July 15, 2004
The Angry Bear Is Angry
Not surprisingly, the Angry Bear is angry. This time, the Angry Bear is angry at Rick Santorum:
Angry Bear: Senator Rick Santorum really said this:
"I would argue that the future of our country hangs in the balance because the future of marriage hangs in the balance," he said shortly before the vote. "Isn't that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage?"
Yes, Senator Santorum. Doing what we can to prevent 3,000 people from being incinerated or voluntarily plummeting to their deaths is just like -- literally, no discernible difference, exactly the same as -- doing all that we can to prevent gay couples from wedding. No difference. None. None whatsoever. And here are the pictures to prove it...
The Angry Bear is wrong. Senator Santorum did not say that there was no difference. He said that the second is the "ultimate" mission of homeland security. That means that the first is not the "ultimate" mission of homeland security.
Let's run through this: Stopping things like the picture below is the "ultimate homeland security":
By contrast, stopping things like the picture below is not the "ultimate homeland security"--stopping other things (like the picture above) is more important:
Remember Brad that little Ricky and his buddies have a closeted view (but one trumpeted about by Falwell and others at the time) that the events captured in the first picture caused an angry God to make the events captured in the 2nd picture happen.
On other words God did it, not OBL.
Posted by: ccobb on July 15, 2004 06:42 PMOdd. I made an eerily similar comparison in this letter to Sen. Santorum.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=498&letter_id=101638491
I'm not sure what would be the "ultimate" homeland security, but let me suggest one fitting goal in light of the suffering of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001:
Goal: No American should ever again have to choose between burning alive or jumping out of the 90th floor of a skyscraper.
...
Of course, the above goal is not exclusive, and an enumeration of similar goals will eventually lead to something like the "ultimate" motivation for improving security within our borders. I would wager that nowhere in that enumeration will one find any mention of marriage, who is or is not entitled to it, and what sorts of relationships are good or bad for marriage. Understand? Whatever one's views on marriage, it does not belong in a discussion of homeland security.
Posted by: Paul Callahan on July 15, 2004 07:23 PMCheap shot Brad.
Posted by: Ugh on July 15, 2004 07:27 PMIf something like in the second picture happens again then a police state will be initiated and the first picture will never happen again. So, it is all related but the question is which has more priority before the police state goes into effect.
Posted by: Doug on July 15, 2004 07:36 PMUgh: did you also write a letter to Santorum, complaining about his far more broadly-disseminated, and profoundly cheaper, shot? I thought not.
Posted by: CD318 on July 15, 2004 09:17 PMOh, and Ugh? You don't know from cheap shots. Go to Google. Type in the word "Santorum". Hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky (TM)" button. Learn the meaning of "cheap shot."
Posted by: CD318 on July 15, 2004 09:20 PMUgh -
Why? It's what he said. He gets a break because it was just a rhetorical flourish? Bah. He should take his job more seriously. Actually though, I don't think that's what it was. Everything he's said suggests that he believes this is the most important issue facing America - that's right, 'most'. Furthermore, fuck Santorum. He is wrong, wrong, wrong, and he's an asshole, and he doesn't deserve a break.
Posted by: EH on July 15, 2004 09:48 PMI'm still looking for an answer to this question:
Which human institution has been more enduring:
1. marriage, or
2. slavery?
Keeping in mind that they're not exactly mutually exclusive:
http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/veblen/ownersh
Posted by: ogmb on July 15, 2004 11:52 PMccobb: Thanks a lot. I was just about to go to sleep for the night, and you drop that bombshell for me to ponder. *shudder*
Posted by: John Owens on July 16, 2004 02:53 AM"Cheap shot Brad"
I don't think so. Santorum made the comparison. DeLong just decided to take him seriously.
Posted by: Levi on July 16, 2004 07:41 AMTake him seriously?
Like Rush Limbaugh wants to be taken seriously, unless somebody is offended. In which case, he is just an 'entertainer'?
In the Op-ed section of the NYT today (07/16/04), Thomas Frank makes an interesting argument that the senate pre-occupation with the "hare-brained notion" of a constitutional amendment against gay marriage, "doomed to defeat from the get-go", is familiar election year "pseudopopulist theatre". He notes that as with all "culture wars", losing is as important as it is predetermined. A "grand and garish defeat" provides clear evidence to the conservative base that the country is being over-run by liberal elites (in this case judges taking the law into their own hands). In another hair-raising statement, Santorum is quoted defending the time intensive Senate debate as being about- "the glue that holds the basic foundational societal unit together." It is both dramatic statements like these as well as the outrageous challenge to the constitution, Frank argues, that ensure the maximizing polarizing effect, since inevitably the issue becomes headline news and successfully spurs outrage among Republican voters.
'Drama'- that's all.
Posted by: arlee on July 16, 2004 11:20 AMThe key factor here is that Santorum is a U.S. SENATOR. If the target matters, it's not "cheap"; it's "cost-effective".
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