Conservatives And Media Criticize GOP Candidates For Not Condemning Audience Boos Of Gay Soldier

[jefferson_dem]

Conservatives And Media Criticize GOP Candidates For Not Condemning Audience Boos Of Gay Soldier
By Zack Ford on Sep 23, 2011 at 11:06 am



Last night, Stephen Hill, who is serving in the Army in Iraq, had the courage to come out as gay to a national audience and ask the Republican presidential candidates about how they’d handle troops like him. The audience responded to his question with boos, and Rick Santorum said he’s reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (a promise he doubled down on later in the evening).

The big question today, even among conservatives, is: Why did none of the candidates stand up for the soldier? Here are some of today’s reactions to the offensive moment:

- Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer: “Booing a soldier serving our nation is uncalled for. If I were on stage, I would make that point.”

- The Hill’s Ballot Box: “None of the Republican candidates responded to the audience’s reaction.”

- CBS News: “Some audience members audibly booed the soldier — a moment the GOP candidates on stage chose to ignore.”

- The New Yorker: “His reply was breathtakingly bad: he talked about dangerous social experiments and what a mistake the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell had been; he didn’t even thank Hill, in a rote way, for his service. But none of the candidates did, and any one of them could have.”

<SNIP>

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/09/23/327215/how-not-to-respond-when-a-gay-soldier-is-booed-do-nothing/

[joeybee12]

1. Yup, every one on that stage is pig...knr

[cbayer]

2. K & R - this was utterly disgusting.

[WI_DEM]

3. booing a gay soldier, cheering for the death penalty--this is the GOP of today

You'd think one of those asshats on stage would have had the decency to reprimand those who booed. But those are the kinds of people they are appealing to.

[jefferson_dem]

4. ...and also cheering sick people without insurance ... dying.

That party has deginerated into sub-human scum.

[Old and In the Way]

5. I'm thinking that these debates will soon be without audience participation.

As bad as the candidates are, their audiences are making independents/moderate Republicans ask themselves...d"do I really want to be associated with these people?"

And Santorum's comment was that no one in the military should have sex. I guess he wants an Army of volunteer monks to be fighting our wars. What a buffoon.

[bullwinkle428]

10. At the very least (if Fox is showing it), they'll manipulate the audio

through the 7-second delay to make sure that kind of audience reaction doesn't get broadcast.

[Cosmocat]

16. Are you kidding ...

Faux would cut in the crowd reaction from a game winning touchdown at a 80,000 seat football stadium to something like that ...

[Arugula Latte]

6. I hope Stephen Hill doesn't vote for one of these creeps.

[jberryhill]

7. No, none of them could have thanked him for his service to the country

They don't want him serving the country.

[lsewpershad]

8. And to think

there will still be some who would vote these pigs.

[bullwinkle428]

9. Has the bagger party reached its tipping point, kind of like

the Bush administration did with Terri Schiavo?

[Ter]

11. Bush spoke out, but didn't do anything to stop it

The right (and even a few of us on the left) wanted him to do more, the same way a few are saying Obama should have somehow did something with Troy Davis.

[treestar]

12. They actually did that?

The candidates should have said something. Like with the let him die and execution applause. They show they are pandering to the lowest of the low by letting it go.

[Bake]

13. Not ONE of them had the spine or the integrity to challenge "the base."

And they claim they can LEAD the United States???

God, I hope not!

Bake

[DianaForRussFeingold]

14. Exactly...

No one can lead by dishonoring their own citizens...

[mwb970]

15. What filth these teabaggers are.

Truly the dregs of American society, the very worst we have to offer. So, let's put them in charge!

[polichick]

17. You reap what you sow. Republican acceptance of disgusting behaviors...

...and disgusting personalities is finally catching up to them.

[msedano]

18. the soldier in the shower

by the absence of decency, these repiglicans illustrate the gulf between repiglicans and decent people. i wonder what santorum would've done if he'd gone through basic training with me?

The Soldier in the Shower

The first day of the rest of our lives, the Drill Sergeant puts us through hard, punishing hours of running, push-ups, crawling in mud, sand, more push-ups, more double time, and more push-ups. Day One of Basic Combat Training at Ft. Ord, 1969.

The second floor platoon bay echoes with cries from pained to outraged. I look forward to a long, hot shower. But by the time I get to the latrine, all ten shower heads are occupied. I walk to the far end and let the spray from the others bathe me. I feel the sweat and grit begin to wash away.

“Oh, god, look, he’s got a boner!” I turn to see, and sure enough, the guy two showers over has an erection.

“Hey, come on, guys, I’m not excited, it always looks like that!”

Quickly, the shower room empties. Some mutter ugly threats, others just rinse off and hurry out of the shower. I step under the hot water of a newly vacated shower and make eye contact with the naked guy whose dick stands straight out. “Oh, no, you’re not excited,” I laugh at him, then ask, “What’s your name?” He tells me. “Good to meet you, name,” I say.

He stands two shower heads away so we do not shake hands. “You’re not afraid?” he asks me.

“Not me, why should I be?”

“Look, I don’t have a hard-on, my thing just points this way.”

“Whatever,” I reply. “Where you from?” Turns out the boy has dropped out of junior college after having trouble in the academic courses. He is a musician--trumpet--and wants to finish Basic Training and get into an Army band. “You’re a musician, eh? Here’s one for you…” and I give my best baritone rendition of a song, “Give me some men who are stout-hearted men and I’ll soon give you ten thousand more…”

“No, no, that’s two different verses.” And he sings the lyric correctly, at full voice. After this we do (loudly) some Gilbert & Sullivan (I am the captain of the queen’s navie…), the Indian Love Song (I am calling youuuuuu…). He knows all the words, I know the first lines of most of them. The grand finale is “You’re in the Army now, you’re not behind a plow, you’re digging a ditch, you son of bitch, you’re in the Army now.”

Thereafter, when he comes into the shower, the other guys all rinse off and leave. Eventually we form a trio, me, him, and another “don’t ask don’t tell” GI of that day.

We have the gang shower all to ourselves. We get uncrowded showers to wash the Army off our bodies and our M-14 rifles (best way to get your weapon inspection clean), singing old standards and military marching songs.

Them, their hearts were young and gay. Me, I was a little older but still young.


mvs