It seems John Ellis Bush, whom the mainstream media is all giddy over because he does not hate gay people, is merely just another Republican. Bush has written
The surest way to get something in today's society is to elevate one's staut to that of the oppressed. Many of the modern victim movements, the gay rights movement, the feminist movement, the black empowerment movement and other movements based on social status or race have attempted to get people to view themselves as part of a smaller group deserving of something from society.... as ace have attempted to get people to view the member as part of a smaller group deservingof something from society rather than....
On Tuesday, Digby commented
Sorry. It turns out that Jeb Bush is just a typical snotty, rich right winger scolding people who have the nerve to complain about being treated like doormats and relegated to second class citizen status in the land of freedom and opportunity. Never mind.
As Digby noted, John Ellis Bush wrote that in 1995. But the experience of the past 19 years and, oh, say, the years of economic crash from 2007 to 2010, have not changed him in the least.
This was the guy who thrilled the world when in 2012 he maintained
I don’t think people need to be discriminated against because they don’t share my belief on this, and if people love their children with all their heart and soul and that’s what they do and that’s how they organize their life that should be held up as examples for others to follow because we need it. We desperately need it and that can take all sorts of forms, it doesn’t have to take the one that I think should be sanctioned under law.
At that time, John Ellis Bush apparently believed a man shouldn't be allowed to marry a man, nor a woman marry a woman, but should be viewed as role models if he/she does. Now, if we are to believe his most recent statements, he believes people who support same-sex marriage should not be drawn and quartered, as long as we understand they don't believe in religious liberty or the sacrament of marriage.
After a Circuit Judge lifted the stay she had imposed when she ruled unconstitutional Florida's law prohibiting same-sex marriage, Bush boldly declared "It ought be a local decision. I mean, a state decision. The state decided. The people of the state decided. But it's been overturned by the courts, I guess." Following criticism by supporters of same-sex marriage, Bush stated
We live in a democracy, and regardless of our disagreements, we have to respect the rule of law. I hope that we can show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue – including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty.
At first reading, that is striking as muddled thinking. But it is much worse.
Though John Ellis Bush's concept of marriage as a sacrament is held by many people (and the Roman Catholic Church), a point of view more warm and reassuring than Biblical. it is not held by all Christians, inasmuch as reformed Christianity recognizes only two sacraments, communion and baptism (neither necessary for salvation). Thus, John Ellis Bush (AP photo below by J. Pat Carter via Talking Points Memo), by inferring that "those who believe marriage is a sacrament" oppose same-sex marriage, implies that the universe of opponents is identical to people who believe marriage is a sacrament.
Evangelical Protestants, most of whom oppose gay marriage while believing marriage is not a sacrament, should be outraged. They will not be, however, not only because John Ellis Bush appears to be opposed to such unions, but especially because he has portrayed the right's opponents as hating religious liberty. It is a slick move, born of a failure to understand the variety of Christian belief while nonetheless tarring liberals with opposing religious liberty. Conveniently, that falls right in line with the victimization phobia of the Christian right.
And John Ellis Bush is still a snotty, rich right-winger.
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