Where does a good Republican go when nasty liberals in the liberal media say nasty things about them? Why Fox News, of course - a place where Republican rehab is a finely crafted clinical specialty. This morning, the embattled Indiana government spoke with the Fox friends who provided a warm, loving platform for Mike Pence to say that he's really quite tolerant. (Ahem)
A fired up Elisabeth Hasselbeck described Pence as being in the "bulls eye of a storm of attack calling this law discriminatory." (Awww) She asked "is it." The response was predictable in that Pence denied that it's a problem and pushed the bogus right wing talking point that the law "mirrors" the federal RFRA. He described the law as just "a framework for counts to balance the various interests of citizens in a way that respects our strong and long standing commitment to the importance of religious liberty."
Clayton Morris asked Pence about the possibility of tweaking the law. Pence criticized "the left" and the "national media" for misrepresenting the law which, he asserted, "isn't a license to discriminate." Hasselbeck said "sure" when Pence lied about how this is similar to laws in 30 other states. The banner provided the official Fox take: "Standing Strong, Gov. Pence, the RFRA Does Not Discriminate." As Pence continued to deny that this is discriminatory, Steve Doocy said "sure."
Hasselbeck asked if he would support an anti-gay discrimination law. He didn't directly respond, but, rather, he said that if the legislature brings it up, "they can certainly have that debate." He continued to preach about "religious liberty" and how "Indiana is open for business." He did suggest that he would be open to "adjustments" on the law which, he again claimed, doesn't give permission for stores to discriminate. Doocy said "sure."
Doocy said that if you watch the news (read, evil librul media) it seems that Indiana is "under a firestorm." Never letting an opportunity to bash Al Sharpton go to waste, Doocy mentioned that Al Sharpton said described the law as racist. (Sharpton's statement is hot, hot, hot in the right wing hate-o-sphere) Doocy asked "what do you say to your critics who are misinterpreting your good intentions this way."
Pence responded by "reminding" critics of the original federal RFRA law signed by Bill Clinton - a bogus talking point in that the Indiana law is substantially different than the federal RFRA. He noted that Pres. Obama voted for a similar act when he was a state senator. But according to Politifact, the intent of the law which Obama supported is different from the Indiana law.
Pence, as an example of his tolerance, spoke about how he once walked, with John Lewis, across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. In droning on about how he "abhors" discrimination, he asserted that if he found out that a restaurant discriminated against gays, he wouldn't eat there anymore. He repeated his claim that the law isn't discriminatory and that "we'll clarify" and "fix" it. Doocy chirped, "I think that's exactly what people wanted to hear."
Forget soft-balls. This was wiffle ball. And in the middle of the Pence love-fest, the curvy couch cretins worked in a slam of Al Sharpton who, accurately, said that "the blatant use of religion has always been a tool of bigots" which, of course, runs counter to the Fox narrative that Christians would never do anything wrong. Nobody mentioned that one of guys standing behind Pence, for the signing statement photo, praised the bill for its ability to protect vendors who refuse to service gay weddings.
But hey, Republican Rehab doesn't need no stinking facts!
Addendum: Turns out that Pence might not "abhor" discrimination.
The law is simply about good intentions, huh? That’s rather hard to swallow when, as Priscilla pointed out, there’s a photo put out by Pence’s office that shows otherwise. Pence’s office put out the photo with no names of who was in it. However, a keen-eyed Twitter user noticed that Pence’s photo had 3 guys in it who are known anti-gay lobbyists. Merely a coincidence that they happen to there for the photo op?! Yeah, riiiight.
The man Priscilla spoke of is Eric Miller of Advance America whose main goal is to stop gays having equal rights in marriage and equates homosexuality with pedophilia. Its also been noted that one of the guys is Micah Clark (American Family Assoc. of Indiana) who is an advocate of making the gay go away through therapy. He has also stated that gays offer “no societal benefit”, that homosexuality is “destructive and dangerous” and he threw a public fit when a lesbian student wore a tuxedo to her high school prom. The 3rd anti-gay activist in the photo is Curt Smith (Indiana Family Institute) who equates homosexuality with beastiality/adultery among other things. Reports are that Smith had a hand in the actual writing of this law.
www.glaad.org/blog/one-simple-graphic-shows-anti-gay-animus-behind-indianas-new-law
Btw, that Twitter user noted who was in Pence’s photo on March 29 2:13pm. I noticed that The Advocate and GLAAD had picked it up by March 30 and, by then, it was going viral. Yet none of the 3 stooges on the curvy couch (who interviewed Pence on March 31) could be bothered to ask Pence that, if the law wasn’t meant to be anti-gay, why were there 3 anti-gay lobbyists standing right there behind him at the signing? I don’t beleive for a moment that FOX “news” and F&F weren’t aware of the photo and who was in it. They chose to ignore it because THAT question would have put Pence in an awkward spot and outed some of the anti-gay “animus” behind the law.
Pence is an idiot, and the GOP clowns will lose the presidential election, again.
He had “good intentions” in being discriminatory?
I’m sure the KKK had good intentions during their lynching campaigns, too . . .
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