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"FacebookPinterest\n\n&amp;quot;This is just pathetic,&amp;quot; says a friend I\u2019ve invited to watch the final debate at a sports bar in DC. He\u2019s referring not to the debate\u2014which is playing on a flat screen TV, affid to a wall decorated with fraternity paddles\u2014but the Cardinals-Giants game playing silently on a small screen above the bar. In the next room, where the walls are plastered with college football flags from Georgia and Iowa and Ohio, and the ceiling is painted in a sporty homage to the Sistine Chapel, a rotating disco ball throws little spheres of light onto a projector screen broadcasting the candidates\u2019 faces. My friends and I have decided to watch the final showdown between Obama and Romney at Nellie\u2019s, a hugely popular sports bar among one of DC\u2019s most visible minority groups: gay bros. In Washington a man\u2019s essential dudeness tends to transcend his sexuality, and it manifests in an unreconstructed dorkiness. (Think too-tight khakis and too-loose button downs, black loafers and socks paired with jeans, and windbreakers tied around the waist.) I don\u2019t have any close gay bro friends, so I did the next best thing and invited two of my best guy friends\u2014one a bro, and one gay\u2014to come with me. Here\u2019s how the latter (rather harshly) describes gay-bros:\n\nThe entire gay population of DC, incubated in upper southern towns and second tier public colleges, generally came out at the age of 22. Sees no conflict between self-identified hipsterism and participating in gay kickball leagues. Few if any female friends, often found at Cobalt [another popular gay bar] for vodka open bars, on 17th street and other passe strips. Drawn to DC, Columbus, and other bland cities.\n\nTonight\u2019s debate attracted a more subdued crowd than the usual clientele. There was no earsplitting Beyonce luring bar hoppers from the distant realms of U Street and no throngs of the thirsty crowding the corner of the sidewalk, just a few men waiting for their friends and a discarded condom lying on the ground. This is, unsurprisingly, a very pro-Obama scene, and beyond the cries of approval when he dings Romney on his foreign policy inexperience, they speak softly and listen carefully. My friends are no exception. &amp;quot;The main strategy Romney has been using is just talking over people and acting like an idiot and telling people what to do because yelling at them makes people feel like he\u2019s in control. I think people want to be dominated. They don\u2019t want a president, they want an S&amp;amp;M fantasy,&amp;quot; the gay friend says.\n\n&amp;quot;50 states, 50 shades of grey,&amp;quot; says the bro friend.\n\n&amp;quot;I would vote for anyone who got the Children International canvassers out of the DC metros,&amp;quot; the gay friend adds. &amp;quot;And the Greenpeace people.&amp;quot;\n\nIt goes on like this for most of the ninety minutes, like it does at most debate watch gatherings among friends: a series of Mystery Science Theater 3000-like one-liners that have nothing to do with the real discussion. &amp;quot;They\u2019re going crazy over the Israel rhetoric,&amp;quot; my gay friend notes, watching the undecided Florida voters CNN is tracking in live in a line graph on the screen. &amp;quot;Is it attached to their genitals, to monitor arousal?&amp;quot; Mitt Romney discusses Iranian sanctions. &amp;quot;We need to get it right, get it tight. Someone needs to find Miss New Booty. She\u2019s in the hills of Tora Bora,&amp;quot; the bro says.\n\nMaybe my friends are just shallow. After the debate I go looking for viewers more interested in discussing the important clash on foreign policy they just witnessed. &amp;quot;He had a leg up with foreign affairs because he has more experience. Romney really didn\u2019t portray a good vision,&amp;quot; says Talgat Irisbekov. His friend, who didn\u2019t want to be named, added: &amp;quot;I thought Obama did slightly better. But I don\u2019t think it matters that much. Unless he failed completely it doesn\u2019t matter that much.&amp;quot;\n\nRead more on Death Race 2012\n\nLet\u2019s Be Clear: This is Romney\u2019s Debate to Lose\n\nModeration In All Things\n\nFour Super Intense Sit-Down Debate Moves\n\nSlogans You Can Believe In!\n\n Follow Marin Cogan on Twitter for more updates from the political scene in Washington and on the campaign trail."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/the-boca-raton-debate-the-view-from-a-dc-gay-sports-bar>