Ted Barlow is reminded by Republican congressman Bob Barr of just why it is a good thing to be a Democrat:
tedbarlow Via Atrios, via Ethel the Blog, Bob Barr has actually accused his conservative primary opponent, who has a nearly identical record to Bob Barr, of being too soft on gays.... Barr said Linder had been "taken in by the homosexual movement," and called on him to disavow the hiring agreement. A staunch conservative has been accused of being "taken in" by gay rights because he pledged not to discriminate in hiring. This is a political weakness, now. And Lindner is fighting back. He's not saying, I'm proud of my pledge not to discriminate in hiring. He's saying, well, I wasn't talking about gays. Thank God these are the guys who look for converts instead of heretics, right?
Thank you, guys, for reminding me why I'm a Democrat.
But, Ted, there has been progress. Someone in Bob Barr's position a quarter century ago--someone trying to win a primary by playing the prejudice card--would have been talking about how his opponent has been taken in by the African-American rights movement, wouldn't he?
Posted by DeLong at August 14, 2002 07:49 AM | TrackbackOne would hope that a true conservative would know his Gary Becker. So what Bob Barr is really saying is: "I don't want to hire the best person for the job. I don't think that the taxpayers are entitled to the most qualified person I can hire; I'm going to make my decisions based on completely extraneous qualities, and not on the ability to do the job." Apparently Georgia Republicans think affirmative action for straights is OK.
I'm not sure that substituting the "African-American Agenda" with the "Gay Agenda" as the Georgia conservative bogeyman can really be counted as progress. Bigotry is still bigotry...
Bigotry is surely sadly bigotry.
Posted by: on August 14, 2002 02:22 PM>>I'm not sure that substituting the "African-American Agenda" with the "Gay Agenda" as the Georgia conservative bogeyman can really be counted as progress. Bigotry is still bigotry...<<
Well, it's not substitution. It used to be both. Now it's only one.
Even back in the bad old days, there was still a Florida candidate who accused his opponent of having a sister who was a thespian...
Posted by: Brad DeLong on August 15, 2002 07:44 AMWhat about Barr's blatent anti-yosemitism? I hear his son opened up a can o' whup-ass on a character in a Yosemite Sam costume who showed up at a Barr event.
Somehow I don't think we'll have Mr. Barr to kick around, come this time next year.
Posted by: RonK, Seattle on August 15, 2002 09:45 PM