A Stitch in Haste

Dispatches from the field:

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ITEM: Senator Sam Brownback has taken a gratuitous, frivolous (and unconstitutional) stance to reinforce his Red State Redneck credentials —

Sen. Brownback’s legislation calls for the FTC to prohibit rating games only on partial content, as well as withholding content or hiding content for rating. That appears superficially to head off any future repeats of the controversy surrounding "Grand Theft Auto," a popular video game that raised eyebrows (and the ire of legislators) when it was discovered that players could watch explicit sex acts in the game. The resulting media furor caused the game’s publisher to recall it and republish it, edited.
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The bill also calls for the FTC to examine the effectiveness of the ESRB, to determine whether the content ratings system should be peer reviewed, and to look at the feasibility of setting up an "independent ratings system." Sen. Brownback also wants the FTC to consider employing a "universal ratings system" that stretches across film, television and games.

In other words, Brownback wants government-imposed censorship. "For the children."

Brownback has peddled this bill in Congress before. Even a Republican-controlled Congress wouldn't touch it. To reintroduce it in a Democratic-controlled Congress is pure grandstanding.

Oh, and the bill would be unconstitutional anyway. Video games are not a (supposed) "public trust" and are therefore not subject to the same kind of government controls that broadcast media are.

So if the government cannot censor video games directly, then it must follow that it cannot censor them indirectly by regulating the (private and non-profit) ESRB.

Meanwhile, every attempt by states to restrict access of "violent" (a hopeless vague term by constitutional law standards) video games has been struck down. Every single one.

But this is prime fodder for the radical social conservative voters than Brownback must steer away from his principal rivals, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. So expect many similar proposals from Brownback in the future.

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ITEM: Mitt Romney has yet again been forced to flip-flop to try to appease those same radical social conservative Republicans:

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R), who once advocated allowing gays to serve openly in the military, said yesterday that he does not think the Pentagon should change its "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the midst of the Iraq war.

"'Don't ask, don't tell' has worked well. We're in the middle of a conflict. Now is not the time for a change in that regard, and I don't have a policy posture as to allowing gays in the military to serve there openly," Romney, a presidential candidate, said on ABC's "This Week."

Worked well? By what standard? How do you measure such a sweeping claim? Apparently you don't measure it by counting the number of grandmothers and idiots the Army is enlisting instead of otherwise well-suited gays.

Meanwhile:

He opposes discrimination against gays and lesbians but supports a federal amendment defining marriage as limited to a man and a woman. "Marriage is primarily an institution to help develop children.

Well then I suppose he fully supports the "mandatory procreation" initiative in Washington State? And what does it say about him if he doesn't? And don't try to decipher that first sentence — you'll just get a headache.

Incidentally, one reporter on Washington Week in Review noted that Romney's latest rally was best described as "empty bleacher seats." Good.

For a complete rundown of Romney's flip-flops, from gay rights to abortion to immigration to gun control (less than one year ago, Romney had an epiphany and performed the "Christian" act of joining the NRA), watch Romney's appearance on "This Week." Or, better, read this Richard Cohen piece.

More thoughts at Pam's House Blend.

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ITEM: Consider this a footnote, since John McCain, although a miserable, decrepit little hypocrite, is not one of the Big Three Bigots (i.e., Brownback, Romney and Mike Huckabee) —

"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.

McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."
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McCain later attended an evening rally promoting an abstinence program.
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McCain is trying to build support among conservatives after a recent rebuke from Christian leader James Dobson, who said he wouldn't back McCain's presidential bid. Conservatives question McCain's opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. He opposes same-sex marriage, but says it should be regulated by the states.

Although McCain is almost certainly doomed as a candidate considering his blind support of President Bush on Iraq, to the extent that he can flip-flop his way to the Far Right, the Big Three Bigots will be in even more trouble. Stay tuned. (Related: Giuliani flip-flops on abortion.)