And how long will this infection of hatred last?

Chris Matthews rips Texas Republican platform: 'How wide is this infection of hatred?' (Click on this headline to read more)

By Arturo Garcia
Monday, June 9, 2014 21:33 EDT
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MSNBC host Chris Matthews blasted Texas Republicans on Monday, saying their adopting an openly anti-LGBT platform at the state party convention last weekend showcased a side of the GOP that the party, on a national level, would prefer to keep hidden from the public.
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"How wide is this infection of hatred?" Matthews asked guests Howard Fineman and Eugene Robinson. "They're going after gays now at this point in our history, when most Americans - including [Sen.] Bobby Casey (D) of Pennsylvania, very traditional people - are moving toward acceptance and, if not celebration, certainly true acceptance. I'm wondering, what's wrong with Texas?"
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Robinson described the issue as being particular to the state party, pointing out that Texas has three of the biggest cities in the U.S.
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"Cities tend to be more tolerant places, tolerant of all different kinds of people who live there," Robinson said. "Houston, in particular, which is the fourth-biggest city in the country, has a very large and active gay LGBT community."

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Houston and San Antonio - the seventh-biggest city in the U.S. - have both expanded their local anti-discrimination laws to include the LGBT communities, much to the chagrin of some local religious leaders.
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During the convention, which opened with a speaker portraying Davy Crockett calling for a war against "tyrannical dictator" President Barack Obama, the Texas GOP adopted a platform saying that homosexuality "tears at the fabric of society" and endorsed "reparative therapy," a widely-discredited practice that purports to turn gay people into heterosexuals.
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"Is this what the Republican Party plans to run on in 2016?" Matthews asked. "Hate?"