Vichy Democrats

So here's a puzzle: if you're running for the Democratic nomination, why would you put a column from the nation's most insipid right-winger on your web site?

As Hillary did with this piece by David Brooks?

Far be it from me to get in the middle of a liberal purge, but would anybody mind if I pointed out that the calls for Hillary Clinton to apologize for her support of the Iraq war are almost entirely bogus?

Wait a minute. Does Team Hillary see her as the victim of a 'liberal purge'?

And here I was thinking it was a primary. Silly me. Or maybe, just maybe, something is deeply wrong with a candidacy that relies on the sworn enemies of Liberalism and Progressivism to carry its water, and thinks the propaganda of said enemies is just what the doctor ordered to advance itself.

(Cross-posted on The Daily Gotham, Hillary's "hometown" blog)

Liza's of the opinion that we progressive blogger types shouldn't vote for Democrats just because they're Democrats, we should only vote for the good ones. And in an ideal world, she'd be completely correct in that.

But if this was an ideal world, Yoko would have jumped in front. And this is anything *but* an ideal election season. I'm usually of the same opinion that Liza is, but this year things are different.

How? Because the non-Republicans are on the brink of wresting control of the House and even the Senate away from the greedhead Neandercons that have so wrecked and ruined our country during their decades-long reign.

An Open Letter to Dan Savage:

Dear Dan,

I have read "Savage Love" in the Village Voice for years, have also read the Seattle alternative weekly that you edit, The Stranger for a long time. I know you are an openly gay man, in a long-term relationship with Terry, and that the two of you are raising a child together.

You sex advice column has made me laugh, made me think, pissed me off (especially when you start going on about how you think cunnilingus is icky), but, in general, we've been on the same page about sex, reproductive rights, freedom for gays and lesbians to marry, and the whole "right to privacy" omnibus issue that is of utmost importance to me.

Which is why your column this week has left me flabbergasted.

You and your readers have contributed the term "santorum" to our lexicon, and I can no longer think about the senator who lives just to the south of my state as anything but the frothy mixture of fecal matter and lube that is sometimes the product of anal sex. Serves him right for being such a despicable human being. The Senate cannot get rid of Rick Santorum fast enough.

I have never cared for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). On a superficial level, I really dislike their equal sign logo (modified above for me by Art Fag City) which is designed to be as un-gay as possible. I remember a queer American friend, who lives in Europe, visiting around the time of the NYC GOP convention in 2004. He had no idea what the little blue = stickers were that some protesters where wearing.

Allegedly a gay rights lobbying organization, it has become so entrenched in the DC lobbying mindset that it is not merely ineffectual, it is actually harmful to gay rights in America. I am no fan of Charles Schumer, given his vote for the Defense of Marriage Act. A Jewish New Yorker representing Park Slope making an anti-gay vote? Yeah, that'll get you the Christian Right vote. However, when the HRC endorsed Al D'Amato over Schumer in 1998, I was shocked.

Their newest outrage? They have endorsed Joseph Lieberman for the Senate, even before the primary. Thanks to his snuggling up to the GOP and Bush on matters ranging from the Iraq War to the PATRIOT Act, he actually stands a chance of losing the primary to Ned Lamont. Guess which of the two is more pro-gay? Lamont. Of course, the HRC always argues this about realpolitik, or about preserving access, but ultimately they are working against the interests of the people they supposedly represent.

Really. I love it when you call us "mommy" and assume that because we were born with a vagina and a uterus that we are more caring and empathetic, that we will clean up corruption because, we are, after all, women and women are natural-born housekeepers, cleaner-uppers.

Fuck me, dead. What goddamned century is this? Are we ever going to get past one-dimensional stereotypes about women? Can we please get over the idea that as a woman, I'm automatically going to vote for a woman? Please. I have nothing in common with the women of South Dakota who pushed through the abortion ban; I have nothing in common with Condie Rice; I most certainly have nothing in common with Margaret Thatcher. So can we please, please, please STOP assuming that running a woman for an office is somehow going to get me to sit down and shut up with my whining about the fucking party already?
The latest entry in this discussion is in today's NYT, which begins its analysis with this sentence:

This morning I sent a bunch of emails to several feminist and pro-choice bloggers on the matter of Matt Brown. Right after the Alito confirmation I sent an email to Matt Burguess, Matt Brown's communications director. I've been receiving their press releases probably like everybody maybe many other political bloggers all around the country.

I am fed up with what I think is a lack of vulvas, not cojones, effecting the political discourse around choice. We need more feminists raising money, evaluating and promoting candidates, getting on the TV and radio and newspapers and the net and blasting over and over and over again that forced pregnancies are anti-American, that forced pregnancies are a new kind of slavery, that forced pregnancies are a fundamental crime against humanity.

We need to have more women speak like this publicly to all candidates, Democrats and Republicans. I was introduced here in New York City to Eric Massa, an upstate New York candidate running for Congress. I was very happyt to know he's running against Randi Kuhn, a Republican who has been taking tons of money and support from the extreme right with organizations like Focus on the Family and the Homeschool Legal Defence Association. But then, he lost me. When I asked Mr. Massa how we stood on abortion he flubbed, he fumbled, he totally ho-hummed.