Video on msnbc.com: Frank Rich, writer-at-large for New York Magazine, talks with Rachel Maddow about the wild disconnect between Republican power players (both politicians and donors) who support gay rights and the Republican presidential field who are competing to pander to the most extreme right wing of the party.
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Rick Santorum has been touting himself as a Catholic of conservative values- toeing the line of Rome.
Hardly.
He’s conveniently forgetting to advocate for several key social justice positions of the hierarchy. He’s picking and choosing- much the argument that conservative Catholics accuse their more progressive brethren of doing. To wit: John Gehring’s breakdown in the Huffington Post (thanks to Enlightened Catholicism):
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GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a proud Catholic who often speaks about his faith on the campaign trail, is attracting some formidable buzz from pundits who view his strong showing in the Iowa caucuses as a sign that the former Pennsylvania senator might have enough mojo to rally a coalition of religious and blue-collar voters.
New York Times columnist David Brooks waxed poetic Monday about Santorum’s Catholic conservative sensibilities and touted the candidate as an authentic antidote to “the corporate or financial wing of the party.”Evangelicals are also taking notice. Writing on CNN’s Belief blog, Chris LaTondresse, the founder and CEO of Recovering Evangelical, calls Santorum a post-religious right candidate “whose concern for poor and vulnerable people” is “firmly rooted in his Catholic faith.”
It’s easy to see why Santorum might appeal to some culturally conservative Catholics and moderate evangelicals who are wary of Democrats but also turned off by the Republican Party’s cozy embrace of economic libertarianism and tireless defense of struggling millionaires. Santorum is more comfortable with communitarian language, has been a strong supporter of foreign aid to impoverished countries and connects with personal stories of his blue-collar upbringing.
But it’s a political delusion to think Rick Santorum is a standard-bearer of authentic Catholic values in politics. In fact, on several issues central to Catholic social teaching – torture, war, immigration, climate change, the widening gap between rich and poor and workers’ rights – Santorum is radically out of step with his faith’s teachings as articulated by Catholic bishops and several popes over the centuries.
Santorum is conveniently forgetting key Catholic teaching on poverty, immigration, torture, worker’s rights, financial inequity and climate change- obviously to court the Christianist voter.
But Catholics should not be fooled. Read the full breakdown here.
And don’t miss this: Rick Santorum’s Top 10 Most Outrageous Campaign Statements
From Towleroad:
Cenk Uygur takes on Michele Bachmann’s extreme positions on social issues like gays and abortion during her recent trip to Iowa, and going way back during her first days as a Minnesota lawmaker.
Incidentally, Cenk refers to a moment when Bachmann hid in the bushes during a gay rights rally in Minnesota. I went back and dug through my archives to find the post I wrote about it back in April 2005. That was like anti-gay gay boot camp for what she’s doing now.
Crazy Quilt
She was invited by Rehberg to the Montana Republicans Lincoln/Reagan Dinner (named after non-Montanans- guess they couldn’t find any notables like Mansfield/Metcalfe). And the Republican higher-ups simply GUSHED:
“Congresswoman Bachmann is a leading voice for conservative Republicans. She is in great demand for speaking engagements throughout the country. We are very fortunate Michele Bachmann will be our guest in Montana’s capital city and are grateful for Congressman Rehberg’s assistance in making this possible,” said Lewis and Clark County Republican Central Committee chairman Bridget Holland.
Rehberg’s casual, snide flinging of the word “Obamacare” is obviously modeled on his crazy-eyed pal- who uses it at least once every time she’s interviewed. She’s so obviously entrenched in Crazyland- and completely unencumbered by the facts/truth. But watch for yourself. And remember: this is who Denny Rehberg aspires to be….
Dr Michael Brown, an ex-heroin-shooting Jewish rock drummer turned Christian theologian, has a thing about The Gays. He’s written a book called “A Queer Thing Happened To America- and what a long, strange trip it’s been”.
I don’t read anti-gay Christian books. It’s completely humiliating for me. But my friend Kathy does- and she crafts excellent responses to them. She takes apart Brown’s book. Excerpt:
Dr. Brown writes: “Is it so hateful to believe that homosexual practice is harmful and that change is possible? (If a doctor takes issue with you or me being overweight, do we brand him or her an anti-fat, hate-filled bigot, or do we recognize that the doctor is expressing concern for our well being? Isn’t the doctor trying to be helpful rather hateful?)
That analogy falls apart quickly. When you suggest that an overweight person cut back and deny themselves excess calories, they get healthier. When you tell a gay person to deny their sexual orientation, that is when you get all the symptoms from shame to depression to addictions to suicide at the extreme.
It’s been a rough few weeks for LGBT persons in Montana.
I testified at the legislature (with many of my brothers and sisters) against HB 516 which would overturn (perhaps even unconstitutionally) the right of cities and towns to enact their own anti-discrimination legislation. It passed out of committee- despite the amazingly logical arguments against it.
And Senate Bill 276, introduced by Tom Facey would have brought the criminal code into line with the judiciary- in effect aligning the language with the law, by removing the language of the deviate conduct laws which criminalize sexual behavior between consenting adults of the same gender. Bringing the language of the law in line with legal precedent. A no-brainer, right?
Sigh. Not for these Republican legislators. It just got worse. The hearing had some of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard– much less to be spoken publicly by elected officials. The Billings Gazette had this to say:
Also turned back was a plan to get rid of a state law making gay sex subject to criminal penalties — even though the courts have ruled it unconstitutional and unenforceable.
Republicans, in a 13-7 vote, stacked up against the idea of removing from the books the law offensive to the gay community, which has argued over the years that the antiquated law sends a hostile message.
But House Republicans stuck with their party’s platform that calls for keeping the anti-gay law, even though many Senate Republicans had supported the idea in sending it to the other chamber.
“Voting to say this should stay on the books is truly a cruel act,” said Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula. “When you cast that vote you said that I and other members of this Legislature who are gay or lesbian should go to prison for up to 10 years for whom I love. Don’t come up to me later and say you are sorry.”
The Montana GOP has made things very clear- they don’t give a shit about human rights, they don’t give a shit about science and they don’t give a shit about gay people. In fact, they hate them. The only reason not to pass this bill was to slap the faces- repeatedly- of Montana LGBT persons. The only reason. That’s hate.
The plank that still stands in the Montana GOP Platform that promotes the criminalization of “homosexual” acts, I argued before, is anachronistic and hateful and should be removed.
I’ve changed my mind.
It should stay because that’s exactly what they believe. That kind of ridiculous hate and intolerance is exactly what the GOP legislators have sanctioned, promoted and supported. I thought that out of deference to some amazingly open Republican Montanans I know (and am related to) that this kind of thing could be avoided- that the official government of Montana would not tell LGBT kids that they are less valuable than others, that it wouldn’t keep LGBT adults living under the specter of vilification, intolerance and second-class citizenship.
I was wrong.
The MT GOP is intolerant and anti-gay. Period. And the people of Montana need to know that- without equivocation.
So, if you’re a Republican-leaning Montanan and you’re saying to yourself, “These legislators are crazy, they don’t speak for me,” you’re wrong. They do. And if you don’t follow the same ignorant, bigoted stance they are taking, you need to speak up.
Immediately.
And maybe consider leaving the party of bigotry and ignorance. Because, like it or not, the Montana Democrats are the only people standing united for human rights.
And if you’re an LGBT person who is still a Republican, the only thing I can (honestly) say is “Why? They hate you. Do you hate yourself?”
Because- mark my words, it’s just going to get worse.
From Eternity To Here 