The GOP’s Lies Of Slippery Slopes, Smoking Guns, And Mushroom Clouds
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Seven years ago this week, then-president George W. Bush stood in front of the nation, and lied. He lied to the world, he lied to America, he lied to you, he lied to me.
To build the case to attack Iraq, President Bush spoke these now infamous words,
“America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
There was no smoking gun. There was no mushroom cloud. There were no weapons of mass destruction.
We were fooled. We were deceived.
Personally, I will forever remember that day, as I stood in front of my television, watching his address. For me, an ardent Bush opponent from day one, those powerful words brought me to the edge of believing in a possibility. They enabled me to think, “OK. Wait. My president thinks we’re in immediate and mortal danger. He must know something I do not. I have to believe him.”
And so, just a little, just enough, I did.
While I never supported the Iraq war, I was sufficiently convinced that there might be a threat.
And there was no threat. Not even close.
Our president outright lied.
Presidents do that. Hard as it may be is for us to imagine, presidents and lawmakers — even those on “our side,” weigh their options, then, sometimes, they lie.
It’s time for us, all of us, to stop believing their lies.
There was no “smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
Nada.
Here are some of the GOP’s lies the LGBTQ community is fighting today:
Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will lead to a loss of “unit cohesion.” Repeal of DADT will not lead to a loss of unit cohesion. The “unit cohesion” claim was made up after DADT to explain it. Every other country that allows gays in their military knows this to be false. And repeal of DADT will not cause us to lose a war. If anything, the 13,000 men and women — within their ranks a tremendous number of Iraqi translators — kicked out of our military for the crime of being gay, has made winning far more difficult. And it’s not a far leap to make the case, as Nathaniel Frank does, that without DADT, 9/11 might not have happened.
Repeal of DOMA will lead to incest, bestiality, child abuse, polygamy, and the destruction of the institution of marriage itself. Those who currently are, or are interested in, practicing incest, bestiality, or polyamory, will not “come out of the closet,” as it were, when gay marriage becomes law. And it is well-documented that gays are equally good parents. As for destroying marriage, if anything, the reverse is true. Gay marriage may indeed save the institution of marriage. States that have banned gay marriage and boast a high proportion of traditional Christian conservatives also have the highest level of divorce. Massachusetts, the first state to offer marriage equality, has one of the lowest.
Signing into law the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act will not lead to the imprisonment of priests. Signing into law the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act will lead to the imprisonment, upon stricter federal charges, and with federal dollars being used to support investigations and prosecutions, of people who harm and kill to satisfy their hate.
Signing into law ENDA will take away rights. Signing into law ENDA will allow men and women who happen to be LGBTQ to be more productive in their jobs, because they know that cannot be fired just because of who they are. Remember, in 39 states, right now, you can be fired for being gay.
But the danger is not in the outrageous lies we hear and dismiss.
The danger is in lies so cleverly crafted, ensconced in terror and intimidation, with hatred and fear of a calamitous future at their very essence, that, as human beings, we are forced to believe them, for the mere possibility of their becoming truth is too dangerous to allow.
And the danger is in the lies we’re told that are strong enough to take us from one point to another. Like Bush’s “Mushroom Cloud” speech took me to the brink of belief.

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