In much the same way that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, conservative culture warriors love to hate the Oscars. Last night's 80th Academy Awards were no exception. Nothing seems to infuriate the family values crowd more than Hollywood award winners on stage thanking their same-sex partners for their support. Nothing, that is, except the sight of American soldiers in Iraq introducing them.
Conservative culture mavens were apoplectic that a half-dozen U.S. troops were featured in the Oscars via a satellite feed from Baghdad. Shortly thereafter, the controversial "Taxi to the Dark Side" won the trophy for best documentary. The film, originally acquired by Discovery Network which then retreated from showing it, will air on HBO in September. The documentary examines the case of an innocent Afghan taxi driver allegedly tortured to death by U.S. officials at Bagram Air Base. No doubt, director Alex Gibney's acceptance statement got the right's blood boiling:

"Let's hope we can turn this country around and move away from the dark side and back to the light."

The response was fast and furious. The consistently execrable Debbie Schlussel called the film "blatant, lying propaganda" and "the hypocrisy of the Oscars using soldiers to introduce their movies, when they just hate American soldiers." New York Post columnist and Gulf War vet Kyle Smith fumed that the "media are bent on presenting sordid, depraved and illegal acts committed by members of the military and intelligence...as the norm in order to undercut the war and defund the troops." Needless to say, a frustrated Michelle Malkin weighed in, complaining "you know what they say: DON'T QUESTION THEIR PATRIOTISM!"
But adding insult to injury for the foaming-at-the-mouth right was what happened just a few minutes earlier. Our soldiers in Iraq actually introduced the nominees and winner for best short subject documentary. In what will no doubt be read as the latest salvo in the battle over the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, a uniformed American soldier announced the winner, Freeheld. As the New York Times described the film:

The 38-minute documentary chronicles the experiences of an Ocean County prosecutor's investigator, Detective Lt. Laurel Hester, who died of lung cancer in February 2006 at 49. She fought her illness while battling the Ocean County freeholders for benefits for her partner, Stacie Andree.

(Ms. Hester passed away before New Jersey Governor John Corzine signed into law the state's new civil unions law.)
Most commentators on the raging right like Ed Driscoll have focused their venom at the Hollywood "'Axis of Chutzpah' for having American troops present the best documentary award." Schlussel appears to be one of the few in the Republican amen corner to actually understand which award out troops were actually presenting. In her typically bilious manner, she concluded:

"Figures that the Best Short DocuFakery winner is about promoting lesbians adopting kids and came with a political, sob story "thank you" speech about how bad lesbians have it. Blah, blah, blah. Spare us. They have the WNBA, don't they?"

Now, the reaction of raving right to the use of American troops as a seeming Oscar night prop is predictable. But in one respect, the likes of Schlussel and Malkin are right. It was inexcusable for the Academy to put our soldiers in the center of controversy like this. If Hollywood really wanted to honor our fighting men and women, the Oscar organizers should have had them introduce a marquee award like Best Picture. At that moment, Americans - and people worldwide - would have watching our best awarding the film industry for its best.
Instead, the Oscars merely gave fodder for the Neanderthal right to rage about Americans troops being appropriated by Hollywood as pawns in the culture war. (Of course, the conservative chattering classes have no issue with President Bush's endless use of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines for White House propaganda purposes.) But worse still, it puts people like me in the uncomfortable position of agreeing, in part, with the conservative hate machine.