Nov 17th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Pansy Division
Newt Gingrich warns that “gay and secular fascism” is a “very serious threat”:
I can’t believe this joke is making a political comeback. But I suppose if Liberal Fascism can be a best-seller, more and more conservatives are going to hop on the “let’s call everyone fascists” bandwagon.
68 Responses to “Pansy Division”
Register
RSSLogin
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Books By Matthew Yglesias
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Basketball
Budget
China
climate
Congress
DC
Denmark
Economics
Economy
education
Energy
Environment
Finance
Gender
Germany
Health Care
History
International Law
International Relations
Iran
Israel
Media
Monetary Policy
National Security
NBA
Pakistan
Palestine
Philosophy
planning
Political Reform
Proliferation
Public Health
Public Opinion
Race
Regulation
Russia
Science
Sports
Stimulus
Sweden
taxes
Technology
Trade
transportation
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Contact Matthew Yglesias
Use this form to contact blog author Matthew Yglesias.
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
November 17th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
American progressives get the twofer! Socialists and fascists. Nifty!
November 17th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
They hope that if they repeat ‘liberal fascist’ enough, people will forget that fascim is a typical (modern) right-wing movement.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
But who is the Jew of Gay and Lesbian Fascism?
November 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
“So, Newt, how’s the wife?”
November 17th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Not to mention, gays were a prime target for mass extermination during WWII. Talking about “gay fascism” is just disgusting, that guy should be called what he is, a lunatic.
How low has the GOP fallen.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Jeff Goldbloom was more rational 70 minutes into ‘The Fly’ then most Republicans circa 2008.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Wait, they wire tap without a warrant and we’re fascists?
November 17th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
American progressives get the twofer! Socialists and fascists. Nifty!
Also, isn’t this an implicit violation of Godwin’s Law? (Nominally, at least.)
November 17th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Newt Gingrich warns that “gay and secular fascism” is a “very serious threat”…
I’d welcome “gay and secular” fascism more enthusiastically than “liberal” facism: much more expertly choreographed mass rallies, and much more snappily dressed and buffed storm troopers.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
urbino, you don’t give the right enough credit. Their juvenile insult skills are truly reaching new proportions of oxymoronic glory. Obama is both a radical militant and a cowardly peacenik. Obama is against traditional values and he is sexist. The Democrats are fascists and communists. Obama is a Muslim and he is totally beholden to his radical Christian pastor.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Newt needs a med check.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Forced interior decoration for some, Dewey Decimal re-education for others.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
lol, joe wins the thread prematurely, even though the man is actually called Goldblum (I saw him in London with Spacey in “Speed the Plow” – lot’s of fun)
November 17th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I, for one, welcome our new well-dressed and literate overlords.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Mormons?
November 17th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Why does this sound like the premise of a Mel Brooks movie?
November 17th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
urbino, Godwin’s Law is like a physical law (think Law of Thermodynamics) – it describes what happens. Violating it would require Newt to be discussing politics for an infinite amount of time online and never bring up fascism, Hitler, Nazism, and so on.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
What word should we call those on this list? Make sure to see those DK threads before replying.
In their defense, these didn’t take off, although the first Bellaire one could have.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
‘they impose secular rules that are fundamentally sinful’.
What does that even mean? This blowhard is the intellect of the conservatism?
November 17th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Why does this sound like the premise of a Mel Brooks movie?
This is what I thought of. Also, there was the recent death of a gay Austrian fascist:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jörg_Haider
Maybe Newt was thinking of him, although Haider’s xenophobic, anti-immigrant party is more in line with the Republican party.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Homofascists!
Atheofascists!
Progressifascists!
Obamautons!
November 17th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
urbino, Godwin’s Law is like a physical law
Fair enough, though pedantic.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Remember when Newt made his cspan debut in the early 80’s preaching to no one except the camera that the commies were going to invade via nicuragua?
He even had maps showing how close texas was to Nicaragua.
newt-commies-geography-adultry-pansy divisions-wrong-disqualified-wrong-
November 17th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
“24AheadDotCom Says:
November 17th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
What word should we call those on this list?”
How about: completely irrelevant blogwhoring by you.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Springtime for Hitler and Germany… winter for Poland and France…
November 17th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I suppose there is some potential for violence. Anytime a large group of gay men show up at at a rally wearing identical brown shirts here’s bound to be a dust up, but it’s nothing a simple email exchange couldn’t prevent. And frankly, I’d pay good money to see a good old fashioned Bible bonfire- in the words of Bonnie Raitt, “let’s give ‘em something to talk about…”
November 17th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Don’t worry. The femi-eco-nazis will save us from the very serious homo-secular-fascist threat.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Not to mention, gays were a prime target for mass extermination during WWII. Talking about “gay fascism” is just disgusting, that guy should be called what he is, a lunatic.
How low has the GOP fallen.
You know they’ve fallen low when this fraud, this exploded jackass Newty, can be allowed to even pretend to be a spokesman for them. I have much more respect for a (IMO) troglodyte like Inhoff than for this asshole – Inhoff may not be that bright, but he probably does mostly believe what he says he does. Newty, OTOH, is just the most craven of opportunists, devoid of basic human decency. Even Rove more closely resembles a human being than Newty. The guy is bloated, preposterously self-important, grasping, shameless, intellectually mediocre (at best), oblivious to the damage he causes to the life of the country and to the lives of people in it, and patently bogus. Americans say they ‘hate politicians’: Newt exemplifies the kind of person they have in mind. Just such a fake.
Gingrich’s blithe assertion that we are subject to a ‘gay and secular fascism’ is not only ridiculous, not merely *deeply* offensive, but also potentially dangerous. It is incitement. Of course, when some unbalanced soul who, unlike the appallingly amoral Gingrich, actually believes in such a thing, decides to take matters into their own hands and someone gets hurt or worse, Gingrich will not feel a single pang of conscience. The ‘conscience’ is vestigal, mere sentiment, for a Revolutionary – a man of both deep thought and bold action – like Newt. What Is To Be Done, Newt?
Good faith politicians need to cut these people out of their sphere. It’s one thing to ‘reach across the aisle’ to people who disagree with you, but it’s another to legitmize a person who is absolutely a bad faith-actor. Next time Newty wants to have a conference or some such with a Dem. (like HRC) about a pet ‘futurism’ project, like electronic medical records, the Dem needs to tell him to fuck the fuck off.
It is worse to exploit and exacerbate fear and bigotry for personal gain than it is to actually be scared or a bigot. The former knows better, while the latter may not.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Not to worry, people–we gays are only into fascism for the cool-looking boots.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
For another example of something that certainly sounds like something approaching fascism, I don’t think it will be long before MattY starts promoting “localism”.
See also the earlier comment I left:
yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/a_question_of_fairness.php#comment-809640
November 17th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
At “American Thinker” the consensus belief is that Obama and his hyper-crazed minions are about to execute a Maoist China style Cultural Revolution with elements of Hitler Youth, Asiatic Re-Education, Gianni Versace Gay Depravities, Lesbian Castration of Boys. and effete, intellectual Jew confiscations of guns, cigarettes, and New Testament Bibles. A preposterously loathesome Orwellian smorgasbord set to go on 1/20/09. This is not a few wild-eyed nuts saying this shit. This is everyone there.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
24, now you’re whoring for your own comments on other people’s blogs? It just gets sadder and sadder.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
gay fascisti. hmm. that wouldn’t describe the bored libertines spitting in the faces of 80 year old mormon women would it? goldberg cannot be dismissed, and gingrich is too smart an historian to be fooled.
the right is going to come around to nailing obama to somebody’s cross. the very fact that he refuses to be considered leftist is the very evidence that will bury him.
is there any question that he speaks always and everywhere about unity? is there any question that he desires to triangulate with pragmatism? is there any question that he will exploit crisis to solidify his power? is there any question that he will run roughshod over congress?
you have been warned.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I find this absolutely horrifying. The history of fascism’s treatment of gay people just goes completely down the memory hole. And I don’t get his whole shtick about “historical Christianity, historical Judaism, etc.” What does that even mean? Is he talking about what religious people used to believe but don’t anymore? Why would anyone care?
November 17th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Bobbo,
It is true, however, that there were a number of homosexuals among the upper-echelon Nazis, including arguably Hitler himself.
By “historical Christianity” I would assume that Goldberg means what I would refer to as “apostolic Christianity” or “orthodox Christianity”, meaning what the church has taught from the beginning. For example, someone who argues that Jesus was a great human being and not divine in nature, or that hell doesn’t exist, or that the Virgin Birth didn’t happen, has quite clearly broken with apostolic Christianity. That doesn’t necessarily make them wrong, but it does make them heretical.
November 17th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Hector:
Goldberg? Gingrich, in the clip that is the topic of this post, talks about historical Christianity. Maybe you should take a look.
“there were a number of homosexuals [blah blah].” Oh, I see. So Gingrich means that the Nazi movement arose out of protests against the ban on gay marriage. Thanks for clearing that up. Anyway, if you could find an “arguable” gay man among the Nazis, I guess that means that the death camps don’t really count. I feel much better now.
“meaning what the church has taught from the beginning.”
Right. In other words, stuff nobody, including Gingrich, believes anymore.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Bobbo,
Whoever said it, that’s what the term means.
Er, I believe in those doctrines i mentioned, and so do pretty much all serious Christians today. I can’t really think of something that the church universally believed at one point but now does no longer- perhaps you could mention something?
November 17th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
It is true, however, that there were a number of homosexuals among the upper-echelon Nazis, including arguably Hitler himself.
It is also true, you know, that there were a number of persons of Jewish descent among the upper-level Nazis, including arguably Hitler himself. That doesn’t tell us anything useful about Jews, any more than your example tells us anything useful about gays.
Socrates and Plato, Caesar and Alexander, Leopold and Loeb–we gays are good or bad just like everyone else.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
You know, Pansy Division is a great band!!!
November 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
This from a conservative Jewish blog called “Neo-Neocon”:
Scottie Says:
November 6th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Landsmen and Women,
The thing that I feel fundamentally bothers me more about this upcoming administration, as opposed to someone like the Clintons for instance, is the fact that there are literally millions of people who have developed an unhealthy *connection* to The Chosen One, and will end up going to great lengths to defend him when he comes up short. In this regard, their devotion to the man goes far beyond those who in Hitler’s day swooned at the very sight of Der Fuhrer.
Watch them as The Chosen One orates. Their eyes glaze over, many drool in utter rapture, and the crowd sways as if one bulbous mass. No matter what happens, they will explain away his mistakes, rationalize his decisions, and attack any who they see as threatening his “legacy”. When the arrest orders come and Jews and heterosexual conservatives are dragged off to the new hypoallergenic gas chambers – they will play their guitars and sing of “Peace” as if nothing at all was going on. Their emotional and religious investment in this demagogue make’s Hitler’s Germany look like Sesame Street. Whereas logic and reason can work with many people, such will not be the case with these Disciples.
November 17th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I love the idea of New Gingrich coming back. I hope he gets the nomination.
I’d like to see Barack Obama beat down that “enemy of ordinary Americans” line of slime Gingrich used to use.
You know that guy said that Democrats were responsible for Susan Smith drowning her kids? Destroyin’ the values, you betcha.
Gingrich/Palin 2012. Bring. It. On.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I can’t really think of something that the church universally believed at one point but now does no longer- perhaps you could mention something?
As I recall, at one time the Catholic Church was very big on the Ptolemaic scheme of the universe—even threatening to torture Galileo unless he renounced it in writing, and then confining him to house arrest for the rest of his life.
And then there was the whole “heresy” thing, during which the Church thought it just fine to kill dissenters from official dogma—generally by torturing them to death. I’m pretty sure the Church no longer believes that it’s OK to do that.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:33 am
when do newt’s civil rights come up for simple majority ratification? i wouldn’t role the dice if i were him.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:13 am
I can’t really think of something that the church universally believed at one point but now does no longer- perhaps you could mention something?
I assume you mean the Catholic Church here. Just off the cuff, I’d go for:
“Slavery is OK”
“Capital punishment is OK”
“Rape is OK in the context of marriage”
“Torture is OK”
“Compulsory conversion is OK”
“Heresy is a crime deserving the death penalty”
“Waging aggressive war in order to ‘recover’ the Holy Land is OK”
“The Jews share collective guilt for the death of Christ”
“Charging interest is wicked”
“Evolution is wrong”
I’m sure I’ll come up with others.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:36 am
duBois: Because they lost the election, proving their lack of sufficient popular support.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:50 am
There’s something we may be missing here about so-called “gay fascism.” There aren’t really a whole lot of gays in the US to begin with, and even fewer actual activists who are apparently unhinging Newty. Why do numbers matter? Well, if you assume arguendo that the ultimate goal of gays is to take over hetero America and turn us all into Judy Garland fans with cool furniture and flattering, up-to-the-minute hair-dos, they actually don’t have the numbers to do it. The “successful” fascist regimes like Italy and Germany went after minorities, not majorities (as several commenters have noted above). It was much easier for 40 million Aryans to ship six million Jews (and gays and gypsies, etc.) to concentration camps than it would have been the other way around. (I must know less about history than old Newt, but somehow even my relatively limited knowledge about fascism in pre-War Europe exceeds his.)
And how the majority managed to get those folks sent to the slaughterhouses is relevant to current circumstances too. See, the Nazi’s didn’t say “Jews are an insignificant minority diluting our pure culture, it will be easy to get rid of them, so let’s do it.” Instead, they said that Jews were powerful enough to actually undermine German society, and that unless checked, their power would continue to grow. If an average Josef Sechserpack said “Gosh, it seems like they’re a pretty small minority with very little political and economic clout” the answer was “That shows how dangerous they are. They have all this power that you can’t see, and the harder it is to see, the more you know, not only that it’s there, but that Jews have a very well-hidden agenda that will succeed in stealing our culture before you even know it. Today you’re celebrating the Eucharist, tomorrow the Cathedral has been converted into a synagogue and you’ll be having Seder instead of Christ’s body and blood.”
Which is of course the story with gays – in the right-wing vision, they don’t want equality, they want power over us. Which was (and sadly, still is on occasion) of course the argument against equality for African-Americans and women too.
Bottom line – fascism mobilizes the strong against the weak, not the other way around. It does so by exaggerating the power of the weak and the alleged “weakness” of the powerful. And Newt, if you’re listening, here’s what might give you comfort about the current efforts of gays to achieve equality. Because their numbers are small, all but the most deluded of them (the tastefully jackbooted thugs, if you will) recognize that the best way to acheive equality is to convince a majority of Americans that it’s the right thing to do, rather than staging a Kristallnacht or rounding up a bunch of tanks to create some lebensraum in Kansas. Blacks and women did this, to the then consternation of our friends on the right (and similar dark warnings about what was in store for us if we let these proto-fascists have their way), but now they’re a lot closer to full equality, and the US has the benefits of the talents of people who otherwise would be excluded from full participation in society. (For Newt, I guess I can cite Sarah Palin and Clarence Thomas as people whose talents would be unavailable to us if the right’s fascist vision of America had prevailed.) This is not fascism, but rather another glorious political system that has flourished from time to time in the Good Old USA – democracy.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I can’t believe Gingrich is still out there and people are still listening.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Ajay,
I was talking about the undivided church, as it existed before 1054 (and arguably before the split with the Assyrians in, I think, the fifth century) and referring specifically to matters of theology, not morals or cosmology. You’re right that I did make an overly broad statement, thanks for correction. By the way, the death penalty isn’t condemned categorically, only as a prudential matter. But as a general point you’re correct.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
BaxterJ,
I worked in a Republican Congressman’s office in 1995 and had, on occasion, reason to go to Speaker Gingrich’s office (I was a low-level staff member). I was happy with the election of 1994 and saw it as a healthy change in government. That said, I look at Gingrich now and am saddened at what a pathetic, cynical, evil, troll of a man he has become. (Was it always so?) Anyway, no one who matters is still listening. The right is dying. And it deserves to be dead.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:10 am
I was talking about the undivided church, as it existed before 1054 (and arguably before the split with the Assyrians in, I think, the fifth century) and referring specifically to matters of theology, not morals or cosmology.
The imminent apocalypse? First-century Christians believed it would happen in their lifetimes. And opinions on the fate of the dead have changed a good deal since then – limbo and purgatory, for example.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
hey man i love your site.. your friend michael told me you were looking for a new way to earn some extra income online.
i own an awesome website where you can make money online..most our users are making like 20-50 bucks a day.. with minimal work.. its pretty simple to do.. its actually so easy to do you won’t believe ill actually pay you to do it.. and its 100% free to sign up and try.
another positive about my site unlike all the other sites.. i will pay you out daily.. so you earn 5 bucks in the first 5 minutes you work on my site.. request a payout and i will pay you out right then.. i guarantee no other sites like mine will pay out daily multiple times..
i’d be glad to help you.. if you sign up..
http://tinyurl.com/5queww
December 6th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Writing workshop: The Church of the Good Shepherd,will conduct a Christian writers workshop, Alive in Words, Oct. 4, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at the church at 2351 Hunter Mill Road in Vienna. The workshop will be led by Mary Lou Redding,
December 28th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Hey! I love your website
If u r looking for Paid Surveys this is the site 4 you.
Start advancing your paychecks at http://tinyurl.com/9eeaop
January 13th, 2009 at 9:32 am
laptop battery
laptop batteries
February 8th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
laptop battery
February 9th, 2009 at 3:06 am
laptop battery
February 27th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Has anyone else heard about Robert Downey Jr. doing a Sherlock Holmes movie?
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:30 am
levitraVery interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
March 11th, 2009 at 4:50 am
It is the coolest site,keep so!
March 17th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points.Keep working ,great job!
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:22 am
tramadol
If you have to do it, you might as well do it right
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:29 am
It is the coolest site,keep so!
buy cheap viagra
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:19 am
I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
cheap brand pfizer viagra
April 6th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
You are a very smart person!
April 9th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Very interesting site, Hope it will always be alive! viagra
April 11th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
jkma qzjmye imdr unpvxqt jpogactx joidakczl gcio
April 15th, 2009 at 3:04 am
The best glasses store to sell fashion women glasses andwomen glasses,glasses frames at low prices. The valued online optical store!
Visionsking.com offer reading glasses with hith quality.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Your site is very convenient in navigation and has good design. Thanks!.
I am from Great and also now teach English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “To make airline reservations, please call hmp travel at ext.”