This is pretty sad. Our governor is trying to resurrect his gaffe-prone presidential campaign by appealing to Iowa’s evangelical voters, and he has chosen gay-baiting as a way to do that.
Yesterday Perry assailed the Obama administration for directing American officials to consider gay rights abuses when allocating foreign aid and speaking out in favor of gay rights around the world. In response, Perry called the administration’s efforts part of a “war on traditional values”. He even used the term “special rights,” which went out of fashion in the 1990s. We live in a world where gay people are publicly stoned in Nigeria and lynched by mobs in Jamaica, and it appears Perry would have our government blissfully ignore it all.
The same day his putrefying campaign began airing a TV commercial entitled “Strong” in Iowa in which he says, “There’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but children can’t openly celebrate Christmas.” What I find interesting about that is that even if you leave the gays aside, that sentence is still inaccurate. You may be more interested in the turmoil among Perry’s staff that the ad has caused, as Huffington Post reports. Slate goes into the professional history of Perry staffers behind the ad. I won’t embed the video here, but you can watch it in any of the three preceding links. Also, Dallas Voice has fun toting up the users who’ve disliked the video on YouTube.
At this point, it’s easy to think “Who cares?” After all, it’s not like he’s going to get anywhere close to the White House next year. Still, it’s worth noting, especially if you’re a gay Texan, that Perry thinks that Christianity and human rights are for straight people only.
With Perry becoming an Internet target yet again, I’ll leave you with a funny parody video from Second City, fittingly entitled “Weak.”
The soullessness of politics is so disheartening. The President of the United States of American should have the best mind among us. Rick Perry doesn’t qualify. Get your act together Texas and try electing a thinker next time.
Sorry, Alan. Texas doesn’t do “thinkers.” We prefer cowboys and nitwits, which usually come in a single convenient package.
It may be time to remind people that Perry came to Fort Worth (where else? Tarrant County is a bigot gold mine) in 2005 to “sign” the proposed state constitutional amendment which forever outlawed any legal recognition of gay relationships in the state. The amendment required no gubernatorial signature, but it was a photo op he couldn’t resist. He gathered a thousand or so knuckle draggers at the Calvary “Temple” in Oakhurst, invited the leaders of several nationally-known hate groups (eg, Tony Perkins), and made a real spectacle of it.
The good news is that that “temple” will be razed soon for an expanded freeway. A much higher use.
Kristin Lin, a reporter your not. Your opiniated and bias. Where do you get off using such inflamatory language-putrefying, blissfully. If he didn’t pose a threat to your pea-brain insecurtity you would state what you have to say plainly without the need to bolster your deep seated insecurity. I don’t lke Perry as a politician, but he is still a human being. Find other words and get your point across without making yourself look stupid. Stuff your degrading and colorful language. I’m a democrat and your just plain stupid.
Jimmy writes about as well as you would expect from a Rick Perry supporter.