"Home fucking run."
According to http://www.Politico.com, that's how Rush Limbaugh summed up the response from his listeners to John McCain's pick for vice president, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Steve Duprey, a former New Hampshire GOP chairman was in Minnesota flanked by Republicans when the announcement came. "There were 10 or 12 women, party stalwarts, in tears, using napkins and handkerchiefs," he said.
Using "napkins and handkerchiefs"? Yes, because Palin's speech caused them to all start spontaneously menstruating.
OK, that's not true. They were crying. Conservative tears of joy down the right sides of their faces.
"There is an electricity going through the social conservative crowd right now; it's unbelievable," said James Muffett of Michigan's Citizens for Traditional Values.
Ralph Reed said, "I don't know if I've ever seen a veep pick energize the grass roots like this."
And Judicial Confirmation Network head Gary Marx, told Politico, "I can tell you that this pick tells millions in the base of the party that they can trust McCain. More specifically that they can trust him with Supreme Court picks and other key appointments."
Hmm… Rush Limbaugh, Ralph Reed, Michigan's Citizens for Traditional Values, and folks who want more right-wingers on the bench are all going gaga over Palin. This can't be good news for gays.
The trouble is, Palin doesn't have much of a record to go by when it comes to gay rights. This is, after all, a woman who still lists her PTA experience on her political resume, so unless she once called someone a queer at a PTA meeting, we don't have much to go by.
But wait, didn't Palin actually veto a bill in 2006 that would have banned domestic partner benefits for Alaska state workers?
Why yes, she did. But it wasn't out of any great love for gays. The bill was passed by Alaska's Legislature in a response to a state Supreme Court ruling that same-sex partners of government employees had to be given benefits. Even though Palin didn't agree with the ruling, she vetoed the bill because the attorney general warned her it was unconstitutional. "Signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office," Palin said in a statement.
According to Allison E. Mendel, the attorney who brought the domestic benefits case that resulted in the 2006 ruling, "She spoke on radio programs all throughout the campaign saying, 'I want a constitutional amendment, I think these things are only for a man and a woman.' … I don't think she's ever said a friendly word about gay people, that they ought to have health benefits like other people do or anything along those lines."
Palin is on record as being against equal marriage rights for same-sex couples and said she supported the anti-gay marriage amendment that passed in Alaska back in 1998.
What Palin does have going for her is the assertion that she has gay friends. Which means she can't possibly be anti-gay, just like any white person who says they have black friends can't possibly be racist.
