The Green[e]house Effect: a Weblog

Flunking the Straight Face Test

I have to crank the outrage quotient on the blog up to eleven tonight, so some readers — hi, Jessica Harbour! — may need to surf elsewhere until the waters settle. Sorry 'bout that, but sometimes the truth has to be told, even when it makes people wince.

Tonight on Eat Your Vegetables [who deserve best wishes on the new baby wee tomato, by the way], I came across a statement from Bush's propagandist-in-chief. It — how to put this? — would insult cattle everywhere to call his words a steaming pile of bulls---. Read for yourselves, as he — to give context — explains the president's concern about gay marriage:

The president has always said it's important to treat all people with dignity and respect. But this is an issue of principle. This is an issue that he feels very strongly about.

Say what?!

Giving Bush credit for a record of treating people with dignity and respect makes no more sense than looking for a role model on chastity and setlling on a staff member at the Mustang Ranch. He means to tell us that Bush, who

• blocked thousands of Americans from leaving the National Guard, but made a flip comment about quitting the service himself when he "was going to Harvard Business School and worked it out with the military";
• who promised to leave no child behind, then shortchanged his education plan by $7 billion;
• who picked the anniversary of the murder of Matthew Shepard to celebrate Marriage Protection Week, and picked the week of Martin Luther King's birthday to announce a legal assault on efforts to ensure a degree of fairness in college admissions;

treats all people with dignity and respect?

What codswallop. What a load of nonsense. What transparent bulls---. Lord knows this White House dishes it out all the time, but I've had just about enough.

Posted by Greg Greene at February 19, 2004 10:46 PM