Jon Swift is funny again in his post entitled: Mark Foley Scandal Hurts Democrats. Newt Gingrich said that Republicans couldn't respond earlier because they would then be accused of gay bashing. You know, because being gay and harassing 16 year olds is synonymous.
It is funny to watch the religious right on this. After making sex the only real important sin (greed, abuse of power, arrogance, etc., all fine) they are really in a pickle here.
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Notice though how they are repositioning Foley.
First, there's the whole 'He's gay, not that there's suddenly anything wrong with that,' so critics are gay bashers. Yet, they still leave intact the homophobic connection of pedophiles and homosexuality. They might leave themselves open to criticism from some on the right, but realistically those voters are not going to suddenly switch allegiances.
Second, he is a now also being positioned as a victim of molestation, and after all, we can't blame the victim. This also coopts the liberal tendency to contextualize everything in terms of social structures, etc. Again, this insulates from criticism by all except those on the right who aren't going anywhere anyway. Those on the left will look a little silly if they go too far down the 'personal responsibility' road.
Say what you will, and I think it's pretty sick myself, but this is brilliant strategy.
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