eruthros

1) So, the tea party protests. Okay, so, there's a lot to be said about the fakeness of it, about the way it makes little to no sense, about the Fox News promotions of the tea parties. But what bothers me most of all? Is how some proponents of the parties are calling it teabagging. Like, mostly, they stick to "tea party," but occasionally there's a teabagging or two, and seriously, guys, that's not what I think of when I hear the word teabagging.

Fortunately, Rachel Maddow has already attempted to get through a description of the teabagging tea parties without laughing, and failed miserably, so I don't feel alone in this:

2) The National Organization for Marriage -- an anti-gay-rights group -- is starting a new campaign. It is about how lots of people are against gay marriage. They are calling it "2 Million for Marriage." They are abbreviating it 2M4M. Which, hmm, M4M stands for Men for Men -- there's actually even a dating website named M4M, so it's not exactly UNDERGROUND SLANG. And, even better, 2M4M is when you're a couple looking for another guy to have sex with. Well DONE, National Organization for Marriage! (They also forgot to register possible variations of their domain name, such that 2M4M.org now points to a pro-gay-marriage site.)

So the campus republican club proposed a concealed-carry resolution before the student assembly. (Apparently forgetting that guns on campuses are forbidden by the state legislature, which would make it kinda hard for the undergraduate student assembly to pass said resolution. But whatever! People have the right to bear arms everywhere, right? I mean, private buildings, public buildings, places of employment -- you can take concealed carry with you where ever you want to protect yourself, right? RIGHT? Oh.)

And this is what the Chair of the College Republicans said about the issue: "People can bring guns onto campus illegally, but if someone wants to follow the law legally, they cannot."

No, really.

Okay, I am posting way too much today, but ... I can't leave this transcript of an Ann Coulter interview alone.

Sample discussion, c&ped from Wonkette's transcript:

Ms. COULTER: I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality.
DEUTSCH: OK, I think you need to say that again. That Bill Clinton, you think on some level, has — is a latent homosexual, is that what you’re saying?
Ms. COULTER: Yeah. I mean, not sort of just completely anonymous — I don’t know if you read the Starr report, the rest of us were glued to it, I have many passages memorized. No, there was more plot and dialogue in a porno movie.

And it gets weirder! Again c&ped: "Ms. COULTER: No. I think anyone with that level of promiscuity where, you know, you — I mean, he didn’t know Monica’s name until their sixth sexual encounter. There is something that is — that is of the bathhouse about that." It's all so mind-boggling that I could have easily cut and pasted the whole darn thing here. I mean! Ann Coulter's assertion that promiscuity = "obsession with your own — with your own essence" and is "reminiscent of a bathhouse."

Go read it and stare in astonishment. (Watch out for the comments, though, as there are a number of sex and sexuality-based ad hominem attacks on Ann Coulter. I mean, she makes no sense, and I call her stuff bullshit all the time, but some of the comments contain content that I find pretty darn offensive.)

Okay, depressed or not, how could I resist some of Ann Coulter's latest? She was in a panel discussion with Al Franken yesterday, so no shortage of the Weird Quotes today. There's probably better stuff out there, but sadly I can't find a transcript, just a summary in the Hartford Courant.

When we won the war in a few weeks with amazingly few casualties, all the liberals had to complain about was some broken pottery. ( Ann Coulter, continued )

Right wing quotes ahoy.

Sometimes I think I'm being overly hard on the administration, or on the media, or on pundits. I mean, I know a whole bunch of wonderful people who are Republicans. I know people who voted for AH-nold, and I think they're insane, but otherwise they're lovely people. So maybe I'm being too hard on the public figures, on Republicans who write and who speak on TV, I think to myself.

And then... no. Sure, there's John McCain and Chuck Hagel and Arlen Spector. There are editorial writers who avoid vitriol and accusations. There are Republicans calling for the resignation of Rumsfield and decrying the abuses in Iraq. But for every moderate or well-spoken public figure, there are tens of these:

"I think the other point that no one is making about the abuse photos is just the disproportionate number of women involved, including a girl general running the entire operation. ( Ann Coulter, continued )

Then there's George Neumayr, attempting the "it's all the feminists' fault" approach:

The image of that female guard, smoking away as she joins gleefully in the disgraceful melee like one of the guys, is a cultural outgrowth of a feminist culture which encourages female barbarians. ( George Neumayr, continued )

Deborah Simmons also thinks it's all the fault of women. Well, and Clinton, of course:

What were Congress and the Clinton White House thinking when they began, in earnest, legislative moves that essentially led to the feminization of America's armed forces? Did they think that there would be no cultural implications (pregnancies, rape and sexual assault, etc.?) ( Deborah Simmons, continued )

Rush Limbaugh on Abu Ghraib:

This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. ( Rush Limbaugh, continued )

And then there's Tony Robinson, a former Army seargeant and interrogation instructor.

Well, one thing that needs to be understood, is that there's also an impact on the torturer. ... Now, I use the word torture, but that's not what's happening in these pictures. ... I've seen -- I've seen worse than this at -- frat hazing is worse than this. ... Well, it's not torture. If it was, they'd be accused of torture. They're accused of maltreatment. -- Tony Robinson in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.

And my personal favorite, or least favorite, depending on how you look at it:

Some Arab commentators are repeating the myth that the West has, once again, humiliated Muslims. If there has been humiliation, it isn't the fault of the West. It is Muslims' fault. -- Cal Thomas, of Fox News, in an editorial.

Tempted as I am to comment on these -- and believe me, it's almost impossible not to comment on the Rush porn and sex quotes and the Cal Thomas -- I think that standing alone they're quite outrageous enough. People actually said these things. Major figures on the right said these things. Good heavens.

Most quotes are from Media Matters for America. (Incidentally, to those of you who don't read Media Matters, it's a fabulous resource, and I'm so pleased that David Brock is doing what he's doing.) Some are from salon.com's War Room 2004 and Right Hook.