At a recent Republican debate, Rick Santorum fielded a question via video by a gay soldier, Stephen Hill. Hill asked what the Republican candidates intended to do in reference to the excellent repeal of DADT. Here’s the video:
Rick Mix of Lube Santorum has been on a crusade through most of his lack-luster campaign to get the conservative social vote, so the awful things he said in that video aren’t a surprise. For instance, when he says sex should not be involved in the military, he’s implying that being gay means doing nothing but having crazy, crazy butt sex anywhere and everywhere. We all know that’s what he means because the Christian right actually thinks that’s what it’s all about. And I know I often say what a fan of rhetoric I am, but just because what someone says is effective – it is in this case because he’s appealing directly to the misconceptions and ignorance of his audience – that doesn’t mean it isn’t really shitty.
In better political news, President Obama took on the Republican answers at the debate as well as the boos the soldier received from the audience:
“We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens,” Obama said in the keynote address at the annual convention of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. gay lobby group…
“You want to be commander in chief?” he asked. “You can start by standing up for the men and woman in uniform” and support them even when it is not politically convenient.
To be fair, Obama is obviously waiting until after the 2012 elections to come out in favor of gay marriage – we all know he will – and that is political convenience, but I can’t imagine him standing for an audience that boos a service member. For that matter, I don’t know as Dubya would have stood for it. Of course, except for perhaps Huntsman, this is a notably crazy crop of Republicans this year so maybe I shouldn’t hold them to very high standards.
Filed under: News, Politics and Social | Tagged: Frothy, President Obama, Rick Santorum, Stephen Hill |
For the Sake of Science 
Very simple: Rick Santorum is a bigot. He lets his supernatural fairy tale religion interfere with the doings of grownups.
I can’t say for sure what the idiots in the audience were booing – they didn’t start the moment he said he was gay, and they may have booed his opinion. Multiple interpretations are possible here.
What’s not a possible interpretation is Santorum’s that don’t-ask, don’t-tell is sexuallity-neautral, that gay and straight people should keep it to themselves, as he put it. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell did not forbid straight people from talking about being straight.