The Republican Party: Governing By Hatred And Exclusion

Now, we've all seen it before. Too many times, really, to be surprised. The Republican Party and its representatives are feeling their best when they are governing and campaigning by hatred and conclusion. A lot of you have probably heard about the whole Macaca/George Allen deal last week.

Today, we have Stephen Laffey. Mr. Laffey considers himself senatorial material and is challenging Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee in the Republican primary. As many before him, Mr. Laffey has written something in the past which he now officially regrets. Well, kind of.

This is what Mr. Laffey had to say some twenty-odd years ago while he was a college student:

"This is not to say there aren't any; I simply haven't seen one in my lifetime. Maybe they are all in the closet," he wrote. "All the homosexuals I've seen are sickly and decrepit, their eyes devoid of life."

In another column he wrote that pop music was turning the children of America into sissies, and criticized the singer Boy George, referring to him as "it."

"It wears girl's clothes and puts on makeup," he wrote. "When I hear it sing, 'Do you really want to hurt me, do you really want to make me cry,' I say to myself, YES, I want to punch your lights out, pal, and break your ribs."

And this is his statement of "regret" now. A non-apology if there ever was one:

"Do I regret some of these things? Sure," he said. "But at the time, we were just having fun. We thought it was funny."

As for the "sad eyes" click on the AP article and take a really good look at the picture of Mr. Laffey. Notice anything?