Last week, Dr. Ben Carson, a possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate, stepped onto unstable political ground. Asked whether he believes that “being gay is a choice,” Carson stated that he “absolutely” did.
Carson argued, “a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight – and when they come out, they’re gay.” His interviewer, Chris Cuomo of CNN, immediately bashed Carson, although he had trouble with Carson’s main argument: sexual behavior is always chosen, even if sexual feeling is not.
The media, who have an interest in slandering Republican presidential candidates, took Carson’s poorly-articulated answer and used it to slam him repeatedly over the weekend, with Saturday Night Live leading the way, mocking Carson over and over again. But that was nothing compared to the typically vile output of supposed anti-bullying advocate Dan Savage. After laying out a typically illogical complaint comparing the merit of homosexual activity to that of religious living, Savage then stated:
Dear Dr. Carson,
If being gay is a choice, prove it. Choose it. Choose to be gay yourself. Show America how that’s done, Ben, show us how a man can choose to be gay. Suck my dick. Name the time and the place and I’ll bring my dick and a camera crew and you can suck me off and win the argument.
Very sincerely yours,
Dan Savage
This is not a logical argument. Ben Carson could just as easily respond to Savage that if Savage wants to prove that same-sex behavior is utterly involuntary, Savage must perform oral sex on every man he meets. Carson’s actual campaign response was far more tempered:
Dr. Carson has a very deep well of support across this country, and he’s in the process of gauging its strength and potential. We recognize there are many challenges, and one comment cannot and will not derail Ben Carson from answering the many American voices desperate for real leadership. His position on gay marriage is nearly identical to all the possible candidates. He just did something very un-Washington; he told a reporter the truth about the right of states to determine their own laws reflecting the wishes of their own citizens. He apologized for his prison analogy but not for his position on gay marriage.
This, of course, is not the first time Savage has attempted to convince a black politician to perform oral sex on him. In 2014, Savage asked Herman Cain to do his best Lewinsky impersonation:
Dear Herman,
If being gay is a choice, show us the proof. Choose it. Choose to be gay yourself. Show America how that’s done, Herman, show us how a man can choose to be gay. Suck my dick, Herman. Name the time and the place and I’ll bring my dick and a camera crew and you can suck me off and win the argument.
Very sincerely yours,
Dan Savage
As Savage stated December 2014, “There is a long list of people I’ve invited to suck my dick, though, figuratively. Rick Santorum never got the invite. Herman Cain did. He always says that being gay is a choice. I’ve always felt the correct retort to ‘It’s a choice’ is ‘Prove it. Suck my dick, and suck my dick like you like it. You don’t have to have a boner while you suck my dick, but you can’t be crying like it’s an Oz repeat on HBO.’” He added that he wanted Mike Huckabee to “suck my dick.”
Savage’s articulated intense and bizarre desire for those he hates to place their mouths on his genitalia – and his apparently unrelated desire to place his own mouth on the doorknobs of those he hates, including Gary Bauer in 2000 – once again demonstrates that this “anti-bullying activist” is America’s biggest bully. Were Savage to demand that a woman perform oral sex on him in a political argument, he would rightly be cast aside in the political debate. But since he is a homosexual activist who routinely counsels people to participate in every form of sexual degradation known to man, Savage gets away with everything.
He has slandered former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum by manipulating Google results so that Santorum’s name is associated with “that frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.” He followed up that charming spectacle by stating he wanted to “f*** the s*** out of Rick Santorum.” He said that Republican gays were “f*ggots” who “grab their ankles, right on cue.” He tried to slander Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren by Google bombing a self-coined term, “saddlebacking,” meaning “the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities.” He said in 2006 that Green Party Senate candidate Carl Romanelli “should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there’s nothing left but the rope.” He said in 2011, “I wish the Republicans were all f***ing dead.”
So, naturally, the White House has invited Savage over to fundraise for him, since he is also the founder of the It Gets Better Project, an anti-bullying initiative. That initiative has a pledge: “Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I’ll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work.” Savage has received support from every major Obama administration official, from Vice President Biden to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. They were not put off, apparently, by Savage’s cursing at Christian students after he attacked the Bible and they walked out on him.
And this weekend, the media’s desperate attempts to portray Savage as a moderate continued, with CNN’s Brian Stelter asking Savage this absurd question:
Some people thought [your “suck my dick” comment] was equally vile. Why do you think it’s appropriate or necessary to lower yourself to that level?
First off, it is significantly more vile to demand that a pediatric neurosurgeon suck your penis than for that pediatric neurosurgeon to make an argument that homosexual behavior is a choice. Stelter’s insane question suggests precisely the opposite. Second, Savage has “lowered himself” to this level for nearly two decades. The only people pretending surprise at his latest outburst are the members of the media and political left who have championed him as a gay spokesperson.
Dan Savage is vile. Dan Savage has always been vile. And the fact that so many on the left defend his vulgarity, nastiness, and moral imbecility simply shows that none of those characteristics are obstacles to success on the American left.
Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.