Cheney Two, Obama Nothing, Clinton – a Thousand
O.K. I have to give credit where's it's due. But Cheney? Yes, Cheney!
Truly there should be head explosions over in Cheetoland. Their messiah has forsaken them.
Cross-Posted.
FROM The GREAT Uppity Woman & NoQuarter:
While I have long thought VP Dick Cheney was the devil incarnate, no one ever said he wasn’t a smart guy. Cheney was also arguably our most unpopular Vice President evah! He looked to be hiding out in a bunker most of the eight years President Bush was in office, and was probably lucky to slink away without jail time. Who’d’a thunk he’d be getting a big bump in the polls for defending Bush era national security decisions and their safety record. He also rocked our new President, a man of enormous personal popularity, back on his heels. Obama made the terrible mistake of elevating Dick Cheney to his own level by insisting on doing dueling speeches with him the week before on the topic of national security. Why President Obama would wish to draw more attention to Mr. Cheney, I will never know. Well, now, Cheney has trumped Obama again… and wait ‘til you hear how… on Gay Marriage. Yep. You heard me.
I know that VP Cheney has a lesbian daughter and all, but let me put it to you this way, if the world’s most reactionary VP, a/k/a my name is Dick “just call me Mr. Neo Con” Cheney can make a statement as progressive as that – for him – what the hell excuse does our most progressive President evah have for not coming out in favor of gay marriage, or at the very least, at long last repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” – since he has an overwhelmingly Democratic congress and with his popularity, he clearly has the political capital to do it.
Unintentionally perhaps (tee hee), President Obama is receiving a not so gentle nudge from another quarter. Last month, our SHE-ro, Secretary of State Clinton vowed to confer “equal benefits to partners of homosexual US diplomats stationed overseas” (H/T to RRR Amy for her excellent story) and Clinton now takes this a step further:
And what is the President doing? Tapper of ABC News reports POTUS Honors LGBT Pride Month by Not Supporting Same Sex Marriage, While Cheney Disagrees. Ouch!
Then, Tapper offers an UPDATE at the bottom of his post:
Double ouch! Always trying to omit Bill from the equation, isn’t he? And never mind the fact that Hillary Clinton has marched in every Gay Pride parade imaginable and has spoken out for Gay rights many times.
I am still agape at this: Dick Cheney trumping Obama on the gay marriage issue. I mean Hillary always trumped Obama on gay rights, women’s rights, too, of course, but Cheney? Certainly, it is easy for Mr. Cheney to talk now that he’s no longer in office and can do nothing to affect policy, but he clearly enjoys this limelight and as well, being a thorn in the President’s side. And good for Jake Tapper for making sure to point out the following in his article:
But Mr. President – you are the one leaving that promise unfulfilled. What about Dan Choi? You said you wished you could do more about his situation. Sir, you are the POTUS! And what does repealing DADT have to do with our national security? But I gotta love my girl Hill for her statements, which bear repeating:
While the article quoting Secretary Clinton makes mention of the fact that this is Obama reversing Bush’s old policies, since this man has never actually participated in any Gay pride event prior to this, and gave his voters very mixed messages on Prop 8 in California, he is again making a show without the substance to back it up. Further, Bret Baier of FOX News discussed Cheney’s statements with his panel yesterday and they all felt Obama would shortly be coming under great pressure to act.
Come on, Mr. President. We’re waiting.
SOURCE
Truly there should be head explosions over in Cheetoland. Their messiah has forsaken them.
Cross-Posted.
FROM The GREAT Uppity Woman & NoQuarter:
While I have long thought VP Dick Cheney was the devil incarnate, no one ever said he wasn’t a smart guy. Cheney was also arguably our most unpopular Vice President evah! He looked to be hiding out in a bunker most of the eight years President Bush was in office, and was probably lucky to slink away without jail time. Who’d’a thunk he’d be getting a big bump in the polls for defending Bush era national security decisions and their safety record. He also rocked our new President, a man of enormous personal popularity, back on his heels. Obama made the terrible mistake of elevating Dick Cheney to his own level by insisting on doing dueling speeches with him the week before on the topic of national security. Why President Obama would wish to draw more attention to Mr. Cheney, I will never know. Well, now, Cheney has trumped Obama again… and wait ‘til you hear how… on Gay Marriage. Yep. You heard me.
According to Jake Tapper of ABC News:
Cheney was asked at the National Press Club, “given recent events in Iowa and elsewhere, is some form of legalized gay marriage inevitable for the United States?”
“I think that freedom means freedom for everyone,” Cheney said.
“People ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish,” said the laconic former veep, whose daughter Mary is lesbian, and has a son, Sam, with her partner Heather Poe.
Cheney said “…The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don’t support. I do believe that historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. … But I don’t have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that.”
I know that VP Cheney has a lesbian daughter and all, but let me put it to you this way, if the world’s most reactionary VP, a/k/a my name is Dick “just call me Mr. Neo Con” Cheney can make a statement as progressive as that – for him – what the hell excuse does our most progressive President evah have for not coming out in favor of gay marriage, or at the very least, at long last repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” – since he has an overwhelmingly Democratic congress and with his popularity, he clearly has the political capital to do it.
Unintentionally perhaps (tee hee), President Obama is receiving a not so gentle nudge from another quarter. Last month, our SHE-ro, Secretary of State Clinton vowed to confer “equal benefits to partners of homosexual US diplomats stationed overseas” (H/T to RRR Amy for her excellent story) and Clinton now takes this a step further:
Clinton vows to fight for gay rights abroad:
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed Monday to fight for gay rights, calling for all nations to stop violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Clinton made the appeal ahead of the 40th anniversary this month of New York’s Stonewall Riots, often seen as the launch of the US gay rights movement, in which gays and lesbians fought back against police who raided their bars.
“The example set by those fighting for equal rights in the United States gives hope to men and women around the world who yearn for a better future for themselves and their loved ones,” said Clinton, a former senator from New York.
While acknowledging that gays and lesbians still had a long path to equality in the United States, Clinton deplored that gays in some parts of the world live in constant fear of arrest or violence.
“The persecution of gays and lesbians is a violation of human rights and an affront to human decency, and it must end,” she said.
“As secretary of state, I will advance a comprehensive human rights agenda that includes the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Under President Barack Obama, the United States has switched gears from the previous George W. Bush administration by supporting a United Nations resolution calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality.
Homosexuality is punishable by death in seven countries — Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Clinton in her statement saluted the service of “our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees in Washington and around the world.”
And what is the President doing? Tapper of ABC News reports POTUS Honors LGBT Pride Month by Not Supporting Same Sex Marriage, While Cheney Disagrees. Ouch!
Saying he’s “proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration,” President Obama issued a presidential proclamation Monday in honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.
To LGBT activists, however, some of the omissions on his proclamation likely spoke louder than the words included.
Then, Tapper offers an UPDATE at the bottom of his post:
It turns out that Mr. Obama’s claim “to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration” isn’t accurate, since by April 1993 President Bill Clinton had nominated two openly gay Assistant Secretaries.
Double ouch! Always trying to omit Bill from the equation, isn’t he? And never mind the fact that Hillary Clinton has marched in every Gay Pride parade imaginable and has spoken out for Gay rights many times.
Mentioning his administration’s international efforts to decriminalize homosexuality, the President said he would continue to “support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans” — enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gays and lesbians in the armed services.
…
That equal justice under law did not include, in the president’s recitation, perhaps the highest profile issue on the gay-dar – same sex marriage, or what LGBT activists call “marriage equality.”
Interestingly, the presidential proclamation came the same day that Mr. Obama’s conservative nemesis, former Vice President Dick Cheney, seemed to say he supported same-sex marriage as long as the rules are determined on a state-by-state basis.
I am still agape at this: Dick Cheney trumping Obama on the gay marriage issue. I mean Hillary always trumped Obama on gay rights, women’s rights, too, of course, but Cheney? Certainly, it is easy for Mr. Cheney to talk now that he’s no longer in office and can do nothing to affect policy, but he clearly enjoys this limelight and as well, being a thorn in the President’s side. And good for Jake Tapper for making sure to point out the following in his article:
President Obama today also made no mention of when or how the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy would end, though he said it would be done “in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security.
“As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected,” the president said. “If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit.”
But Mr. President – you are the one leaving that promise unfulfilled. What about Dan Choi? You said you wished you could do more about his situation. Sir, you are the POTUS! And what does repealing DADT have to do with our national security? But I gotta love my girl Hill for her statements, which bear repeating:
“The persecution of gays and lesbians is a violation of human rights and an affront to human decency, and it must end,” she said.
“As secretary of state, I will advance a comprehensive human rights agenda that includes the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
While the article quoting Secretary Clinton makes mention of the fact that this is Obama reversing Bush’s old policies, since this man has never actually participated in any Gay pride event prior to this, and gave his voters very mixed messages on Prop 8 in California, he is again making a show without the substance to back it up. Further, Bret Baier of FOX News discussed Cheney’s statements with his panel yesterday and they all felt Obama would shortly be coming under great pressure to act.
Come on, Mr. President. We’re waiting.
SOURCE
Comments