This just struck me as funny. As you probably know, Ken Mehlman -- former RNC head and the author of GWB's 2004 "OH MY GOD, THE GAYS ARE TAKING OVER!" campaign -- is just so freakin' gay. So, of course, Republicans are out in droves denying they've ever hated gay people -- despite the obvious fact that they do.
But wait, Peter Wehner at Commentary has proof that the right doesn't hate the gays and he delivers his smackdown argument thusly (emphasis mine):
Yes, Elton John played at Rush Limbaugh's umpteenth wedding. Wow. How "tolerant" of him to offer a job to a gay fella. Was John a guest at the wedding?
Well, no.
This would be like pointing to a white wedding in the '50s and arguing that there's no racism because there's a black bartender someplace. Or an Asian florist or Jewish tailor. It's like saying a turn-of-the-century Man of Substance wasn't sexist and, to prove it, presenting his maid. Would handlebar-mustachioed millionaire-industrialist Phineas B. Applebottom hire a mere woman if he hated them so much? Yes actually, he might. In fact, I'm pretty damned sure a lot of women-haters did. They even married them.
So, does hiring Elton John prove that Rush Limbaugh doesn't hate gays? No, it doesn't. Hiring someone to perform a service for you doesn't mean you think of them as an equal. It never has. That this was the best example of rightwing tolerance Wehner could think of shows just how intolerant they really are.
But wait, Peter Wehner at Commentary has proof that the right doesn't hate the gays and he delivers his smackdown argument thusly (emphasis mine):
I suppose that’s predictable. He is, after all, the most powerful Republican ever to identify himself as gay. But my sense is that it’ll be a lot less of a big deal to conservatives than it might be to liberals like (just to choose one name at random) Frank Rich, for whom the political is also the personal. While it’s something that runs counter to the stereotype, most of the conservatives I know are largely to completely indifferent to a person’s sexual orientation. They are the kind of people who might even invite Elton John to perform at their weddings and not give a second thought to the fact that John is gay.
Yes, Elton John played at Rush Limbaugh's umpteenth wedding. Wow. How "tolerant" of him to offer a job to a gay fella. Was John a guest at the wedding?
Well, no.
This would be like pointing to a white wedding in the '50s and arguing that there's no racism because there's a black bartender someplace. Or an Asian florist or Jewish tailor. It's like saying a turn-of-the-century Man of Substance wasn't sexist and, to prove it, presenting his maid. Would handlebar-mustachioed millionaire-industrialist Phineas B. Applebottom hire a mere woman if he hated them so much? Yes actually, he might. In fact, I'm pretty damned sure a lot of women-haters did. They even married them.
So, does hiring Elton John prove that Rush Limbaugh doesn't hate gays? No, it doesn't. Hiring someone to perform a service for you doesn't mean you think of them as an equal. It never has. That this was the best example of rightwing tolerance Wehner could think of shows just how intolerant they really are.
