I'm a liberal, which of course means that I instantaneously side with the downtrodden, the outcast, the loser. (I used to be a Pirates fan for the same reason ... though there's only so much even I can take.) 

So although I'm happy that healthcare reform's victory seems assured, I can't help but feel sympathy for the conservatives who fought against it. All they can do now is await the onset of global socialism ... though perhaps some of them will be raptured by then.

In a gesture of bipartisan conciliation, I've been trying to find an upside for conservatives in all this, and I think I've found one, thanks to lefty media watchdog group Media Matters (motto: "We listen to Glenn Beck so you don't have to"). It comes courtesy of Pittsburgh's own Jim Quinn, who raises the possibility that healthcare reform will be bad for gays. 

Huh. You wonder why Rick Santorum didn't support it. 

Anyway, the folks at MM have been compiling previous right-wing warnings about what would happen if healthcare reform passed, and Quinn's predictions are featured prominently. He alternately warns of and counsels insurrection, and urges "rioting" in protest of the measure.  And then there are the gays. This is what Quinn had to say  in January about their fate:

Wait until what you love starts to impact on their [socialist baby-eating one-world government-run healthcare] system. That's right. Wait until what you love ... whether it's riding a motorcycle, whether it's being a gay man and engaging in gay sex, which is demonstrably -- at least some of it is -- a rather unsanitary act in many cases, and it could impact on our health care system. Now, I can't imagine the health care system coming after a preferred group, at this point, like gays, but you know what? Sooner or later, when the money starts to run out, they are the government after all, and you're not.

So there you have it, conservatives: Healthcare reform could, someday, give you the chance to punish gay people. So you've got that to look forward to, at least. 

Or do you? I mean judging from his caveat, there is some gay activity that Quinn feels is sanitary. Presumably, such activity would be outside government control. With luck, Quinn will devote an upcoming broadcast to that topic. Which I can then rely on Media Matters to listen to for me. 

In any case, Quinn's concern for gays certainly is a welcome change. As MM documents, as recently as 2008, Quinn was arguing that because "gay sex produces AIDS," insurers "should charge homosexuals more for their health insurance than they charge the rest of us."

Are you following this? If the private-sector punishes people for risky behavior (though heterosexual sex can cause AIDS too, Jim!), it's the genius of the free market at work. But if the government does it, it's an absolute goddamn outrage.

But in any case, keep reaching for that rainbow, Jim!