George W. Bush
On Jan. 31, 2006 President George W. Bush gave his annual State of the Union address, the results of which were pretty much what you'd expect if you had a grade-schooler fill out his own report card.
According to Bush, the state of the Union rocks. There is nothing to fear. Well, nothing that Bush and Co. won't protect us from anyway.
In his speech he mentioned many things on his list of Scary Things Bush Will Save America From including: terror (not the feeling, but the threat), economic decline, human cloning, the oil monkey on our backs, tyrannies, dictatorships, lobbyist scandals and gay marriage.
Does anyone else hear that little song from Sesame Street? "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong…"
Iran is going nuclear and Bush is rolling out the old gay marriage threat? Are you serious? Maybe it's all this fuss over "Brokeback Mountain." I'd hoped he wouldn't go there. But not only did he go there, he tried to link the recent lobbyist scandals in Washington with gay and lesbian couples wanting legal protection for their families.
"Many Americans, especially parents, still have deep concerns about the direction of our culture, and the health of our most basic institutions," Bush said. "They are concerned about unethical conduct by public officials, and discouraged by activist courts that try to redefine marriage."
As if Jack Abramoff shoving cash down the front of Tom Delay's pants to "encourage" Delay's vote on legislation impacting Abramoff's clients is on the same level as Jim and Bill or Sue and Linda wanting to tie the knot and make a go at a life together.
"The President outlined many challenges facing this country that are of concern to the American people but unfortunately felt the need to throw his base an unnecessary and divisive crumb," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "Trying to draw comparisons between the reprehensible acts of unethical politicians with fair and independent judges is both ridiculous and wrong."
Eric Stern, National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director said, "An ethical President would sharpen his focus on winning the War on Terror, reigning in the nuclear capacity of Iran and North Korea that has been allowed to expand during President Bush's tenure, and addressing real problems that face our nation at home. Urging Congress to devote time and federal funds to promote the initiatives of anti-gay lobbyists undermines and distracts resources from defeating terrorism and achieving a secure state for our Union."
Ah yes, an ethical President. Sadly, we don't have one of those.
According to NSD, anti-gay activists had lobbied the White House to include an anti-gay shout-out in the address. Immediately afterwards, anti-gay groups like the Family Research Council took credit for it.
Scariest of all, this isn't his last address. He's got two more years with us. Judging from the fiasco that was "Bush Administration 2005" (coming soon to DVD), gays are going to be kept within easy reach so Bush has something juicy each time he needs to distract the country from what's really going on.
