February 3, 2011

Sigh--Right wing freaks out about Egypt--redefines rape at home

Seems like the far right cannot quite ever get away from accusing our President of being disloyal. I have a former BSU friend (that is Baptist Student Union to the unwashed) who told me that Obama was sympathetic to terrorists. I pointed out that was ridiculously stupid, but he has yet to back off of that.

The issue, it seems, is that for the far right, there are no distinctions between Muslim groups. For them, they are all terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. There are no real serious internal divides within Islam for them--which of course, reminds us that the story is that Bush didn't know there were Shia and Sunni when he ordered the invasion of Iraq.

So since Egypt has gone into a bit of chaos, this right wing has continued to freak out. When the Muslim Brotherhood refused to join the protests at the beginning, the far right said that was just a lie, and hell, if they are all extremists, then what is the distinction? And, on Fox, we now hear that Obama Is In League With The Muslim Brotherhood:
"On Hannity last night, Gaffney argued that 'the Obama Administration's policies are being viewed through, and actually articulated and implemented through influence operations that the Muslim Brotherhood itself is running in our own country.'"
I am constantly reminded of how easy the right can question our loyalty, and have been told that was justifiable by a very conservative distant relative. That was a fun conversation. I think it went something like, "perhaps you are upset because you realize that Democrats are actually unpatriotic..." Gah.

Then at home, we see that our GOP leadership, with the help of a conservative Democrat, are pushing to redefine rape in an effort to further undermine access to abortion. My stance on abortion is pretty clear, I think. I hate it, and think we should work very hard to reduce it, but I am not convinced that the government should be the one making that very difficult decision, and am absolutely not convinced that redefining rape downward is good for anyone. Under this bill, those raped by means other than brute force are out of luck. Date rape, statutory, or those against the mentally ill or those who have been drugged or are intoxicated don't count.

Very hard to see this as anything but an attack on women. You want to reduce abortion? We know how. Reduce unwanted pregnancies through good sex education and then try to reduce poverty and increase access to good healthcare.

But this is not the way.

3 comments:

Noah said...

This Egypt thing, and their inconsistencies on it, is another example of how they simply do the opposite of Obama, and then blame him for something he's unconnected to.

On one hand, you've got conservatives clamoring for the removal of Mubarak. On the other hand, they are obsessed with the Muslim Brotherhood and are blaming Obama for their rise to power. So...what's the plan, mouthpieces? Oust Mubarak? Or support the notion of a true democracy, despite its proponents? Or is there no plan other than to bitch about Obama? This, yes, is a rhetorical question.

Smart people with brains have said that Obama is playing it smartly safe. But as the big talker about Democracy, we pretty much have to support people in a country who are asking for it. How can we not, and then act like it's so important to us?

That rape thing is sick as Hell. Never mind the means, it's the end that matter to them: no abortions at all ever. SO if a few women have to get raped along the way, they'll shed a few tears for them and go right back to their antics.

Noah said...

I think this sums up what Republicans are up to in DC.

Streak said...

The thing about democracy is that it is messy, and many in American history--from Wilson's desire to export democracy to Bush or even Clinton and Obama--have not realized. Sometimes democracy means choosing to hate the US and try to undermine their interests. Sometimes the people choose forms of government that we hate.

I am more sympathetic to Obama's conundrum than I was with Bush in Iraq. We need that Suez canal access, and that is huge to our national security interests. What that means for Egypt, I don't know. I do know that I believe that the military there is still in charge and will be after whatever happens there.

The rape thing here with Republicans is about the most repugnant thing I have seen from a very repugnant group. And Smitty, I don't think they will even shed a tear. This is going back to the days when rape victims are assumed to have asked for it by drinking too much or looking slutty.