After the debacle of calling Rick Santorum an “inclusive man” while Santorum supports the imprisonment of gay men in relationships, we now have attorney-general John Ashcroft banning a six-year-old tradition of a gay pride day at the Justice Department. No, this isn’t the biggest deal imaginable. It’s just a clear and petty attempt to inform gay civil servants that they are second class citizens and second class employees. I guess given Ashcroft’s own views on a whole range of matters, we should be grateful that only the homos have borne the brunt of his intolerance so far. But it’s another sign that the administration cannot hope to reach out to gay voters at the same time as appeasing those who want to see gays back in the prisons, bathhouses and closets where they once belonged. You cannot hope to reach out to the sane and compassionate middle of America, while cozying up to religious fanatics at the same time. Unless the Bush administration does something to suggest that it tangibly welcomes gay citizens into its big tent, then it will deserve to lose many of the votes it won last time around. Certainly the administration has now done a lot to give a direct one-word message to its gay supporters: suckers.
THE NYT AND EUROPE: Take a look at this editorial this morning calling for Britain to join the euro currency. Read closely and see if you can find any actual argument for the move. Would it help Britain’s economy? Would it benefit the United States? Would it be good for the world trading system? Not a word. There’s just an assumption that Britain’s loss of sovereignty and its own currency is an obviously good thing. The best you get is this: “Mr. Blair needs to start backing business leaders’ arguments that adopting the currency would be a net economic positive. One reason the negative consequences of staying out have not been all that apparent is that Mr. Blair has done a good job of keeping markets convinced that it is only a matter of time.” But the business community in Britain is deeply divided over the euro, and in recent months there has been a sharp swing of business opinion against it. Since the euro was adopted, Britain has fast out-paced the rest of Europe in growth and employment, while the European Central Bank’s euro-induced high interest rates have pushed the Continent into recession.The intellectual laziness and sheer ignorance at the NYT continues, with or without Raines. And their dumb-as-a-post piety hasn’t waned an iota either. (My own take on the new European “constitution” is now posted at The New Republic Online.)
The Dish 