In a Washington Post op-ed piece today containing a teaspoon of thoughtful reflection and a heaping cup of drooling stupidity, Jonathan Turley (the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University) accuses critics of Indiana’s religious freedom law of "trying to have their cake and eat it, too:"
While [...] conservatives have been rightly ridiculed for failing to explain how the Indiana law as originally formulated would not license bigotry, critics can be equally chastised for failing to explain where to draw the line between religious freedom and discrimination.By golly, Turley, you're right...and I'm so ashamed. I, and my fellow progressives, have utterly failed to solve a two thousand year-old problem this week - one over which innumerable wars have been waged, kings have been toppled, and pilgrims have turned from their homes. Dang; I guess I forgot to put it on my calendar.
If I was inclined to be generous (which is usually a good idea when tempers flare) I suppose I could forgive Turley this tedious bit of sophistry, because at least he does almost succeed in making a good point: deciding where to draw lines is hard work. But, no, I cannot be generous today, because Turley bumbles on from there to - quite literally - add insult to injury by trotting out the single most crass and insulting right-wing meme in the history of debate over LGBT rights: the conflation of a same-sex marriage with the Third Reich, the KKK, and other actual (as opposed to sometimes feverishly imagined) horrors.
it’s hard to imagine compelling Jewish bakers to make Nazi cakes or African American bakers to make KKK cakes.Jesus, Turley; I can't believe you just said that.
That's all I got. Words utterly fail me. Except to say that you, Dr. Turley, are just a freaking jackass.