10/3    I can't believe there exists gay Republicans. It's like, cows have
        wings and can fly.
        \_ Hello to David Dreier.
        \_ Are you kidding?  The hypocrisy of politicians is legendary.
           Republicans in particular.  The most anti-gay of them are
           gay themselves.  The most anti-corruption are taking bribes.
           The most 'pro family values' are the ones with mistresses.
           The anti-substance ones are addicts.  And so on, and on, and on.
           And even more so if they're religious.
           \_ Mmmm mmmm!!  I love the smell of a good rant in the morning!
           \_ and the former co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and
              Exploited Children regularly engages in cybersex with high school
              students
        \_ Paging Andrew Sullivan.
        \_ Wealthy white males without children. I read somewhere that more
           and more gays are turning to the Republican party. It really
           represents their interests better than the Dems do. 25% of gays
           (lesbians included) voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, and the
           numbers are creeping higher: see Log Cabin Republicans.
           \_ "Really represents their interests?"  Are you insane?  Have you
              READ the Republican Party platform?
              \_ Reclaim the Panama Canal! Woohoo! *bang* *bang*
              \_ Their priorities are not what you think they are. Their
                 priorities are often national defense, small government
                 (which is *supposed* to be a Republican ideal), lower
                 taxes, big business, etc. Think Merv Griffin here.
                 \_ sorry, "keeping my sexual preference legal" trumps all
                    of that.
                    \_ is it preference or born like that?
                    \_ That's your own personal opinion not shared by all
                       gays and lesbians.
                       \_ right, and some poor blacks vote Republican, too.
                          The stupid ones.  -tom
                          \_ Such tolerance from the left. The Republicans
                             are, after all, the party of Lincoln.
                             \_ I'm sure blacks voted Republican in 1860.
                                (To the extent they were allowed to).  Let's
                                try to keep the discussion within the
                                most recent century.  -tom
                                \_ What makes you think you know what's best
                                   for poor blacks - all poor blacks, in fact?
                                   That's the main problem with liberals.
                                   They always think they know what's best
                                   for you.
                                   \_ Ah, right, and the conservatives are
                                      constantly responding to the needs of
                                      the people.  You're a moron.  -tom
                                      \_ Conservatives prefer to let people
                                         respond to their own needs and
                                         not call them 'stupid' if they
                                         have different priorities.
                                         \_ URL?  -tom
                          \_ Stupid because... the dems would make them not
                             poor? Or maybe not black?
                             \_ Stupid because the dems don't view poor
                                people as self-evidently lazy, criminal, or
                                both.  Stupid because Republicans constantly
                                attack social programs intended to help the
                                poor, because by conservative ideology, the
                                poor just don't work hard enough, so all they
                                need to succeed is fewer social programs.  -tom
                                \_ So you actually believe people are poor
                                   because they're lazy? Please look at the
                                   a documentary called Rebels With a Cause
                                   and The Weather Underground. A bunch of
                                   young leftists tried to help out the poor
                                   and for whatever reason (pride, resentment,
                                   etc) the poor simply rejected help from
                                   a bunch of rich yuppie kids. There's a
                                   saying that Republicans are Democrats
                                   that have yet to be robbed, and there's
                                   a lot of truth to that.
                                   \_ uh, no, I think that the conservative
                                      ideology is that the rich are rich
                                      because they worked for it, and the poor
                                      are poor because they don't work hard
                                      enough.  That ideology has no connection
                                      to reality.  -tom
                                   \_ I think the opposite is true. Democrats
                                      are Republicans that have yet to be
                                      robbed. Once they are robbed then
                                      see how quickly they are against gun
                                      control, light prison sentences, etc.
                                   \_ You got that saying backwards.  Carry on.
                                \_ Like Clinton's welfare reform which kicked
                                   how many people off the lists and put caps
                                   on how much help someone is allowed?  Or
                                   like how Dems are opposed to school vouchers
                                   because the fewer crappy public schools
                                   there are the less the teacher's unions can
                                   give to the Dems?
                                \_ Intended to help them, perhaps. They did
                                   pass that prescription drug plan so they're
                                   not as different as maybe you'd like to
                                   think. Anyway, this would be more useful
                                   if we chose one specific program that
                                   Rs attack and Ds support (or vice versa) and
                                   discuss the merits. I guess school vouchers
                                   is one. I used to be on the fence for that
                                   but now I think they'd be good. I know
                                   enough people who do home-schooling that I
                                   see a lot of potential for innovation in
                                   private education. Maybe you can offer some
                                   other examples. I've grown to be very wary
                                   of giant grabby bureaucracies which is what
                                   large government agencies or school systems
                                   become.
                          \_ The stupid and poor ones have more to gain from
                             meager tax cuts, because any amount will
                             largely affect their lifestyles.
                             \_ yeah, I'm sure removing the estate tax and
                                the capital gains tax will have huge impact
                                in Harlem.  -tom
        \_ this thread so needs to be jived, but I'm a coward