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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 10th, 2011
William Temple (Photo: Evan McMorris / TPM)
Tea Party Founding Fathers chairman William Temple addressed a news conference Monday morning warning lawmakers against raising the debt ceiling. Dressed in his trademark colonial garb, Temple warned that any lawmaker who voted for raising the debt ceiling would receive a zero on their scorecard when they rate candidates for 2012. But he was open to compromise:
On the list was keeping the front lines of America’s wars as free of openly gay people and women of any sexual leaning as possible. Temple said that “if the House Armed Services Committee and the Pentagon slow down on injecting open homosexuality and females into forward combat roles,” tea partiers might be able to put up with their new Republican House voting to ensure American government services are paid for with more borrowed cash.
Temple’s line of reasoning:
When the Pentagon’s own studies show that military effeminization may have an extremely costly impact on recruiting and retention, when Islamists have shown their willingness to sexually brutalize American female reporters, why would John Boehner’s House Republicans be caving to political correctness? Why would House Republicans who know better be fostering inappropriate attractions in the intimacy of tents, bunks, barracks, platoons, subs, tanks, convoys, cockpits, latrines, showers, toilets and locker rooms when we are fighting wars in three Muslim nations?
It’s a good thing the Tea Party is only interested in economic matters.
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Lindoro Almaviva
May 10th, 2011
Like we have been sayinmg all along: Xenophobic,racist, homophobes in patriot drag
Rob in San Diego
May 10th, 2011
Gee I’m not sure if we should consider them the “fiscally conservative” party or the “we hate gays” party.
On a military note, since muslims execute gays, I can’t think of a better fighting force to exact revenge. The thought of gays killing muslims on the battlefield is kinda cool.
Kristie
May 10th, 2011
First of all, I’ve never even heard of this guy, and to assume that because he says he is a “founding father” of the Tea Party means that he speaks for all those that support the small government movement is like saying that Perez Hilton speaks for the entire gay community. It’s ridiculous! Yes, there are bigots and idiots in every political/social activist group out there, but that does not mean that everyone in that group is a bigot or an idiot. There is a large portion of the Tea Party movement that is made up of Libertians as well as many Independents, Republicans & Democrats that have Libertarian leanings, so by lumping them all together as racists, bigots & homophobes, aren’t you really just guilty of doing what you claim this guy is doing? Aren’t you judging an entire group of people based on the behavior/beliefs/statements of a few?
I’m also curious to know if any of those that have responded or the author of the piece have actually ever been to a Tea Party event?
enough already
May 10th, 2011
Kristie,
There was a time, not even that long ago, when one could pretend that the Teaparty was all about small government, sane fiscal policy and that was it.
After the 2010 elections, all the Teaparty has done in every single venue over which they now have control was:
To do nothing about jobs.
To do nothing to heal the economy.
To do everything they could to attack women, gays, the transgender and children.
Show me a real democrat or a real libertarian (Ayn Rand for starters, even – or don’t you know what she firmly believed about fundamentalist Christians?= who is in this movement. Oh, but you can’t because the whole point of the Teaparty is to impose their christofascist program upon the country.
Priya Lynn
May 10th, 2011
Kristie said “the Tea Party movement that is made up of Libertians as well as many Independents, Republicans &
Democrats“.There, fixed it for you.
Edwin
May 10th, 2011
Tea partiers need to go pound sand in a rat hole. With People like them running around loose this country is F***ed.
TampaZeke
May 10th, 2011
Is that Kristie Palin or Kristie Bachman?
AdrianT
May 10th, 2011
When people take away other people’s right to freedom of expression, then you have to shut them down. If he gets media attention, then the way to deal with Temple is to stick a pie in his face, or eggs etc. No point having a debate with an idiot.
Patrick Hogan
May 10th, 2011
Inappropriate conduct going on inside tanks, convoys, cockpits and latrines? He’s either trolling or completely batshit…
I’ve been in more than a few cockpits, tanks and latrines in my life — tetris has nothing on the idea of having sex in any of them. As for convoys: I would think that the large number of other people would be rather prohibitive to intimacy…
Or maybe he’s just seen too many low budget porns. “Cockpits and Convoys” sounds like a porn…
Ryan
May 10th, 2011
Kristie, there are many polls out there you can google. The numbers don’t lie: the vast majority of Tea Partiers vote Republican, are Christian conservatives, are anti-gay and anti-choice. Claiming otherwise is just dishonest. The “Tea Party” is just the GOP rebranded, poorly.
customartist
May 11th, 2011
Please humor me while I say “I told you so”.
I said all the while that Tea Partiers were campoaigning on Fiscal Issues that as soon as some of them got elected they would flip like a pancake onto Hating the Gays.
Prophecy fulfilled.
Queen
May 11th, 2011
Kristie
Yes, Teabaggers are racists, bigots as a group. Yes, I have been to Tea Party (as they are now so politely called) rallies and they were scary, angry mobs of ignorant people spewing the stupidity fed them by their corporate masters and Fox News by racist bigots like Glen Beck and such astute economic advisers as Sarah Pallin.
As they say, you’re known by the company you keep.
PS. Are you a birther too?
Timothy Kincaid
May 11th, 2011
For those who would rather rain insult on Kristie than think about the matter, ya really ought to reconsider your motivation. Hate ain’t pretty, no matter who it comes from.
She is correct that many people are drawn to the Tea Party movement because of the reasons that it publicly espouses: fiscal conservatism. And that truly is the primary focus of their efforts.
A great deal of the attraction of the Tea Party, I believe, is that it is populist. Many Americans think that the Republican Party is ran by a CEOs and that the Democratic Party is controlled by special interest groups.
Neither party has proven to be particularly interested in what they see as happening to them. Within the memory of many members, “middle class” went from one working parent to both working, education is seen as failing, and the country’s status on economic, scientific, and cultural matters has slipped. They perceive that the Democrats care only about minorities and the Republicans have sidetracked them on social issues. They see the Tea Party as representing them, just good ol’ average Americans.
Unfortunately, “good ol’ average Americans” are also a demographic that isn’t particularly familiar with, informed about, or supportive of gay people (or minorities of any stripe).
So it is also true that although the Tea Party movement is primarily focused on fiscal issues, its members are generally not progressive on race, religion, sexual orientation or other social issues. We really shouldn’t be surprised that they hold anti-gay views.
But – and this is important – it’s not a bait and switch. They genuinely do want to focus on economic issues and while they are anti-gay, they are pissed off at politicians who have been trying to appeal to social issues while spending like a drunk sailor.
It isn’t that they aren’t anti-gay, rather that they are first fiscal conservative and then social conservative.
Temple’s statements above are traitorous to what the Tea Party folks have rallied around. He placed anti-gay advocacy higher than fiscal matters and gave debt raisers a pass if they were homophobic.
I’m certain that many a Tea Partier was screaming “No!!” This is exactly the same stuff the Republicans have been doing for decades.
Or, then again, maybe they are gullible and all nodded when he spoke.
Timothy Kincaid
May 11th, 2011
Surely there is a special prize somewhere for this. The Irony Award, perhaps.
:)
TampaZeke
May 11th, 2011
Timothy, I’ll ask you the same question that Kristie asked. Have you ever been to a Tea Party meeting or rally? I’ve been to BOTH and I can assure you that the ones who are most visible and vocal fully deserve, and have earned, the “crazy” label that’s been given them. Are ALL of them anti-gay? Of course not, but it would be ridiculous to act as if most of them aren’t. Poll after poll have proven that. It’s like saying it’s wrong to claim that most fundamentalist Christians aren’t against gay civil equality. It may suck, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
Timothy Kincaid
May 11th, 2011
Zeke,
I don’t think that your comment addresses anything that I said. Perhaps you should read it again, as it seems to me that you may be responding to what you imagine is my opinion rather than what I actually wrote.
Ryan
May 11th, 2011
It may very well be true that the “Tea Party” (actually just a faction of the Republican party) cares primarily about economic issues and secondarily about social issues. However, that’s a distinction without meaning. They’ll still vote against any and all gay rights issues, even if their primary objective is tax cuts for the rich.
Désirée
May 12th, 2011
If Tea Partiers really cared only about fiscal conservatism without regard to social issues, they’d be Libertarians. When one chooses Tea Party instead, that tells me they care about both fiscal and social conservatism. No free pass from me just because some claim to only care about economic issues. Such a party already exists and they ignored it.
TampaZeke
May 12th, 2011
My comment did address your post and I stand by it. You chastised people for the way they challenged Kristie, pulling out the “hate” card that you get bent out of shape when gay people use against anti-gay people. You also made the point that it is inappropriate to point out that Tea Partiers tend to be crazy. I pointed out that I have been to a meeting (accidentally) and to a rally (intentionally) and found them to very much live up to their billing.
John
May 12th, 2011
Why do these people have so much power? They do not represent the majority of Americans. They don’t even represent the majority of Republicans. So why is everybody so afraid of them?
Timothy Kincaid
May 12th, 2011
Zeke,
yep, I chastised people for attacking Kristie. But that’s all you got right.
I didn’t, for example, “make the point that it is inappropriate to point out that Tea Partiers tend to be crazy.”
And look at this whole thing:
Ummmm…. what I said was
* its members are generally not progressive on … sexual orientation
* they hold anti-gay views
* It isn’t that they aren’t anti-gay
But I guess I didn’t say it quite enough.
So, Zeke, did your comment address mine? Well…. maybe not quite so very much.
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