Intolerance

[danitapgh]

I should stop reading the news. It just upsets me. Why can't the Republicans just leave gays alone? Why do they have to ask for amendments to the constitution to cannonize the discrimination?

Sorry. I know I'm ranting, but it just angers me at a visceral level. They try to make all sorts of good sounding reasons for why it's not bigotry, but it is

Comments

[danitapgh]

I feel it isn't as simple as that - that would be under-estimating this administration. They are very well organized. They have money. Lots of money. $130 million the last time I checked. They have a great deal of political savvy. During the midterm elections, President Bush hit the campaign trail to campaign for Republicans in swing states. As a result, not only did Bush win a Republican majority in Congress - a very, very powerful position to have as a president. He also had a group of congressman who owed him, personally, for their election. They are not above fighting dirty - really dirty - for their causes. When members of congress opposed/criticized the USA Patriot act for going too far, members of the administration started to question their patriotism. These people have long memories and carry grudges. If you oppose them today, they will figure out how to get you back tommorrow. Carl Rove has been known to use the tactic known as "push-polling" during elections. Basically, this tactic involves calling people up on the phone with a fake survey which is a wrapper around mud which is slung at the opponent, and the mud may or may not be true. It would work something like this. I call you up and say "How would you feel about George Bush if you knew he had a homosexual experience?". Notice, I'm not saying that Bush had a homosexual experience - that would be illegal, but the idea is planted in your head nonetheless.

[monkey587]

Although I expected they were using any means of shady campaigning available to them, I wasn't aware of push-polling... That's very interesting, so thanks for telling me about it.

Interesting and disheartening. I'm always one to try to play by the rules... and every now and then I get a reminder that in the real world, people who play by the rules don't seem to win very often.