Baser Instincts

How sad is it for the right wing when their intellectual heavyweights are neatly and efficiently disarmed by a TV comedian? Yes, John Stewart recently left Bill Bennett a stammering mess with just a few quick jokes, which nonetheless made their point. Of course, the arguments against gay marriage and gay rights in general are generally so preposterous a child could argue against them.

But, no, even those Republicans who recognize that gay people are, you know, human beings, too, these Republicans want to have their gays and beat them, too, as Andrew Sullivan points out:

Most Washington Republicans have no problems with openly gay people. Many of them have sons and daughters who are gay, including the epitome of conservative Republicanism, Dick Cheney. Dennis Hastert has gay staff. Rick Santorum had an openly gay staffer. They have no problems with gay people. And yet their party platform is vehemently opposed to treating gay people as equal citizens or as full members of their own families.

And none other than conservative Tucker Carlson has trenchantly observed that their base is finally beginning to notice this dichotomy:

CARLSON: It goes deeper than that though. The deep truth is that the elites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for the evangelicals who put their party in power.

.... [CHRIS] MATTHEWS: So this gay marriage issue and other issues related to the gay lifestyle are simply tools to get elected?

CARLSON: That's exactly right. It's pandering to the base in the most cynical way, and the base is beginning to figure it out.

Maybe the base will stay home during the next election and we can begin the long hard slog towards getting our country back, along with all the freedoms we've so casually surrendered of late. (Apparently, even The Washington Times agrees with that last sentiment.)