Progressive Moral Superiority?

8 Comments for “Progressive Moral Superiority?”

  1. posted by Kosh III on

    OMG
    Lindsay Graham may be gay!
    clutch the pearls!
    grab the smelling salts!
    Where’s my fainting couch?

    Meanwhile various GOP controlled Legislatures pump out absurd proposals designed to destroy the lives of gay people.

  2. posted by Tom Scharbach on

    Graham may be gay, or he may just fit one of the gay stereotypes — fussy, prissy, queenly and a bit hysterical. I don’t care. As far as I am concerned, he is a political weakling, with his nose so far up Trump’s ass that if you wanted to punch Graham in the nose, you’d have to kick the President in the ass.

    I suppose that it is possible that Trump or someone else has the goods on Graham — photos, texts, financial records, whatever — and Graham is terrified that whoever has the goods will expose him. If Graham is gay, he is closely closeted, and that is always an invitation for unscrupulous people to grab by the balls and pull. However, Graham may have some other secret he is closely guarding, and that would be an invitation as well. But I don’t buy the blackmail theory.

    To my way of thinking, it is more likely that Graham sucks up to Trump because he knows that his career as a Republican politician is over if he Trump Nation turns on him, and he knows, as well, that he is not a good fit with Trump Nation. Political weakness is the simplest explanation for his obsequious fawning to the President. That’s what drives other Republican politicians, and I don’t think Graham is an outlier in that respect.

    If anything, Graham has more reason than most to suck up and save his career. He is 63 years old has no life outside of politics as far as anyone knows. His net worth is minimal. Who would he be without the prestige and power of the Senate? An aging has-been, lurking around the fringes of political Washington, probably working for Fox News as an occasional commentator, a sad sack.

    Having said that, and having more experience than most working on LGBT issues with Democratic politicians, I’ve never had any illusions about the left being “morally superior” to the right when it comes to homosexuality. Straights are never going to be able to think about or understand homosexuality, and most straight men shiver at the thought of sucking cock or taking it up the ass. Straights, on the whole, are never going to be on our side or see the the world the way we do. That’s the bottom line.

    That’s why I don’t waste my time thinking or talking about “acceptance” or “tolerance” or “homophobia”. I focus on what counts — equal treatment under the law — and talk about “pro-equality” and “anti-equality”. Level the playing field, and gays will do just fine.

    It doesn’t surprise me in the least that some folks on the left conjure up the old saw about gays being ripe for blackmail. In this day and age, when fewer and fewer gay men are closeted at all, left alone closely closeted, the old saw makes sense no longer. But I’m a realist, and I know damn well that straights are deep-down hostile to homosexuality for the most part, and it doesn’t surprise me to see some on the left break with political correctness and crawl out from under the stone.

    The only saving grace for the left in this respect, as far as I am concerned, is that almost nobody on the left wraps themselves up in Jesus and claims to be “morally superior” when they are shitting on gays, demanding special treatment when they do so.

    • posted by Jorge on

      The only saving grace for the left in this respect, as far as I am concerned, is that almost nobody on the left wraps themselves up in Jesus and claims to be “morally superior” when they are shitting on gays, demanding special treatment when they do so.

      I have to admit I lol’ed at the “almost nobody” on the left. Just a couple of hours ago I watched some snippets of the lonely Exhibit A: NYC Councilman and former state Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr.’s (excuse me, Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr…) press conference over his most recent offensive remarks, which even I think were a little over the line. I could only tolerate snippets. That event was, shall we say, “touched”.

    • posted by Tom Scharbach on

      Diaz, a the celebrity Jesus-driven gay-basher of New York politics, proves the point. Diaz is the incarnation of “almost nobody”, and he gets press because he is so outside the norm. If he were aligned with the right, his remarks wouldn’t be news. Or even noticed outside the gay press. And given how common his views are on the right, he might not be noticed by the gay press.

  3. posted by JohnInCA on

    For fear of falling into “whataboutism”…

    I double-checked. Back when Kagan was being nominated, Miller never wrote an article about how terrible Republicans were for questioning her sexuality. Other contributors did, like Raunch and Corvino, but Miller didn’t.

    So I’ll have to beg forgiveness, but I think I’m going to take Miller’s own apparent opinion on the topic nine years ago: not a big deal. Some folks will speculate and make snide remarks, and it’s not really worth anyone’s time fretting over it.

    Side note: compared to nine years ago, this blog is basically dead. Heck, compared to last year this blog is basically dead. I really need to find a new vaguely-conservative gay blog to follow ’cause I have to tell you, going to Reason and American Conservative is making right-leaning-folks seem more and more nutters, and I need to balance out my consumption so I don’t stereotype ’em too hard. IGF used to fill that niche, with right-leaning but not hardcore in the blogs and comments, but not anymore.

    • posted by Jorge on

      Why not try for something non-hardcore left-leaning? Look for something tailored to a special interest, something where politics isn’t the primary focus of the site, and count on the generational bias.

      • posted by JohnInCA on

        That you think IGF, Reason and American Conservative are “hardcore left-leaning” says way more about you then it does my reading habits.

  4. posted by Jorge on

    “It seems never to have entered the fevered imaginations of Graham’s antagonists that the reason he has changed his tune about Trump is not to protect the secret of his scandalous peccadilloes, but because of something even grubbier: politics. Graham is, after all, a Republican from a deep red state where Trump is popular with the people Graham needs to win re-election.”

    Nah. Graham is a true believer. He never, ever would have run for president, and scored dead friggin’ last, if he didn’t sincerely believe in his heart that he was the last person on earth who could save this country.

    Okay, that’s really just projection on my part.

    I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: Graham’s game is to play either the canary, or the guy who stabs Trump in the back, when Trump tries an autocratic takeover of the country. His bigmouthed media presence and crafty nature mean no move of Trump’s will go unnoticed. The idea that just because Graham “supports” President Trump that means he’s flipped in some way is ridiculous. We are dealing with a Bush neoconservative who won his primary challenge; he has more than a bit of practice accommodating to what his voters want when the Republican party base is no longer buying what he’s selling. He’s still the guy who got real mad over the Syria pullout, still the guy who wants to make absolutely certain the Special Counsel doesn’t get fired, still the guy who asked William Barr during his confirmation hearing why did he write that memo, and he damned sure is still the guy who will trade his soul for some kind of legal status bill for illegal immigrants already in the country.

    Where I have seen a shift in Graham has been in his gradual half-concessions to Trump, the softening of his hard lines–Trump should have an Attorney General he has confidence in, he’s a little more comfortable with the Syria pullout, etc. These things have worried me, because I see them as a symptom of Trump’s growing power and formidable political skill. Trump is winning against the “Deep State”. He is refusing to listen to the generals and making his own military decisions. He meets with North Korea’s leader–and it works! His own staff take papers off his desk, and Bob Woodward exposes the “administrative coup d’etat”. So Trump gets the mandate to get away with just a little more, at least among the Republican party.

    I think Lindsey Graham is doing a fantastic job protecting our democracy in very challenging circumstances. I remain absolutely convinced Graham and Trump are enemies.

    “But such quotidian explanations do not suit our increasingly conspiratorial times.”

    Hey! >:( There really is a conspiracy. The conspiracy is against President Trump, and Trump is winning. Our very freedom is caught in the middle.

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