UPDATED: You say you want an evolution, well you know, we'd all love to see the plan*
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
UPDATED: You say you want an evolution, well you know, we'd all love to see the plan*
UPDATE: I wrote a longer riff on the same theme for the dead-tree Daily News -- you can read that here.
Look what's happening down in D.C.....Got an evolution (got an evolution!):**
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday ended nearly two years of “evolving” on the issue of same-sex marriage by publicly endorsing it in a television interview, taking a definitive stand on one of the most contentious and politically charged social issues of the day.
“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Mr. Obama told ABC News in an interview that came after the president faced mounting pressure to clarify his position.
In an election that is all but certain to turn on the slowly recovering economy and its persistently high jobless rate, Mr. Obama’s stand nonetheless injects a volatile social issue into the campaign debate and puts him at even sharper odds with his presumptive Republican rival, Mitt Romney, who opposes same-sex marriage and favors an amendment to the United States Constitution to forbid it.
I have mixed feelings about this for a lot of reasons. I don't think Obama's evolution is that unusual; a lot of the more-than-half of all Americans who support gay marriage -- myself included -- were not so sure just a couple of years ago. (Personally, I think that government should get out of the marriage business altogether and just recognize civil unions for any type of couple, and that marriage should be a social function that includes houses of worship but obviously not limited to just them; it doesn't matter what I think because that's not going to happen). But Obama sure was slow -- I think fish developed legs and walked on land in a shorter period of time.
That's just the Obama we all know and...feel lukewarm about. Just once I'd love to see him out front on a social-justice issue instead of adopting a decent stance after everyone else has spoken out. But that, too, is not going to happen. You could say that Obama is once again leading from behind -- although I wouldn't recommend you do that.
RG - you should be proud of your beliefs. Don't run away from your stance on the Burlington Coat Factory cultural center now. Man up.— Talking point sleuth- You should be proud of you baseless accusations. Its all you've ever had. C'mon, Google where I was against the center.— RG
- I will give PAEnglish credit, however.
He might have abiding respect for fascists (like those pictured at the link below), but I highly doubt he'll run away from his stance on the Burlington Coat Factory cultural center, like RG's laughably trying to do.
http://tinyurl.com/cbca7lt— Talking point sleuth - To say I'm running away from my stance would mean you'd have to show my original stance.
I'll put it out to the crowd. Does anyone remember me being concerned or against the cultural center? Or did I take the standard libertarian response and support property rights?
— RG - What did you post about the Imam, RG?
Too funny.— Talking point sleuth - @general- Fair enough, but it still comes back to a states v. federal government rights issue. Can you be married for federal purposes but not for state? Currently you can be married for state purposes but not for federal. And under DOMA (which I believe is still law), the feds cannot force another state to recognize a gay marriage recognized by another state.
For all the support the issue seems to get though, why is it that in every state it has been brought to a vote, it has lost. It lost in CA, for heaven's sake.— Wiseman6 - Federal law supersedes state law. The federal government gives specific benefits to married couples even though it does not grant marriage licenses. These specific benefits not only aren't available to gay couples, they aren't available to anyone else who may be in the precisely same living arrangement as a married couple (think of the boyfriend/girlfriend who live together but can't get married because of a grudge held by an ex, refusing to sign divorce papers).
The federal government has two choices: either stop discriminating against those without marriage licenses, or grant those same benefits to others to avoid being discriminatory. The first will likely not happen, as it would require an extensive amount of legislative effort. The second is the easiest way to go.
The Federal government grants far more benefits tied to marriage than the state does. Tax benefits and social security are the two most obvious examples.
And this is why Obama's admission of being personally in favor of gay marriage but leaving the decision to the states is a load of bunk (and it's an admission, because anyone who doesn't think he originally felt this way is fooling himself). It's a total cop out, a way of saying to his base "hey, I'm in favor of it, but it's out of my hands."
That's not leadership.
True leadership would recognize that this isn't even a gay rights issue -- this is an issue for all of the people involved in a non-traditional family arrangement. - TPS, why don't you show us what I said about the Imam, link and all.
— RG - ===}}} TPS, why don't you show us what I said about the Imam, link and all. {{{===
I looked extensively, RG. And indeed, I found many comments from you were you acknowledged the Islamophobic nature of the attacks on Rauf. (You know, when you weren't whining about how Islamophobia is a "made up" term). Where you explained out the "outrage" about the Burlington Coat Factory cultural center was laughable rightwing nonsense and pandering to extremism. You know, where you explained that Rauf denounced terrorism, worked consistently for inter-faith dialog, was tapped but the Bush administration to reach out to the ME, etc.
I'd link those comments of yours, but for some reason I'm unable to do so.
Listen to the interview, RG, and contemplate what a fraud you are. I'm sure you'll come to some realizations. Eventually.— Talking point sleuth - This entire post makes no sense. I literally cannot make heads or tails out of what you are trying to say. You're boring me. Put up or shut up. — RG
- So, you can't provide a link? BS and you know it.— RG
- so when asked to provide proof, all of the sudden the snippopotamus can't cut and paste and link. Shocking.— RG
- What were your contributions in discussions about Rauf, RG?— Talking point sleuth
- ===}}} I literally cannot make heads or tails out of what you are trying to say. {{{===
Classic. Yeah, you "couldn't figure out" what I was trying to say.
Too funny.— Talking point sleuth - Whats too funny is your inability to cut and paste all of the sudden.— RG
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
