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"So I'm working on a mini-project here to track mainstream media and politicians calling Obama a faggot..."

Alex Blaze has a little project. (Via Memeorandum.) Is he on the right track? Doesn't the Democratic candidate always get framed as weak, effete?

As long as we're obsessing about whether criticism of Hillary Clinton is a manifestation of sexism, why not get some balance and obsess over whether criticism of Barack Obama is homophobic? Well, for one thing, Hillary Clinton is, plainly, a woman, but talking about Obama in these terms floats a rumor. You could also have a mini-project tracking insinuations that Obama is a Muslim. Are you criticizing the insinuations or propagating them?

Alex means well:

Personally, I'd love to have a queer in the Oval Office, but this is about deriding the personality of politicians because they don't fit the mold for heterosexual masculinity, which, besides holding back good policy, also helps relegate homosexuality, non-traditional masculinity, gender non-conformity, femininity, fabulousness, and women to second-class status.

Full post as published by Althouse on May 19, 2008 (boomark / email).