Month: November 2006

Ann Arbor, Michigan, 3 pm.

"There is part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life," – pastor Ted Haggard, referring, I suppose, to his homosexual orientation.

For those who still – amazingly – believe that being gay is somehow a "choice," consider Haggard. If he could have chosen not to be gay, don’t you think he would have? Even though he apparently believes being gay is "repulsive and dark" (while it is, in fact, just another wonderful way to be human), he still cannot prevail against it. It is integral to him. It has been "all of [his] adult life".

One day, he may realize, and I pray he does, that the only dark and repulsive thing is the closet, the betrayal of his wife and children, the destruction of a church, and the demonization of others in the same boat – all as a function of his own inability to face the truth. What is dark and repulsive is dishonesty.

There is no commandment not to be gay. There is a commandment not to bear false witness. Haggard bore false witness – to himself, to his wife, to his traumatized kids, to his fellow gay men and women. repeatedly, pathologically, self-destructively. The right response for Christians is compassion and forgiveness. But also hope: hope that this will help spread the truth about what being gay actually is.

Face it, Ted. Face the truth. It will set you – and so many others – free.

The one to watch is Montana, where the GOP may be regaining momentum. Missouri is a nail-biter. Notice Webb’s momentum in Virginia. Analysis from Pollster.com here.

The NRO-Politburo attempt to get various comrades back on message, despite some neocons blurting out the truth of what they actually believe, makes for fascinating reading. Some – Eliot Cohen – come off fine. Frum is just beyond incoherent. But Perle is making an argument that does indeed get to the heart of what neoconservatism has become. Here’s Perle:

Vanity Fair has rushed to publish a few sound bites from a lengthy discussion with David Rose. Concerned that anything I might say could be used to influence the public debate on Iraq just prior to Tuesday’s election, I had been promised that my remarks would not be published before the election.

I should have known better than to trust the editors at Vanity Fair who lied to me and to others who spoke with Mr. Rose. Moreover, in condensing and characterizing my views for their own partisan political purposes, they have distorted my opinion about the situation in Iraq and what I believe to be in the best interest of our country.

He says he now believes that the Great Leader is essential to the next Glorious Five Year Plan for Iraq. He sounds like that dude shot in the face by Cheney, who subsequently apologized for getting in the way.

There’s one thing to say here. Perle says he is

concerned that anything I might say could be used to influence the public debate on Iraq just prior to Tuesday’s election.

Say what again? Perle is supposed to be a thinker, and a patriot. Why on earth would an intellectually honest person not make sure that their real views are aired on a critical matter before an election? Isn’t that the point? They were more disciplined in 2004. Almost all the neocons I knew conceded privately that Iraq was FUBAR. But most decided to attack Kerry rather than tell the truth.

An intellectual movement that has become this intellectually dishonest deserves to die.

There is a third way: spiritual and religious humility. Here’s my case for it, an excerpt/abridgment from "The Conservative Soul" in Time magazine. If you’re interested in reading this case made at greater length and depth, it’s the core argument of my new book.

A reader writes:

I wanted to share two short stories about Hard Core Republicans who are in the same boat as you.

1) My Aunt and Uncle are Bill and Lois Shepard. They are best known as the husband and wife team that ran for Governor and LT Governor in Maryland in 1992. Yes they lost but they did run as Republicans and long have they espoused the Conservative positions. She was a Reagan apointeee as Director of Museum Affairs, he was in the Foreign Service in the 70’s and 80’s as diplomat. She was even Chairwomen of Republicans Abroad. They consider the Cheneys to be close personal friends. So I see them a month ago at a family function and they are both so disgusted with the Republicans and Bush they are actually voting against Steele in Maryland! He has written several editorials and letters to the Harvard Law Alumni lambasting them for not taking a position against Bush’s policies that are clearly unconstitutional. To listen to them go on and on you would think they were my San Francisco cousins not my Washington ones.

2) My Stepfather is very rich. He has thank you letters from every Republican Presidential candidate since Goldwater thanking him for his donations. Huge Reagan man, he even has one of those letters from George W from 2000. He now has one from John Kerry. I was shocked when he showed it to me. He said he is still a true Republican and when the true Republicans show up again, he will start sending them money again. So don’t worry. You are certainly not the only Republican that wonders what the heck happened to there party!

There’s a new poll from South Dakota, ground central for the Christianist attempt to criminalize all abortion. It’s another state constitutional amendment that would not just ban civil marriage rights for gay couples, but also domestic partnerships and civil unions, and any legal rights for gay couples. And the news is: it’s too close to call. In South Dakota. The extremism of the anti-gay measures is beginning to sink in with fair-minded people, who may balk at marriage but don’t want to see gay couples stripped of all legal rights. But that’s what most of these amendments do – and were designed to do. People may be finally waking up. Let’s hope it’s not too late in Virginia either.

My jaw is still on the floor after reading this, because it is not fom the Onion, it is from a blog by an evangelical pastor, Mark Driscoll, trying to draw some conclusions from the Haggard affair. One of his conclusions is this:

Most pastors I know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with their wives. At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this. It is not uncommon to meet pastors’ wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness. A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband’s sin, but she may not be helping him either.

Beyond belief. But this is the patriarchal voice of Christianism speaking. And now we are hearing what it says in private. If you like this kind of value system, you know how to empower them still further next Tuesday.

Here’s a typical email response:

Thank you so much for the link to Frum’s NRO piece. I think this editorial in the leading conservative political magazine in the country by one of the most influential Republican strategists, David Frum, speaks volumes about the conservative view on sexuality. I’m neither gay nor a man and reading this made me literally sick to my stomach. I can’t imagine what you must feel.

Well, he’s no Ben Cohen, but a reader vents:

Sexy? Doesn’t even come close. I’d do terrible, terrible things to him if he’d let me.

In fact, I often fantasize about buying some meth from him, throwing it away, then having a completely non-sexual, you know, just two guys hangin’ in a hotel room, naked, ‘just bein’ guys’ kind-a evening, during which we might occasionally give each other a hot-oil rubdown or two, in the most manly and hetero way, of course. In my fantasy, sometimes I mount his naked body and ride him around the hotel room, but not in a gay way ‚Äì in a ‘just two guys completely confident in their masculinity’ way. I have to admit, last weekend I actually bought some meth and threw it away while watching old Ali G episodes. Naked. Does that make me gay?

Nah: just a Republican staying the course.