I Needed to Know This

Gov. James E. McGreevey is a gay American.

I'm not entirely sure what that means. Actually, I have no idea in hell what the governor meant by that. I suppose he just chose a random attribute to attach to "gay;" it would have been just as well if he had said he was a gay man, or a gay Scotsman, or a gay incompetent-governor-who-was-still-too-good-for-New-Jersey-voters, those-ignorant-sacks-of-liberal. Any one would do.

All right, who bought that? Probably the same people who play slots for five hours straight at Atlantic City and just know they're going to hit ($1000 later, they hit! The story is "I won $500 at Atlantic City!" Simple arithmetic is far beyond the capacity of the average gambler, and when you factor in the mind-dulling atmosphere of the Garden State...well, the losses tend to get ignored and the wins get exaggerated). Jimmy is playing identity politics. He is a gay American as a black is an African-American. We can't just be Americans; no, we have to associate ourselves with a group, an oppressed group.

You can't really blame McGreevey for wanting to characterize himself as a gay man (because all gay men have identical interests and political views, right?); the alternative is to allow the public to judge him on his abysmal record in a state where malaise is real, here-and-now, instead of a relic of years past.

How bad is New Jersey? You have to pay to get out, but not to get in. Don't believe me? Try taking I-78 into, then out of, Jersey. Do the same with the George Washington Bridge. Only have to pay one way on each of those routes.