devil's advocacy » Shortsighted

RNC’s New Glass Headquarters

DA — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 23:35:00 +0000

It’s old news by now, but the Republican National Committee sent an early Valentine’s Day present to Senator Reid earlier this month in the form of a research paper titled “Who is Harry Reid?” The collection of quotes is valid, but some of the attacks hit a little too close to home for the Grand Old Party.

One section accuses the venerable Nevadan of being “out of touch with mainstream America” because he lives in a $750,000 condo in the Ritz Carlton in Foggy Bottom. Problem is, they’re not looking in the mirror too closely: Reid’s counterpart on the right owns a multi-million dollar home in Washington and commutes to work on a private family jet.

There’s nothing wrong with Frist’s wealth, or with Reid’s $.75 million condo. But if the RNC is going to make arguments, at least make ones that hold water. Errr, Evian.

“Let he who is without sin…”

DA — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 20:56:00 +0000

The Los Angeles Times reports this week that parents at an Orange County Catholic School are threatening to remove their kids from the school if the two sons of a gay couple aren’t kicked out. The school stands behind its decision to enroll the kids, and the parents of the controversial enrollees haven’t issued any statements to the press. That fact, however, didn’t stop parent Monica Sii from suggesting that the “boys are being used as pawns by these men to further their agenda.”

None of this is surprising. Not in the least. Nor is the parents’ desire to require not only that all students, but all parents follow the strict guidelines of the church. The problem, as with every “the Bible says so” argument, comes in the details. Enacting such a pledge would require the removal of any students whose parents have ever divorced, used contraception, engaged in oral sex… the list goes on.

Now, aside from the divorce issue, the others can’t be as readily proven as the simple fact that a kid has two dads. So basically we end up with a pledge that kicks out a few kids and requires a whole herd of parents to swear they don’t engage in un-Catholic behavior in the bedroom – because what parent really wants to tell their kids that they have to switch schools because daddy wears a rubber?

When we said “big tent,” we didn’t mean you.

DA — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 20:28:00 +0000

It seems that for some Republicans, the 2004 sweep of victories has meant that the formerly much-revered “big tent” just doesn’t quite need to be that big.

Moderate Arlen Specter felt the singe of the right’s fire and brimstone after his ill-advised shot across the conservative bow earlier this month asking the President to be mindful not to appoint judges who would “change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade.”

Religious rights groups like the American Family Association fired back with grassroots alerts urging conservative-minded Senators to vote against Specter for the Judiciary Chair slot. Whether these campaigns are successful or not will be determined in the coming days as Congress returns to work this week to stop-gap fund the government through January.

If Specter is ousted as Chair, the religious right’s grip on the GOP gets stronger, and the GOP campaign message gets altered: It’s a big tent, but if you don’t agree with the President on hot button Bible issues, it’s not big enough for you.