the rix mix

I don't understand why there isn't more across-the-spectrum outrage to Anne Coulter's "faggot" smear of John Edwards at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Genuinely righteous or hypocritical condemnation, it doesn't matter to me which. Even the Edwards campaign (which I'm liking less & less) is just turning it into a fund-raising game. The Christian right is big on the hate the sin love the sinner angle, & Anne is nothing if not a devoted Christian (I wonder if she's celibate or a fornicator?), so why isn't she having her mouth washed out with soap like a potty mouth child? The word "faggot" is naked bigotry. It has nothing to do with "sanctity of marriage" or any of the other catch phrases of the folks determined to protect the United States from them. The word is in a class with - well, you know the words, none of which any candidate or religious mullah on the right would say at a public meeting or in polite private company.

Mike Stark, writing about the packed Exhibit Hall at CPAC, notes that "There are no military recruiters here. No United States Marine Corps. No Army, no Navy, no Air Force or National Guard - hell, not even the Coast Guard is here. Thousands and thousands of College Republicans, but not a single recruiter in sight..." Our military services know better than to look for dutiful young patriots there, I suppose. What should we call those young men & women? Here in Jersey the big selling points are that military service gives you self-respect, tuition & a ticket out of your town. That doesn't work for affluent white bread college Repugs whose dreams & ambitions are embodied by Anne Coulter.