Will gays and lesbians turn Republican out of frustration with Obama?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Oh, please. I get that Obama hasn't done nearly enough for gay rights, and I've been deeply critical of him for not doing enough and for not being progressive enough (specifically on DADT and same-sex marriage), but there isn't about to be a mass migration of gays to the Republican Party just because a couple of somewhat high-profile Republicans, McCainiac Steve Schmidt and Bushie Ken Mehlman, the latter recently uncloseted, along with the independent-minded and barely Republican Meghan McCain, are publicly defending same-sex marriage, or because other Republicans with little profile at all are either softening their views on gay rights or daring to come out against their party's long-standing opposition not just to gay rights but to homosexuality generally.

At HuffPo, Sam Stein quotes an anonymous "prominent Democratic consultant" as saying that Obama should feel "uncomfortable" with all these Republicans to the left of him on gay rights. But what are we really talking about here? Schmidt, Mehlman, and McCain aren't exactly the movers and shakers of the GOP, nor do they really have that much public profile. McCain has greater media presence than the other two, but she doesn't have much influence, if any, on the party. "We get the bad rap as Republicans being against gay marriage," she told Fox News recently. "[Obama] isn't doing anything for the gay community." Republicans deserve the rap. This is a party, after all, that proposes putting a ban on same-sex marriage in the Constitution and that has a theocratic-oriented base that is deeply anti-gay, a party that from top to bottom espouses bigotry and that is moving further and further to the right. And while Obama hasn't done enough, it's just not true that he hasn't done anything. Earlier this year, for example, he banned visitation discrimination against gays and lesbians at any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding.

As Stein notes, "LBGT voters are not, of course, monolithic," and, while I am not gay myself, I certainly think it's fair to say that on most issues a significant majority of gays and lesbians are much closer to Obama and the Democrats than to the Republicans. Will frustration with Obama drive some of them to the GOP? Well, sure, but some heteros are turning away from Obama, too. What of it?

It seems to me that the anonymous consultant is fearmongering and that very few people are paying attention to what Schmidt, Mehlman, and a tiny minority of Republicans are up to. In contrast, the Republican position on gay rights, including same-sex marriage, is pretty clear, and there's no indication it's going to change anytime soon.

If some gays or lesbians prefer to back a party that hates them and that seeks to treat them like non- or unequal citizens, or as some hell-bound domestic enemy, well, that's their problem (and ours, to the extent that Democrats lose votes), but I suspect that most of them would rather register their displeasure and disappointment with the party that actually has a history of fighting for their rights, and seek to change that party's policy positions, than do that. With the Democrats, after all, in a party that respects difference and diversity, they can make a difference and actually secure equal rights. With the Republicans, ruled by a far-right fringe that has become the party's new mainstream, all they'll find is fear and loathing, welcomed by a few but detested by the rest. Is the choice not clear?

This is why Europe thinks we're pikers

By J. Thomas Duffy

We meant to post this yesterday, but got sidetracked by things on the homefront (and, the possible start of an infection to the sinuses, which have been doing a non-stop tango for the past few days).

Once again, you would think cleavage was the single, largest, most dastardly problem facing this country.

Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny McCain's little girl, Meghan, that prolific children's book author, posted a photo of herself on Twitter, and heads exploded.

Meghan McCain's Racy TwitPic Reaches 160,000 Views In 17 Hours (NWS)

Internet All A-Twitter Over Meghan McCain Photo

Apparently, Ms. Little Bloggette threw a hissy fit, in 140 characters or less, vowing to blow up her computer and never twit (or was it be a twit) again.

Ahh, but the Little Arizona Princess wasn't quite finished.

After showing the sexually-repressed PartyofNoicans her cleavage, she apparently threw on some clothes and banged out an "I Am Not A Slut" tirade over on her perch at The Daily Beast.

It must be beastly to be Meghan McCain and have everyone thinking you are a slut.

Worse, perhaps, to bring up the "s" word yourself if it wasn't specifically put out there.

This was about near a perfect "yang" to the Garage Attic Boy's "ying."

Paging Sanjaya Malakar




Bonus Meghan McCain Is Not A Slut Riffs

Ryan Tate: Meghan McCain Swears She'll Quit Twitter If You Can't Deal With Her Boobs

watertiger: Late Night: “Wait, My Fifteen Minutes of Fame Aren’t Up Yet!”

Wonkette: Jake Tapper Employs Secret War Code To Save Meghan McCain


(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)

Quote of the Day: Meghan McCain on Joe the Plumber

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Ms. McCain nails it:

Joe the Plumber -- you can quote me -- is a dumbass. He should stick to plumbing.

There you go. I quoted her.

You really gotta love Meghan McCain. Seriously, I think I'm developing a major crush on her, if I don't have one already. She's still a Republican, I know, and she's still her father's daughter, but there's something to be said for such honesty coming from within the GOP's own ranks, even if many Republicans don't consider her one of their own.

If you're looking for a maverick, Meghan's the McCain with the mojo.

(I just wish she'd comment on Palin. If anyone deserves the no-holds-barred Meghan McCain treatment, after all, it's John's running mate, the soon-to-be ex-governor of Alaska.)

Roberta McCain slams Dear Leader Rush

By Michael J.W. Stickings

What's going on with the McCain Family? While Senator John continues to play the faux maverick, some of his closest relatives are speaking out, aggressively, against the various right-wing demagogues and ideologues who have taken over their beloved GOP. First it was Daughter Meghan, who took on Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Cheney/Rove, and, more broadly, the extremism that dominates the party. (In response, John acted like a jerk, implying that he disagrees with his daughter and otherwise dismissing her views as a difference of opinion). And now it's 97-year-old Mother Roberta, who, on The Tonight Show on Wednesday, took on no less a towering giant than Rush Limbaugh:

I belong to the Republican Party. What he represents of the Republican Party has nothing to do with my side of it. I don't know what the man means, I don't know what he's talking about.

Of course, this is, in part, a mother standing up for her child. Rush hates John, and so Roberta's maternal juices flow with full force.

Otherwise, it's not clear what Roberta's "side" of the Republican Party is. John's side? (But John doesn't really have a side. He is what he needs to be at any given moment.) The moderate side? (But what is left of moderate Republicanism?) If Roberta doesn't know what Rush means, and what he's talking about, then she just doesn't know much about her party. It's like she belongs to, or delusionally wants to belong to, a Republican Party that doesn't exist anymore. I appreciate the nostalgia -- yes, things used to be different -- but the current Republican reality is all about Rush and Sean and Ann and Glenn and the rest of that extremist ilk. John knows this. Should he not have a little talk with his mom about her political, er, misunderstanding?

But why pick on Roberta? She's 97 years old. And still admirably feisty.

And while the Republican Party may have passed her by, now a right-wing party that isn't quite what it used to be, her disgust, rightly directed at Dear Leader Rush, is understandable, and much appreciated.

It won't, but it should give some pause to Republicans that even McCain's mother, a loyal partisan, finds herself on the outside looking in, angry, frustrated, and alienated, aghast at what the party has become.

Quote of the Day: Meghan McCain on Cheney and Rove

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Guest-hosting The View yesterday, Meghan McCain could not have been more direct:

It's very unprecedented for someone like Karl Rove or Dick Cheney to be criticizing the president. My big criticism is just, you had your eight years, go away.

Yes, go away.

Perfect.

Being Meghan McCain

By Michael J.W. Stickings

On Larry King, Meghan McCain described herself as "a progressive Republican," "liberal on social issues." She also came out in support of gay marriage as well as in support of abortion rights.

On Obama: "He's our president and when the election was over and when President Obama won, all negative feelings were gone. I support the president."

On the GOP: "I just want to show that you don't have to think one way and fit into this one box in order to be a member of the Republican Party."

She's an admirable young woman, and I respect her views, as well as her opposition to the dogmatic extremism of her party, but I suspect she's fighting a losing battle.

The leaders of her party, from Dear Leader Rush on down, do want Obama to fail and do demand ideological purity. There are exceptions, to be sure, but the party has moved to the far, far right post-Bush, and those who oppose the conservative base have been cast out.

There just aren't many moderates left, and she may be on her own when it comes to being progressive.

She can say whatever she wants to say -- courageously, I might add -- and she ought to continue to do so, but she shouldn't expect Republicans to pay her much attention other than to attack her for daring to challenge their orthodoxy.

Stay classy, John McCain

By Michael J.W. Stickings

John McCain has a long history of being a jerk. Two recent cases in point:

1) When asked by George Stephanopoulos today, via Twitter, what he thought of his daughter Meghan's "feud" with right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham (about which we've posted here and here) and right-wing sexpot Ann Coulter (about which we've posted here) -- McCain said only this: "I'm proud of my daughter and she has a right to her opinions."

When asked whether he agreed with Meghan's opinions, he only said this: "[L]ike any family we agree on some things and disagree on others."

Translation: McCain does not agree with his daughter.

But what "opinions" are we talking about? Meghan criticized Ann Coulter for being "offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time" and said that "there's an extreme on both parties and I hate extreme."

That's all.

As McCain apparently does not agree with his daughter, he must believe that there is not in fact extremism in both parties. He surely believes that there is extremism in the Democratic Party, though, so what he must mean is that there is no extremism in the Republican Party, which is to say, that the likes of Coulter and Ingraham, not to mention Dear Leader Rush, as well as their views, are not extreme. Similarly, he must believe that Coulter is neither offensive nor radical nor insulting. This from a man who throughout his long career has fashioned himself an independent, a maverick, above the partisan political fray.

Now, it may be that McCain does agree with his daughter but doesn't want to admit that he does, perhaps for partisan political reasons of his own. You know, because the Republican Party, his party, has been taken over by extremists to whom he must now pander, or to whom he thinks he must now pander, if he is to have a future in the party, a future of any significance and influence.

Again, so much for the self-made, media-enabled mythology on which he's been coasting. McCain is a coward or a hypocrite, or both, as well as a shameless opportunist. The mythology has always been a facade covering a partisan and self-aggrandizing core, but at least, at the very least, he used to speak out against the radicals in his party, including the theocrats. He may not always have been an admirable man, but from time to time he did and said admirable things. He sold his soul for the Republican presidential nomination and played to the far right with Palin and his pandering campaign, and now, having lost, the pandering continues.

Whatever he really thinks of his party's extremists and extremism, he's playing right along.

But that's not the worst part.

As a father, should he not have been critical of Ingraham's personal attacks on his daughter? Ingraham basically called her a "plus-sized" dimwit, after all. Could he not have spoken in her defence? Could he not have said that such attacks are simply not acceptable?

What a classy guy. What a great father. What a jerk.

2) And how about this?

As Stephanopoulos writes: "McCain said it is 'too early' to tell if President Obama has put the nation at risk of a terror attack, refusing to agree or reject Cheney's recent comments" (about which we've posted here and here).

Too early to tell?

No, McCain didn't go as far as Cheney did, but it was reckless and irresponsible fearmongering nonetheless, not least coming from a supposed national security expert, and, while presented as a neutral observation coming from a non-partisan authority, it was just as partisan a smear, in its own way, as anything Cheney said -- in fact, it was worse, given that McCain has more credibility than Cheney outside the conservative insanitarium.

But how exactly is it "too early" to tell. Does McCain now believe that banning torture, closing Gitmo, and putting an end to Bush-Cheney abuses of power could make America less safe? What else has Obama done to warrant McCain's skepticism? I can understand how Cheney is opposed to Obama's policies, but McCain?

Could it be that McCain has always been much more like Cheney than he's ever cared to admit? Could it be that, like Rush, he wants Obama to fail?

At the very least, McCain has once again exposed the partisan core that has always been his driving force.

McCain to Ingraham: "Kiss my fat ass!"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Grab some popcorn, and maybe a beer, sit back, relax, and enjoy the side-splitting hilarity of the Republican Party and its right-wing enablers.

You may remember that:

1) Meghan McCain said that she finds Ann Coulter "offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time."

2) McCain said that "there’s an extreme on both parties and I hate extreme."

3) Laura Ingraham called McCain "just another Valley Girl gone awry" and put her down as "plus-sized."

4) On The View yesterday, McCain responded to Ingraham: "That's what I feel right now. I'm like, 'Kiss my fat ass!'" (h/t: John Amato, who reminds us of John McCain's tasteless "joke" about Chelsea Clinton)

5) In response, Ingraham said she was just "teasing."

Methinks we haven't heard the last of this.

In the meantime, let's get a round of applause for Ms. McCain. (Go ahead. Put your hands together. Show her some love.)

She isn't just a pretty face and a pretty body -- she isn't plus-sized, but so what if she were? She's speaking the truth to the conservative powers of the Republican Party, and, predictably, they're fighting back with nasty personal attacks.

**********

Here's the clip of McCain on The View:

Laura Ingraham, asshole extraordinaire

By Michael J.W. Stickings

A couple of days ago, Meghan McCain, daughter of John, dared to criticize wingnut sexpot Ann Coulter -- well, she's a sexpot to them, if not to me. Appearing on Rachel Maddow's show last night, she repeated her criticism, arguing as well that there is "there’s an extreme on both parties and I hate extreme."

In response, Laura Ingraham, who is hardly known for her moderation, called McCain "just another Valley Girl gone awry," essentially dismissing her as an airhead. As well, just to drive home the ad hominem nature of her attack, she called McCain "plus-sized."

Now, whether or not McCain is "plus-sized" is beside the point. (Although she certainly isn't.) But why even go there? I expect an extremist like Ingraham, a sort of Limbaugh lite, to stand up for wingnut orthodoxy, like Rush, and to lash out at opponents, including Republican opponents, with venomous glee. And perhaps I expect her to get personal in her attacks. But to make fun of McCain's appearance -- although, again, there isn't exactly much to make fun of, and so what if she were plus-sized? -- and to suggest that she's a moron? Well, sure, I guess we should expect such nastiness from the likes of Ingraham, too. These are ugly, nasty people, after all, and Coulter and Ingraham are two of the far right's worst offenders.

This time, it was the daughter of the Republican nominee for president who was the target of their viciousness. It will be someone else next time. Indeed, it doesn't really matter who it is. Whether it's Ann or Laura, Michelle or Rush, Sean or [fill in the blank], this is what they do, this is how they try to take down anyone and everyone who challenges them. In this sense, Laura was just being Laura, an asshole extraordinaire.

See Spot Vote

By J. Thomas Duffy

What is it with these Republicans and children's books?

What did kids ever do to them?

Is this some diabolical Rovian plan?

Is there deeply guarded secret data that says you can garner millions of votes by writing a children's book?

There is, of course, the penultimate, most iconic moment - My Pet Goat.

Then, keeping it in the family, we had last year, the First Lady, Laura, and Jenna Bush, the recently married daughter of The Commander Guy pump one out, not, as one's mind might go to, a first-person account on the singles scene when traveling in South America, but, rather, on "a boy who doesn't like to read."

And, two-years ago, Darth Vader's Misses, switched genres, leaving behind steamy lesbians stories, for a children's book on a family that traveled the 50 states.

Now, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain's daughter is getting into the act.
















McCain Camp Targets Five to Ten-Year-Olds With Picture Book

The McCain campaign is making a play for the all-important K-5 demographic with a new picture book biography of the presumed GOP nominee, written by none other than Meghan McCain, Sen. John McCain's daughter and the head of the "Blogettes," who produce a blog about life on the campaign trail. Go ahead, take a look at the blog. Trust me.

And, from CNN;

The Simon & Schuster hardback, set to hit stores on September 2, is a brief, sentimental look at the familiar elements of McCain’s legendary biography, including his time in a Vietnamese prison and his run for the White House in 2000.

Several pages are devoted to McCain’s military background and his imprisonment in Vietnam, with relatively little attention paid to his youth (he “broke a lot of rules” in high school, the book says) and to his time in Congress.

Cindy McCain, along with Meghan's siblings Jack, Jimmy and Bridget, are described fondly in the book — but the children from McCain’s first marriage are left unmentioned.

Hmmm ... I wonder, how does she deal with Daddy's Keating Five Scandal?

Daddy, by mistake, accidentally broke some peoples' piggy banks, but he said he was really sorry about it

His first wife? ... The divorce?

Daddy wasn't, as some people say, a "flat-leaver" ... Daddy just found a better girlfriend who liked to do all the neat things Daddy likes to do ...

I'm sure the Right Wing Freak Show, the Dittoheads, the people that watch Hannity and O'Reilly, will be beating a path to the bookstores when this comes out, and there will, undoubtedly, be the inevitable book tour, with, perhaps, Meghan getting her own cruiser bus - "The Pandering Child Express".

Help Me Mr. Wizard!


Bonus Links

Wonkette: Details Leak About Presumed Worst Book Ever

The Guardian U.K.: How John McCain became a children's book hero - John McCain needs a new PR strategy for his presidential campaign. Luckily, his daughter Meghan has made him the star of an inspiring children's picture book

USA Today: Presidential race one for the books

Top Ten Cloves: Things About First Lady and Daughter Writing A Children's Book

Top Ten Cloves: Things Lynne Cheney Didn’t Get To Tell Wolf Blitzer About Her New Book














(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)