The GOP congresswoman has accused trans people and drag queens of "grooming" and "sexualiz[ing]" children
Rep. Lauren Boebert has been outspoken about her disapproval of drag queens, but that didn’t stop the Colorado congresswoman from spending hundreds of campaign dollars at a bar that hosts drag shows.
According to Politico, which cited her latest Federal Election Commission filings, Boebert’s campaign spent $317.48 in July for “event catering” at Hooch Craft Cocktail Bar in Aspen, Co., which is owned by Boebert’s former boyfriend, Quinn Gallagher. Boebert and Gallagher were booted from a performance of Beetlejuice last month for disruptive conduct, including vaping, loud singing and fondling each other at the family-friendly production. Boebert later said she and Gallagher, a Democrat, had broken up. “All future date nights have been canceled. I learned to check party affiliations before you go on a date,” Boebert told TMZ.
I’m reading this book called Conservatize Me by an NPR/McSweeny writer from back in 2006. Ignore the title, remember everybody was doing that kind of stuff after Super Size Me.
Anyway, for a month he had to stick to only “conservative culture.” He could only watch conservative news shows, listen to AM radio, etc. He met with folks at New Republic and the first thing guy said to him was “you have to ignore hypocrisy, liberals care about that. It’s just a distraction.”
Almost 20 years ago, and here is this dude just openly saying what we all kind of know. Not that liberals are somehow better and always consistent. But we really do obsess over it, and this guy is sitting here telling him “it is a waste of time to play that game, and conservatives are almost fueled by it.”
I agree that Boebert is a hypocrite. But they don’t care. This stuff just reads as “slander by the media” to them. No one had their mind changed about Boebert. We have to focus on their bad policies and leadership or their voters aren’t going to be swayed.
The reason they like to point out the “hypocrisy of the left” so much is because it makes them feel like they have the moral highground, and because they know the left cares about it. It’s a cudgel, it’s a tool. It’s not a shared value. Google “learjet liberal” and take a look at the results from the 2000’s/2010’s. It’s the same nonsense today.
My interpretation is that they don't see it as hypocrisy. They don't judge actions, they judge people, so the same actions they would condemn others for when done by the "right" people are fine. It's almost a tautology; good people do good things, because if they weren't good people then those things would be bad.
Add in a heap of "good people are people that do things like me" and you have the whole conservative hierarchy in a nutshell.
They don't care about internal consistency. Or truth. They care about effect.
Sartre had a quote about this
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Because they know very well that their only actual political stance is to get all the power by any means necessary.
I think it’s very easy to boil these things down into very simplistic world views like this, but there actually is more to it. In the book, a lot of them go “I am a conservative, I do not like what the Republican Party is doing.“ this allows them to mentally insulate themselves from some of the more detestable or harder to defend decisions the party makes. Is it just an excuse? Sure. If you vote for that party, you’re responsible for all of their actions. You need to be able to critique them or they won’t stop. But the mentality isn’t simply “I want power.” I’m sure plenty of politicians in their seats, think roughly along those lines, but not the average voter.
And honestly, this makes sense! I am passionate about how we treat people trying to enter the country. Obama and Biden have not done a great job of it, but what am I going to do? Vote Republican? The group that calls them invaders and wants to put up a massive wall? Of course not! So I critique the way they are handling the border and I still vote Democrat. But I’m still culpable for the actions of the Democrats because I pulled that lever when I voted. I don’t try to logic my way around it or separate my voting for them from policy.
Have you ever talked to many conservatives? Because I have the misfortune of having many in my family. There's nuanced "I don't agree with everything this one party does" and then there's "it doesn't matter what this party does, I'll never vote for anyone else"
That latter line of thinking is 100% just "I want my team to win at any cost no matter what they're actually doing" and it's very common amongst conservatives.
I am surrounded by them lol I live in Louisiana dude.
I think transphobia will have an effect here. It's one thing to be a hypocrite, it's another to support a queer bar and date someone who owns a queer bar.
It's not going to cause the GOP to name and shame her, but it will reduce campaign donations as well as voter turnout.
IMHO anyway.
Sadly, I think this will affect her more than the groping and vaping in front of children. In the minds of the GOP that's the lesser of the two evils. Supporting transpeople on the other hand, goes against their whole fascist/hate fueled agenda, and I think it will show come election season.