Santorum denouces the boos for a gay soldier, as do Huntsman and Gary Johnson. Romney and Perry are both relying on brave “no comments”.
However, as DougJ noted, Jane Fonda went to Hanoi so none of this counts.
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Rick Massimo
Yeah, it’s awesome that they only took 24 hours of consultation with their advisors to decide that booing soldiers was a bad thing and to say so a day after their nationally televised chance to do so.
Really, that makes them just as brave as any of our soldiers in the field, don’t you think? It’s basically the same thing.
John Weiss
Disgusting. So, what else is new?
honus
If you want to see wingnut chicken hawk anguish, point out that Jane, unlike many of her critics, at least went to Vietnam.
harlana
killing innocent people or letting them die!
booing soldiers!
more ammo for the GE!
bring it!
Linda Featheringill
If those candidates were as righteous as they purport to be, they would stand up to the mob and at least try to lead to a place with more brotherly love.
On the other hand, I don’t think that Perry ever pretended that he was a goody-two-shoes. So there’s that.
Chris
@Rick Massimo:
This.
Like I just posted over there –
1) He heard the boos. It’s “dog ate my homework!” level fucking bullshit when he says different.
2) It took him over a day to realize that oh jeez, I guess I better distance myself, or people might talk? Ain’t that nice.
3) He was the one who gave that response basically telling the soldier to get back in the closet, which was wildly cheered by the booers and almost as sick as the booing itself.
Nope, no breaks from over here.
Ben Cisco
Moar debates plz.
__
Not that I’m going to bother watching any of them, but from an anthropological standpoint, I just want to see if they will literally start flinging their own poo before the end.
gnomedad
Well, they’re the front-runners. Can’t upset the base.
Amir Khalid
The spirit of Brave Sir Robin lives on in these worthy people.
Mino
@Amir Khalid: Monty Python: a reference for every occasion.
Corner Stone
@Amir Khalid: I apologize to you for my comment in the other thread.
Mino
Well, the Republican debates in 2008 were just about as bad.
Bomb Iran! Torture builds character! 9-11, 9-11 etc., etc.
If the American public at large just watched these things, many, many would be appalled. I hope You-tube helps expose them more widely.
AdamK
To be fair to poor Santorum, he says he didn’t HEAR the boos. He obviously suffers from a profound untreated hearing loss. Let’s pray that Jesus heals his ears before he takes the oath of office.
ETA: Or maybe he had something in his ears. Some gooey, frothy mix of substances, perhaps.
arguingwithsignposts
@Mino: 2008: Obama – 52.9 percent, McCain 45.7 percent
Despite “Bomb Iran” and Snowbilly Snooki and numerous other deficiencies in the McCain campaign. The question is not whether “many” would be appalled, but whether “most” would be appalled enough to vote against these troglodytes.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
You know, we have to let the 60s die as well. Point being, stop thinking for them. Don’t end their deeds with “both sides do it” even if it is sarcasm.
Ash Can
@Ben Cisco:
This. The more the better. Weekly, if not daily. Hammer it into people’s heads just who and what the Republicans have become.
Southern Beale
Rep. Joe Walsh basically calls Obama an affirmative-action president with this piece of douchehattery:
Whaaaah! It’s so UNFAIR that Walsh and Bozell are WHITE! Why does God hate them? Why is the white man so oppressssssssed?! WHAAH!
But Morgan Freeman called the Tea Party racist so … both sides do it!
Wag
There was a pretty good piece about GOP lies from the debate on NPR this morning, but the brief musical interlude that followed was priceless it was the synth line from New Order’s song “Your Silent Face” that precedes the lines “a thought that never changes remains a stupid lie, It’s never been just the same.”
I smiled when I heard it n
Mino
@Southern Beale: He’s trying to keep his job so he can pay his back child support, if that’s the guy I’m thinking it is.
arguingwithsignposts
@Mino:
FTFY. That’s the guy you’re thinking about. The guy who basically told a judge he’s a congressman so he doesn’t have to show up for a court date.
ppcli
@Chris: Absolutely. One might add that boos or no, in the moment, Santorum didn’t even bother with the rote “Thank you for your service.” remark that is part of the standard GOP style manual. As I posted there a few lines down:
Agree with the Chris’s comment above. But I will add: why aren’t the media commenting on the idiocy of his response. Not the immorality of it – that’s evident – but the sheer stupidity. We had a rule that says a) you mustn’t tell people you are gay. b) if you are determined to be gay you will be tossed out of the army, with a less-than-honorable discharge. Straight soldiers face no such restriction. According to Santorum, that is a situation where all soldiers have equal rights. *Removing that rule* so that neither gays nor straights are thus gagged, and neither straights nor gays get thrown out for their orientation, counts as “special rights for gays”.
How can you react to that in any way except “What???? Are we also to conclude that Jim Crow represented a state of equal rights for all, and removing Jim Crow laws so that everyone could use the same water fountains, etc. was giving “special rights to blacks”?
Also I’ll note what yet another poster over there observed: It wasn’t just that outrage was building in the (ahem) “ultra-liberal media” but at NRO, Christian Post, from Ari Fleischer, etc. No doubt Santorum heard from his handlers that this could cost him money and lobbying jobs if it wasn’t defused pronto.
Ash Can
Joe Walsh is also the lovely and talented individual who declined to show up at the president’s joint session address simply because he didn’t want to go.
Villago Delenda Est
@ppcli:
Well, you have to realize with people like Santorum, allowing gays to continue to exist is a “special right”.
MAJeff
According to the heterosexist/segregationist mind, yes, those are special rights. When inferior people are treated equal to their superiors, they’re being granted special rights. Santorum believes that gay folk are infrahuman, just as the advocates of Jim Crow believed that blacks were infrahuman. Granting those groups equality is elevating them above their status.
JasonF
I recently moved into Joe Walsh’s district. My big regret is that I don’t get to work against him in 2012, since he’s being redistricted out (going forward, I will be in Bob Dold’s district, and I look forward to supporting his Democratic opponent).
Jay C
@ppcli:
@MAJeff:
What MAJeff said: and if you think these attitudes are historical relics of another era, or gone from our national conscious, the audience reaction(s) from the various Republican debates this year should disabuse you of that notion, pronto.
suzanne
I still haven’t figured out what the “special privilege” that Santorum mentioned actually IS. Any thoughts?
OzoneR
@arguingwithsignposts:
Certainly my family back home and my neighbors there are not appalled by any of these things. They’re appalled that I disagree with them.
Mustang Bobby
Well, even if we gays got “special privileges,” like the right to marry or collect survivor benefits like other married couples, that would only bring us up even with the rest of the straight world. So what’s special about that?
OzoneR
@Mustang Bobby:
you’re inferior.
Yutsano
@OzoneR:
I know you probably meant this in another way, but your wording is atrocious. And for a supposed journalist, that’s appalling.
OzoneR
@Yutsano: um, it’s snark and I work for a bank.
Bill Arnold
@honus:
LOL. Though you have to first make sure you’re not talking to a real Vietnam vet.
Triassic Sands
I’m much more disgusted with Santorum’s answer to the question about DADT than I am with the boos. On the clip I heard, it sounded like only a few boos, nowhere near a significant slice of the total. However, Santorum’s answer was utterly appalling and clearly demonstrated the bigotry and cluelessness for which MoD Santorum is justly well-known.
soonergrunt
@Bill Arnold: It is absolutely amazing the number of wingtards who claim to be veterans who are not, though.
Guys will regale you of stories of their heroics in combat “there I was…” but don’t know what a DD214 is.
russell
Yeah, booing a soldier is freaking ugly so they want to run away from it.
They’re all happy to ride the big hate machine when it suits them. So fuck them all.
Jenny
test
Rick Massimo
@suzanne: The special privilege of existing in Rick Santorum’s country.