On NY, spoiled provisions, and 'you know you could toss that, right?'

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07/14/2011

by Jeremy Hooper

During my last year of college, I housesat for a friend while she was away on vacation. During that stay, I purchased some milk. When she returned, I cleaned the house thoroughly, said my goodbyes, then left.

A few weeks later, at a party, the aforementioned friend, who was always prone to drama and the wanton creation thereof, came at me, nostrils a'flaring and finger a'wagging." "Do you know?" she indignantly asked "that I have three-week-old milk in my refrigerator because of you?!" As if this was supposed to be some sort of indictment of me and my cleanliness. As if I was wrong for thinking she might enjoy the cow juice, which at the time of my departure was still very much potable.

I responded judiciously, with only an "Are you kidding me?" look. Though my less forgiving friends (which is to say: they couldn't stand the girl) within earshot were having none of it. "Is that supposed to make him or *you* look bad?" asked one. "So you're saying you're such a slob that you haven't cleaned your fridge in three weeks?" snarked another. "You do know that trash cans exist, right?" is a paraphrase of the general tone.

The fact of the matter is that she had miscalculated the ratio between her desire for attention and her need for sympathy. And it failed.

So why this tale of crying over spoiled milk now, years later? Oh, well because the National Organization For Marriage (a.k.a my drama queen friend) is faulting Gov. Cuomo (a.k.a. me) for perhaps not having the power to defend equality-supporting Republicans (for not throwing away the milk) against the homo-hostility of the NY state Conservative Party (against the spoils that are outside of his control):

Now that Gov. Cuomo has gotten from the NY republican senators what he wanted (their support for same-sex marriage), he's admitting frankly to the New York Times how little he can actually help them stay in office:

Mr. Cuomo said he did not see a way to compromise with the Legislature over redistricting. The governor would like an independent commission to draw district lines, but he said any overhaul of the redistricting process was “all negative” for the Senate Republicans, because it threatened their majority.

... Mr. Cuomo, who shepherded the same-sex marriage bill through the Legislature, spoke glowingly of the four Republicans who provided the pivotal votes for it, pledging political support.

“The problem is, their threat now is from the Conservative Party,” Mr. Cuomo said. “I’m sort of the Antichrist to the Conservative Party. But anything I can do, I will do to help.”

The problem is, come election time for these NY republican senators who flip-flopped on marriage, glowing words from the Governor won't make up for the lack of endorsement from the Conservative Party.

Gov. Cuomo Admits to Vulnerable GOP Senators: I Can't Help You With Conservatives [NOM Blog]

Had I been lactose intolerant, then I might have avoided my friend's misplaced milk wrath. But I wasn't. Intolerant. And neither is Gov. Cuomo.

But the governor is, unfortunately, hand-tied when it comes to cleaning up others' houses. So where we're now at now in the NY GOP: The Conservative Party is still very much curdling the waters of equality, and NOM, who could very much help toss out that which has run its course, are instead trying to milk the gay scapegoat. They are laying blame at others' feet when it's social conservatives who are keeping these divisive politics alive. They are having a cow about basic rights for tax-paying Americans when they could be raising a glass to American fairness. They are all kinds of misprioritizing the focus of a major political party, sucking off the teet of bias in a way that makes equality lovers reach for their own milk (of magnesia).

This is not news, the conservative wing's odd way of clinging onto past products longs after they've expired. But it's ultimately on them to toss what has so clearly soured, not us!

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