Friday, November 30, 2007

Planet Republican

Maybe it's Mars? Either way, one of its physical laws seems to be that you can only talk about Republican issues:

Not only did they allow Keith Kerr's question, they invited him to the debate. Had they bothered to research, they would have discovered his connection to Hillary Clinton's campaign. He's a member of the LGBT Americans for Hillary Steering Committee and co-chair on Hillary's National Military Veterans group. He also was an active John Kerry supporter in 2004. And last night Anderson Cooper willingly gave Mr. Kerr the Democratic activist a soapbox. Anderson has yet to apologize for either his willing participation or incompetent handling of the situation and failure to research.

Consider the other Democratic plants. Mary LeeAnn Anderson is a known Edwards supporter and union activist. She asked the protectionist question disguised as a lead paint question. Consider "Journey" the abortion questioner who, if CNN had paid attention to her YouTube profile, is a huge John Edwards supporter. And consider David Cerone, who asked the Log Cabin Republicans question -- his YouTube profile lists him as an Obama supporter.

It's disgusting to see these people open their mouths. They're taking issue with a question. Think for a moment about how insidiously pathetic that is. It's almost like a child who sticks both fingers in his ears and starts screaming when his parents ask him why there's mud on the kitchen floor, except it's even more fucked up than that because a better analogy is to a child who sticks both fingers in his ears and starts screaming when his parents ask him about the weather. It makes no sense.

Can they fucking understand this? These people's affiliations don't impact the validity of their questions. They are real Americans with real concerns about issues that not only affect them but also other Americans. But that gets at the heart of why these Republicans are so fucking twisted. To Republicans, these people and their concerns don't matter. They might as well not exist, and they will do everything they can to stamp them out. Wednesday's debate took place on Planet Republican, where only Republicans are allowed to talk to only Republicans about only things that they want to talk about. I'm sure they'd have no problem throwing everyone else who differs in a concentration camp or waterboarding the dissidents.

Imagine the outcry if this was turned on its head: Democrats went apeshit because CNN let a question through about gun control, abortion, Iraq, or one of the other contentious issues within the party at their YouTube debate. Oh wait, that fucking happened. Was a jihad - or crusade, take your pick - called to hunt down the people who asked the questions? Did Democrats call for CNN's producers' scalps? Obviously not.

The difference between the two parties has never been more staggeringly clear than since the days of the Civil Rights movement. The Democratic party stands for every American, while the Republican party only cares about things that they feel comfortable talking about. It's not like Republicans don't have stances on gay marriage or abortion, but so much of their basis for those stances is predicated on their own racism and xenophobia - meaning that they preach their creed from far away and never interacting with the people they hate - that it's a completely different ballgame when they have to look such person in the eye - literally, in Keith Kerr's case - and tell them that they don't exist. That they don't matter. That they're inferior and irrelevant to themselves.

This is why Republicans and the right wing are losing their shit over these questions. I can't possibly believe for a second that CNN had these goals in mind when they picked their questions, but those questions accomplished two things very well. First, they gave us a clear look at how disgusting and psychotic Republicans and their candidates are. Second, they showed us how uncomfortable they are with even acknowledging these people exist. This tells us all we need to know about how they would govern. We don't need to be ruled by assfucks who treat people who disagree with them as sub-human, we need to be governed by responsible people who can handle everyone's concerns. They don't have to agree with them, but they have to acknowledge that these people and their concerns are real.

Democrats have proven that they're mature to stand up and govern everyone in this country. Republicans are on the floor kicking and screaming because someone asked a question that they don't want to talk about.

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