Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

My adoring public has apparently noticed that I haven’t been posting much. I did warn y’all that this might happen.

Of course, you are all over me, but Mr. T goes unscathed despite the rampant sloth he has demonstrated on his blog. I would like to point out in my defense that my other blog has been updated. Yes, it isn’t politics, but by not going over there, you are missing my witty and brilliant prose directed at such topics as the World Cup, local music and Tucson Roller Derby.

I suppose I have an awful lot to catch up on. For example, I’ve let Espresso Pundit slip with a few without responding. How the heck did I let that happen?

Last Friday (yeah, days and days ago) he wrote a bit about what he feels were intemperate comments made by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema at the Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas. Apparently, she complained about serving with “overweight white men.” Overweight white men all over the country are deeply wounded by this statement.

This has been part of an ongoing conservative “meme” over the last couple of weeks since folks in the mainstream media finally decided to call out Ann Coulter on her hateful statements against anyone that doesn’t share her politcs. The idea, I suppose, is to dig around for statements that a liberal made that are as offensive as what Coulter says on a daily basis. Of course, Sinema isn’t being invited on “mainstream” talk shows so she can say such things, and it was probably an out of context joke. Even assuming that what Sinema said was deeply offensive, it is hard to understand how isolated statements from a few liberals here and there justify Coulter’s statements insulting 9-11 widows, calling for the killing of Rep. Jack Murtha and advocating the forced conversion of non-Christians.

I’m not sure why white men need protection all of a sudden. European males have had a pretty unchallenged place on the top of the world’s political heap since a Hapsburg fleet defeated the Turks back in 1571. One of the beefs I have with conservatives is that some have this tendency to sell any gain by blacks, hispanics, women or whoever as some sort of loss for white men, or even worse, an assault on them. Looking at the full context of Sinema’s statement, at least as quoted by the American Spectator (The American Spectator complaining about intemperate and intolerant statements is a case study in “glass houses”), it seems like her main point is that it would be nice if the legislature were more reflective of the ethnic diversity of the state. I may have worded it differently, but I don’t find this concept racist or intollerant.

Espresso pundit brings up the case of Kyle Hindman, a representative who used the word “wetback.” I don’t know about this particular case, but I do know that the use of that word has a connotation that Hispanics, legal, illegal or born here, are some how outsiders who don’t belong here. The fact that a man who made public policy held these views is a problem. Sinema called men who were overweight and white “overweight white men.” Not exactly the same, is it?

I think that Sinema’s statement was out of context. I mean, she doesn’t dislike all of the overweight white men she serves with, only the incredibly mature ones who use the House TV cameras to check her out.

NB - Interestingly, if you click on the link above, you find that the Hapsburgs have their own web page. Who knew?