You Go, Girl. Rosie O"Donnell is proving impressive on some unexpected fronts. Not only is she spearheading the fight to overturn Florida's noxious ban on gay adoptions, but she's taking on some of the most bile-filled luminaries of self-righteously mean-spirited gay Left as well. In an interview with the gay website PlanetOut, she was asked, "What do you make of gay journalist Michelangelo Signorile's assertion that it was your desire to silence your gay critics that made you come out?" Responded Rosie:
But as good as she was on the viciousness of the Left, she also knows how to win hearts and minds on the Right (where the struggle MUST be won). Last Monday, O"Donnell appeared on Bill O"Reilly's Fox News Channel talkshow, and -- rather than shouting propaganda points, as many professional activists would have done -- she actually engaged in real dialogue. According to an AP story on their encounter, O"Donnell, who "went on the show against the advice of everyone close to her," began by voicing "qualified support for O'Reilly's crusade against celebrities for not making sure that donations to Sept. 11 relief funds that they pitched for quickly found their way to the intended hands." Imagine, finding something to compliment a conservative about! The AP story continues:
"The noted Democratic activist said Sept. 11 had changed her. She praised former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican, and said she had gone too far in making anti-gun statements after the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. 'Before Sept. 11, I was definitely mildly myopic in terms of my political agenda,' O'Donnell said. 'If you were a Democrat, you were probably right. If you were a Republican, you were probably wrong. Everything changed for me.' ''
During the interview, O"Reilly expressed views such as "Nature dictates that it's better for a child to be in a heterosexual home, again, with good, loving, responsible parents, than a homosexual home, because nature says the best way for a child to be raised is with a mommy and a daddy. That's nature." O"Donnell stood her ground, but she also said, repeatedly, "I can understand your opinion". You grew up around the block. I know where you're coming from. I don't think you are a mean-spirited guy." That let her connect with O"Reilly (and his conservative audience), even as she disputed his views. I can't recall ever seeing a professional activist be as sincere -- and as savvy.
A postscript: The following night, O"Reilly praised O"Donnell for having the gumption to come on the show (which many liberals refuse, flatout, to do). Better yet, he noted she had no doubt changed a great many minds with her appearance, and predicted that Florida's gay adoption ban will end, that "it's only a matter of time."