Anderson Cooper, Art Smith and Anne Burrell Are Gay . . . And I Don't Care

Anderson Cooper is gay. And I don’t care.

That he felt it was important for him to come out was his business, but I just really don’t care. Should I like him more or less because he’s gay? Is he better at his job because he’s gay? Nicer? Less serious? Better looking? I’m thinking none of the above. Bottom line is that it just doesn’t matter to me at all if a person’s gay or not gay.

Chefs Art Smith and Anne Burrell are gay. Does that make them better chefs? Do I want to try their food because they’re gay.  No. I want to try their food because they’re good chefs.

And the list goes on and one, and since it’s campaign season, this is why I think Republicans are completely on the wrong side of this. A lot of people just don’t care, and see politicians as denying gays of the rights non-gays have. Marriage, healthcare, property rights, employment rights, estate rights. And sooner or later, it’ll bite the GOP on the ass.

Because people get pissed when their friends are denied rights just because they are gay.

I’m old and happen not to be gay, and if I don’t care if someone’s gay or not gay, then what about the wave of younger people? They’ll vote on these social issues. And they don’t want the clock rolled back . . . they want it moving ever forward. And that means the same rights for everyone. If someone wants to come out, great, but for me, it doesn’t change the game.

Republicans are riding the wrong wave . . . the  “anti” wave may over time kill the party, or leave it to old white guys who just love having their heads buried in the sand. Gay marriage doesn’t hurt your marriage. Loving same-sex couples don’t hurt your household. Gay parents don’t hurt you or your kids or how you raise your kids. While some rage that same-sex marriage imperil the “institution of marriage,” I don’t quite get that. You can be well married without a religious ceremony and I’m not sure the marriage track record is all that great in some respects . . . kids still get abused, people still get divorced, etc. etc. So I take those rages as just that . . . rages against something that some people don’t like. But the issue is bigger than that, nd much bigger than the ragers.

When I was a kid, there were no gay people (of course there were, but who knew?). Nobody was out, nobody talked about gay people . . . Times have changed. It’s easier for gays to come out. The social “stigma” is ending. That’s a good thing. Not a bad thing. It’s a civil rights issue, and denying gays equal rights is wrong. I don’t want to deny anyone the rights I have. And while Republicans say they want less government, they seem more than happy to monitor and regulate what goes on in the bedroom (and between you and your doctor, but we’ll deal with that another time).

Keep an eye out . . . Republicans have ruled the political playground in the past, but rolling the clock back is the wrong move for them. They would do well to roll back their extreme social positions and draw more people into their tent. Otherwise, they’ll self destruct.

There's No Kick Ass in This Presidential Campaign

Apparently the Three Stooges are running the Romney campaign. Battered for months over his business experience, something the campaign had touted as a competitive advantage against the Obama economic morass, Romney has found himself trying to fight off the ropes and regain the upper hand as the negatively heated battle enters its final three months.

Unfortunately for the GOP nominee, there’s only one guy who could continually fight off the ropes and win, and that’s Muhammad Ali . . . and, Mitt, you’re no Muhammad Ali. Romney should be pounding Obama, but stumbles, non-specific answers, no public blueprinting of policies, an almost desperate clinging to “no tax cuts for the rich,” and an upstream fight on many social issues ad the Republicans are gasping for air.

There’s no kick ass on either side, and with just a few weeks to go, both campaigns are bordering on boring with an massive overdose of inaccurate ads, misleading speeches and, in the case of Republicans, stomping on Obama for policies they voted for in years past.

It didn’t have to be this way for Romney. Clearly the plan was to hammer Obama on the lousy economy, high unemployment rate and spiraling deficit. If only that were true . . . Romney has stumbled, bumbled and  flopped at nearly every turn.  While the negatives ads have landed body blows, Romney isn’t very good on his feet and his verbal gaffs, not the least of which was insulting the London Olympic organizers during his first overseas as the then-presumptive GOP nominee.

Mitt, just smile and say you are really looking forward to watching the games in “this great city.” Sheesh, how tough is that? They’re our allies, Mitt.

Now both convention love fests are behind us (thank goodness), and the race begins in earnest. Well, maybe not in earnest since this is politics, after all. The Dems seemed to come out of their convention a bit better off, since they didn’t have an actor going way off script. The big talk about the GOP convention has turned out to be Eastwood’s speech, even though Ann Romney tried her best to convince us her husband is a really nice guy. Michelle Obama played the “Obama is you” card  . . . so now we’re supposed to love these guys as much as their dedicated and loving wives do. Not quite.

We’ll see if the Republicans can term their campaign ship around. I have my doubts. I think the Republicans are on the wrong side of nearly every social issue one can think of, and one has to wonder how big a deal that will be come election day. It happens to be a biggie for me.

Romney should be pummeling Obama in the polls, but with the two neck and neck, with various battleground states leaning a bit towards Obama, it’s a toss-up now and probably will be in November. The GOP will get its base out, but the Dems may struggle to get the young voters they nabbed four years ago. Hold on, and keep the remote handy, because those damn ads are only going to get worse.