Gain a little respect...lose a little respect
I saw two posts today that really made me swing wildly about my respect for President Bush. The first was about the tapes of him as a candidate that stood up to (and continues to do so) James Dobson and other socially-conservative Christians over homosexuals.Early on, though, Mr. Bush appeared most worried that Christian conservatives would object to his determination not to criticize gay people. "I think he wants me to attack homosexuals," Mr. Bush said after meeting James Robison, a prominent evangelical minister in Texas.
But Mr. Bush said he did not intend to change his position. He said he told Mr. Robison: "Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the bat. One, I'm not going to kick gays, because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?"
Do the President and I agree on this? Who would have guess that when I woke up this morning?
President Bush gained some respect in my eyes, but then I read this article. It is about how a conservative lobby group with strong ties to Karl Rove and the White House, with a recent history of heading the (now discredited) Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, have been hired to attack the AARP over their opposition to privatizing Social Security.
The most upsetting thing is that the first ad run by this organization is at the American Spectator website (second down on right hand side). Let me describe- Over the headline: "The REAL AARP Agenda", the ad has, on the left, a picture of a soldier in desert fatigues with a big 'X' crossing him out and on the right a picture of two men (in tuxes and obviously just married) kissing each other. The gay newlyweds have a big green check mark over them.
So the President has hired an ad group that will attack the AARP with anti-troop/pro-gay slime? Anything the President gained in the first article disappeared immediately.
posted by Anonymous @ 6:34 PM
