GOP's Alan Simpson assails "homophobes" in Republican Party, singles out Rick Santorum

[Swede]

I'm very surprised.

snip

"We won a governorship there in New Jersey, one in Virginia, by not talking about social issues," Simpson said. "Who the hell is for abortion? I don't know anybody running around with a sign that says, 'Have an abortion, they're wonderful.' They're hideous. But they're a deeply intimate and personal decision, and I don't think men legislators should even vote on the issue."


"Then you've got homosexuality," he continued. "You've got 'don't ask, don't tell.' We have homophobes in our party. That's disgusting to me. We're all human beings, we're all God's children. Now if they're going to get off in that stuff -- Santorum has said some cruel things, cruel, cruel things about homosexuals. Ask him about it. See if he attributes the cruelness of his remarks years ago. Foul."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20053110-503544.html?tag=latest

[Flubadubya]

1. Yep... surprise, surprise, surprise...

Chris Matthews was interviewing him yesterday on Hardball and he came out with this statement about abortion and homosexuality. I couldn't believe my ears.

Wonders never cease, I suppose. :shrug:

[hifiguy]

2. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.

Even the chair of the Catfood Commission can be right once in his life.

[Wait Wut]

3. Should we be concerned?

What if this becomes a trend on the right? Compassionate, logical thinking isn't something we're used to fighting against.

Sorry, teapers...your 15 minutes is way done. Your crazy is becoming toxic to your own party.

[CrossChris]

4. They're trying to make him look left-ish so Obama can claim that Simpson-Bowles was bipartisan

This is a naked attempt at rehabbing Simpson's image, and I'm insulted by it.

I'm insulted by the entire way Obama is trying to approach these cuts, but I'm sure he couldn't care less. My donations to him last go-round were far less than what he can get from the big boys for cutting SS and Medicare.

[TheWraith]

5. Wow, you seriously believe that nonsense?

Loosen the tin-foil.

[CrossChris]

7. I should've said moderate, but yes. This is why press releases go out. That's how PR is played.

I have a lot of experience in that field---so call it an educated guess.

[11cents]

6. Uh, no.

Simpson has a gay grandson and has been taking a pro-gay-rights public stand for several years. He's a rightist, but has always been more on the libertarian side.

[CrossChris]

8. Calling attention to the more socially liberal side of a SS hating deficit hawk can't be a PR move?

What motivates someone out of the blue to print an article saying, "you know that Alan Simpson, for all the things he's said about SS being a milk cow with 300 million tits, he's pretty open minded on gay issues"?

Did someone just decide to print that today because they felt like it? Or because they got a press release? Who would have an interest in rehabbing Alan Simpson's image and why? I hear rumors that Obama will endorse the Simpson-Bowles plan this week. Could that be why?

Doesn't seem like a far-fetched conclusion to me at all. I'll let readers decide which is more likely---if this is well crafter PR, or if journalists just woke up today and decided that Alan Simpson's feelings on gay marriage would make for great news today!

[11cents]

9. How about, it was motivated by the fact that Simpson just made a speech on the subject...

...in which he attacked fellow Republicans by name?

And how about the other times "attention has been called" to Simpson's views on gay rights? There's a reason that I and others know about those views; they werein the news before his entitlement commission ever existed.

Simpson wants to destroy Social Security, and I share your disgust with the notion that Obama might endorse his commission's report. But there's a fundamental error in your suggestion that the MSM (this story comes from CBS, after all) might highlight Simpson's relatively liberal social views in order to mollify or mislead liberals. The MSM feels no need to mollify liberals, and it certainly feels no need to mollify liberals in support of Obama's political needs. We don't matter.

[CrossChris]

17. Why would his personal views make the news unless it pertained to his image & the Catfood Commission

Lots of Republicans support gay rights---they don't make the news cycle every time they say something about it.

[dionysus]

13. ROFL

:spray:

[CrossChris]

14. Looks like I've hit a nerve. Why else would there be such a disproportionate response

to a perfectly reasonable conclusion, whether it's accurate or not?

[dionysus]

15. "Why else would there be such a disproportionate response".. because ppl laugh at silly posts.

:shrug:

[11cents]

16. "Hit a nerve" The last refuge of someone ....

...who can't be bothered to address substantive responses substantively.

But maybe you're right; you've struck a very tender nerve. After all, there's nothing more important to DUers than defending Alan Simpson, unless it's defending the MSM's coverage of budget issues.

[mulsh]

10. On the whole Simpson is a nasty mean spirited jerk being anti

homophobic, although admirable, does not lessen the damage he and his over arching repellent economic and political values do to average folk.

[Poboy]

11. Fuck Simpson. If this is supposed to make any difference in my opinion of him,

sorry. Fuck him long and hard, day and night. Fuck him from sun up, to sun down. From sea to shining sea!

[Johonny]

12. I dislike him because he has terrible budget ideas

I care not his opinion on other matters because he isn't pushing those.

[PurityOfEssence]

18. It's important to note that even bad guys of the recent past PALE in comparison to today's moderates

The sheer rapaciousness of our current reactionaries is important to keep in perspective, and the death-grip that the religious zealots have on BOTH parties needs to be decried on a regular basis.