Category: The Dish

The site is launched – for theocon Catholics opposed to Rudy Giuliani’s divergence from Catholic doctrine on several issues. Vox Nova blog immediately noticed an interesting lacuna:

Most importantly, torture is nowhere to be seen. Remember, torture is an intrinsically evil act that attacks the God-given human dignity of the person, an act that can never be justified, and condemned in the strongest terms by the Church. And yet Rudy does justify it. When asked specifically if he supported the Khmer Rouge-perfected waterboarding technique, he replied without hesitation that "I would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they can think of". For a Catholic, this is as beyond the pale as arguing in favor of abortion.

So, Catholics Against Rudy: Where’s the torture? Where’s the consistency?

Only hours later, the site did indeed add "torture" to its list of issues. Unlike the others though, it has no content. Well: except for the words "coming soon." Like the Republican conscience.

"So, the Iraqi government reportedly hasn’t met any of its targets. Has the Democrat Congress met any of its targets?" – Mark Levin, NRO.

There were fifteen beatings and arrests yesterday. Why isn’t this on the front pages?

The plot thickens.

A news blog in Islamabad.

Annapolis, Maryland, 10.10 am.

For a newly updated, global gallery of Dish readers’ window views, click here.

Yep: it’s official. The bombing begins in five minutes.

Why is one not exactly gob-smacked to find that a leading Republican Christianist was once a client of the DC Madam? I mean, a leading evangelical opponent of gay equality, Ted Haggard, was hiring a male hooker. We had the leading Republican campaigner against hooking up with minors online … hassling adolescent pages with IMs. We had Newt Gingrich committing adultery while impeaching Clinton. Why should we expect anything different from senator David Vitter? All the usual signs of hooker-use are in the record:

A staunch conservative, Vitter disavowed same-sex unions during his 2004 campaign, boasting that he had co-authored and fought for the Federal Marriage Amendment. He further vowed to protect "the sanctity of marriage."

"This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history, and our two U.S. senators won’t do anything about it," he said in a statement on his campaign Web site. "We need a U.S. senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts values."

Massachusetts has a lower divorce rate than Louisiana. Maybe that explains Senator Vitter hiring a whore.

He called another man on the Imus show – yes, the Imus show – a faggot. It took Richardson a year to apologize. And it was in Spanish:

Almost exactly one year before Imus was to lose his show for using a slur to describe the Rutger’s women’s basketball team, the shock jock used the Spanish word “maricón” in an on-air exchange with Richardson.

“Bernard on the staff here has been claiming you’re not really Hispanic so– that you’re just claiming that for some sort of advantage or something,” Imus said to Richardson, tongue clearly in cheek. “You can just answer this yes or no and this will answer that question. Would you agree that Bernard is a maricón?”

Without missing a beat, Richardson replied in Spanish, “Yo creo que Bernardo, sí — es un maricón si él piensa que yo no soy hispano. [General laughter] Was that good enough or what? [General laughter]”

"That’s good enough for me," Imus replied.

Most gay Latinos interviewed for this story agreed with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that the word "maricón" means “faggot” in Spanish. So, translated to English, Richardson had replied: "I believe that Bernard, yes – he’s a faggot if he thinks that I am not Hispanic."

The gay groups decided not to make an issue of it at the time – because he’s a Democrat. Sigh.

"I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary. If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me," – Wendy Vitter, 2000, talking about the Clinton scandal to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Male genital mutilation may be about to have a comeback.