Homophobia and Apple Pie (GOP is the party for "real"Americans)

[papau]

The president has returned to playing the God-and-patriotism card heavily, always implying the GOP is the party for "real"Americans.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-scheer20jul20.story


Homophobia and Apple Pie
Robert Scheer

July 20, 2004

<snip>In any case, still smarting from the defeat in the Senate of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, the president has returned to playing the God-and-patriotism card heavily — always implying that the GOP is the party for "real" Americans. During his Midwest swing, he promised to protect those homeland values from the latest big threats: gays who marry and Hollywood entertainers who support Democrats. Bush did not quite equate gay marriages with Al Qaeda, as Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum did: "Isn't that the ultimate homeland security — standing up and defending marriage?" Bush just held that gay marriages would destroy "the most fundamental institution of civilization."

Thankfully, most Americans have fonder feelings about that other old fundamental institution, our Declaration of Independence, the one that says we are endowed by our creator with the unalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." And Sen. John McCain and five other brave Republicans broke with the president long enough to point out that their party supposedly believes in states' rights — including the power to regulate marriage.<snip>

Now, bizarrely, actors — excepting Republicans like Arnold "I Call Them Girlie Men" Schwarzenegger — are the latest group that poses a hazard to decent, "normal" Americans, of whom Bush is the self-appointed protector. <snip>

However, considering that comic Dennis Miller was warming up the crowd for the president the very next day, it's clear that you can escape the Hollywood stigma if you become a Republican — or a homophobe. Applying Republican ribaldry to disparage the Democratic ticket of Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards, Miller said, "Those two cannot keep their hands off each other, can they? I think I have an idea for a new campaign slogan … 'Hey, Get a Room,' " Now that's compassionate and reverential humor — almost as classy as Dick Cheney's vulgar performance on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

[GOPFighter]

1. If the GOP represents the "real" America...

...it's time for me to leave!

My greatest fear is finding that the majority of Americans want to invade countries whenever they feel threatened (i.e., when their President tels them to be afraid). I worry that as the working class becomes more and more stressed due to unemployment, or fear of it, they will focus their anger at the rest of the world rather than at the corporatist politicians that have enslaved them.