The Malcontent

God Love Her

I still adore Sarah Palin. I can't help it. Not for her political brilliance, mind you, but for her curious ability to drive certain misogynistic, anti-semitic lunatics right off a cliff.

It's like standing in the grocery store, watching a small child fling cans of soup from shelves while dangling off the cart. The parent is fuming and would very much like to beat the child right there in the aisle. But they can't because you're staring straight at them with an expression of barely suppressed glee while the voice in your head is chanting, "Please lose your shit, please lose your shit," like a nascar fan praying for a car crash.

Sarah Palin is my supermarket superstar. She drives all the right people crazy in all the best ways. Her politics are awful, her qualifications for office non-existant, but anyone who can make so many self-puffed douchebags go that shade of scarlet cannot possibly be all bad.

But He Was Never In . . .

Adam Lambert finally . . . uh . . . sidles into his sexuality? Gullible fans and enthusiasts spent the larger part of this year's Idol season being strung along by that show's publicists as media breathlessly sold copy on the question of "Is he or isn't he?!" There had been the usual speculation that Idol producers were silencing Lambert from discussing his orientation freely rather than, say, deliberately playing coy to generate more and more interest (and ratings) as the show barreled towards the finale.

The muzzling scenario only works if you believe Simon Cowell and others possessed the full powers of Shiwan Kahn, willing columnists, magazines, and thirty million viewers to never notice Lambert's single-man march to a Xanadu laced with heroin chic.

Rolling Stone has the ultimate anti-climax, with a cover and title that would be frighteningly anachronistic if it weren't so dishonest. "The sexual liberation of Adam Lambert?" Was there a single moment during the season and attending publicity (and internet photos, and career in musical theatre, and public appearances with his boyfriend) where Lambert was anything but liberated? Where did they attach the fierce shackles of heterosexual oppression, to his platform boots or the sequined pauldrons during the final Kiss number?

Actual gay progress would be denoted by the lack of "Yup, I'm Gay" media roll-outs. When they're no longer necessary, we've progressed.

Somewhat related, Andrew Sullivan uses the occasion to make a typically clueless observation about American culture. The Burning Man festival is based on self-expression accompanied by rampant drug use. Certainly nothing the older gays would have anything to do with. Only Lambert's newly liberated gay generation would participate in such a thing.

The Movement of Misfit Toys

They are meeting. Quietly, without fanfare, roughly three dozen GLBT organizations have gathered in Washington D.C. to discuss the policies and strategies involved in advancing GLBT rights. Though they're not telling, the head of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, Matt Foreman, has recently released press materials that should give us all an inkling of their direction.

Let's see here…Iraq is a disaster and the treasury is hemorrhaging red ink to pay for it. Gas prices are soaring. New Orleans remains a shell. Osama taunts us on videotape. Iran's going nuclear. Seven in 10 think the country's heading in the wrong direction. What do you do when you're in power and there's an election just around the corner? You trot out some old diversionary workhorse scapegoats once again.

Like the HRC, The Taskforce does not actually want to discuss gay marriage. Given a national debate and platform, their tactic is not to argue on behalf of gay families but to throw dozens of distractionary cantrips at their audience like a cheap street illusionist. Recently, Andrew Sullivan asked of the HRC, "Why do they exist? And why should any gay person care?" Foreman, the Cardinal Ratzinger of this Queer Conclave, trots out the future of the established GLBT movement:

At between 4-6 percent of the population, we are simply too small to win equality by ourselves. That means we must build alliances and relationships of trust with other communities and causes. Building these kinds of alliances requires more than words, it requires reciprocal work. Bluntly put, the LGBT movement has a long history of asking other causes to fight for us and then not being there when those causes have been under attack.

Read the entire press release. Abortion. Anti-war activism. Now, illegal immigration. The GLBT Establishment has a long and consistent history of supporting liberal and left-wing causes unrelated to the struggle of gay families. As three dozen bodies purporting to support the movement meet, we are dishonestly told by the NGLTF that gay activists don't support enough liberal causes. The answer to the GLBT dilemma is more causes, more coalitions, more money and manpower spent on a laundry list of unrelated movements and groups who may or may not support our cause.

(More ranting and video after the jump.)

A Take on a Leak

As we bang the drum about Cynthia McKinney or any of our other various pet interests, a hearty, partisan few have surfaced asking: "Where is The Malcontent on President Bush's scandalous leaking of details from the National Intelligence Estimate"?

Let me explain a couple of things:

An Entertaining Read

Sullivan grovels to get back into the good graces of ... Paul Krugman?!

And this man is still a spokesman for conservatives ... how?

Allah Hu FUBAR!

Richard Rosendall chalks up another must-read with his article about the perils of gays throwing in their lot with Muslim, albeit outwardly gay-friendly, groups like Al-Fatiha:

[O]ne difference between the West and the Islamic world that comes to mind is that the West has substantially repented of its past wrongs. One can talk of economic colonialism continuing today (although the familiar Marxist alternative amounts to sharing the misery instead of the wealth); but one can hardly blame the West for Islamic countries' continued oppression of gays and women, intolerance of dissent, and lack of religious freedom. Proponents of moral equivalence, including Al-Fatiha, are so determined to see Muslims as victims that they make excuses for people who would push walls over on them.

When it comes to the American Left, as Robbie is wont to say, support for Islam always trumps support for gays and lesbians.  Gays in the U.S. who support groups like Al-Fatiha raise that maxim to perverse, new levels.

[h/t: Sullivan]

We Are All "Liberals" Now

GayPatriotWest chronicles Andrew Sullivan's accelerating slide into hysterical irrelevance.  The crux is Andrew's self-pitying posting of this quote by Glenn Greenwald:

Now, in order to be considered a “liberal,” only one thing is required – a failure to pledge blind loyalty to George W. Bush. The minute one criticizes him is the minute that one becomes a “liberal,” regardless of the ground on which the criticism is based.

Money quote from GPW:

It seems, however, that since 02/24/04 (the day the president announced his support for the Federal Marriage Amendment) Andrew has been bending over backwards to appease those who once reviled him.

I'm a frequent critic of President Bush and many of his policies and philosophies, yet my critiques of Sullivan's sorry decline have drawn from him the same kind of one-dimensional criticism of "blind loyalty" that now seems to color his own opposition.

Pity, that.

(Completely off-topic private note to Robbie: Someone needs to lay off the caffeine!)

Sullivan Gets Colbertized

Andrew Sullivan, newly minted at Time.com, schooled Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert last night on the art of blogging – or, as Colbert calls it, "typing."

The two talked about bloggers' credibility.  "The one sign you can tell of a good blogger is if he immediately corrects a mistake that he makes," Sullivan said.

Hmm, like in his fisking of Mickey Kaus's "issues around gay men," vis a vis his aversion to Brokeback Mountain?

Sullivan struck back at Kaus's criticism of the Brokeback stars' performances by mentioning the awards that have been "showered" upon Aussie actor Heath Ledger.  If by "showered" he means the Best Actor awards from the Las Vegas and Phoenix Film Critic Societies, then yes.  But so far, Ledger has only been richly nominated, having spectacularly and notably lost the Golden Globe to Philip Seymour Hoffman just hours before Sullivan's post.

But ... I digress.

The comically befuddled Colbert also quizzed Sullivan on gayness, the Book of Leviticus and his engagement to be married.  (Good for Sullivan for "walking the talk," or whatever that odd phrase is.)  Amazingly, the subject of torture went unaddressed.

Enjoy the intersection of New and Old Media:

[Watch video – 6:40, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 6:40, WMV format, low bandwidth]

RELATED: Gawker [HT: Andy]

Shipping Ken to Guantanamo

The Bush Administration was rocked by scandal today after the leak of several memos detailing wide-spread abuse and "coercive techniques" practiced by large segments of the American girl population in direct violation of the Geneva Convention:

Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics.

"The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."

Condi Rice, holding a press conference in the Mattel factory, defended the administration. "We do not and have never condoned nor endorsed placing pink roadsters in Kenmore appliances at 700 watts."

Torture.com, after throwing himself to the floor in a fit of deep Katharine Hepburn sobs, lamented, "America has lost it's soul. Who's next, G.I. Joe? Pass the McCain Amendment against inclement treatment of foreign action figures!"

Holding up a Barbie dreamhouse in front of reporters, Senator McCain declared, "It's the Hanoi Hilton all over again."

Strangely, and perhaps most damningly, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld could not be reached for comment. The pair was last spotted milling down the aisles of the local Toys R' Us, cackling softly to themselves.

Sometimes a Movie is Just a Movie

There is a little back and forth happening in the blogosphere over the imminent wide release of Brokeback Mountain.

Mickey Kaus claimed to have no interest because he's a heterosexual (scroll down), Andrew Sullivan archly implied . . . something about this, and Ace of Spades took issue.

Here's the trick - it's only a movie.

Torture.com Works Hard To Earn Its Name

Some of our more, um, "prolific" commenters seem to believe that Robbie and I "condone" torture because we have taken to calling Andrew Sullivan's blog "Torture.com."  Others feel that our critique of Sullivan can be dismissed blind partisanship.  (I honestly couldn't care if he were Labor, Tory or Likud.)

A truly random sampling today of Sullivan's site revealed that eight of his 12 most recent posts dealt with the subject of torture.  (This ratio tends to hold pretty consistent.)  If his site actually were called "Torture.com," I'm not sure he could possibly be more obsessed with the topic.

Perhaps a more salient indictment of Sullivan is not whether he is inconsistent, a liberal or has gone "wobbly": It is that he has become a crashing, pedantic bore.

Sully Addendum

Robbie beat me with his link to the Taranto piece "Sullivan vs. Sullivan."  I urge anyone, especially those who think I am making up or imagining the basis for my critique of Andrew Sullivan (or merely flakking for the President), to read it.

When President Bush announced his (again, idiotic) support for the FMA, Sullivan explicitly talked about how he had supported the President ... in the War on Terror.  (Non sequitur says what?)

Yet now Sullivan flatly denies that the FMA has anything to with his total inability to find a single redeeming quality in George W. Bush – a flawed man by all means, but not the cad of Sullivan's fevered imagination.

Taranto's post lends further credence to the connection between Sullivan's break on the Iraq War and President Bush's support of the FMA.  At the least, Sullivan's previous repeated criticism from the right of the President's leadership in the war belies his insistence that he has been consistent voice from the start.

One may honorably oppose the Iraq war or U.S. prosecution of it, and one is even obviously free to change their views on the war if they don't like Bush's stance on gays.  But it is the disingenuousness of the denials that irks the most.  [HT also to GPW]

Beyond Credulity

Reading the news that a South African High Court approved gay marriage today, I was mildly happy in that muted, half-smile way you feel when your neighbor tells you they've just won a new car on Price is Right, and Bob Barker grabbed their ass three times instead of the customary two. Sure, you want Bob Barker to grab your ass, I want Bob Barker to grab my ass, but hey, sometimes other people have all the luck.

Afterwards, I scurried on over to torture.com to read quite possibly the dumbest statement in all human history.

South Africa's post-apartheid Constitution explicitly granted gays and lesbians full rights as citizens. There is no valid citizenship without the right to marry the person you love; and so the global movement toward equality in marriage advances again. Who would have guessed twenty years ago that the land of apartheid would now be ahead of the United States in its support for civil rights and equal protection of laws?

What?

Hold on, I'm not sure you have my inflection here.

WHAT?!

Warning - severe personal apoplexy after the jump.

So Is the Padilla Story "Legless"?

Torture.com Andrew Sullivan apparently has the same talking points on the "presumed innocent" Padilla as Daily Kos, which shouldn't surprise me.  (What does surprise me, however, is that anyone still bothers to defend Sullivan as "conservative.")

And like any good lefty, Sully has been much more gleeful about, and credulous of, the Libby indictment – the only story of the two, by the way, that he says "has legs."

Urban Attitudes

Sullivan on "Gays in the Heartland," and a gentle rebuttal.

As a former Red Stater, I also get a little defensive about attacks on "flyover country."  While cities will probably always be more welcoming of gays than smaller towns, the stares my husband and I sometimes attract holding hands on the Upper East Side remind me that people are usually people, no matter their ZIP code.

Time Gets a Bit Gayer

Time.com scoops up Torture.com.

Josh vs. Outrage

Ever wonder how the Daily Dish gets made?  The always indispensable Josh Foust gives us a peek into Sully's kitchen.

And he hands out more than a few well-deserved smack-downs along the way, including a couple for the hideous humanoid known as MaRawn Barber.  (Speaking of the Succubus, she has an especially vomitous and self-serving post today on her two-year "blogiversary.")

Sullivan's on the Rag Again

Yet another wild and ridiculous anti-Bush over-generalization, courtesy of Andrew.  Jonah's on the case ...

[HT: GPW]

If Jean Valjean Were an 8-Year-Old Iranian ...

... then being pursued by Javert would be the least of his worries:

Look at what happens to real-life bread thieves under an Islamofascist regime (but only if you can stomach images of the extreme torture of a young child).

I can't vouch for the authenticity of those pictures, but the look on that child's face would be hard to fake.  And it certainly sounds consistent with that nation's previous barbarism.

So would it be impolitic to believe that this one act alone merits regime change?  [HT: Sullivan]

UPDATE: Robbie points out more of what "infidel" children can expect in Muslim states.

A Different Kind of Fatigue

  Here's an idea whose time has come.

(Washington) Pressure is mounting for the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell', the law which bans gays from serving openly in the military.

A poll conducted by the University of California at Santa Barbara and released Monday shows that only 21 percent of young conservative males who were potential recruits said they would be “less likely” to join the armed forces if the ban were repealed. Two percent of respondents said they were “more likely” to join while the vast majority - 77% - said allowing gays to serve openly would have no impact on their decision to enlist.