I assume she means the younger Bush here... G.W. Bush's rise to power was an excellent example of the way the Republican party has essentially become a political mouthpiece for extreme right-wing social conservatives, with actual economic issues taking a backseat to attempts at actively policing people's (and by "people's" I mean women and queers) sexuality. Check the Defense of Marriage Act, attempts to overturn Roe v. Wade, attempts to limit or complete cut off women's access to birth control, a strong push for "abstinence only" education, and more.
The pervasive cultural attitudes behind those endeavors (i.e., that women lack sexual desire of their own and must have sex whenever men want it from them and always make babies, that gay people shouldn't ever have sex, etc.) obviously pre-date the Bush administration and still exist now that it's done. But that particular administration really stood out as being pro-actively, overtly misogynist and homophobic. So that's probably why she was singling them out.
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zvi
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Date: 2010-07-29 12:08 am (UTC)I assume she means the younger Bush here... G.W. Bush's rise to power was an excellent example of the way the Republican party has essentially become a political mouthpiece for extreme right-wing social conservatives, with actual economic issues taking a backseat to attempts at actively policing people's (and by "people's" I mean women and queers) sexuality. Check the Defense of Marriage Act, attempts to overturn Roe v. Wade, attempts to limit or complete cut off women's access to birth control, a strong push for "abstinence only" education, and more.
The pervasive cultural attitudes behind those endeavors (i.e., that women lack sexual desire of their own and must have sex whenever men want it from them and always make babies, that gay people shouldn't ever have sex, etc.) obviously pre-date the Bush administration and still exist now that it's done. But that particular administration really stood out as being pro-actively, overtly misogynist and homophobic. So that's probably why she was singling them out.