I think this highlights one of the disadvantages of party politics. When a person says "I am a Republican/Conservative" or "I am a Democrat/Liberal", it labels that person with a whole list of expected opinions. We expect somebody who is pro-choice on abortion to be in favour of gay marriage. We expect somebody who is against gay marriage to be in favour of tax cuts. That's why a gay Republican seems such an odd specimen - we expect them to be against themselves.

But we should remember that the political spectrum is just that and simplistic binary thinking does a disservice to the complexity of people's real opinions.

Some Leftists got so fed up with people expecting them to think a certain way that they set out just what they did believe in the Euston Manifesto. I read it and broadly agreed with it, and so decided to support it. But if I ever disagree with anything that particular movement says or does, I will not slavishly toe the party line.

Very inspiring words from Barney Frank! I’m sure he’s had a lot of practice with that retort but I agreed with every word, never the less. And, as usual, all the Republican has is demagoguery. It’s the same old medicine show. Try and scare everyone into agreeing with you by stating the worst-case scenario.

CM,

So true, though your words would have more of an effect during a lull; in the hype of Foley, people tend to set aside the idea of taking a breather in lieu of scoring as many cheap shots as possible. Hell, if you think party identification is bad in the US, look at Canada's politics on TV; it's absolutely hilarious, the latest scandal entails Conservative MP Peter "sleeping with Rice?" McKay who called his former girlfriend, Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, a dog ... oooh, the whole country needs to know.

Damn this was funny and interesting. I almost feel for the Republican. Almost.

Stuck twixt a rock and a hard place, between Maher and a Democrat that actually gets it. Stuck twixt his own bulshit line and objective reality.

Great stuff.

Did Jason Alexander say anything during that segment?

Did Jason Alexander say anything during that segment?

He said maybe three or four things the entire show. Almost the entire thing was between Franks, the idiot talking head Club for Growth guy, and Bill Maher. Though he did make one very good point near the end of the show that I can't recall exactly what the topic was.

Franks did terrific this entire show.

Oh, yeah, and the most annoying thing of this show was seeing this idiot talking head endlessly laugh as his points were eroded completely -- every single time -- and he just continued forward, on message. "Everything I've said is complete crap and meaningless? Bwahahahahahahahaha hahahahh ahahahaha! But seriously it's all true...."

Mind numbing.

chris murphy, in this case being gay is not simply "one of the issues", its a defining issue. how can you vote for someone who thinks you belong in jail/dead/hell? how can you vote for someone who doesnt feel you are a real, full person (and so should not get all the priveleges of a real person, like marriage and adoption)?

this really is not a case of demanding all republicans to have the same view on all issues.

Well, that was my point, I think. You can believe some of the same things that Republicans are 'supposed' to believe but not others. And there's the flaw in the system. You are forced to vote for the party which has the "best fit" to your actual set of beliefs. And nobody can deny that there are gay Republicans out there. They must have decided that the Republican party, on balance, reflects their beliefs better than any of the others. Gay Republicans have decided that their sexuality isn't the most important thing in their life.