Meanwhile back in Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt's act has evolved from strict Donald Trump apery to more of a Ron DeSantis sort of look. You know--that screeching homophobic one. Unfortunately for our Kevin those depraved Disney souls don't have a presence in the Sooner State, but, lucky for him, PBS does.
And, as the white hunter types among us know, sometimes you have to shoot the game that's available, not the great beast you dream of.
Earlier this week Stitt vetoed House Bill 2820 which would have funded the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority until July 1, 2026. In other words, no more PBS for you, Oklahoma. Stitt's reasoning is straight out of DeSantis' twisted playbook. It says the OETA is a vehicle for PBS to sexualize the state's children by pushing a LGBTQ agenda.
According to Stitt, "I don't think Oklahomans want to use their tax dollars to indoctrinate kids. Some of the stuff they are showing it just overly sexualizes our kids. If you want to watch that, that's fine. But why am I using taxpayer dollars to prop that up. I don't think we need that and I'm glad to veto that bill."
Yes, now we know where Kevin Stitt stands on the whole Bert and Ernie question, not to mention those salacious leers from Fred Rogers on his show, "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood."
Of course Stitt's judgement of what Oklahomans want and don't want hasn't always been spot on. In June of 2020 he promised then President, Donald Trump he would have a huge crowd of supporters at a political rally at Tulsa's BOK Center. He so oversold the attendance estimate to the Trump campaign it even erected an outside stage to accommodate the overflow crowd. Trump came, but the 19,000 seat arena was barely a third full. The whole thing was such a downer the outside stage was dismantled while El Don was speaking.
Well, sometimes the governor gets dazed and confused. Like at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. One evening Mr. Stitt made a big show of taking his family out to eat at an OKC restaurant. He went on social media during the dinner and urged all Oklahomans to take their families out to eat. Less than 48 hours later he was forced to shut down all in person dining, gyms, barber shops and other businesses due to the swiftly spreading plague.
The bill vetoed by Stitt passed the GOP controlled Oklahoma House 79-0 and the equally conservative Senate, 41-7. Given those numbers the guv, like he did with the crowd size in Tulsa, might have overestimated the right wing zeal to get rid of shows like the notorious, "Antiques Road Show."
A legislative override of the veto might be problematical, however. The governor--who has probably never watched OETA programming: he got all this, "they're sexualizing kids," shit from a Fox News report that condemned two PBS cartoon shows--has framed his veto as a statement against the dreaded, "gay agenda." He has been careful not to mention Masterpiece, or even the suspected lefty Oklahoma News Report, and PBS NewsHour. By doing so any Oklahoma legislator voting to override can be accused of being a, Homo Loving RINO, by not only the governor, but any potential challenger. It is not an accusation you want to face in places like, Boise City, Dewey, Madill, and Binger.
Indeed, given the level of cowardice found in the current republican party it doesn't take much to cause GOP lawmakers to avoid the right decision in order to appease the mob, be it real, or imaginary. At the moment, without an override, OETA will cease to function in exactly two months.
Ron DeSantis will be happy when she gets the news from Oklahoma. So much so he might even mention the governor's name in some sort of speech, or message. Who knows, there might even be a job in a DeSantis administration down the line. Sadly that, more than anything else, is probably what Kevin Stitt is going for with this despicable nonsense.
Hey, in the end, it's all he's got.
4-30-23
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