A NICE RIPOSTE!

Joan Walsh of Salon writes about how she pushed back against the "moral values" gasbags:

I leave for the game wondering if I was intemperate last night on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country," after producers played footage of Newt saying a "San Francisco liberal" like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shouldn't be visiting Syria.

I got off a line I'd actually decided before the show not to use: I said I didn't think "San Francisco liberals" such as Pelosi or myself should be lectured by the likes of a "serial adulterer from Georgia" such as Gingrich.

Scarborough and Pat Buchanan got rather agitated, but I think it was fair: I'm proud to be a San Francisco liberal, embracing San Francisco values -- tolerance, social justice, diversity, environmentalism -- but people like Gingrich use the term as code for gay rights, gay marriage (which I also support and defend, but the complexities of the argument don't always make good sound bites) and other supposed left-coast lifestyle extremes. So I think Gingrich's
serial adultery should prohibit him from using loaded moral shorthand with his conservative base -- but I don't think Scarborough agreed.

Here's the transcript from MSNBC:

WALSH: I‘m proud. Hey, I‘m proud...

SCARBOROUGH: You‘re proud?

WALSH: ... to be a San Francisco liberal. I‘m proud to be a San Francisco liberal. And I‘m not going to have Nancy Pelosi lectured by the likes of Newt Gingrich, the serial adulterer from Georgia. I mean, San Francisco liberal is a slur. It stands for a certain kind of personal values, and it‘s outrageous. Plus, you guys, Frank Wolf, a wonderful Republican, went to Syria, as well. It‘s not just Nancy Pelosi. People are getting sick of the lack of diplomacy in this administration, and they are going to see with their own eyes...

BUCHANAN: But hold it. Now, Joan...

WALSH: ... because they‘re tired of lies...

(CROSSTALK)

SCARBOROUGH: Before you get in, she was talking about slurs. I just want
to clarify this. So “San Francisco liberal” is a slur, serial adulterer—is
that...

(LAUGHTER)

WALSH: I‘m responding in kind. No, I‘m not pretending it‘s not a slur. I‘m just saying that Newt Gingrich tries to take the moral high road...

SCARBOROUGH: OK...

BUCHANAN: But Joan...

(CROSSTALK)