Which would be more surprising?
A) Any of the candidates for the GOP presidential nomination coming out in favor of taxing millionaires?
B) President Obama supporting a woman’s right to choose?
If you guessed “B,” stop reading this blog and go back to bed. Maybe Laura should go back to sleep, too.
In a recent blog post, she took Obama to task for supporting a position that he has had all of his political life: a woman’s right to choose. Uncovering Obama’s position on abortion took a lot of sly detective work on her part.
The “revelation” in her post is that Obama and many of his supporters believe that there are environmental and economic reasons to be pro-choice. Why is that any more unsavory than hearing the far-right claim that taxing the rich is “unfair” economically?
The “most listened-to woman political radio show host(ess)” evidently needed some filler for her blog. We’re happy to do our part and share her hard work with our more politically moderate audience.
Laura’s most recent book is
Is WRKO-AM talker Howie Carr angling for a job in a Romney Administration?
As Newt Gingrich began rising in the polls a few weeks ago, Carr created his own online poll. Although most of his listeners — blue-collar, tea party types — picked Gingrich by a two-to-one margin, Carr himself made it clear that his support for the former Massachusetts governor was not wavering.
Citing Newt’s “baggage,” especially his $1.6 million in fees for providing “strategic advice” to Freddie Mac, Carr claims that Romney is most electable, though actually getting the GOP nomination first is problematic. The notion that Romney might offer Carr a communications job in the White House was not mentioned, of course, though people who know Carr say that the conservative talk show host would relish the chance to inflict his vengeance against his enemies in the media. (Can you say “Don Imus” or “Mike Barnicle“?)
Carr has been grooming himself for a more visible role with the candidate. He recently had liposuction, hip replacement, and a new hairline. He is truly Boston’s Million Dollar Man.
For those who are not familiar with Carr, he achieved some national notoriety for his biographies about the Boston underworld, specifically Whitey Bulger () and Johnny Martorano (
Because WRKO’s signal reaches a large part of New Hampshire, Carr’s political leanings are relevant, if not sometimes inarticulate.
My friend, Rake Morgan, has come up with a somewhat different slant on the supposedly “gay friendly” sitcom, Modern Family. The suicide of Rutgers student, Tyler Clementi, got him thinking. . .
Like much of the country, I am stunned and saddened by the death of Rutgers student, Tyler Clementi. This is the young man who committed suicide after his roommate and another student streamed a live Internet broadcast of him and another man in a sexual situation.
Some of the media reports have quoted gay activists who suggest that if Tyler had been with a woman, not much would have been made of the broadcast, if it had been broadcast at all. No surprise to anyone, despite marvelous progress in granting gays more civil rights and, in some quarters, a greater understanding and acceptance by straights, there is still a burdensome bias and intolerance of gays in much of society. Tyler’s suicide proves that.
What I find distressing, however, is the often two-faced approach to homosexuality that appears in television programs that are ostensibly “gay friendly.” Case in point: last night’s episode of ABC’s Modern Family.
Read the rest of Rake’s comments here.