Soprano Endorses Santorum
Fictional Mob boss Tony Soprano endorsed actual Republican Senator Rick Santorum in Sunday’s episode of The Sopranos:
“I agree with that Sen. Sanatorium, (sic) who says if we let this stuff go too far, pretty soon we’ll be f***ing dogs.”
The anti-gay themes were heavy in the Sopranos on Sunday. Reminded us of America during an election year.
And throughout it all, we couldn’t help but think of Tony as a George Bush-like figure. In his heart of hearts, George Bush doesn’t really care about homosexuality. He makes a stink about it for practical reasons– because that’s what he’s expected to do to keep up appearances. But come on: this a president who has woken up– on more than one occasion, we’d guess– with his face stuck in a pasty cemented mix of whiskey-puke combined with the leftovers of last night’s cocaine. Could he really judge homosexuality that harshly?
Nah. As he says to Silvio:
“It’s 2006. There’s pillow biters in the Special Forces.”
Hehe. Er… right. Well, that’s Tony’s way of being accepting. But seriously– Tony’s had his transgressions, too, and judging a gay guy as a sinner just doesn’t sit right with him. When Carlo suggests that it might be a sin, Tony nearly calls him out on the hypocrisy of it all: “Let’s be honest with ourselves,” he starts, leading us to believe he’s about to launch into a diatribe about the absurdity of a bunch of guys who kill, steal and cheat for a living judging Vito as a sinner because he’s gay. But he cops out– relying on the practical argument rather than the honest one: “We all know Vito’s not the first.”
And the practical is what will prevail in Tony’s world. Silvio’s argument is the one that rings most true: If you let Vito get a pass on anything from here on out, the fact that he’s gay will influence the way the rest of the capos view that move. It’s not about judging him– it’s about politics. This argument clearly resonates with Tony.
And that’s the reason that Bill Frist will be proposing a Federal Marriage Amendment in June. Not because George Bush necessarily thinks it’s right. We’d be willing to guess he doesn’t. But because in 2004, he was in a political pinch, and forcing gay marriage into the national conversation was politically expedient. It was practical. And in that regard, Tony and the president aren’t all that different.
Clearly David Chase was making a point in this episode about Mafiosos leaning Republican (We could’ve told you that –ed. Good point! Maybe Chase has been visiting the site!). Not incidentally, Carmella owned up to voting for Bush in 2004. Little did she know she was married to him.