That ain't just a chicken sandwich in your hand, gentle reader; it's the soul of America. At least according to Fox News and the Fox Nation, who have been all over the Chick-Fil-A boycott story since it broke. Here is a sample of the posts that the Fox Nation has put up on the subject in the past few days.
Todd Starnes Outrage #1,573,638: "Anti-Christian, Anti-Chicken Heterophobic Bigots". (That’s a literal quote, I couldn’t make that up. Anti-Chicken? Heterophobic? Oh wow!) He isn't outraged about the success of Chick-Fil-A Appreciation day on Wednesday. "I SUSPECT THAT THE PUBLIC FLOGGING OF CHICK-FIL-A HAS AWAKENED A SLEEPING GIANT:" he posted. "EVANGELICAL, PRO-FAMILY, PATRIOTIC AMERICANS – WHO ARE RISING UP TO SAY ENOUGH."
He's still outraged, though, about the “scathing attacks” on Chick-Fil-A by the mainstream media - when they're not simply ignoring the story. What kind of scathing attacks? One example was an “On Faith” column by Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn entitled “Don’t Boycott. Infiltrate.” “Make the restaurants gay hangouts of the community,” she wrote. “Gays and lesbians could start applying for jobs at Chick-fil-A. Get in there. Become managers, take over the places.” Another was an MSNBC segment with Jonathan Capehart urging protesters to “Find out who is affiliated with Chick-fil-A in any way and put pressure on those folks,” (particularly with regard to Chick-Fil-A’s foundation which he says lobbies for social conservative causes.) The Right Scoop site gives the segment the oh-horrors heading "advice on how to bully Chick-Fil-A into submission"). It’s no surprise that members of the national media are siding with opponents of Chick-fil-A, Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center told Fox News.“They are 99 percent pro-gay agenda..These are the people that populate the media universe.”
Crying All the Way To the Bank. Since the moral right came out by the thousands on Wednesday, to show their love of God by scarfing artery-clogging chicken and waffle fries, Chick-Fil-A enjoyed record-setting sales. “We are very grateful and humbled by the incredible turnout of loyal Chick-fil-A customers on August 1 at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country," it said in a statement. And knowing that another demonstration might not be altogether bad for business, it added: "We understand from news reports that Friday may present yet another opportunity for us to serve with genuine hospitality, superior service and great food.” (That’s not bad…)
See Rush Gush. Rush Limbaugh trumpeted August 1 as a “profound day in history” and the start of a Major Movement. “Can you imagine if every one of you who went to Chick-fil-A started working grassroots-wise with the Tea Party for Romney and for Republican candidates… and did so in a visual way? Can you imagine what would happen?” And in another thread: “There is an explosion waiting to happen in this country. People are fed up, and this is a sign. I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen on November 6th. Obama’s gonna get Chick-fil-A’d himself.”
A Liberal "Epic Meltdown". And now for something completely different. The Nation also posted a radio clip featuring liberal shock jock Mike Malloy in prime rant mode. “Give me a chicken sandwich in the name of Jesus! Give me a chicken sandwich to stop the queers! Give me a chicken sandwich uh to let the world know I think - I'm having a heart attack - give me a chicken sandwich because queers shouldn't get married! Give me some waffle fries! Give me one of them peach milkshakes! AMEN!”
Finally, Happy Kiss-in Day. Today is the day of the counter-protest by the gay community and supporters. Redstate.com says cynically: “If you think this is to demonstrate a widespread level of support for gay marriage, you’re wrong. The purpose is to bait someone on the right into doing something stupid. The left would like nothing more than to capture on camera someone:
- yelling at a gay couple
- assaulting (shoving, hitting, etc…) a gay couple
- telling a gay couple to “go to hell” or using other obscene language" ...and other similar photographable nastinesses.
Are they right? We shall see. Meanwhile It’s lunchtime, gentle reader, and since I'm an anti-chicken heterophobe, I guess I'd better have a ham sandwich. Cheers.