First some moron lady says her favorite book is her “kitchen table,” and then Michael Steele says his is War and Peace, and to prove it, quotes the first lines of A Tale Of Two Cities.

Yes, indeedy.  Sarah Palin, you have met your intellectual match.

[h/t Tengrain]

Dear gay Republicans:  keep repeating your crap victim line about how it’s harder to get dates be accepted as a Republican in gay circles than it is to come out a gay among wingnuts, but we’ll still stick with the folks who are at least a bit more likely to respect our fundamental dignity as human beings. Think Progress:

During today’s RNC debate, all four candidates vying to replace current RNC Chairman Michael Steele reiterated their opposition to expanding marriage rights to gay and lesbian people, insisting that marriage can only be defined as a union between one man and one woman. The frontrunners for the position — Steele and Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus — also walked a tight rope of sorts, arguing that while marriage formed the foundation of American society, culture and history, excluding gay people from that all-important institution did not deny “dignity” to the LGBT community.

It’s sort of interesting, though, because none of the candidates are saying outright bigoted things anymore — at least not in the naked way they used to. They know that, even though their party is committed to sustaining its bigotry as long as it can, their views on the subject are no longer socially acceptable, especially among the segments of the population that are expected to live more than a few more years. So they say coded things meant to serve as dog biscuits whistles for the bigoted base, and hope that suffices until the arc of history requires them to embrace equality and rewrite history so that they can tell their kids, like they do now with desegregation, that it was Democrats who fought the hardest against equality. *

Watch a round-up of the comments:

*And what did those Southern Democrats all become later? REPUBLICANS! Why? RACISM! God!

Peter throws so many temper tantrums per week these days, it’s hard to keep up.  Yesterday, instead of reacting to the Mehlman Fever like everybody else, Peter decided to have a hissy fit at Michael Steele:

The Republican Party has a big and growing  ”gay” problem.

One might call it “tumescent.”

The latest GOP hypocrisy: Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele’s congratulatory words for former RNC chief Ken Mehlman, who has confirmed longstanding rumors that he (Mehlman) is a practicing homosexual.

Michael Steele should have staked Ken Mehlman to death, like Buffy!  Instead he is falling in love with the vampire with the soul!

Here’s what Michael Steele said about Ken, for the record:

‘I am happy for Ken,’ Steele said. ‘His announcement, often a very difficult decision which is only compounded when done on the public stage, reaffirms for me why we are friends and why I respect him personally and professionally.’”

That’s the way a friend would react. The problem, of course, for Peter, is that he doesn’t understand friendship or love, having fallen for the redefinition of those words favored by his religious cult.

Why couldn’t Mr. Steele just have kept quiet about this tragic revelation by which another sexually confused man seeks to rationalize his misbehavior (sin) by declaring homosexuality part of his inherent being?

Notice the inherent defeat in Peter’s question.  He knows it’s way beyond the pale to even wish that maybe Michael Steele might agree with him on things.  He can only hope for silence.

Michael Steele, of course, is showing support because they are friends, and also, because one of these days, Steele is going to reveal to the world that he is black, and he wants Ken’s support.

Nope, instead, like a three-year-old boy approaching a puddle, Steele just had to step in it.

OMG, and he made such a mess, what with the being nice to his friend!   If Michael Steele was a good Christian, he would’ve made sure to avoid his friend entirely, for fear of getting wet!

Next up in the piece, Peter gets out his phone and calls Laurie Higgins for a quote, so it appears that this episode of The Naperville Grunting carries more weight by being endorsed by two organizations.  Here’s what Laurie wants to know:

So, Steele is “happy” that Mehlman is homosexual and/or happy that he is public about it? Why would he be happy for a friend embracing immoral and dangerous practices or for a friend being public about his embrace of immorality? And why does he respect him for his “difficult” decision to announce his immorality publicly? What fecklessness or cowardice Steele’s comment demonstrates. And this from the leader of the Republican Party…

Oh, maybe Michael Steele is a grown-up and is thus not susceptible to the fever dreams based on dishonest “science” that support Laurie Higgins’ worldview.

It’s always amazing how delusional these people are.  They actually still think there are lots people inside the Beltway who think just like them on issues such as these.  Did the Bush administration teach them nothing?  With the exceptions of a couple of rabid wingnuts on C-Street, and whatever coffin Michele Bachmann lives in when Congress is in session, Republicans in Washington think of fundamentalists like Peter and Laurie as useful idiots!  It has been this way forever.  So no, Laurence, it’s not “cowardice” when Michael Steele speaks in support of his friend.  It’s him being supportive of his friend!  My god.

The rest of Peter’s piece is an asinine conspiracy theory about how Ken Mehlman was actually a plant, undermining “turd-ish-nul val-yews” from inside the GOP, or something.  No, Peter.  He was just a closet case, and closet cases, due to their internal shame (which is not caused by their sexuality), tend to be the most willing to bash gay people for their own personal gain.

Sounds like somebody we all know, doesn’t it?

(The Awakening Conference was sponsored by the Freedom Federation and held April 15-16 at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. Truth Wins Out’s founder Wayne Besen reports live from the event )

If the Religious Right fringe one day establishes a theocracy in America, no one will be able to credibly claim that they did not explicitly broadcast their dubious intentions. Having just spent two days at “The Awakening” conference at the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’ Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, one message was unmistakable: Many key Religious Right figures vehemently reject separation of church and state and believe America is a fundamentalist Christian nation.

“The Bible is the government of the people, by the people and for the people,” thundered Cindy Jacobs of General’ International from the stage. “I believe there is an awakening to do just that.”

What’ frightening is that many leaders on the Religious Right hold a basic belief system that is seemingly incompatible with democratic forms of government. Their central tautological argument is that liberty originated from God and so the only way to be truly free is through a theocratic system that honors the creator of freedom.

Huh? Exactly.

According to this mindset, God has ordained the faithful to be in positions of leadership, rendering any form of government that does not elevate these “chosen ones” or reflect their extreme views as illegitimate.

The Saturday night rally began with a surprising controversy. Lou Engle (pictured), the constantly rocking, intense, mustachioed cleric of The Call with the booming voice of a professional wrestler declared, “We are here to honor all denominations. There will be no tongues tonight.”

This left many in the audience offended, and well, tongue-tied. In a huff, several people stormed out of the main chapel. Sensing a gaffe, Engle soon reappeared on-stage and happily declared, “I apologize, we can speak in tongues!”

At this heavily advertised event, there was no shortage of the paranoid and prejudiced. But, one pleasant surprise was that attacks on LGBT people were on the decline. The crowd was more riled about President Barack Obama’ healthcare plan, which the Family Research Council’ Tony Perkins referred to onstage as “a socialistic time bomb.”

The big news at the conference came from Engle. While sitting in the audience during the “LGBT Agenda” breakout session, he spoke up and conceded that the next generation of evangelical Christians is largely supportive of LGBT rights (but not abortion). Engle said that when he preaches against gay people, the Christian youth often “rage against him.” Engle, a giant in right wing circles, said that the far right has lost on this issue barring a miracle, such as an intercession at a 500,000 strong youth rally. When he floated this idea to the activists on-stage, The Liberty Counsel’ Matt Barber said they should privately discuss such a rally after the forum.

Good luck with that idea, considering the breakout session at Falwell U. drew only 15 people. Virtually everyone in the small crowd was a hardcore anti-gay activist from groups such as Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX). Clearly, gay bashing was an issue that was not motivating many young people, as it has been in the past. (Although, it seems Engle’ group, The Call, may already be testing his intercession plan in Uganda) (Read More)