After watching most of the Visible Vote 08: A Presidential Forum on Logo last night, I have now chosen my candidate: Dennis Kucinich. I don't care that some say he looks like "a cross between a hobbit and mole" and that he's "soooo left that he’ll never get nominated." He is indeed "idealistic and amazing," which is more than I can say for the other candidates, aside from Mike Gravel. They had the gall to show up to the LGBT forum, tried to convince the room that civil unions were just as good as straight marriages, and then got defensive when the queer moderators challenged their bigoted beliefs. Senator Obama had the nerve to bring up his miscegenating parents as proof of his understanding of fighting for equality, then got all mad when Jonathan Capehart from the Washington Post asked him, "how can you run as a candidate of change when your stance is decidedly old-school?" I haven't watched the Hillary part yet, so I can't comment on her.
So far, here is my second favorite part of the forum, 18 minutes of love and hope:
Kucinich at HRC Logo Dem Forum
Did you hear what he had to say about health care? Yep, that's right. Coverage for all.
My first favorite part of the Logo special? The gratuitous shots of NPH in the audience. This week I've been watching Season One of Doogie Howser, M.D., courtesy of N.S.B. If I had watched the show when in first came out in 1989, I would have been so in love with Neil Patrick Harris. The only thing stopping me from watching his latest series, How I Met Your Mother, is . . . the rest of the show. I don't need anymore white male focused heteronormative fantasy shoved down my throat. Hence, I will not be seeing Superbad (shocker!) no matter how much Dustin and Dan will probably love it and anything else Apatow pulls out of his tuchis, and no matter how cute Michael Cera totally is.
I did like NPH in Stark Raving Mad, though. What, you don't remember that NBC show with the former child star all grown up and doing something wacky? With his lookalike brothers?
Friday, August 10, 2007
Separate But Equal
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5 comments:
I'm so f-ing sick of how Kucinich is already being marginalized based on his un-manly appearance. I even heard one reporter--who was a Kucinich supporter!--referring to K. as "strident"--one of those loaded, gender-specific words usually used only for women. You know, only women are strident; the male equivalent is "commanding." I think it's so shitty that even K's supporters can't seem to help themselves; they just unconsciously fall into that practice of using subtle language cues to rob people of their power and their credibility. Because K isn't a big manly charmer dude, he's being stripped of his authority and his viability as a candidate that people will get behind.
(And don't even get me started on Howard Dean, who was properly manly and charismatic, so what did everyone--including Dems and lefties--take him down on? His yell. What the fuck??? What kind of people and culture are we that we do shit like that?)
Just watched the video. What he says about health care is great (and I want to hear his plan for universal health care, and I want to know why he says we're paying for u.h.c. and just aren't getting it--that's very intriguing). But I was a little annoyed by his overly romantic answer to the question about why he supports gay marriage. It's nice that he believes love is the highest power, and he's right about that; but I got annoyed by that in the same way I get annoyed when people get bogged down in arguments about whether or not abortion is murder. I think people should focus on the practical view of these issues. Re: abortion, it's going to happen whether people like it or not, so it has to be kept safe, legal and accessible. Re: gay marriage and other equal rights issues, everyone has to support them because we all have to accept that "equality for all" means "equality for all," not equality with certain restrictions and contingencies. It's very simple, and I wish Kucinich had focused a little more on that part of the issue.
Aw, but How I Met Your Mother is so good! In these dire times when network television comedy is such a vast wasteland, we must cling to the ones with wit and originality like a life raft, even if they ostensibly resemble things we dislike at first glance. ;)
Notice how I have an opinion on your disdain for HIMYM but none for the more interesting, substantial portion of this post on politics. That's just how I roll.
stephanie, that was Jane Lynch. I noticed her, too. She also does PSA-type commercials for Logo.
catherine raises some good points. Talking about the practicality of issues makes sense, instead of arguing about how things make people feel. For instance, war makes me feel ill. But for someone reason, I am seen by some as an idiotic pacifist because I don't approve of murdering people and destroying societies. However, I should make the argument that war causes many problems and solves nothing, because that sentiment is more practical, and also true.
carrie, I do see how you roll. :) However, I am clinging to My Boys and Rick and Steve, because those shows are clever, and not a rip-off of Friends masquerading as an innovative non-linear concept program for the youths.
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