Bloggers aren’t sure what to make of the election of new House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. They also wonder when the United States will catch up with South Africa in allowing gay marriage and lash out at news that O.J. Simpson will be explaining how he “could have” killed his ex-wife.
Sorry, Pelosi: Today, House Democrats elected Maryland’s Steny Hoyer over the Nancy Pelosi-endorsed John Murtha. This is an early defeat for Pelosi, and some observers suggest that the Democrats are tripping out of the gate after their big win last week.
D.C. gossipmonger Wonkette was underwhelmed: “Nancy Pelosi was unanimously voted Speaker of the House (congrats, crazy hippie!), and Steny ‘Slightly Less Corrupt’ Hoyer was elected Majority Leader, beating out John ‘Bribe Me Later’ Murtha. The vote in the Majority Leader race: 149-86. … [E]xpect to see ‘Dems Divided: Speaker Pelosi’s Leadership Ability Questioned’ pieces in your major papers by sundown.”
Indeed, Republicans cheered the move as an insult to Speaker Pelosi. Says Texan righty Mr Minority, “The best thing is that Pelosi put her reputation on this vote by backing Muthra, and got dissed by her own party. Oh, well the Donks will make up for this opportunity to show their radical moonbatiness.”
David Kurtz at Joshua Micah Marshall’s Talking Points Memo reminded readers to not look so surprised. “The final tally was not far off from predictions,” writes Hurtz. “Hoyer had long been the favorite. Until Pelosi’s active involvement on behalf of Murtha this week, there wasn’t much doubt about the outcome.”
At the conservative Say Anything, commenter Bat One isn’t surprised. “Hoyer is far more liberal an individual than Murtha, and it is certainly fair to point out that the upper echelons of the Democrat Party, Dean, Pelosi, and now Hoyer, are firmly in the hands of the far left Progressive wing of the party. The Democrats ARE the party of the far left, and have no believable claim on the political center. Sure didn’t take long, did it?”
African pride: On Tuesday, South Africa became Africa’s first country, and the world’s fifth, to allow gay marriage. The ruling complies with South Africa’s constitution, which was the first in the world to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Commenting at Truthdig’s progressive Ear to the Ground, Derek expressed hope that “[m]aybe this will help lessen the EXTREME anti-gay sentiment throughout Africa. … It’s embarrassing that South Africa a struggling nation had the guts to pass a marraige bill for gay people while the US has not. The US wasn’t the first nation to free slaves or the first to give women voting rights so I think the US will turn around someday.”
Writing at Ex-Gay Watch, which focuses on issues related to church efforts to reform gays, Timothy Kincaid looks to the future. “Most of Europe and several large cities, states, and provinces in Latin America, Australia and the United States have some form of recognition for same-sex couples,” writes Kincaid, who is gay, Christian, and Republican. “But this is the first such action on the African continent. If Taiwan goes as expected, there will be recognition for same-sex couples soon in Asia. Israel has been moving in the direction of limited recognition in the middle east. At some point our very divided country will need to decide whether to take the counsel of the ex-gays and anti-gays and allign itself on this issue with the dictators, islamacists, and remaining communist countries, or whether it wishes to join the other free democracies of the world.”
Proceed at Your Own Risk’s gay, Jewish New Yorker proposes that South Africa’s legacy of apartheid has given its people valuable perspective. “South Africans of all backgrounds, a people who turned bigotry into an art form, easily recognize that bigotry is bigotry regardless of the target,” he writes. “At one time we imposed serious sanctions against South Africa for its official bigorty; at some point will they turn around and do the same to us?”
Read more about gay marriage in South Africa.
If the glove fits: O.J. Simpson announced yesterday that he will do an interview on Fox News, explaining how he would have killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, if he had killed her, which he has denied for more than a decade. The interview is part of the publicity for his bookIf I Did It, to be published in time for the holiday season by the conservative and sensational HarperCollins imprint ReganBooks.
No one likes the smell of the Juice’s deal with ReganBooks and Fox. “It is hard to imagine anyone more despicable right now except for maybe Charles Manson,” writes Little Miss Chatterbox, a conservative Christian and mother, at The Chatterbox Chronicles.
Ms. Lori at One Whipped Mother knows that she’ll end up watching the interview, but she’s not happy about it, as she explains in an open letter to O.J., whom she addresses as “Satan.” “I will watch your interview, because I need to, to appease my own sense of righteousness. … I need to sit in front of the tube while you arrogantly flaunt your evil deeds, swagger and strut and validate what I and everyone else possessed of basic intellect have known for twelve years now: That you are a murdering, psychopathic, soulless demon from the lowest depths. I need to see this, just because.”
Read more about O.J.’s media deal. Slate explains why O.J. probably won’t go to jail, even if this is a confession.
