Newt Gingrich thinks gay people are stupid, too. (RL, political)

[thistlechaser]

Newt Gingrich tells gay people to vote for Obama. I'm sorry, Newt, but did you think gay folks really needed to be told to do that?

"I asked him if he's elected, how does he plan to engage gay Americans. How are we to support him? And he told me to support Obama."

It boggles me that he didn't even lie about this. (Does he get points for being honest about his hatred?)

Also, how amusing is it that all the right wing people who flailed at Obama for having a non-"normal" name now have to pick between Newt and Mitt?

Fun fact of the day: Newt is Thistle-Chaser's daughter in the book series my name comes from. Happily there is no RL relation between the human Newt and myself.

Comments

[awhisperofdusk.livejournal.com]

But those are anglophone normal names! Because being named after a glove and a lizard is so much better than having a name that means 'blessed'.

It's more than little amazing he&'s so open about it. I can get his acceptance and shrugging about people not voting for him, but his utter refusal to even /engage/ on the topic is disturbing. He does realize that he represents all of the US if he's president, not just the people who voted for him, right? ._.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

He does realize that he represents all of the US if he's president, not just the people who voted for him, right? ._.

You do realize that being gay is unamerican, right? :|

On a much happier, yet still related note, did you see Gay sailors share Navy's traditional homecoming embrace as ship returns (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2077283/Lesbian-couple-share-Navys-traditional-homecoming-kiss-U-S-ship-returns.html):



Makes me proud. :) (And scared what Newt would do to them.)

[awhisperofdusk.livejournal.com]

That's fucking adorable. <333 And I apologize for assuming being gay is American. I'd say you should come North and be not American, but we still have Harper. 8|

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Northern buddy! <3 Let's hope both of our countries stay under the leadership of safe, sane, respectful folks?

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

Awwww! That is so sweet!

Also, apparently it's short for "Newton." If I were him, I'd rather deal with Fig Newton jokes than share a name with an amphibian, but I guess that's just me.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I think the issue for him would be that Newton is a smart-sounding name, and smart people are bad bad bad in Right Wing-think?

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

He actually has a PhD. He was a history professor before going into politics.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

... Huh! Wow. I'm impressed. Surprised, but impressed.

[blightheart.livejournal.com]

The more I watch these proceedings, the better I feel about the upcoming election.

There's a large pool of voters who are NOT career democrats or republicans. Y'know the ones who you actually have to convince to vote for you, because they don't automatically go red or blue. The fact that Gingrich, who is an openly spiteful career politician with a scandalous history, is still a serious consideration for the candidacy is a shocking (yet somewhat amusing) observation of their inability to come up with a decent human being to nominate

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

is still a serious consideration for the candidacy is a shocking (yet somewhat amusing) observation of their inability to come up with a decent human being to nominate

This, but I still worry so much. And if not this election, there's the next one or the next one or the next one. How long will it take them to get someone in and start hacking and slashing at our rights?

How sad is it to have to worry about our rights being taken away in America? Rights based on sexuality, on gender, on anything will be at risk. :/

[prettyredeyes.livejournal.com]

This, but I still worry so much. And if not this election, there's the next one or the next one or the next one. How long will it take them to get someone in and start hacking and slashing at our rights?

This. So much this. I'm not very political (I don't even watch the news), but there's a point where I hear about it enough peripherally that it concerns me. It freaked me out how many openly hateful people came out of the woodwork when Obama was elected. Every election seems worse than the last.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Totally agreed. The hate is getting worse and worse, and it really scares me. Not to mention, that the goal of half the people in government is only to "keep Obama from getting anything he wants" and it's just... ugh.

[prettyredeyes.livejournal.com]

Seriously. x_x And so many people aren't even willing to listen before they go NOPE. Blegh.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yep, exactly. :/

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

Here's the thing about the Republican candidate...The republican party is collapsing. The original meaning of 'right-wing', politically, didn't involve fundamentalist views (particularly christian ones). It wasn't about enforcing morality. There were two senses of right wing -- fiscal and social, and the two are significantly intertwined. Fiscal conservatism meant pro-capitalist - minimize taxation, avoid overregulation (very very few I've met think total deregulation is a good idea - that's so far right as to be Anarchist), etc. Social conservatism meant maximum personal freedom, minimal legislation. Doesn't sound much like modern day republicans does it? Sounds, in fact, much closer to Libertarian.

The trouble for the past couple decades has been that the "Republican" party has shifted in intent significantly, but many of the voters still just voted the party line. That isn't happening as much now - we were already starting to see that collapse in the last election. People who were voting red because they always had were seeing that their choices were absolute shit, that the candidate chosen to represent them did not, not even close. I don't mean young voters, either -- from people my grandparents' age to people my age and younger (college-age 'young republican' types) I've talked to all feel similarly.

Yes, there will still be a great many that toe the line. To them, the red vs blue thing is like cheering for a football team. They supported that team, and they're emotionally invested in it. There's no real agreement with policies or any such thing, just emotional investment in supporting their team and decrying their rival.

Expect the collapse to continue with this election. The Republican Party candidates are outright offensive to many conservatives. Most conservatives I know don't support gay marriage personally, but vehemently oppose the government meddling in personal lives. The republican candidates all speak about passing laws to do this, do that, add in a few constitutional amendments to enforce this other thing...ALL of that is against what the old conservatives believe in. Laws should exist only to protect the populace, and do so with as few laws as possible.

The only candidate who comes close to espousing their view is Ron Paul, and alas but he is pretty damn terrifying himself. If the US government is starting to turn gangrenous, Ron Paul is a crazy guy with an axe. Yes, he might cut off the gangrenous bits and allow the rest a chance to survive...but he might also do irreparable harm to some of the still-healthy parts.

The end result? Many of the people who voted republican in the last election are going to stay home.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

/popcorn

Keeps getting more and more interesting as time goes on.

Although the article trips my cynicism alerts a little. Not necessarily with Newt's comments but with the guy who went there to ask about gay marriage. Especially after I read that the guy knew about Newt's stance on the issue. I don't know, it just feels a little bit too much like he was fishing for an inflammatory remark or to trap him in wording or something.

In an odd way, I kind of respect that Newt at least stuck to his guns and stayed with his beliefs. Even if I think his beliefs are misguided and wrong.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Agreed on both of those points. I almost didn't post this -- if it was a set up, does it have as much value? But... his opinions are still his opinions, no matter how they came out, so I posted.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

Ya, it's a really weird area for me. I mean you're right, it's still his opinion so it's good it's out but it was already out there so why go and try to bring it up again? It feels way to politically motivated to me. As opposed to just someone who was keeping an open mind trying to get an answer from him, as the article implies.

Although in the end I would think this will probably be a good thing for Newt. I mean, the people who would go "Fine, I'll vote for Obama!" were probably already not voting for him. So it's just going to get his base more solidified in their choice that he's not going to back down from his beliefs.

Also, in my quest to link this everywhere. The Hobbit Trailer! (http://youtu.be/G0k3kHtyoqc)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

So it's just going to get his base more solidified in their choice that he's not going to back down from his beliefs.

That's a good but sad point. Ugh. Can you imagine? There's a whole group of people who agree with him? Makes me so sad.

And yes! That's been around on my friends list today.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

It's sad that there is a chance that The Hobbit (my favourite book in ever) movie might just come out after the end of the world...wait. Perhaps it is the catalyst for the end of the world?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha! Well now that's looking on the not-bright side of things.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

I assume that it will be so good that there is no where to go from there but down so the world just ends.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, silly. :D