Don't Blame The Gays

[Brian_Expat]

Another excellent Signorile article:

http://www.signorile.com/articles/nyp130.html

A FEW WEEKS AGO Howard Dean told me that, oddly, I was the only interviewer to ask him about a passage in his new book, You Have the Power, in which he recounts how Bill Clinton told one of Dean's supporters that Dean "had forfeited his right to run for president." The reason for Clinton's alleged claim? Because Dean had signed civil unions into law in Vermont, something Clinton believed would prevent him from ever getting elected. The fact that few in the media asked Dean about this glaring account in his book—in a year in which one presidential candidate has used the issue of same-sex marriage against the other one—says a lot about our clueless media, which is suddenly telling us that the presidential election turned on "moral values."

It also obviously says a lot about Bill Clinton, though not much we didn't know already. The gay issue has always been complicated for Clinton, traumatized as he was on the gays-in-the-military issue and often operating from then on in an irrational manner. Newsweek claimed last week that Clinton had advised John Kerry during the campaign that he should come out in support of the various antigay state ballot initiatives banning same-sex marriage, to which Kerry supposedly replied, "I'm not going to ever do that."

Well worth a full read. Kerry's response was heartening.

[madrchsod]

1. blame the "golden girls" tv program

[Maat]

2. Thanks for the link ... always a good writer.

Happy Holidays! Seasons Greetings! Happy Santa Claus Eve and Santa Claus Day! Merry Christmas!

[TwentyFive]

3. Clinton is 100% politician

If an issue is going to be fatal for his campaign, he has no problem turning his back on it. Apparently, he figures it's worth giving up whatever issues you have to in order to win an election.

If Kerry had come out strongly in favor or same-sex marriage bans, Clinton believes it might have helped him get elected. So apparently, in America, you have to be a bigot in order to win elections. What a country.

[OneBlueSky]

4. Clinton has always been the quintessential . . .

"policy by polling" kind of politician . . . his entire presidency had more to do with his polling operation than with any deeply held beliefs on his part . . . he, as much as anyone, is responsible for the "poll-driven cowardice" that continues to plague the the Democratic Party . . . witness the current move to "moderate" the party's stand on abortion and to generally "move to the center," for example . . .

[TwentyFive]

6. Clinton does have core beliefs.

It's just that he has no problem throwing any belief overboard in order to cross the finish line ahead of his opponent. He is masterful at judging which isses he can carry to victory.

It's like being in a sinking lifeboat...you either keep everybody in the boat and have it sink...or push the least popular members into the water and carry the rest to safety. Clinton is just choosing the least dangerous of 2 alternatives.

[Brian_Expat]

7. Clinton's core beliefs, there are two of them:

1) Do whatever it takes to get Bill Clinton ahead.

2) Abandon allies and friends whenever necessary to expedite #1.

It's like being in a sinking lifeboat...you either keep everybody in the boat and have it sink...or push the least popular members into the water and carry the rest to safety. Clinton is just choosing the least dangerous of 2 alternatives.

Sorry, that's utter crap. There's no "sinking lifeboat." If the Democrats had mounted a credible counter-campaign to the Republicans' hate amendments, they would have won. Instead, they ran screaming and the "lifeboat" sank anyway.

No, the Democratic Party is the Titanic these days, and I am convinced of that more and more with each passing day. It completely undermined its own argument about how voting third party brings in Republicans -- the third parties got NO votes and Kerry still couldn't win. And sending the homos to the wolves didn't work either. They STILL lost.

[Meldread]

8. The only problem with that analogy is...

...the fact that I don't die that easily.

If you push me off the lifeboat, I'm going to make sure everyone else drowns with me. Either we all make it to the shore or everyone's going to drown, but I'll be damned before I'll be left behind.

[xchrom]

5. gay folk must watch their backs at all times

even our liberal allies can turn on us for political expediency -- or just about any other reason.

[Meldread]

9. Clinton was never an ally nor a liberal.

He's always been the proverbial wolf in sheeps clothing. He'll walk into our community with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye while reciting a laundry list of promises. He's no more our friend or ally than Bush -- we need to adopt the strategy of the enemy: "You're either with us or you're the enemy." Clinton and his wife are enemies.