I am the father of two sons who have served in the U.S. Army. Both were honorably discharged. One served with distinction in Iraq and Afghanistan. One was discharged after a medical condition was discovered following his enlistment.
By coincidence, they were both born on Dec. 19, but they are not twins. One DOES have a twin brother, who did not serve in the military.
One lives with his wife and two daughters in Kentucky. One lives with his same-sex partner in Tennessee.
One is a talented rock guitarist. The other enjoys going off on weekends to play medieval role playing games with his twin brother. Neither of them likes show tunes, "Project Runway" or cooking. Both resist picking up after themselves at home but are meticulous in their work habits.
Tell me which one is gay. Tell me which one is straight. Then tell me why either of their sexual orientations matters.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
A Teabagger's (Temporary) Victory
The big news in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where all public officials have to swear that they will not EVER participate in a duel, is the nomination of Teabagger Rand Paul as the nominee of the Republicans, also known as The Party of No, for the U.S. senate seat currently occupied by the old loon, Jim Bunning.
Mr. Paul is an American ophthalmologist and politician. He is the third child of Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Paul is the chairman and founder of Kentucky Taxpayers United.
When it became apparent that Senator Bunning was not re-electable in 2010, an effort to draft a replacement candidate was initiated. The other senator from Kentucky, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch "Winning Is the Only Thing That Matters" McConnell, started searching around for a replacement candidate and landed on the Kentucky Secretary of State, a conservative GOP party-liner named Trey Grayson. However, Mr. McConnell did not anticipate the activism of the Tea Party, or Teabagger (as smartasses such as I like to refer to them), movement, which drafted Rand Paul as their standard bearer.
Paul's getting the Party of No's nomination for the Bunnell seat undoubtedly is a rebuke to the McConnell Machine and could be an indicator of what will happen when McConnell considers his re-election options a few years down the road. It's clear that the spotlight is on Teabag candidates these days and that the Republican party is increasingly being taken over by its loudest voice on the most radical and extreme right. The fact that Paul, who was not nationally known before this campaign, could so easily trounce the establishment candidate Grayson, who had the Senate Majority Leader's backing, is a sign that The Party of No is changing.
And so, let's give the Teabaggers their day in the sun, a little bit of acknowledgment for a well-run PRIMARY campaign.
But as an old folk song goes, lie down, Betty, see what tomorrow brings.
The other side of this week's primary election in Kentucky is that unofficial tallies (based on 99.2 percent of precincts reporting) show that 513,659 votes were cast in the DEMOCRATIC primary. Compare that to 348,680 votes cast in the Republican primary. Now, using my home calculator, that means approximately 68 percent of votes cast in the primary election were in the Democratic primary.
That means registered Democrats in Kentucky outnumber their Republican counterparts by more than 2-1. In other words, Rand Paul and the teabaggers better crow now, because the odds are against them crowing in November.
I predict that Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, the man who won the Democrats' nod to succeed Jim Bunning as Kentucky's junior senator will win in November. The teabag movement has a modest intra-party success with Rand Paul. But the teabaggers are a long way away from a general election win.
Mr. Paul is an American ophthalmologist and politician. He is the third child of Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Paul is the chairman and founder of Kentucky Taxpayers United.
When it became apparent that Senator Bunning was not re-electable in 2010, an effort to draft a replacement candidate was initiated. The other senator from Kentucky, the Senate Majority Leader Mitch "Winning Is the Only Thing That Matters" McConnell, started searching around for a replacement candidate and landed on the Kentucky Secretary of State, a conservative GOP party-liner named Trey Grayson. However, Mr. McConnell did not anticipate the activism of the Tea Party, or Teabagger (as smartasses such as I like to refer to them), movement, which drafted Rand Paul as their standard bearer.
Paul's getting the Party of No's nomination for the Bunnell seat undoubtedly is a rebuke to the McConnell Machine and could be an indicator of what will happen when McConnell considers his re-election options a few years down the road. It's clear that the spotlight is on Teabag candidates these days and that the Republican party is increasingly being taken over by its loudest voice on the most radical and extreme right. The fact that Paul, who was not nationally known before this campaign, could so easily trounce the establishment candidate Grayson, who had the Senate Majority Leader's backing, is a sign that The Party of No is changing.
And so, let's give the Teabaggers their day in the sun, a little bit of acknowledgment for a well-run PRIMARY campaign.
But as an old folk song goes, lie down, Betty, see what tomorrow brings.
The other side of this week's primary election in Kentucky is that unofficial tallies (based on 99.2 percent of precincts reporting) show that 513,659 votes were cast in the DEMOCRATIC primary. Compare that to 348,680 votes cast in the Republican primary. Now, using my home calculator, that means approximately 68 percent of votes cast in the primary election were in the Democratic primary.
That means registered Democrats in Kentucky outnumber their Republican counterparts by more than 2-1. In other words, Rand Paul and the teabaggers better crow now, because the odds are against them crowing in November.
I predict that Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, the man who won the Democrats' nod to succeed Jim Bunning as Kentucky's junior senator will win in November. The teabag movement has a modest intra-party success with Rand Paul. But the teabaggers are a long way away from a general election win.
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