New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, a Democrat who recently came out of the closet as it was being revealed that he had appointed his lover ---an Israeli citizen who was unqualified for the job--- to be the Homeland Security director of their state, gave his farewell address today. And, just as he did a few months ago when he dropped trou on his personal life, McGreevey continues to refer to himself as a "gay American."
Gay American? Why does that construction annoy me so much? Because it's a gratuitous self-description intended to blunt criticism by McGreevey's associating himself with the one half of that label which he never tried to hide. See, it was never the fact that McGreevey is an American that he kept a secret; it was the gay part. Obviously.
But McGreevey is a user. He uses this construction because it serves his purpose, which is to misconstrue the criticisms of him. Attack McGreevey and you attack his homosexuality, not his astonishing lack of judgement and the corruption of his administration. How very cynical.
And McGreevey keeps at it, too, with this crap about not apologizing for being a homosexual. Well, a lot of people may not like him for that, but I couldn't care less about it in itself; it is the fact that he had no courage to live as he is. Instead, he deceived everyone until circumstances forced his hand. This is the new bravery? No one expects him to apologize for being gay; they expect him to apologize for his criminality and shit judgement. But if McGreevey can play the martyr, he thinks he'll get away with it.
I hope the people of New Jersey prosecute and convict him for what he's done, not for who he is.