Via Ed Brayton: Minnesota state governor Tim Pawlenty, widely favoured as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012, today announced his support for reinstating the recently-scrapped “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, under which gay, lesbian and bisexual personnel in the United States military could be discharged for disclosing their sexual orientation.
As Ed points out, the most disturbing aspect of this story is not what Pawlenty said, but where he said it: on the radio program of extreme right-wing Christian activist Bryan Fischer, a man with a long history of hateful and bigoted homophobic remarks. In the past, Fischer has blamed homosexuality for the Third Reich, has called for gay people to be forced to undergo “reparative therapy”, has spoken out against taxpayer funding for AIDS research, and has argued that allowing gay personnel to serve openly will leave the United States military “feminized and neutered”.
In addition to his fanatical homophobia, Fischer is also viciously anti-Muslim. He has called for an end to Muslim immigration to the United States, a ban on the building of mosques, and the compulsory discharge of all Muslim personnel from the armed forces. In a particularly disturbing racist rant, he even claimed that people from Muslim families were born with lower IQs. The depth of his bigotry apparently knows no limits.
It’s deeply frightening that a leading presidential candidate, in one of America’s two major political parties, would choose publicly to associate himself with a hatemonger like Fischer. While there are many things wrong with British politics, I am, at least, rather grateful that views like Fischer’s would not be acceptable in the political mainstream of this country.
And this certainly destroys any favourable thoughts I might have had about Pawlenty: after this unpleasant revelation, I can honestly say that he might be a worse candidate even than Palin or Huckabee. While the Obama administration has an appalling record of civil-liberties abuses, it appears that every conceivable Republican challenger in 2012 would be worse. Speaking as someone with plenty of close American friends, and a deep affection for the United States, I fear for America’s future.
As a final aside, I do have one quibble with Ed’s post:
It speaks volumes about just how insane the GOP has become that serious presidential candidates are willing to go on the radio show of a batshit crazy authoritarian nut like Fischer.
Following a discussion with one of my regular commenters, I’ve been trying to break myself of the widespread habit of using terms like “insane” and “crazy” as casual insulting epithets. To do so stigmatizes the mentally ill, much as the use of insults like “retarded” can stigmatize people with learning disabilities. Like other insulting terms that carry implicit prejudices, the choice of these particular insults can have an unintended hurtful effect than people other than the target of the insult. Call Fischer a vile bigot, by all means: but don’t call him “insane”.
As I’ve often argued, we all have a responsibility to consider our day-to-day word choices, their cumulative effect on our culture, and the danger of unintentionally perpetuating prejudice and hurting people. I will be the first to confess that I don’t always live up to my own standards in this area: but that isn’t a reason not to try.