Day: March 26, 2009

Palin Running Out of People to Insult and Offend

Trish
Duck!

Does this woman just stay up at night, cooking up new and better ways to burn bridges and insult people? La Llorona (the crying woman) herself is at it again. Sarah Palin shared this delightful little swipe in a speech at the recent Anchorage Lincoln Day Dinner, as she once again revisited her losing campaign to be vice president.

“So I’m looking around for somebody to pray with, I just need maybe a little help, maybe a little extra,” she said of the moments before the debate. “And the McCain campaign, love ’em, you know, they’re a lot of people around me, but nobody I could find that I wanted to hold hands with and pray.”

As the audience laughed, Palin noted that she meant no disrespect to the McCain campaign and that [she] ended up saying a prayer with her daughter Piper.

She meant no disrespect, she just meant they weren’t worthy to pray with her. You know, in a completely respectful way. Oddly, the former Palin aides, who had to be nice to this dolt for weeks, are offended.

La Llorona (the crying woman) herself is at it again

…another former staffer said…Palin is failing to distinguish between the strategists at McCain headquarters and the people who were at her side every day from late August through election day.

“It’s about us people who were on the plane, who showed extreme loyalty to Palin, continually getting thrown under the bus or slapped in the face by her comments, whether she means it or not,” the staffer said, adding that Palin’s remarks “cause you to question not only your loyalty but her judgment as a leader.”

The former aides said they place part of the blame for Palin’s post-campaign candor on the governor’s staff in Alaska. Several have reached out individually to offer advice or assistance to the governor, but “have gotten only pleasantries in response,” said one aide.

“Who is the one making the decision that she needs to be out there saying these things?,” the second staffer asked. “Someone needs to be telling her, ‘Listen, let’s not talk the campaign any more.’ We need to talk about what’s relevant and thinking about her influence as a voice in the Republican Party.”

If Palin had anything constructive to say, I’m sure she would. Instead she continues to rehash the failed campaign, coming up with more people to blame for her own shortcomings in each new round of attacks. What can we do to help this nasty halfwit go away and stay there?

No Apologies from Barney Frank for Calling Justice Scalia a Homophobe

Jon Ponder

In an interview with 365gay.com earlier this week, Rep. Barney Frank, a member of the House leadership, was asked about the status of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law that contradicts the Constitution’s “full faith and credit” clause by permitting states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriage conducted in other states.

“I wouldn’t want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court.”
– Rep. Frank

Frank responded, “I wouldn’t want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court.”

Justice Scalia’s office has declined to comment, but Frank has responded to calls from media figures that he apologize by clarifying his remarks — a clarification that contains not a whiff of regret:

“What a ‘homophobe’ means is someone who has prejudice about gay people,” Frank told WBZ radio, arguing that Scalia’s judicial writing “makes it very clear that he’s angry, frankly, about the existence of gay people.”

In particular, Frank cited Scalia’s opinion in the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, in which the Supreme Court struck down state laws barring consensual acts of sodomy. In his dissent, Scalia wrote that the 6-3 vote served to ratify an “agenda promoted by some homosexual activists directed at eliminating the moral opprobrium that has traditionally attached to homosexual conduct.”

“If you read his opinion, he thinks it’s a good idea for two consenting adults who happen to be gay to be locked up because he is so disapproving of gay people,” Frank said yesterday.

Frank expanded his response on CNN:

In an earlier case in Colorado, in which he again vigorously denounced the majority in the court for finding that it was unconstitutional to discriminate against people, again, not in marriage but a basis of their political rights, he said, “Well, of course, we disapprove this. We often disapprove of things like murder.” I mean, literally, when he was looking for comparisons to the public disapproval of homosexuality, the first thing he said was murder.

So unlike many people who have different legitimate views on this, I urge people to read those two opinions in the Colorado case, the Romer case and the Lawrence case. And, again, there is just no question about his absolute view that … homosexuals are bad people that shouldn’t be treated equally.

It’s puzzling that people like Scalia who feel that antipathy toward gay people is justified by the Bible (or whatever), don’t like to be labeled as “homophobes.” If they believe their bigotry is justified — especially so if it’s blessed by God — what difference does it make what others call them?

Quote du Jour

Trish

So, yes, people are “angry” at Wall Street. They are also “angry” at Octomom. I wonder if the depth and quality of those two rages differ–or is this all just a television show?…If you want to be angry about something, get pissed at a media culture that goes beserk about bonuses one week and forgets all about them the next. And be worried, quite worried, about a society for whom anger is a form of entertainment.

— Joe Klein (1946 -), columnist and author