. But Rick (and other politicians) play to the church crowd and create animosity among those who don’t want the 60s civil rights movement to be diminished, i.e. black people. My entire family (who are super religious blacks in the south) get up in arms when they hear about LGBT civil rights—mostly because they don’t see that as civil rights and definitely not a “black issue” (it’s hard to be black and openly gay in my old community).
We need a president who won’t play into that….Rick is not that guy. He needs to lead by a better example.
AMEN sister! Amen. :)
Tell it.