THE PLANK FEBRUARY 27, 2009
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The Washington Post may always be second fiddle to the New York Times, but it's giving the Gray Lady a run for her money in one area: inane social profiles. A few days ago it was bloggers who watch cooking shows and unemployed lobbyists trying to date (what, can't afford bottle service?). Yesterday it was young conservatives in the age of Obama. You have to slog through to the end for the money quote, though:
Siggins says he struggles with some of his party's more culturally orthodox ideals. "Because I am in this generation and was raised in a pro-gay-marriage era, I am only a little bit against gay marriage, but only a little, like 53 percent to 47," he says. "I have about a dozen gay friends, 30 or 20, and they would all back me up. In college, I used to have lunch with them. . . . We went ice skating once."
Because, you know, once you've gone ice skating with teh gays, you never go back.
--Clay Risen
16 comments
I believe when more than three gay folks are present in an ice skating group it's officially a "capade." I'd have to look that up to be sure though.
- adaglas
February 27, 2009 at 9:50am
So, he would allow 53% of gays to marry? Or people who are only 53% gay can get married? Or gays can get 53% married?
In other news, ice skating with a dude is like one step away from tapping your foot against an adjacent stall in the airport men's room.
- ratnerstar
February 27, 2009 at 9:53am
Today's inane profile is of out of work financiers traveling the world. The Post really has been outdoing itself on them this week.
- GregSanders
February 27, 2009 at 10:03am
adaglas- three's company, four's a capade.
- ratnerstar
February 27, 2009 at 10:05am
"Yes, I'm a bigot. But I'm only pretty sure that being a bigot is the right thing to do."
- rhubarbs
February 27, 2009 at 10:16am
Also, a dozen is not actually "20 or 30"
Are there any thoughtful conservatives left anywhere?
- ryanburke
February 27, 2009 at 10:21am
"I have about a dozen gay friends, 30 or 20, and they would all back me up." Burke beat me to it, but maybe the gays are 30 or 20 years old, they look so fabulous he just isn't sure. Doesn't he know that all gay men want to back up straight guys? And does this guy really want to show his back to a dozen gay friends?
If Larry Craig were to join that Capade it would turn into a folly.
- blackton
February 27, 2009 at 11:05am
What I like in Siggins' quote is that he's sort of for gay marriage because he was "raised in a pro-gay marriage era." In other words, he sort of likes gay rights because he's been brainwashed by those damn liburals, not because he can understand why it might be just or moral or simply good public policy. Until conservatives find a way to address, or even acknowledge, the actual arguments for gay rights (along with the actual arguments for other "liberal" positions), instead of resorting to the same tired tropes about brainwashing, guilt and moral nihilism, they won't find their way out of the wilderness.
- Geoff G
February 27, 2009 at 11:14am
great nugget.
The most bizarre thing is that judging from the behavior of the congressional GOP and from what I gleaned from coverage this week of that Right Wing Pow Wow, conservatives really are operating in parallel reality, one that is totally removed from their words and deeds of the past 8 years. They really seem to believe that more supply side/culture war politics is the answer to the problem. They don't seem to get it that it is a problem, compounding itself.
It is almost as if they have decided that the best thing to do is hope that the public will forget that they have held the levers of power for most of the past decade and that what they say now about Obama, will cauterize themselves of any responsibility for the on-going inherited recession/debt/broken government.
I may get in trouble for this remark but what the hell: What irritates conservative white folks more than being wrong is getting beaten by someone who they deem to be inferior. This is exactly what has happened. They see Obama and liberal Democrats as inferior beings and despite the avalanche of evidence that almost everything that they have done and espoused over the past decade has knee-capped the country, bringing it down not to its knees but nearly face down on the pavement, they just know...in their black hearts...that they are still right.
These people deserve what is coming to them: complete political wilderness, perhaps for a few more election cycles.
- thejauntyboulevardier
February 27, 2009 at 11:33am
Most people have their pro gay radar tuned to go in 3 or 4 decimal points. Mine registers between 92.873% and 93.621%.
I've tried getting it to 100% for years now but my therapist tells me the years I spent in church as a young man are so deeply embedded in my sub-conscious, I may never get it higher.
But again the crucial lesson to be learned here is that what we believe about human interaction as adults is always going to be tussling with what we were taught to believe as children.
Acknowledging this is an important first step toward reevaluating all of the moral and political values you have accumulated over the years. Suppose you had different parents or were raised in a different culture or had very different experiences.
And this applicable as well regarding the future. You might have an experience tomorrow, or meet a new friend or read a new book that, like an epiphany, opens a portal into a whole new way of thinking about human sexuality or abortion or capital punishment...or whatever.
We are always just another existential variable in our lives away from a new point of view.
george walton
- iambiguous
February 27, 2009 at 11:48am
Awesome! Although unclear. What could the gay friends back him up on? That he's holding steady at 53% bigotry?
And nobody is as good a defender of my deepest morals than people with whom I've ice skated once and only once.
Ada- hilarious!
- epicciuto
February 27, 2009 at 12:43pm
"We went ice skating once."
CLOSET ALERT.
- icarusr
February 27, 2009 at 12:53pm
Look, this Republican sexual identity crisis ( "we went ice-skating once"? honestly) appears to be contagious. Over at Slate, reporting on the CPAC:
"Wurzelbacher is easily the most-loved person here. People line up to see him wherever he goes. Fox News producers rise from their lunch tables to intercept him. Fans tell him secrets in hushed voices. "You'd think he was Julia Roberts," says his handler. "George Clooney," he corrects."
Yeah, when I think of Joe I think of Julia. Going ice-skating together.
- icarusr
February 27, 2009 at 1:02pm
This is a scary, not-so-post-ironic world were are living in when conservatives are ice skating with queens and I, gay as all get out (women? never...), spend my weekends WORKING.
- dylanposer
February 27, 2009 at 2:21pm
Joe the Plumber: "Well, now that you got me here, what *are* you going to do with me?"
Richard Gere: "You wanna know something? I don't have a clue."
Joe the Plumber: "You know, you could *pay* me. That's one way to, maybe, break the ice."
- williamyard
February 27, 2009 at 2:44pm
An interesting side note in the article is Siggins's revelation of his tactics when he's not lunching with his gay friends (20 or 30 at a time?) but rather coming on to a straight female he'd like to get to know. He doesn't seem to go about it very effectively:
"I met a girl today at the gym from Boston College. She was getting a law degree from George Washington. She was cute," he says. "But she wants to work for the ACLU, and I said, 'Oh, you're one of those.' "
Looks like there's an opening somewhere for "small talk and socializing with the opposite sex" classes!
- ironyroad
February 27, 2009 at 4:06pm