The GOP has a big closet

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It doesn’t get any better than this:

Pinal County Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu has a reputation as a hard man– especially hard on immigrants. Some people have claimed he’s a sadist who takes delight in splitting up families and gratuitously ruining people’s lives. Last week the 43 year old Babeu, now a far right Republican candidate for Congress, was the toast of CPAC. Theylove hard men there.

Today Mitt Romney’s campaign booted Babeu from his position as a Romney for President Arizona co-chairman, reminiscent of the move his 2008 campaign did when Romney for President Idaho co-chair Larry Craig was arrested in a public toilet trying to have sex with a young-looking police undercover agent. Closeted gay Republican flock to Romney for some reason I’ll never understand.

It turns out that Babeu wasn’t just another garden variety, run of the mill Republican closet queen. The anti-immigrant fanatic had a long-time lover named Jose. And it gets much worse. The story was brokenby a respected Arizona veteran journalist Monica Alonzo. Babeu threatened his Mexican ex-lover with deportation when the man refused to promise never to disclose their years-long relationship.

[...]

Meanwhile, Babeu, a former boarding school headmaster who claims he was repeatedly molested as a child by a Catholic priest, is still deluding himself that he can continue running for Congress against GOP incumbent Paul Gosar. That should be over by Monday. Babeu’s press conference a couple hours ago is stunning. He admitted he’s gay and tried painting himself as a victim, although he did admit the relationship between himself and Jose.

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I came to the conclusion a few years ago that the more homophobic a male politician or religious leader is, the more likely he is familiar with the taste of trouser snake. But this case hit the trifects. A closeted gay anti-immigrant sheriff/congressional candidate blackmailing his illegal immigrant lover. They even have pictures.

Babeu (Baboo?) has already resigned/been dumped by the Romney campaign. I’m betting his run for Congress will be over in a week. Any bets on how long before he has to turn in his badge?

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Hillary vs. Obama

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Over at Reclusive Leftist, Violet addresses The Question whether Hillary would have done anything differently than Obama:

Hillary Clinton has never compromised on reproductive rights. In every situation, on every vote, in every speech, she has been firm about women’s right to control their own reproductive health. Her universal healthcare plan from the early 90s (“Hillarycare”) included coverage for abortion, and her refusal to compromise on that point is one reason the plan went down in flames. And that was abortion. It is beyond belief that she would offer up a needless compromise on contraception.

As for saying a nice thing about Doug Coe, again, you have to look at Hillary’s life and career. Is there any evidence that she is a secret godbag out to impose Dominionism on the country? Has anything in her life suggested that? Have any of her political stances suggested that? Did she do that as Senator? Is she doing that as Secretary of State?

No. Hillary Clinton is a Democrat, a progressive, and a feminist. She’s also a Methodist, with a quiet personal liberal-Christian faith. That’s who she is.

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Obama, on the other hand, has spent his whole career avoiding taking stands on any topic that is the least bit controversial. He voted “present” (rather than “yes” or “no”) 129 times while a state senator in Illinois. He was against the war in Iraq in 2002, then said his position on Iraq wasn’t much different from George Bush’s in 2004. In 2007 he was against the war again, but as president he followed in Bush’s footsteps.

He attended a church for twenty years but paid no attention to the sermons. He hung out with crooks and radicals when it was helpful to his career, but tossed them under the bus and got amnesia when those friendships became problematic.

The only consistency in Obama’s whole career has been doing what was good for Obama’s career. Everything else is negotiable.

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Give Obama the finger

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No, not that one – the big red one. Apparently it all started with Jan Brewer. Then Erin Sherbert of the SF Weekly wrote this headline:

Obama Coming to San Francisco, Where Nobody Will Wag Their Fingers in His Face

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John at The City Square reports:

Naturally, the SF Bay Area Patriots responded by making the theme for this rally to be “wag your finger” at Obama.

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I think they have hit on the perfect anti-Obama theme. Those big foam fingers are cheap and easy to make. They come in different colors and can be customized. Every different group (left and right) can join in protesting Obama and his policies.

Imagine a diverse group of protesters appearing wherever Obama goes, all wagging big foam fingers. But the fingers are red, white, blue, green, pink or whatever depending on whether the protester is Tea Party, OWS, environmentalist, feminist or in favor or marijuana legalization.

That way if you’re a lefty and want to protest Obama’s policy of remote-control assassination but don’t want people to think you support the Tea Party, you can make your cause and your affiliation (or lack thereof) clear.  Groups could have the name of their organizations printed on the back and sell them as fundraisers.

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