During his latest attempt to equate same-sex marriage with man-on-dog sex, dgs49 said:
Watch your local cable news channel for the next breathless update on this story, where we are told that Our Beloved President also feels, spontaneously of course, the exact same way as Biden does on this pressing issue, but doesn't have the courage to say it out loud.
Ending months of equivocation, U.S. President Barack Obama declared his support for gay marriage on Wednesday, an announcement fraught with history that also injects a potentially polarizing issue into the 2012 race for the White House.
“I have hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with ABC at the White House. He added that, “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people the word ‘marriage’ was something that invokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs and so forth.”
Now, he said, “it is important for me personally to go ahead and affirm that same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Mr. Obama’s announcement cheered gay rights groups who have long urged him to support gay marriage. It also opened up a new area of disagreement with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who opposes gay marriage.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
Ok, when will the first teabagger insinuations about Obama's sexuality start? Tomorrow?
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Well, it's about time our President found his way out of the closet. His 'evolved' conclusion that gays are entitled to full and equal civil rights is spot on. I, as a 63 year old, heterosexual, divorced guy, feel everyone deserves to have a chance to be as miserable as I am. Barack's disclosure today now (kind of) guarantees that right to all -- unless they live in NC or some other "3rd world" state. Our President needs to be congratulated not scorned.
If he doesn't screw up big time between now and then he'll have my vote on Nov. 6th. Otherwise, I'm voting for Ron Paul.
“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.”
There were so many parallels in that video to my own situation, particularly the parents who had long since shut my Mitch out of their lives suddenly showing up when he died trying to claim any asset of value. They went so far as to wanting him to be remembered as mentally unfit so that they could invalidate all of the careful estate planning we had done. And tens of thousands in legal fees later, they almost succeeded, because they were his next of kin and I was not. I was, in the eyes of the law, as the video said, "merely a roommate".
Anyone who claims all of these problems can be resolved by anything less than equal and legal marriage is either a bigot or a fool. Either way, their opinion counts for shit. Trying to destroy the institution of marriage my ass. Try having a bunch of evolutionary throwbacks attempt to destroy your life, and then come and tell me that I deserved to be treated like a non-person in the life my partner and I built together.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
In 25 years republicans will all lie, becausethey are ashamed, and deny they ever hated homosexuals just like they lie today about opposing equal rights for women and blacks.
Weak, and always on the wrong side of history and justice.
Thank goodness he finally stood up for what is right. From the reaction I've seen so far, he has re-energized some of the left which will help in the campaign going forward. I'm thinking he will still some of the college kids back from Ron Paul, who were so important in his victory last time.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
rubato wrote:In 25 years republicans will all lie, becausethey are ashamed, and deny they ever hated homosexuals just like they lie today about opposing equal rights for women and blacks.
Weak, and always on the wrong side of history and justice.
Yrs
Rubato
Near st malo
Republicans were once on the right side of history (Fightin' Bob LaFollette is still a hero to me), but it has been about 100 years since then. A shame, really.
just like they lie today about opposing equal rights for women and blacks.
Once again, rube demonstrates that if you want an accurate historical account, you'd be much better off with Mr. Peabody and his Way Back Machine, than you would be reading anything he has to say on the subject...
As anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of the subject knows, (which, as is the case with so many of the topics he opines on, would not include rube) none of the landmark civil rights legislation of early-mid 60s would have passed Congress without GOP support. (Particularly without the support of GOP Senate leader Evert Dirksen)
Guinevere wrote:Thank goodness he finally stood up for what is right. From the reaction I've seen so far, he has re-energized some of the left which will help in the campaign going forward. I'm thinking he will still some of the college kids back from Ron Paul, who were so important in his victory last time.
Guin--that's my concern; this just smacks of a "let's stir up the base I ignored for the last 3 years; the fools will flock to me" rather than standing up for what is right. I hate being cynical but this guy reminds me of Bill clinton--he wants to stay president far more than trying to get anything of value done while he is in office. Results count a lot more than words, and his "accomplishments" seem at odds with the platform he ran on in the last election.
I believe Big RR has hit the nail precisely on the head...
I believe this latest dance that began with Joe Biden's supposed inadvertent "gaffe" and culminated with Obama's comments yesterday is part of an orchestrated effort to try and energize a political base that Team Obama knows has been dispirited by what this group sees as his failure to move the country far enough to the left...
It's part of a piece that goes along with the speeches Obama has been giving over the past few months, where the guy who raised more money from Wall Street than any other candidate in history is suddenly channeling his inner Huey Long...
And it appears to be having some affect, if you look at the increase in enthusiasm among Democrats about the election that has been reflected in recent polls.
There's nothing unique to Obama about this; it's SOP in modern Presidential politics when you're running for re-election and you think that a significant portion of your base might not be enthusiastic enough about you to bother to drag themselves to the polls...
It's not going to help you a whole lot if you get the majority of that six percent of the electorate that could go either way, if at the same time less of the 47% on your side show up than do the 47% on the other guy's side...
I suspect that come September, Obama will be more focused on closing that 10% gap he has with Romney among independents, and we'll be hearing less of the class warfare rhetoric...(though he'll continue to have a problem with that group if the economy doesn't improve, no matter what song and dance routine he chooses to perform.... Independents tend to make their decision based on results, not pretty speeches or diversionary issues.)
Jim--I think you're right, and I also think that Obama's biggest problem in this campaign is not Romney, but apathy among his "47%". In this area I think the republicans have a decided advantage in that they have convinced their entrenched base that Obama is such a demon that anyone, even a candidate they are not crazy about, is preferable (IMHO this worked extremely well with W in 2004); I don't think the dems have been able to do this with Romney, which then leaves this base to consider the candidate on his own merits, and IMHO Obama fails miserably here among those who embraced (or at least hoped against hope for) his "change" in 2008. Some may rally to the rhetoric, others (myself included) won't. Add to that the inevitable courting of the middle in the Fall, and I think this may well spell trouble for Obama in November.
Big RR wrote:this just smacks of a "let's stir up the base I ignored for the last 3 years; the fools will flock to me" rather than standing up for what is right
On this issue he already stood up for what is right when the Justice Department announced over a year ago that they would no longer be defending DOMA in court. If he is guilty of anything, it's that action has actually outpaced rhetoric on this file, which isn't something you see in politics every day.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
(though he'll continue to have a problem with that group if the economy doesn't improve, no matter what song and dance routine he chooses to perform.... Independents tend to make their decision based on results, not pretty speeches or diversionary issues.)
As an independent, this (the economy) is the number one issue with me. Marriage acts, gays in the military, abortion, etc are all sideshows for me.
And the economy is still in the tank.
But oh boy!!!! gas prices dropped $.05/gallon this week. Maybe I can not ride my motorcycle in a monsoon this week. 60mpg vs 25mpg, nope, not yet.
I don' know who I am going to vote for come November but NY will probably go to Obama no matter my vote so I am looking harder at the local candidates to see how they align with my beliefs/values.
All well and good that he personally supports the concept of gay marriage, but is he actually proposing to do anything about this? The Administration is already refusing to enforce DOMA (except in the most meaningful way for most gay couples on a day to day basis -- they still don't get the tax benefits of being married). This will continue to largely be a state issue that cannot spread to unwilling states due to DOMA.
In addition to BigRR and LJ's accurate comments, this is a transparent attempt by the president to look "principled" and "take a tough stand" on a controversial issue, so that whether you agree or not you have to appreciate that he is willing to stand up "for what he believes in". You know, because we need, like, a real leader in charge of things. Meanwhile, nothing changes.
Scooter 
