YOU'LL forgive me if I'm less than impressed by the President's Big Reveal, even if it was masterfully done.
Has "masterfully done" applied to anything the Republicans have done or said in living memory? How has that hurt them, exactly? "That was a nifty 'White House watermelon patch' gambit"? "Wow, Frank Luntz is quite the wordsmith"? Nope. Those motherfuckers pander to their base, unashamedly, unabashedly, and unapologetically. Why isn't it a fucking given that a "liberal" politician supports marriage equality? Who, exactly, are we no longer afraid of offending that we were afraid of offending two weeks ago?
Sure, sure, the game is still politics, but maybe if Democrats weren't so afraid of drawing distinctions between themselves and the rabid horde across the aisle they'd find that large numbers of "Undecideds" might decide to agree with them.
Dick Lugar read the polls. Enough said.
Come on now, the entire Democratic establishments issues an apology within 20 minutes of any accusation or display of hurt feelings by Republicans or Teabaggers !
ReplyDeleteI wish the Democrats would respond to Villager/Republican talk about the need for "bipartisanship" by saying "Bernie Sanders is on board, so we are acting in a bipartisan manner!"
but maybe if Democrats weren't so afraid of drawing distinctions between themselves
ReplyDeleteThat might have been the main factor at one point, and I'm sure it's still there.
But I have to raise this objection: they're doing what they do for the money.
Think of the Republicans and Democrats as separate, competing divisions of Plutocracy, Inc.
Yes, they are marketing to different sections of the population, but they report to the same boss. Consider how much better this model predict theirs behavior.
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Doghouse, are you voting in November?
ReplyDeleteJust wondering.
If I may repeat myself, Obama is a moderate Republican.
ReplyDeleteOh, and what Mr. ™³²®©.
Well, as a liberal Democrat, I can't seem to care at all about "marriage equality." It just eludes me, why this is something anyone should think about for more than two seconds.
ReplyDeleteReally, snark-free, I don't get it. Why is it any more important than what brand of toothpaste you use or which agency you have to get your driver's license from?
Sure, if it's just about offending Republicans, then offend away, but WTF? Marriage equality? How could any sane human being give a shit?
Not to go off the deep end and be all Riley about it, what the fuck is going on here?
Man I am experiencing Poe's Law like a motherfucker but assuming you're serious
ReplyDeleteand assuming that I'm parsing your words correctly and that you mean "as a liberal democrat I don't understand why other liberal democrats give a shit about gay marriage"
here's why:
Because unnecessary suffering is bad. And a lack of marriage rights for same sex couples results in lots of unnecessary suffering.
It's obvious a lack of marriage rights causes same sex couples to suffer. Gay couples who are unable to get married are unable to access hundreds of benefits totaling thousands of dollars (tax breaks, etc) which not only aid physical and emotional well-being (it's easier to get health care, it's easier to have the right to see your loved one in the hospital, etc) but also prevent uncertainty and irrational outcomes regarding legal matters (if a member of a gay couple dies, how are the assets divided? If the gay couple had adopted a child, who now has custody of the child? These are questions which have obvious moral and practical answers but are fraught with unnecessary and arbitrary legal hurdles if the gay couples are not married).
This suffering same sex couples endure from being unable to claim the benefits of marriage is unnecessary because there are no arguments against same sex marriage. No practical, no moral, no legal arguments which are not either sophistry or based on religious principles that rely on arguments from authority derived from disputed passages of scripture which a minority of the religious community interprets as declaring homosexuality a mortal sin. That's no way to run a railroad.
Long story short: we should mitigate unnecessary suffering where we can. Same sex couples needlessly suffer from being unable to claim the benefits of marriage. So let's allow them to.
I realize that was a long response to a comment that was in all likelihood trolling (this blog is moving up in the world, haven't noticed trolls here before) but in any event it's well-worth saying.
Oh, President Obama's Big Reveal was cynical politics?
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm in favor of cynical politics, then.
How do you feel about blowing up little kids in foreign counties, nonnie?
ReplyDeleteThat's also cynical politics. But it's not an issue this year's campaign president, because we have bipartisan agreement on doing just that.
And spying on Americans without a warrants.
And protecting the banksters in exchange for campaign contributions.
Yep, things are going just great over here.
USA! USA! USA!
Hope And/Or Change, my friends.
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