My favorite responses to
Sarah Palin calling reporters like Vanity Fair writer Michael Gross “impotent” and “limp”
– the sexual insult is less subtext then plain old text – come from The Advocate and from GOProud’s chairman Chris Barron. The Advocate, keying off the fact that Gross is gay – which I didn’t know –
accuses Palin
of using “emasculating words that have long been used as euphemisms for homosexuality.” Barron scoffs:
It is The Advocate , not Sarah Palin, whois guilty of “gay-baiting.” I don’t think most people associate thewords “impotent,” “limp,” or “gutless” with being gay – I know Icertainly don’t. If the folks at The Advocate think thesewords are euphemisms for being gay or lesbian then I think that speaksvolumes about their own internalized homophobia.
Let’s take a step back and consider this: How often do we hear a politician make a comment that could be interpreted either as a dig at sexual prowess or at sexuality? Not often, right? But this comes 31 day after Palin analyzed the Obama response to illegal immigration as a lack of “cajones.” And back in May, Palin’s first reaction to Joe McGinniss renting the house next door* to her was a not-so-thinly viewed accusation that he wanted to peer in on her daughter Piper. I see a pattern here.
*McGinniss told me in May that he planned to leave after Labor Day, so I don’t think he’ll be there much longer.
